Game Of Thrones Book Not Out Before TV Series
George R R Martin admits he is still months away for completing his sixth novel and says deadlines "stress him out".
There was bad news for fans of Game of Thrones after author George R R Martin admitted he had missed his second deadline for his new novel.
It means The Winds Of Winter book will "almost certainly" not be coming out before the sixth season of the show premieres on television in April.
Martin has worked with writers and producers to help the TV series mirror the fantasy novels.
But the forthcoming season will reportedly use an outline of events from the new book rather than fully finished material.
On his website, he wrote: "Given where we are, inevitably, there will be certain plot twists and reveals in season six of Game of Thrones that have not yet happened in the books.
"For years my readers have been ahead of the viewers. This year, for some things, the reverse will be true."
He said to his fans: "For months now I have wanted nothing so much as to be able to say, 'I have completed and delivered The Winds of Winter' on or before the last day of 2015. But the book's not done.
"Nor is it likely to be finished tomorrow, or next week. Yes, there's a lot written. Hundreds of pages. Dozens of chapters.
"But there's also a lot still left to write. I am months away still … and that's if the writing goes well. (Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't.)"
Martin had originally been given a deadline of the end of last October (Halloween) to complete the book so it could be published by the end of March 2016.
However, he admitted "the writing did not go as fast or as well as I would have liked" and so the deadline was extended to the end of December.
But Martin went on: "The book is not done, not delivered. No words can change that. I tried, I promise you. I failed. I blew the Halloween deadline, and I've now blown the end of the year deadline.
"And that almost certainly means that no, The Winds Of Winter will not be published before the sixth season of Game of Thrones premieres in April (mid April, we are now told, not early April, but those two weeks will not save me)."
Martin also said his writing process had been delayed by personal events, including his nephew's wedding.
"The days and weeks flew by faster than the pile of pages grew, and (as I often do) I grew unhappy with some of the choices I'd made and began to revise... and suddenly it was October, and then November... and as the suspicion grew that I would not make it after all, a gloom set in, and I found myself struggling even more.
"The fewer the days, the greater the stress, and the slower the pace of my writing became."
He added: "There are no excuses. No one else is to blame. But no, I can't tell you when it will be done, or when it will be published.
"Best guess, based on our previous conversations, is that Bantam (and presumably my British publisher as well) can have the hardcover out within three months of delivery, if their schedules permit.
"But when delivery will be, I can't say. I am not going to set another deadline for myself to trip over. The deadlines just stress me out.
"I am going back to my stance from last March, before all this. It will be done when it's done. And it will be as good as I can possibly make it."
