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Published 15:42 IST, August 18th 2019

George RR Martin admits: 'Game Of Thrones TV series wasn't very good for me, slowed me down'

Author George RR Martin believes "Game of Thrones", the TV series, "slowed" him down on the path to completing his book series.

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Author George RR Martin believes "Game of Thrones", the TV series, "slowed" him down on the path to completing his book series.

The HBO series, based on Martin's series of fantasy novels "A Song of Ice and Fire", aired in 2011 and had its series finale this May. His fifth and most recent volume of the series, "A Dance with Dragons", was published in 2011 and he is currently writing the sixth novel, "The Winds of Winter".

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"I don't think (the TV series) was very good for me. The very thing that should have speeded me up actually slowed me down," he said 

"Every day I sat down to write and even if I had a good day... I'd feel terrible because I'd be thinking: 'My God, I have to finish the book. I've only written four pages when I should have written 40'," Martin told The Observer in an interview

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READ: Didn't Seriously Consider Reshooting 'Game Of Thrones' Final Season: HBO President

The writer also promised fans that the controversial climax of the TV series will bear no influence on the future novels in the book series. The season finale received more brickbats than bouquets. Martin said he is sticking to his original plan when it comes to the last two novels -- "The Winds of Winter" and "A Dream of Spring".

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"It doesn't change anything at all. You can't please everybody, so you've got to please yourself," he said, adding some of the fan theories are right and some are wrong about how things would end in books.

They'll find out when I finish," he said.

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Meanwhile, over a million angry and heartbroken "Game of Thrones" fans had signed an online petition demanding the show's finale be reshot and after more than two months since its end. However, HBO responded and said that the team did not take the petition to film the eighth season all over again "seriously". Showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss have been under fire for below-par scriptwriting and poor portrayal of women in the final season of the HBO series, based on author George RR Martin's book series "A Song of Ice and Fire". The petition, which gained over a million signatures, read: "David Benioff and DB Weiss have proven themselves to be woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material to fall back on.

READ: 'Game Of Thrones' Showrunners Strike Exclusive Film, TV Deal With Netflix

Despite divided reviews, the show went on get a historic 32 Emmy nominations last week. "Thirty-two Emmy nominations is certainly nice validation," Bloys added. He further said the shooting of the "Game of Thrones" prequel is complete and it is currently in the editing stage. 

11:50 IST, August 18th 2019