"Game of Thrones" season 6 has well overtaken the events of the books the series is based on, "A Song of Ice and Fire." Despite this, a report from GameNGuide states that the book will tell its own story and that it may be ready for launch by January 2017, just a few months before the premiere of "Game of Thrones" season 7.
According to the report, the book may already be in the proofreading phase, which means George R.R. Martin is done writing and is now editing the book to ensure it is written the way he intended, to correct pacing and story issues and to double-check for inconsistencies with events that occurred in previous chapters and previous books in the series.
It was previously reported that while the television show has already begun taking over the story since there are no more published books for it to be based directly from, Martin did state that "The Winds of Winter" will be radically different in telling its version of the story given how the show and books have gone separate ways.
This means characters dead on the show may be alive in the books and vice versa. Events that happen in the series may not happen in the books and this can happen the opposite way as well. "Game of Thrones" season 6 just premiered the episode "Battle of the Bastards" and this might never happen in "The Winds of Winter."
According to Parent Herald, one of the possible delays for the launch of "The Winds of Winter" may be Martin's involvement with "Game of Thrones." Given that the book has not yet been published he is required to work hand-in-hand with the show runners and writers to reveal to them how major events play out and this may have taken out some of his time to finish writing.
