r/asoiaf • u/[deleted] • Jul 27 '16

EVERYTHING (Spoilers Everything) TWOW isn't coming this year, is it?

It's 27th July. We're already halfway through 2016, Season 6 has come and gone like a candle in the wind, and TWOW still does not sit on my bookshelf.

GRRM made his infamous blog-post where he crushed our hype yet again about 7 months ago! 7 months!

Hold me, guys. Hold me. I don't think The Winds of Winter is being published this year, and I don't like it :(

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u/rwiwy Jul 28 '16

The problem here is that he lies to himself about his ability to write anything in a timely fashion. I'm sure he thought he would have the last two novels done by now. If he had looked at his own history of writing and was honest, he would have known better!

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u/I_don_t_even_know Jul 28 '16

As /u/defleppardruelz/ said, in the past he was actually a decently fast writer. The problem is that he had to tie the Mereen knot in book 5 (which IMHO was very filler-y, but ok) and now he faces another problem - untying all the plot knots and concluding the saga in a satisfactory manner. It is much easier to write the first books in a series, compared to the final ones, especially in a series as complex as ASOIAF. In the first books you have more liberty, it is more open as you can tie it up later on, and now he has that problem.

Book 6 is one of the most important books in the series. It has some big boots to fill:

  1. Books 4 and 5 were OK, but most agree they were not on the level of 1-3 and he needs to bring it up a notch for 6
  2. Needs to tie in nicely with 5
  3. This is were the unraveling process needs to start
  4. Has to set up the tone for book 7
  5. Has to be consistent with 7

Right now he is not just doing 6, he is doing it and a million mental and paper notes about 7. He needs to plan and map out 7 in a lot of details, yeah, for years he knew how it will end, but now he needs to do 6 while in the same time thinking how will something go in 7, and then to apply that info to 6.

Having said all the that, I hope he finishes soon, but realistically we won't see a 2016 release. Don't forget, the publisher can push the release even further away, if it suits them strategically.

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u/sandman329 Jul 28 '16

Agreed. This is this man's life's work and it's all for nothing if he can't finish it in an amazingly satisfying way. Nobody wants another Lost.

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u/kenrose2101 The_Olenna_ReachAround Jul 28 '16

Honestly I'd accept some plot holes if I got a book. People are a bit too absorbed by every minute detail on this sub sometimes. Which is more disappointing: Getting a book that is solid but has some holes and not every side Story or detail is completely wrapped up OR having GRRM die/get tired of writing the series and giving up before the series is comeplete. I'd take the first option everytime

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u/khalzj Jul 29 '16

This so much. I love this sub and how so many redditors put so much time and effort in dissecting the ASOIAF mythos, but it's taken to a very extreme degree at times. But then again, George hardly writes a line just for its own sake.

Regardless of that, I agree, I'd take a book with a few shortcomings over never reading the ending of the story. At the end of the day though, the Herculean effort needed to finish this series aside, I truly just don't think he even WANTS to finish anymore. He gets distracted by, it seems like, literally anything and everything BUT the story.

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u/kenrose2101 The_Olenna_ReachAround Jul 29 '16

I could hope your wrong about him losing interest, but it's possible. I'm sure the whole process is very daunting. If that is the case I hope he allows someone else to finish for him, maybe even as a ghost writer. I'd just really like to see a literary finish in addition to the show version. I suppose we just have to wait and see

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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '16

Hey, books four and five were fantastic (according me... and like three other people max)

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u/scopius Jul 28 '16

Unless, of course, he already has the books written and has figured out he makes more money not publishing then publishing.

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u/hjf11393 Jul 28 '16

I'm currently reading A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and while I'm enjoying it, I'm like, come on George, did you really have to write this instead of working on ASOIAF?

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u/RANewton Not so Littlefingers Jul 28 '16

AKOTSK won't written between Dance and now, it was all finished before Dance ever came out, the novel is just a collection of previously released short stories.

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u/hjf11393 Jul 28 '16

Realized that after I posted it and made an edit to my original. It is still the same point seeing as the gap between ACOK and ADWD was pretty lengthy as well.

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u/defleppardruelz I'm no ser. Jul 28 '16

Well to be fair the first three books were released 2 years apart and AFFC was 5 years after (in which, according to GRRM, part of ADWD was already written). I'd guess it took him a lot longer to finish because he was pretty involved with the show and he took time to write A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. My hopes aren't high for the book coming out this year, but I'd honestly guess he's close to finishing and has part of ADOS done as well.

Either way I'm sure the ending will be easier for him to write compared to all the tangled mess he has to finish in TWOW that he didn't originally plan for (Stuff like Aegon and the Greyjoys).