GEORGE RR Martin has hit out at “impatient” Game of Thrones fans and revealed Westeros “haunts him day and night”.
The 71-year-old author reckons his fame has got in the way of completing the series of books after fans were left disappointed by the HBO adaptation’s finale.
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He said that he dreams of the world where the A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels is set, telling WGN Radio: “I do indeed have millions of people waiting for this book to come out, which is very gratifying.
“But some of them are extremely impatient and some of them are full of their own ideas about the fates of the various characters.
“I’m glad they can get so emotionally involved with these characters, but sometimes I yearn for the days when I could just work in quiet obscurity…but those days are gone for me, I’m afraid. This is the reality of my life now.”
Martin continued: “If my writing is going well, and I’m really ‘in Westeros,’ it does haunt me day and night.
“I’m laying there in bed, I’m waiting to go to sleep, the lights are out, and the scenes that I’m gonna write tomorrow are in my head.
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“Or maybe the scenes I’m gonna write next week, or maybe the scenes from a different chapter.”
The acclaimed author hopes to release The Winds of Winter, which is split into two books, by next summer.
However, trying to stay ahead of fan’s expectations has been stressful.
He admits: “There was a period where the show caught and passed me, and I hadn’t anticipated that happening, so there was a tremendous amount of stress on me a few years ago when that was about to happen but hadn’t happened yet, and I was desperately trying to finish Winds and stay ahead.
“And it didn’t work. The amount of stress that was on me at the time slowed me down rather than speeding me up. Now that the show’s over, any stress in that regard is done.”
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Martin’s comments will no doubt resonate with fans, given the decidedly mixed response to the final season of the show, which many branded ‘rushed’ and ‘oversimplified’.
It received the lowest approval ratings in the show’s history, with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 50% compared to 90% for all earlier seasons.
And he opened up about the power struggle between himself and Game of Thrones’ TV producers, saying he was forced to compromise not just on how much time was spent on certain story lines, but on which characters got the most screen time.
He didn’t mince his words when it came to describing the impact this had on him as the creator of Westeros.
She told Fast Company last month: “It can be… traumatic. Because sometimes their creative vision and your creative vision don’t match, and you get the famous creative differences thing — that leads to a lot of conflict.”
Martin added: “The [final] series has been… not completely faithful. Otherwise, it would have to run another five seasons”
“You get totally extraneous things like the studio or the network weighing in, and they have some particular thing that has nothing to do with story, but relates to ‘Well this character has a very high Q Rating so let’s give him a lot more stuff to do.'”
Meanwhile Martin confirmed that the untitled Targaryen prequel will feature dragons amid mass speculation.
The blog post came as fans began combing through his leaked original pitch for Game of Thrones, which featured all manner of deleted scenes.
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