Editing A Song of Ice and Fire (section)

====''A Dream of Spring''====
Martin is not firm about ending the series with the seventh novel.<ref name=ew_fantasy_king/> With his stated goal of telling the story from beginning to end, he will not truncate the story to fit into an arbitrary number of volumes.<ref name=indigo_iv1/> He knows the ending in broad strokes as well as the future of the main characters,<ref name=grmm_iv_ew/> and will finish the series with bittersweet elements where not everyone will live happily ever after.<ref name=scifi_magical_tale/> Martin hopes to write an ending similar to ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' that he felt gave the story a satisfying depth and resonance. On the other hand, Martin noted the challenge to avoid a situation like [[The End (Lost)|the finale of the TV series ''Lost'']], which left some fans disappointed by deviating too far from their own theories and desires.<ref name=atlantic_sex_fantasy/>

In 2015, Martin said that he was not writing ''A Dream of Spring'' together with ''The Winds of Winter'',<ref>{{cite news|url=http://grrm.livejournal.com/440213.html?thread=22477973#t22477973|title=Back From Bubonicon|last=grrm|date=2015-08-31 |access-date=2016-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630160513/http://grrm.livejournal.com/440213.html?thread=22477973#t22477973|archive-date=2017-06-30 |url-status=live}}</ref> and in early 2016, he said he did not believe ''A Dream of Spring'' would be published before the last season of the HBO show.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mnrdaily.com/article/george-r-r-martin-says-there-will-be-winds-of-winter-spoilers-in-game-of-thrones-season-six/9239.htm|title=George R.R. Martin says there will be 'Winds of Winter' spoilers in 'Game of Thrones' season six|access-date=2016-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317000921/http://www.mnrdaily.com/article/george-r-r-martin-says-there-will-be-winds-of-winter-spoilers-in-game-of-thrones-season-six/9239.htm|archive-date=2016-03-17 |url-status=live}}</ref>

During a question-and-answer session at the 2016 [[Guadalajara International Book Fair]], Martin emphasized: "I'm not going to tell you how I'm going to end my book, but I suspect the overall flavor is going to be as much bittersweet as it is happy."<ref name="auto"/>

In April 2018, Martin commented he had not started working on the book,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2018/04/25/fire-blood-on-the-way/#comment-701|title=FIRE & BLOOD : On The Way - Not a Blog|website=georgerrmartin.com|access-date=2018-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425182310/http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2018/04/25/fire-blood-on-the-way/#comment-701|archive-date=April 25, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> and in November he said that after ''The Winds of Winter'' he would decide what to do next: ''A Dream of Spring'' or the second volume of ''[[Fire & Blood (book)|Fire & Blood]]'' or one or two stories for the ''Tales of Dunk and Egg''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cain |first=Sian |date=2018-11-10 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/10/game-of-thrones-george-rr-martin-the-winds-of-winter-interview |title='I've been struggling with it': George RR Martin on The Winds of Winter |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106055208/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/10/game-of-thrones-george-rr-martin-the-winds-of-winter-interview |archivedate=2019-01-06 |work=[[The Guardian]] |accessdate=2019-10-04 }}</ref>

In May 2019, Martin reiterated he had not started writing ''A Dream of Spring'' and would not do so before finishing ''The Winds of Winter''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/13/idiocy-on-the-internet/|title=Idiocy on the Internet |last=Martin |first=George R. R. |date=2019-05-13 |access-date=2019-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514174058/http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/13/idiocy-on-the-internet/ |archive-date=2019-05-14 |url-status=live}}</ref>