'Winds of Winter release date, plot news: Martin's writing process may further delay book's release; Book may come out before S7 premiere

Winter is coming. But a new book from George R.R. Martin may not.

Fans of the massively popular high fantasy series, "A Song of Ice and Fire" are just about ready for the sixth installment to arrive. Unfortunately, they may have to wait a little while longer as the famous author himself has admitted a slow writing progress for the particular book, which will ultimately be titled, "The Winds of Winter."

Despite previously stating that he was putting most of his other writing-related projects on hold to concentrate on the much awaited title, an early 2017 release may still not be possible. But great works of art are never rushed, and fans continue to wait with bated breath for their beloved slow writer to eventually finish what they expect to be another powerful masterpiece.

Another author, Ty Franck, who used to be Martin's assistant, shared a possible reason for his fellow writer's slow progress. He described Martin as the kind of wordsmith who would sit down in front of the keyboard and wait for inspiration to strike. As opposed to Franck, who preferred knowing an endpoint to his narrative, Martin liked to work on a scene that was resonating the hardest with him at that moment, and then string everything together in the end.

"He's much more comfortable rewriting chapters over and over and over and over again than I am," Franck further said in an interview with Light Speed Magazine.

In a 2012 interview with Smarter Travel, Martin shared that the upcoming sixth book will pick up on the loose threads left by the previous installment, which had been building up to the two big battles that "The Winds of Winter" will open with.

As of the moment, there are still no confirmed details about the book's release, although there have been speculations that "The Winds of Winter" may come just before the seventh season of the TV adaptation airs next year.

Martin has promised fans that once information regarding the book's official release is available, he will be informing them himself through his regularly updated blog, Not A Blog.