George R.R. Martin Writing at His Own Pace Post HBO Series
Posted on August 22, 2019
George R.R. Martin tells The Guardian in an interview that the end of the HBO series has been freeing. We imagine it would be quite distracting to have your series made into a popular series before you have finished writing it.
There has been enormous pressure on him to finish the books. He was unable to finish his series - The Song of Ice and Fire - before the end of HBO's Game of Thrones. Martin is still working on The Winds of Winter (book six) and he has not yet started A Dream of Spring (book seven).
Martin told the Guardian, "I need more hours in the day and more days in the week and more months in the year because the time does seem to go very fast." He also describes the stress he was under as "enormous."
"There were a couple of years where, if I could have finished the book, I could have stayed ahead of the show for another couple of years, and the stress was enormous,” he says. “I don't think it was very good for me, because the very thing that should have speeded me up actually slowed me down. Every day I sat down to write and even if I had a good day – and a good day for me is three or four pages – I'd feel terrible because I'd be thinking: 'My God, I have to finish the book. I’ve only written four pages when I should have written 40.’ But having the show finish is freeing, because I'm at my own pace now. I have good days and I have bad days and the stress is far less, although it's still there... I'm sure that when I finish A Dream of Spring you'll have to tether me to the Earth."The stress will never completely abate because he still has many fans who want to read the last two books. It would be impossible for him to not feel that. Whenever we are writing about George R.R. Martin not writing we are always reminded of the hilarious music video that implores him to write faster.
Martin also talked about how early on he would explore online message boards and be flattered that fans were talking about his books and the HBO series but then it started to bother him.
But then I began to think: "No, I should really steer clear. I don't like the fact that some people have figured things out that are correct, and I don't like the fact that other people have figured out things that are wrong but that could influence me too.’ So I took myself out of all that and let fans have their theories, some of which are right and some of which are wrong. They’ll find out which when I finish.”Martin would not talk to The Guardian about the controversial ending to the HBO series.