It’s been 12 years since George RR Martin last published a novel in his A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series.

Since then the Game of Thrones HBO show has been and gone, with showrunners being forced to rely on his outlines for the last two unwritten books to finish the story.

Fans recently uncovered an interview with the author at a Portuguese Fantasy Convention he attended virtually, where he gave an update on his progress with The Winds of Winter.

The 75-year-old said: “I’m 12 years late on this damn novel and I’m struggling with it.

“I have like 1100 pages written, but I still have hundreds more pages to go. It’s a big mother of a book.”

Martin continued: “For whatever reason, maybe I should have started writing small books when I began this but… it’s tough. But that’s the main thing that dominates most of my working life.”

Fans on the ASOIAF Reddit pointed out a few things about the comments from this video, which was only published on YouTube this month.