George R.R. Martin Says Plot Juggling Could Break Winds of Winter

George R.R. Martin has admitted that the very thing that made A Song of Ice and Fire so addictive—its enormous cast and tangled plots—is now threatening to break The Winds of Winter. More than a decade after A Dance with Dragons, the author says he feels like he’s “juggling a bunch of balls,” and keeping them all aloft is slower and harder than anyone imagined.

The Fantasy Epic That Grew Out of Control

Martin began writing the series in 1991, originally thinking it would span just three to five books, he told New Jersey Monthly. Instead, the saga ballooned into a multi-volume epic, with sprawling geography, dynastic history, and dozens of point-of-view characters driving the narrative.

In a quote resurfaced by IBTimes UK, Martin confessed that “the sheer size of the series is daunting.” He described a constant battle to keep plots straight and “all the balls separate from each other,” a problem that has only intensified as the books advanced.

One key turning point was his decision to abandon a planned five-year time skip between A Storm of Swords and the later books. Scrapping that idea meant he had to write A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons to cover those “missing” years, dramatically multiplying the number of plotlines that now need to be resolved in The Winds of Winter.

POV Regrets, Battles Ahead, and a Page Count That Soars

Martin’s trademark use of multiple point-of-view chapters helped define A Song of Ice and Fire, but it is also a major culprit behind the delay. He has even expressed regret over certain one-off POV choices, like Ser Arys Oakheart in A Feast for Crows, noting that his storyline could have been folded into Arianne Martell’s perspective instead. As FandomWire points out, even seemingly small structural decisions can compound into serious narrative headaches.

To streamline things at last, Martin has promised no new viewpoint characters in The Winds of Winter. Yet he’s also acknowledged that “a lot of characters who have sort of popped up and budded their way into the story” have already complicated the book. The result, he says, is a manuscript that feels less like one novel and more like “a dozen different novels” woven together.

We do know some of what’s coming. Martin has said the book will open with two major, long-teased battles: the fight in the ice near Winterfell and the clash at Meereen in Slaver’s Bay. As of late 2023, he estimated roughly 1,100–1,200 pages written, with “hundreds more pages to go,” suggesting The Winds of Winter may be one of the longest entries in the series.

All this unfolds while Martin remains involved in other projects, from the Targaryen chronicle Fire & Blood to the long-running Wild Cards universe and the wider Game of Thrones franchise. For readers, his candor offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at why finishing an era-defining fantasy series can be far harder—and far slower—than anyone planned.