'Winds of Winter' release date 2016: George R.R. Martin grills Stephen King; still no 'WoW' date set

"The Winds of Winter" author George R.R. Martin recently sat down with prolific horror/sci-fi writer Stephen King, from whom he could learn a thing or two about hitting deadlines and writing novels in a more timely manner.

The two bestselling scribes were at the Kiva Theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Thursday, June 16, where Martin interviewed King for his "End of Watch" book tour.

According to Bustle, Martin and King talked shop during the event and, in an amusing exchange, discussed their vastly different book-writing speeds. While there are few photos and no videos from the actual event, Redditor jmsturm shared the following anecdote from Martin's interview with King:

"George asked him 'How the f— do you write so fast? I have a good six months and crank out 3 chapters, meanwhile you wrote 3 books in that time!' Stephen answered that he writes almost every day and demands 6 pages a day from him self. [sic] George was amazed by that. He replied 'You always get six pages? You never get constipated? You never get up and go get the mail, and think "Maybe I don't have any talent and should have been a plumber?'"'"

Martin has been working on his epic fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire," on which the popular HBO series "Game of Thrones" is based, for at least twenty years. As Esquire pointed out, if Martin wrote as fast as King, he would have finished the series by 2003.

As it stands, the sixth installment to "A Song of Ice and Fire," the forthcoming "The Winds of Winter," is long overdue and has been famously overtaken by "Game of Thrones."

Martin has twice missed the deadline set by his publishers for "The Winds of Winter." Earlier this year, he announced that he is putting aside all his other projects so that he can work on the novel without distractions.

While the "GoT" author has yet to announce the official release date for the forthcoming sixth "ASOIAF" installment, he has been generously sharing sample chapters from "The Winds of Winter." To date, the bestselling author has released 13 sample chapters, which fans have compiled into a PDF ebook.