For the longest time, the general consensus was that "The Winds of Winter," the sixth installment in George R.R. Martin's bestselling saga "A Song of Ice and Fire," will be released before "Game of Thrones" season 6 premieres in April.
This won't be the case after all. Martin recently confirmed on his website Not A Blog that the highly-anticipated book "is not finished." He revealed that he hoped the book will be ready by the end of 2015 -- this is his second deadline -- but this did not transpire.
Martin recognizes that his fans are disappointed and that he himself is let down by what happened. He adds that "The Winds of Winter" being incomplete up to this day also upsets HBO, his publishers and others involved in the project.
"But the book's not done. Nor is it likely to be finished tomorrow, or next week," Martin emphasized, adding that some reports about the development of the book are just too outrageous.
"Yes, there's a lot written. Hundreds of pages. Dozens of chapters. But there's also a lot still left to write," he added.
He revealed that he is still "months away" from finishing "The Winds of Winter" and that this timeframe becomes longer when his writing is not on point and there are days when he is not on a roll. Apart from completing the story itself, he said that rewriting and polishing also take time.
Martin then went on to explain how he "always had problems with deadlines" and meeting them. He revealed that the original plan was to put out the book by March this year.
"I can't tell you when it will be done, or when it will be published," the novelist warned. "It will be done when it's done. And it will be as good as I can possibly make it."
As for those who worry that "Game of Thrones" season 6 will spoil "The Winds of Winter" for them, this fear will sadly be realized.
"Given where we are, inevitably, there will be certain plot twists and reveals in season six of 'Game of Thrones' that have not yet happened in the books," Martin wrote.
The author did not hint when "The Winds of Winter" will be out because fans have been waiting for since 2011 and he no longer wants a deadline "to trip over." However, it looks like they have devised a plan on how the book will be published quickly the moment it is completed.
