George R.R. Martin Aims to Finish 'Winds of Winter' by 2016, Releases New Excerpt from Upcoming Book
Everywhere he goes, it seems as though George R.R. Martin can't escape questions from "Game of Thrones" fans, particularly this one question: when will "Winds of Winter" be done?
It is expected that the upcoming fifth season of "Game of Thrones" will be catching up with many of the storylines from Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice" saga, and earlier this month, the author took to his blog to announce that he will not be appearing on certain conventions so he could work on the book.
The author recently said that having "Winds of Winter" published before the premiere of season 6 of "Game of Thrones" next spring "has been important to me all along."
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"I wish it was out now," Martin told Entertainment Weekly. "Maybe I'm being overly optimistic about how quickly I can finish. But I canceled two convention appearances. I'm turning down a lot more interviews—anything I can do to clear my decks and get this done."
The author revealed that he just came up with a big, revealing twist on a long-time character that he never previously considered.
"I'm still weighing whether to go that direction or not," he teased. "It's a great twist … It's nothing I've ever thought of before. And it's nothing they can do in the show, because the show has already — on this particular character — made a couple decisions that will preclude it, where in my case I have not made those decisions."
Meanwhile, Martin debuted an excerpt from "Winds of Winter." The passage, which is more than a few lines, appears to be an entire chapter told from the view of Sansa Stark. The character is played by Sophie Turner on "Game of Thrones."
The excerpt can be read on Martin's site, www.georgerrmartin.com.
