George R.R. Martin is still hard at work on his highly anticipated novel, “The Winds of Winter,” but earlier this month, the author took some time out from writing to participate in a Q&A at the Guadalajara International Book Fair. At the event, the 68-year-old revealed that he is still writing some chapters of the book, and that some of the characters are in dire straits after the events of “A Dance With Dragons.”
According to Entertainment Weekly, Martin said that there are a lot of dark chapters in “The Winds of Winter.”
“Winter is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fill the world, so this is not going to be a happy feel-good that people may be hoping for, said the author. “Some of the characters [are] in very dark places.”
Fans of the book series are aware that HBO’s “Game of Thrones” has already gone beyond its source material, as some of the events that happened in season 6 of the TV series did not take place in the fifth “A Song of Ice and Fire” novel. It remains to be seen whether some of the plot twists that took place in the show will be reflected in “The Winds of Winter,” though it’s likely that Martin will have a few surprises of his own. As previously reported by Jobs & Hire, the author is planning to kill two characters in the next novel.
Meanwhile, readers are on tenterhooks as they await the book’s release date. It has been five years since “A Dance With Dragons” made its debut, and fans are getting impatient due to the delay of the next installment. However, it’s possible that “The Winds of Winter” might be released in 2017, as Martin said on his Livejournal blog that next year could be a good year for him.
On Dec. 6, Martin responded to a fan who asked if he thinks 2017 will be any better. The author wrote, “Predicting the future is an uncertain business at best. On a personal level, 2017 could very well be spectacular, productive, fun, fulfilling.”
George R.R. Martin and his publishers have yet to announce an official release date for “The Winds of Winter.”
