George RR Martin has admitted he is feeling the pressure to ‘do something great’ with the final parts of his A Song Of Ice And Fire book series.
The author says the success of Game Of Thrones, the TV show based on his books, has made him feel he really has to deliver on The Winds Of Winter and A Dream Of Spring.
Game Of Thrones, based on Winds Of Winter, is going to end next year with the eighth and final season.
‘The show has achieved such popularity around the world, the books have been so popular and so well reviewed, that every time I sit down I’m very conscious I have to do something great, and trying to do something great is a considerable weight to bear,’ he said.
But the pressure he feels disappears once he starts writing the books and falls into an ‘almost trance state’.
‘Once I really get rolling, I get into the world,’ he told The Guardian.
‘The rest of the world vanishes, and I don’t care what I’m having for dinner, what movies are on, what my email says or who’s mad at me this week because The Winds of Winter isn’t out – all that is gone and I’m just living in the world I’m writing about. But it’s sometimes hard to get to that almost trance state.’
The author, who is releasing Game Of Thrones prequel book Fire And Blood, has previously blamed the delay on The Winds Of Winter on the plot being too complex.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the Emmys 2018, George explained: ‘I’m working on [The Winds of Winter], and I wish I’d been done four years ago, but I’m slow and the book is very complex, although there are a lot of great distractions out there.’
The TV series finished filming its final episodes for season eight earlier this year but George was a notable absence on set – because he’s got a long-awaited book to write, of course.
George admitted: ‘Going to set is a lot of fun but there’s nothing for me to do there, so I thought I better stay home and not go to Croatia; or Spain; or Belfast, [Northern] Ireland. I still have two books to write.’
Game Of Thrones returns to HBO in 2019
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