The much-anticipated next installment in George R. R. Martin’s epic “A Song of Ice and Fire” series is coming along slowly but steadily. The book’s release has already taken the author more time than the previous ones, and more than he was originally planning – but according to Martin, he has a good reason for that. The author’s schedule has apparently been very tight over the last few months, involving great deals of travel, and this has put a halt to his writing progress to a large extent.
Martin has currently set the release of the next book for some time in 2017, although it’s not known exactly when during the year the book is going to be ready. It was already delayed at least once, which came as a disappointment to most fans, but according to the author, the extra wait will be more than worth it. He’s apparently been putting a lot of work into the book’s polish, in order to ensure that it will give fans a proper conclusion to the various subplots throughout the story.
Actually, this has been a major issue for the author, according to previous reports. The overall plot of his world is extremely complex and features multiple layers of different characters, all intertwined in different ways. It seems that Martin has been having problems maintaining the consistency of the story, as his main concern at one point was that the story might end up with various plot holes if he’s not careful enough.
“Game of Thrones”, a popular TV series based on the books, has already caught up to George R. R. Martin’s writing – and this has recently led to some problems for the show’s production. According to reports, the producers had to meet with Martin and discuss the future developments of the plot, as they couldn’t do much without having the actual book at hand. Martin has reportedly been cooperative, and has given the crew enough information to allow them to continue with the show’s development while making sure that the story won’t stray too far away from his own.
The next book in the series is expected to see even more deaths of key characters, something which became a tradition for Martin’s storytelling, at least in this particular series. The last book already bumped up the violence level in the story significantly, but it seems that ”Winds of Winter” is going to take this even further, and tell a really brutal, violent tale. Fans are already speculating about which of their favorite characters are going to get killed off, but knowing the way Martin has been handling the story so far, practically nobody is safe.