Brandon Sanderson is urging fans to show George R.R. Martin empathy rather than frustration over the long-delayed The Winds of Winter, the sixth novel in A Song of Ice and Fire. Speaking in an exclusive conversation with Collider at FanX Salt Lake, Sanderson addressed the fifteen years that have passed since A Dance with Dragons was published in July 2011, a wait that continues to weigh on Game of Thrones fans still hoping to read more about Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, and the rest of Martin's characters.
During the discussion, Sanderson also spoke about Patrick Rothfuss, another fantasy author he counts as a friend. Sanderson is widely recognized for his prolific and consistent output across multiple interconnected fantasy series, a track record that often invites comparisons to Martin's slower pace. But Sanderson pushed back on the idea that he possesses some special writing talent Martin lacks. Instead, he described his own personality as naturally built for what he called "slow and steady" progress, explaining that his routine involves writing daily even without strong bursts of inspiration. He noted that many writers function differently, depending more on intense creative motivation, which he said can make consistent output far more difficult to sustain.
Sanderson's most pointed defense of Martin centered on the human toll behind the unfinished manuscript rather than scheduling habits. He revealed that some of his writer friends have faced mental health challenges, and that members of his own family have dealt with similar struggles. He argued that combining those difficulties with the enormous public expectations surrounding The Winds of Winter could make the creative process significantly harder, and that the intense scrutiny fans place on Martin's every statement about the book may function as an added obstacle rather than motivation.
Sanderson also pointed out that Martin's circumstances since A Dance with Dragons go well beyond simply not finishing a manuscript. In that time, Game of Thrones grew into a global television phenomenon, while House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms further expanded the Westeros franchise, drawing Martin into projects beyond the books themselves. Sanderson stopped short of offering any timeline for The Winds of Winter or excusing an open-ended delay, but maintained that treating an author as a machine expected to produce on demand ignores the real challenges behind the work.
Photo: Nihonjoe, CC BY 3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
