Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin was asked what one thing he'd change about his A Song of Ice and Fire Books, and answered: "I'd have them finished."
Martin spoke with the Oxford Writers' House about his career and, while he wasn't asked about his infamously delayed penultimate books The Winds of Winter, he was asked what he'd change from the books already written.
"I don't know, I can probably change more than one thing," Martin said, before laughing. "If I could change one thing about one of my books I'd have them finished."
The Winds of Winter was originally expected three years after the last book, A Dance With Dragons, in 2014, meaning it's now 10 years late. Fans chagrined in 2023 when Martin said he'd written around 1,100 pages of the book, which was the same number he'd given a year earlier, though there is plenty of work to be done without actually increasing the page total.
Martin went on to talk about his friend and author of The Book of the New Sun series Gene Wolf, who had a full-time job alongside his writing so was able to pen the entire fantasy series without deadlines and other external pressure, then go back and make sure everything lined up correctly before the books went out the door.
George R.R. Martin was not able to emulate that process with Game of Thrones, something he lamented in his answer.
"There is something very liberating from an artistic point of view, if you don't have to worry, if you happen to inherit a huge trust fund or a castle or something like that, and you can write your entire series without having to sell it, without having to worry about deadlines," Martin said.
"That's something that I would envy, but I've never done that. I never could have done that, even now, but believe it or not I am not taking all that time to write Winds of Winter just because I think I'm Gene Wolf now. I'd love to have it finished years ago, but yeah, that's the big thing I think I would change."
Martin offered somewhat of a story tease for The Winds of Winter in July 2024, saying it will explain the relationship between dragons and humans and how the Targaryen's is different.
He's yet to reveal a release date, of course, but fans can at least enjoy the current books (which are about to get a refreshed cover design) in the meantime, and enjoy the myriad spin-off shows like House of the Dragon and the incoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Image credit: Amy Sussman/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
