Editing A Song of Ice and Fire (section)

====''The Winds of Winter''====
{{main|The Winds of Winter}}
''[[The Winds of Winter]]'' is to resolve the cliffhangers from ''A Dance with Dragons'' early on and "will open with the two big battles that [the fifth book] was building up to, the Battle in the Ice and the Battle [...] of Slaver's Bay. And then take it from there."<ref name=smartertravel/> By the middle of 2010, Martin had already finished five chapters of ''The Winds of Winter'' from the viewpoints of [[Sansa Stark]], [[Arya Stark]], [[Arianne Martell]], and [[Aeron Greyjoy]], coming to around 100 completed pages.<ref name=dancingincircles/><ref name=grrm_blog_200721/> After the publication of ''A Dance with Dragons'' in 2011, Martin announced he would return to writing in January 2012.<ref name=ew_fantasy_king/> He spent the meantime on book tours, conventions, and continued working on his ''[[The World of Ice & Fire]]'' companion guide and a new ''[[Tales of Dunk and Egg]]'' novella.<ref name=wsj_spill/><ref name=nymag_butterfly/> In December 2011, Martin posted a chapter from ''The Winds of Winter'' from the viewpoint of [[Theon Greyjoy]];<ref name=nydailynews_sample_chapter/> several other chapters have been made public since. Four hundred pages of the sixth novel had been written {{as of|2012|October|lc=y}}, although Martin considered only 200 as "really finished"; the rest needed revising.<ref name=adria_trying/> During the Guadalajara International Book Fair in Mexico in early December 2016, Martin offered the following hint as to the tone of this book: "There are a lot of dark chapters right now ... I've been telling you for 20 years that winter was coming. Winter is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fill the world, so this is not going to be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for. Some of the characters [are] in very dark places."<ref name="auto">{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/2016/12/06/george-rr-martin-teases-winds-of-winter/ |title=George RR Martin on Winds of Winter: Things are getting worse |last=Gettell |first=Oliver |date=December 6, 2016 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |publisher=Time Inc. |access-date=December 21, 2016 |quote=Watch Martin's full Q&A above. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223173130/http://ew.com/article/2016/12/06/george-rr-martin-teases-winds-of-winter/ |archive-date=December 23, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> Martin did not intend to separate the characters geographically again.<ref name=grmm_iv_ew/>

In 2011, Martin gave three years as a realistic estimate for finishing the sixth book at a good pace,<ref name=guardian_barbarians/> but said ultimately the book "will be done when it's done",<ref name=atlantic_sex_fantasy/> acknowledging that his publication estimates had been too optimistic in the past.<ref name=ew_fantasy_king/> In 2015 there were indications that the book would be published before the [[Game of Thrones season 6|sixth season]] of the HBO show<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/03/george-rr-martin-winds-date|title='Game of Thrones' author George R.R. Martin determined to finish book by 2016 - EW.com|work=Entertainment Weekly's EW.com|access-date=February 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204034843/https://ew.com/article/2015/04/03/george-rr-martin-winds-date/|archive-date=December 4, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christiantoday.com/article/winds.of.winter.release.date.news.book.to.be.out.before.game.of.thrones.season.6/55890.htm|title=Winds of Winter release date: Book to be out before Game of Thrones Season 6|date=June 11, 2015 |access-date=June 12, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829115223/https://www.christiantoday.com/article/winds.of.winter.release.date.news.book.to.be.out.before.game.of.thrones.season.6/55890.htm|archive-date=August 29, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/the-winds-of-winter-release-date-george-rr-martins-next-book-might-finally-be-coming-10494416.html|title=US|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|access-date=August 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912151317/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/the-winds-of-winter-release-date-george-rr-martins-next-book-might-finally-be-coming-10494416.html|archive-date=September 12, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://lossietereinos.com/alejo-cuervo-gigamesh-esta-previsto-que-vientos-de-invierno-sea-publicado-en-2016-tambien-en-espanol/|title=Alejo Cuervo (Gigamesh): "Está previsto que Vientos de Invierno salga en 2016 (también en español)"|first=Jesús|last=Baratheon|date=September 9, 2015|access-date=March 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911234456/http://lossietereinos.com/alejo-cuervo-gigamesh-esta-previsto-que-vientos-de-invierno-sea-publicado-en-2016-tambien-en-espanol/|archive-date=September 11, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://piesnloduiognia.pl/relacja-z-konwentu-kapitularz-2015/|title=Relacja z konwentu Kapitularz 2015 - Pieśń lodu i ognia - Gra o tron|date=October 1, 2015|access-date=March 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829040526/http://piesnloduiognia.pl/relacja-z-konwentu-kapitularz-2015/|archive-date=August 29, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/the-winds-of-winter-release-date-news-polish-translator-slip-suggests-late-2015early-2016-for-next-a6677271.html|title=The Winds of Winter might be coming sooner than we thought|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|date=October 2, 2015|access-date=August 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829040055/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/the-winds-of-winter-release-date-news-polish-translator-slip-suggests-late-2015early-2016-for-next-a6677271.html|archive-date=August 29, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> but in early January 2016 Martin confirmed that he had not met an end-of-year deadline that he had established with his publisher for release of the book before the sixth season. He also revealed there had been a previous deadline of October 2015 that he had considered achievable in May 2015, and that in September 2015 he had still considered the end-of-year deadline achievable. He further confirmed that some of the plot of the book might be revealed in the then-upcoming sixth season of ''Game of Thrones''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://grrm.livejournal.com/465247.html |title=Last Year (Winds of Winter) |work=[[LiveJournal]] |last=R.R. Martin |first=George |date=January 2, 2016 |access-date=January 2, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102170255/http://grrm.livejournal.com/465247.html |archive-date=January 2, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In February 2016, Martin stated that he dropped all his editing projects except for ''[[Wild Cards]]'', and that he would not be writing any teleplays, screenplays, short stories, introductions or forewords before delivering ''The Winds of Winter''.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://winteriscoming.net/2016/02/17/george-r-r-martin-i-am-not-writing-anything-until-i-deliver-winds-of-winter/ |title= George R.R. Martin: "I am not writing anything until I deliver WINDS OF WINTER" |website= Winter is Coming |first= Dan |last= Selcke |date= February 17, 2016 |access-date= February 18, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170706094955/http://winteriscoming.net/2016/02/17/george-r-r-martin-i-am-not-writing-anything-until-i-deliver-winds-of-winter/ |archive-date= July 6, 2017 |url-status= live }}</ref> In March 2020, Martin stated that he was writing ''The Winds of Winter'' every day,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2020/03/17/strange-days/ |title=Strange Days |last=Martin, George R.R. |date=March 17, 2020 |publisher=Not a Blog |language=en-US}}</ref> and in June he hoped to be done with it in 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2020/06/23/writing-reading-writing/|title=Writing, Reading, Writing|date=June 23, 2020|access-date=June 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623225602/https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2020/06/23/writing-reading-writing/|archive-date=June 23, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> In October 2022, Martin said that he had written approximately three quarters of the book.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/george-r-r-martin-winds-of-winter-finished-1235249037/|author=Hibberd, James|magazine=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|title=George R.R. Martin Says 'The Winds of Winter' Is Now Three-Quarters Finished|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=October 26, 2022|access-date=October 26, 2022|archive-date=October 26, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221026225225/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/george-r-r-martin-winds-of-winter-finished-1235249037/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=George R. R. Martin confirms he's 3/4 done with 'Winds of Winter'|author=Meaden, Max|url=https://thebrag.com/george-r-r-martin-confirms-hes-3-4-done-with-winds-of-winter/|website=The Brag |language=en-AU|url-status=live|date=October 25, 2022|access-date=October 26, 2022|archive-date=October 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025131230/https://thebrag.com/george-r-r-martin-confirms-hes-3-4-done-with-winds-of-winter/}}</ref>