TIMING, the originally intended 5 year gap (spoiler)

[MIDNIGHT]

Okay, just a question here. At the end of ASOS, Martin was intending on a 5 year gap between it and the next book, AFFC. Obviously that never happened, as AFFC carried on from ASOS quite nicely. Now most of us are assuming that ADWD has a timeline that closely resembles that of AFFC and doesn't carry on for much farther because the book was split into 2. The timeline in AFFC doesn't seem very long 6-12 mnths at most, so if ADWD parallels this, the books really haven't progressed much farther then ASOS. Much of our speculations have been on the timeline only allowing certain things to happen, such as Cersai finding out that Loras had been burned badly near the end of AFFC, and that if we are to find out the result of this it will be at the end of ADWD. I'm starting to wonder if we are going to see a jump in the timeline of ADWD to at least make up some of the ground for the originally intended 5 year gap. Maybe not the full 5 yrs, but close. Am I losing my mind?

[TK-421]

I seem to recall GRRM addressing this when he published AFFC. Wert, that fountain of knowledge, would certainly be able to answer your question.

Also, remember that GRRM has said ADWD will parallel AFFC but will also advance the story with some new chapters from POV's in AFFC, like Arya, Sam and Asha.

[the smiling weirwood]

GRRM originally planned the time gap to allow his child characters to mature, but obviously he no longer cares whether we see children murdering people so I don't think he'll bother with it anymore.

[MIDNIGHT]

Your probably right that he has dropped the gap, its just that I think it would be hard. I think he needs these Characters to mature more.

[MrWright]

Problem I have is having a 5 year lull in the story where nothing worth mentioning happens...as it stands now, in 5 years, Westeros could be completely upside down with sansa ruling Dorne and Sandor rebuilding Winterfell.

[the smiling weirwood]

Mature physically?

I am happy he dropped the time gap. I think it makes for a far more interesting book to watch these characters change and grow.

[Overread]

Very true - I think he would have been hard pressed to have a 5 year gap with nothing major happening in it - too much is moving forward (or falling down) to have such a gap.
True some characters might "need" to mature to fit thier roles, but it is often the mark of a good story where the events and characters are the driving force and not just the writers story - though that shapes the world, if the charcters to not change and react accordingly then they appear flat and lifeless - something which is not GRRM at all

[The Curious Orange]

I have ultimate faith in GRRM to pull this one off with a stonker of an ending. However, I wonder what the series he wrote in the parallel universe where he went with the 5-year-gap was like. Man, I'd love to read that, preferably while listening to the Beatles' thirteenth album...

[woodsman]

I thought the gap was so the dragons could grow? Well thats what I thought I thought, I don't think anyone with a brain ever made that connection....
Howsumdever, the little nippers seem to have grwon at asurprising rate of knots as 'tis and so perhaps we don't need to wait for them, perchance they wont fight.

Ah, the wonders of pedigree chum.