Kyll.Ing.

Don't be ashamed. Some of us once thought those who believed in a release date as late as 2016 were unreasonably pessimistic.

I wish to be able to look back at this post in five years' time and say that the use of the present tense was justified at the end there. 2011 is starting to be a very long time ago.

Not to mention, when the tension between two characters could be resolved by simply talking about it, have them talk it out and leave the issue behind to cut some unneccessary padding from the book. The endless pining of "the person I love would probably hate me if they knew about ____, so I must endure to stay silent about it even though the secret eats me from the inside" gets tiresome super fast. Especially when multiple characters do it, and it's obvious that the reveal would do absolutely nothing against the feelings they have for each other. If just resolving those knots could cut 200 pages off the book, the only reason not to do it is if it's a 250-page book about that precise issue. In a 1300-page book about a fantasy war, that shortcut is an absolute no-brainer.

I think even the first generation of the inheritance line could be swayed by the massive amounts of cash on the table. Even a book like "Brandon Sanderson's The Winds of Winter, based on the works of George R.R. Martin" would sell an avalanche of copies. Mr. Dollar can be a very persuasive man, especially when he carries the first and middle names "Millions and millions". But even as unsanctioned fanfiction, a well-written tie-up of the saga could be a decent way for an up-and-coming author to get a name for themself, to the point of financially justifying the venture.

If GRRM doesn't finish A Song of Ice and Fire, it will become the great unfinished work of fantasy of our age. Several established and up-and-coming authors are likely to try their hand at bringing the story to a satisfying, if unofficial, conclusion. I think several of these attempts will even gain a decent amount of publicity and we'll see great fan debates over whether Author A or Author B did it best.

If this thread is locked due to the unfathomably stupid "20 pages max" rule (remember to update your subscriptions, everybody!), can we please get a "general TWoW writing progress discussion" thread instead of having to repurpose another thread that was originally created for a wholly different purpose?

As others have pointed out, the big question is what he is writing. If my own limited experience with writing is any indication, he might have a lot of story ideas that are completely unrelated to the Kingkiller Chronicle, churning in his head, trying to get out. He might have decided that while he is firmly stuck and unable to progress with KKC, he still likes to write, and takes a crack at writing out another of his myriad ideas instead.

Might it be because of the utterly inane, completely underpants-on-head stupid, wildly archaic and nonsensical rule that threads be closed after twenty pages, a practice so completely bonkers and dumb I've never seen it practiced anywhere else on the Internet? It makes it needlessly hard to follow discussions over time, because if you don't pay attention, the thread is archived and a new one is started without a notice to the followers of the previous thread. As the webmasters remain completely unable and unwilling to see sense on this issue, except in threads they themselves want to follow over time like the Board Issues thread (what irony!), I fear that the same fate may befall this thread before long. When that happens, can we please get a dedicated "Winds of Winter news/discussion thread" to contain the discussion instead of it hijacking whatever other thread in the subforum that happens to be convenient? Of course people will be talking about the next book, including sharing our thoughts on when it might be out, that's what half of us are here for. The only question is whether the webmasters want it to happen in a somewhat orderly fashion or ad-hoc in a thread that was originally about something else, like this one.

Sure, but a substantial portion of that page count could consist of thirty different versions of three crucial chapters.

I really hope somebody gets to release "The Cutting Room Floor of Ice and Fire" one day: A collection of discarded chapters and outlines and drafts for how the story could have gone at some point, but didn't.

I can only refer to my signature. I chose it at the time because it reflected the state of the fandom at that moment, but as time has gone on, it has just become more and more funny.

Consider it the other way 'round: what would you say, if you were determined to fake a release date for an upcoming, long-awaited book? First, it's important not to give a too early date. You don't want your story to be busted right after posting it. Don't say "in two months", or "later this year". But don't put it too far out either, that won't spark any excitement among the fans. Not to mention that it's not very plausible that they have settled for a publishing date when the book is still years away. Instead, provide a date the next year, which is soon enough that fans get excited, while still being a plausibly long wait. And of course, since the book is so long in waiting, you can always use the excuse that "according to my inside sources, this was the target they were aiming for" in case the date comes and goes without any book. Next, the release month. That one is straightforward: So it will be in shelves right before the holiday season. You want stacks of that book to be the first thing to greet Christmas gift shoppers upon entering a book store. A November release date is the absolute sweet spot bar none. Besides, in this case, it synergizes nicely with House of the Dragon season 2. The show would keep the ASoIaF universe fresh in people's minds over the summer, then at the end of the season, bam, book six announced. The Internet goes ballistic. Every marketer's dream. In short, they would be aiming for November. So there you have it. "November next year" is the standard answer for any fake book release date.

There's no way in snowy heck that the book was finished to the point they would commit to a release date as early as March last year, and that in the fifteen months since then, only the cover artist found out about it.

Another one: Daenys has a different vision. No not, Daenerys Stormborn Mother of Dragons Lots of Titles, but Daenys the Dreamer. The prophetic daughter who convinced Aenar Targaryen to go Westeros and thus let the family escape the Doom of Valyria. Instead of seeing the Doom, she sees all the shenanigans that would go down in Westeros from the moment the Targaryens landed and up to the War of Ice and Fire. She convinces her father that leaving Valyria would be a terrible tragedy. He agrees. "Let's not go to Westeros. 'tis a silly place."

Not that the 14th anniversary won't come soon, in relative terms. Probably without TWoW being released.