George R.R. Martin Says Winds of Winter 75% Done

Just two months after swearing off giving Winds of Winter updates, perpetual updater and writer of Winds of Winter George R.R. Martin has an announcement: he has a Winds of Winter update.

Who’s to say what prompted his decision to recently blurt out on a livestream that the book—over a decade in the making—is roughly 75% done. Maybe Martin forgot he’d told people to shut up and let him finish, because he’s been updating people on this book for over a decade now and just can’t help himself. Maybe he’s in that post-House of the Dragon finale glow and just got caught up in the hype. Maybe this is the actual final update, a warning that now that we know just how far along he is we can roughly estimate how much longer we need to wait for The Winds of Winter. Maybe he hopes we’ll be so distracted by trying to map out that guesstimate we’ll give him the time to finish the last 25%.

And yet, here we are. ““It’s a big, big book, I’ve said that before. It’s a challenging book. It’s probably gonna be a larger book than any of the previous volumes in the series,” Martin recently said on a livestream for Penguin Random House. “Dance with Dragons and Storm of Swords are the two largest books in the series, they were both about 1,500 manuscript pages. I think this one is going to be longer than that by the time I’m finished with it, and I think I’m about three-quarters of the way done, maybe? But that’s not 100 percent done, so I have to continue work on it.”

Even in providing this update, Martin stressed that it’s going to take a while even after he’s actually done writing. “And of course, then there’s the issue here of my friends at Random House, when I deliver this monstrous book that will be as big as a dragon,” Martin continued. “Are they going to try to make me cut it in two? We’ll find out about that, but first I have to finish it, I have to get it all done.”

This has been your latest last update on The Winds of Winter. Stay tuned for presumably more last updates over the next two to five years… maybe?

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Just two months after swearing off giving Winds of Winter updates, perpetual updater and writer of Winds of Winter George R.R. Martin has an announcement: he has a Winds of Winter update.

Who’s to say what prompted his decision to recently blurt out on a livestream that the book—over a decade in the making—is roughly 75% done. Maybe Martin forgot he’d told people to shut up and let him finish, because he’s been updating people on this book for over a decade now and just can’t help himself. Maybe he’s in that post-House of the Dragon finale glow and just got caught up in the hype. Maybe this is the actual final update, a warning that now that we know just how far along he is we can roughly estimate how much longer we need to wait for The Winds of Winter. Maybe he hopes we’ll be so distracted by trying to map out that guesstimate we’ll give him the time to finish the last 25%.

And yet, here we are. ““It’s a big, big book, I’ve said that before. It’s a challenging book. It’s probably gonna be a larger book than any of the previous volumes in the series,” Martin recently said on a livestream for Penguin Random House. “Dance with Dragons and Storm of Swords are the two largest books in the series, they were both about 1,500 manuscript pages. I think this one is going to be longer than that by the time I’m finished with it, and I think I’m about three-quarters of the way done, maybe? But that’s not 100 percent done, so I have to continue work on it.”

Even in providing this update, Martin stressed that it’s going to take a while even after he’s actually done writing. “And of course, then there’s the issue here of my friends at Random House, when I deliver this monstrous book that will be as big as a dragon,” Martin continued. “Are they going to try to make me cut it in two? We’ll find out about that, but first I have to finish it, I have to get it all done.”

This has been your latest last update on The Winds of Winter. Stay tuned for presumably more last updates over the next two to five years… maybe?

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.