George R.R. Martin Finally Explains Why The Winds of Winter Still Isn’t Finished

Prolific fantasy author George R.R. Martin has been working on his A Song of Ice and Fire (a.k.a. Game of Thrones) novels since 1996, when the first book in the saga was published. As with any long-term project, there will undoubtedly be things that Martin wishes he’d changed or done differently. During a recent lecture at Oxford Writers’ House, where Martin discussed his acclaimed series, the author revealed the biggest thing he wished he’d done differently in his career, and it’s what Game of Thrones fans have been begging for over the last 13 years.

Game of Thrones aired its final season in 2019, the spinoff series House of the Dragon is currently developing its third season, and several other spinoff shows are also in the works at HBO. But George R.R. Martin hasn’t finished the core book saga for A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin has been working on The Winds of Winter, the penultimate novel in the series, for the last 13 years. During the panel, Martin revealed that his biggest regret is not having the series finished sooner. When asked the age-old question about whether he could go back in time and change one thing, the author said:

“I don’t know, I could probably change more than one thing. If I could change one thing about one of my books I’d have them finished. [I] would’ve loved to have had it finished many years ago … that’s the big thing I think I would change.”

George R.R. Martin Reveals Why He Hasn’t Finished The Winds of Winter

Fans have been desperately badgering, questioning, and interrogating George R.R. Martin about The Winds of Winter for over a decade. Across the last 13 years, the author has given various responses about why the book still isn’t finished. At one point, his long-time friend and fellow author Neil Gaiman had to step in, uttering the infamous line “George R.R. Martin is not your b*tch” — meaning he doesn’t owe the readers any new books, so he can take as long as he wants.

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During the conversation, Martin gave the most insightful and honest answer yet about why the novel isn’t complete. Martin said the issue comes from his approach to telling the entire story in separately written chapters. Martin talked about prolific sci-fi author Gene Wolfe, who wrote the seminal Book of the New Sun series (if you haven’t read that, go read it right now!). Wolfe wrote all four books in the series before publishing the first as a novel. Martin wishes he’d been able to plan A Song of Ice and Fire the same way. He 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.

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.”