Game of Thrones author George RR Martin has revealed that he is getting closer to finishing the sixth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire book series.
Martin, who has been writing the series since 1996, is making progress on the penultimate book in the franchise.
In a recent blog post on his website, he outlined progress of the book as well as other TV and film projects he is attached too. On the sixth book, titled The Winds of Winter, Martin said work over the last few months has been mostly good.
In the post titled, Back to Westeros, he talked about the process, confirming that while he had not finished the book, he was pushing ahead. He said: ‘No, sorry, still not done, but I do inch closer. It is a big big book. I try not to dwell on that too much.
‘I write a chapter at a time, a page at a time, a sentence at a time, a word at a time. It is the only way. And sometimes I rewrite.’
The author hinted at the contents he is currently working on, saying: ‘Of late I have been spending a lot of time with the Lannisters. Cersei and Tyrion in particular.
‘I’ve also paid a visit to Dorne, and dropped in to Oldtown a time or three.
Martin says that he was on a rollback in June and July but due to a ‘gut punch in early August’, he had slowed. He also suffered another undisclosed setback in early September but says that his writing is ‘picking up steam again’.
Martin did not hint at when we might know more about the book, or its release, but its encouraging to get an update about the first book in the series since 2011.
Elsewhere Martin said, despite complications with Covid-19, pre-production on the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon is going well. He said: ‘We are making great progress on the HBO prequel House of the Dragon. Ryan [Condal] and Miguel [Sapochnik] are in London, casting has begun, it is all looking very exciting.’
Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik are showrunners on House of the Dragon.
Martin’s next book will take place before the conclusion of the show, which overtook the author’s timeline back in season seven. How much Martin will change from the HBO show remains to be seen.
Hopefully, progress continues at a steady pace and before too long, fans will be able to finally dive into the long-promised book.
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