The Winds of Winter Delay: GRRM Admits 'Very, Very Challenging' POV Structure

Let's be honest: waiting for The Winds of Winter has become a defining feature of modern fandom. It has been more than a decade since A Dance with Dragons left readers on several agonising cliffhangers.

While theories, impatience, and memes have filled the void, the author himself, George R.R. Martin, has explained exactly why he's struggling to finish it. The problem isn't just writer's block; it's the sheer, self-created complexity of Westeros, which he now admits is a primary source of the massive delay.

In his interview with The Guardian, the author confessed the enormous scale of the task:

'The Winds of Winter is not so much a novel as a dozen novels, each with a different protagonist, each having a different cast of supporting players, antagonists, allies and lovers around them, and all of these weaving together against the march of time in an extremely complex fashion. So it's very, very challenging'.

Martin has been spending more than a decade trying to complete the sixth installment in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. So far, he has written more than a thousand pages of the manuscript, as per his revelation on Tooning Out the News, yet the end remains elusive.

Why George R.R. Martin Believes This Structure Is Necessary

One of the most notable aspects of reading Martin's bestselling novel series is the way he wrote through multiple viewpoints. This method gives readers an intimate chance to know each character's inner thoughts and perceptions about the events surrounding them. Throughout his career, he has experimented with various techniques, and he found writing in the omniscient point of view not persuasive enough.

In his interview with Talk To Al Jazeera, he shared that he settled with a tight viewpoint structure because he feels it's the best way to tell a story. For a fantasy saga as massive as A Song of Ice and Fire, he needed multiple viewpoints because this medieval world war cannot be told from a single perspective.

'You need all of those points of view intercutting between them to assemble a mosaic that comes close to telling the entire story'.

Each character is like a brush stroke that contributes to painting the whole picture, and with multiple characters giving their own account of a singular event, it makes it even more complicated for Martin to write and interweave.

This is the exact 'challenging' POV structure Martin admits is central to The Winds of Winter delay. The very technique that makes the books so compelling is also his greatest obstacle. It's no wonder he's been taking so long to complete The Winds of Winter.

What Else Is Delaying George R.R. Martin?

The complex story of his upcoming book isn't the only reason it's not yet finished. Martin admitted other parts of his job as a writer have also been contributing to the delay of The Winds of Winter.

In the same conversation with The Guardian, he revealed that the overwhelming number of distractions, as well as obligations brought by the success of the franchise—such as meetings and book tours—take up so much of his time.

He did confirm, though, that he has already come up with an ending, especially for the major players, although he only knew it by 'broad strokes'. Martin said it could also change as he goes along with his writing, so nothing is truly set in stone for the finale.

A Song of Ice and Fire Release History

George R.R. Martin's admission confirms what many suspected: the delay isn't just about distractions, but about the 'very, very challenging' multi-POV structure he chose. The very technique that made A Song of Ice and Fire a masterpiece is now the main obstacle to its completion, turning the sixth book into a dozen warring novels.

As fans, the wait continues. But with this understanding, perhaps the endless impatience can be tempered with an appreciation for the sheer, 'challenging' complexity of the story he is trying to tell. The grand mosaic of Westeros is still being assembled; we must simply wait for the artist to place the final tiles.