Why Game Of Thrones Author George RR Martin Hasn’t Finished The Books Yet

We all know that the night is dark and full of terrors, but that famous “Game of Thrones” quote takes on a whole new meaning for certain other members of the fandom. That applies for those of us who’ve been avid readers of author George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series, the foundation for the HBO series that would eventually become the most popular (and then most divisive) series in recent memory. In a nigh-unprecedented set of circumstances, the adaptation blew right past the source material and came to an uneven end while readers of the incomplete novels have been left high and dry since the year of our Lord 2011. That’s when “A Dance with Dragons” finally published as the fifth book out of seven total and, well, that’s also when the story ground to a frustrating halt. Diehards still have two entire books to go and absolutely no idea when that day will ever actually arrive — and neither does Martin.

As you might have surmised, this isn’t a post about how the next installment, “The Winds of Winter,” is finally imminent; rather, this is our latest attempt to unravel exactly why it’s taken Martin so long to deliver his magnum opus. In a refreshing change of pace, however, we’re hearing directly from the fantasy author himself. He recently attended an event hosted by the Oxford Writers’ House, which included an extended question and answer session and has now been posted in full on their official YouTube channel. One of the topics had to do with his ongoing writing process (or lack thereof), specifically as to whether he’d change anything about his finished books.

His answer actually reveals quite a bit, including why he still hasn’t been able to bring things to a close.

Think back to when the “Game of Thrones” season 5 finale first aired in June 2015. Now imagine that, after Kit Harington’s Jon Snow was viciously stabbed to death by his “brothers” at The Wall, Caesar-style, and the screen cut to eerie black, you had to wait well over a decade to find out how that cliffhanger would be resolved. That context might help you understand why almost every “A Song of Ice and Fire” book reader currently suffers from unresolved trauma. So why’s it taking so long? Fans tend to point towards a storyline that’s become much more complicated and sprawling with each subsequent book, the inherent pressures of having to keep pace with the most-watched series in the world, and, yeah, good ol’ fashioned procrastination. (It probably doesn’t help that Martin has a fondness for using an operating system straight out of the 1980s.)

But the real answer might have just been revealed. At around the 24-minute mark of his Q&A at Oxford, Martin explained the one big change he’d make to his books. After deadpanning that he’d want them finished, he told a story about another famous author named Gene Wolfe, known for his “The Book of the New Sun” fantasy series. Wolfe completed all four books before ever submitting them to a publisher and, as Martin explained:

“…by the time he finished the fourth book, he was able to see the things in the first book that didn’t really fit anymore: where the book had drifted away, where it had changed, so he was able to go back and revise the first book. And only when all four were finished, did Gene submit the book and the series was bought and published.”

Martin goes on to explain how he wishes he had the freedom to have planned out his entire story ahead of time, without needing to worry about deadlines, angry fans breathing down his neck, or any other kind of distraction. When you listen to him lay all this out, in fact, he sounds downright wistful about how much easier it would’ve been had he written “A Song of Ice and Fire” from such an approach. As he put it:

“That’s something that I would envy, but I’ve never done that and I never could’ve done it, even now. Believe it or not, I am not taking all that time to write ‘Winds of Winter’ just because I think I’m Gene Wolfe now. I would’ve loved to have it finished years ago, but yeah, that’s the big thing I think I would change.”

Throughout many of his blog posts on his personal website (which you can check out here), Martin has talked about how he considers himself to be more of a “gardener” when it comes to storytelling, rather than an “architect.” Essentially, this means that he tends to craft stories from the perspective of someone who’s discovering where this is all going as he writes it — as opposed to an architect, who plans out the full blueprint from the start and can avoid narrative dead ends and wheel-spinning tangents. Reading between the lines, it sure seems to me that Martin wrote himself into a bit of a corner in his early books (perhaps with the Daenerys Targaryen storyline in Essos?) and wishes he could go back and streamline them, in retrospect.

Will we ever get “The Winds of Winter”? I’m hopeful, but the dragon jury is still out!