#I can't wait until we have new fandom discourse to move onto

[hylialeia]

hey Leia! Do you think A Dream of Spring will take as long as Winds is taking? idk if I have another decade in me lol

I doubt it.

Maybe this is the optimist in me, but personally, I think it makes sense that TWOW has taken so long, and I’ve never felt that GRRM will never finish the series or has in any way given up on it.

Consider that, when ADWD came out on July 12th, 2011, a lot had happened. The TV adaption that will not be named started airing in April, 2011. GRRM was involved in a lot of writing, legal work, planning, public events, advertising, etc. Even if he stepped back, that’s a ton of work; just thinking about it exhausts me. Cranking out a chapter a week while all that’s going on? That’s a lot to ask, especially right after the last book was published.

I think, given the circumstances, his writing on TWOW was considerably (and understandably) slowed. Probably limited to some scattered scenes (not everyone writes in chronological order), outlining, and work-shopping. If you’ve read speculation or theory posts, you’ll know that there’s a lot slated to go down in this book--and that there’s a lot left dangling by ADWD. Mostly, I’m talking about battle scenes, which might be fun and exciting, but they’re also a pain in the ass to write. Besides, it’s even confirmed that GRRM moved some Dance chapters to Winds. The organization alone could have changed or been reworked, and while that’s normal, it takes extra time.

Further, GRRM was a writer on the TV adaption as well. It’s not a stretch to say that he probably really, really wanted the show to be good, so he invested extra time and energy into it--even more than he might have if it was a different series.

Add into this his additional projects, cons, public appearances, and the fact that no one should be dedicated to labor 24/7, and that’s a lot of time added up. I think GRRM worked on Winds when he could and when that bolt of inspiration suddenly hit. The writing process is weird; it could include rewriting chapters, reorganizing them, switching planned POVs, sludging through exposition, cranking out 5000 words in a day, going back to edit, saying “fuck it” and plowing ahead, coming up with new ideas, having to scrap old ideas, etc. Writing is fucking weird, guys.

And no matter how professional or experienced, writers are still people. They have social lives to varying degrees. They get sick. Tired. Distracted. They procrastinate. They takes breaks and watch a movie. Work on other things. Go through burnout. So on and so forth.

Hell, GRRM might even have taken a well-deserved break after ADWD was published. That was a monster of a book, and he had the show to consider as well. Everything around TWOW’s waiting period was basically engineered to make it take longer.

It’s a little different for ADOS. GRRM is no longer working on the show--and, personally, I think the show was probably a massive drain on energy, even after Martin stopped helping write it. GRRM is involved in some of the planned prequels, and I don’t think his real life will suddenly go on hold. But I doubt he’s going into his other projects with the same mindset as before, and probably very different (lowered) expectations. According to his blog posts, his progress on Winds is already picking up. Like I said: the writing process is weird.

Finally, Dream is the last book, and probably includes some (if not most) of the scenes GRRM wants to write in this series. That’s exciting! Being almost done with a project, especially one like this, is exhilarating. And we can never discount spite as a motivator.

Even with everything else in place, I think the absence of the show, and the fact that this is the Big Finish of ASOIAF, will be huge inspirations. I don’t think ADOS will be written in the span of three years, exactly, but I don’t think it will take a decade either. A thousand-page book takes time, but I’m not worried; GRRM’s done this a few times before, and I think he’ll be just fine doing it again.