George R.R. Martin Hints 'Winds of Winter' Nearing Completion
Author George R.R. Martin has issued a new hint suggesting that *The Winds of Winter*, the sixth book in the *A Song of Ice and Fire* series, may finally be nearing completion after a 15-year development period. While specific details remain vague, the update has renewed fan speculation about a potential release.
The gap between *A Dance with Dragons* (2011) and the forthcoming *The Winds of Winter* is the longest in the series' history. Previously, the longest wait was the six years between *A Feast for Crows* (2005) and *A Dance with Dragons*. The first three books in the *A Song of Ice and Fire* series were published between 1996 and 2000. Martin officially began writing *The Winds of Winter* in January 2012, after completing the publicity tour for *A Dance with Dragons*. Over the years, he has missed several deadlines, including one in 2015 that would have seen the book published before the sixth season of the HBO show. As of late 2022, Martin stated he had completed about three-quarters of the novel, an estimate of 1,100 to 1,200 pages. The development of the book has been concurrent with the massive success of the HBO adaptation, *Game of Thrones* (2011-2019). The television show's narrative began to significantly diverge from the books around its fifth season and surpassed the published source material entirely by Season 6. This led to the show revealing major plot points before the books, based on outlines Martin provided to the showrunners. During the writing of *Winds*, Martin has been involved in numerous other projects. He has served as an executive producer on *Game of Thrones* spinoffs like *House of the Dragon* and the upcoming *A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms*. He also published *Fire & Blood*, a history of the Targaryen dynasty, in 2018 and co-authored *The World of Ice & Fire* (2014). Martin has released 11 preview chapters from *The Winds of Winter* over the years, though he stated in 2018 he would not release any more. These chapters focus on point-of-view characters such as Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Tyrion Lannister, and Arianne Martell. The author has indicated that the final two books in the series, *The Winds of Winter* and the planned *A Dream of Spring*, will each be over 1,500 manuscript pages. He has resisted suggestions from publishers to split *The Winds of Winter* into two separate volumes.
