This has to be one of the worst cases of “writers block” in recorded history.
I haven’t read any of the books. Do you think he has stopped because he has been distracted by his success? Did he write himself into a corner that he can’t get out of? Is there some other explanation?
My best guess, and of course, it's just a guess, is it is a combination.
I think the success of the show was definitely distracting, but I also think he'd already sort of written himself into a corner in that in the last 2 books that came out, he brought in so many new elements, even if the show had never been made, he would have had a hard time bringing it all together and finishing. With the show, I think it was easy for him to put off working on the next book for a while, and then once show went beyond what he'd written, that was pretty much that.
I also wonder if, since he did give the sketch of where he planned to go and how he planned to finish to the show runners, and seeing how adverse the reaction was to how it ended (and I'm not just talking about how it all seemed very rushed, I'm talking about plot - like, I could be wrong, but I figure Daenerys going full "Burn them all" Targ at the end was GRRM's plan, but seeing so many lose it over that, and not in the same way people lost it over other plot twists), I think he just said, "fuck it."
