George R.R. Martin Explains Why Winds of Winter Is Taking So Long

George R.R. Martin spoke with The Guardian about the delay in writing The Winds of Winter, the latest book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. Martin told the site that he’s aware that the book has high expectations from his fanbase, making him “conscious I have to do something great.”

“I’ve been struggling with it for a few years,” Martin said. “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 said that Game of Thrones’ success had had an impact as well, noting, “The show has achieved such popularity around the world, the books have been so popular and so well reviewed, that every time I sit down I’m very conscious I have to do something great, and trying to do something great is a considerable weight to bear. On the other hand, once I really get rolling, I get into the world. The rest of the world vanishes, and I don’t care what I’m having for dinner, what movies are on, what my email says or who’s mad at me this week because The Winds of Winter isn’t out — all that is gone and I’m just living in the world I’m writing about.”

The last book, A Dance With Dragons, was published in 2011.