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  === Chapters ===
  ''The Winds of Winter'' was originally intended, in the very early stages of the series, to be the final installment of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' (then conceived as a trilogy). Following his expansion of the series, Martin eventually concluded it would be succeeded by one final novel, ''A Dream of Spring''. By June 2010, Martin had finished four chapters for ''The Winds of Winter'' from the viewpoints of Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, and Arianne Martell. In July 2010, he added an Aeron Greyjoy chapter that had been moved from ''A Dance with Dragons'' to ''The Winds of Winter'', accumulating around 100 completed manuscript pages. Following the publication of ''A Dance with Dragons'' in the summer of 2011, Martin announced his return to writing  the series in January 2012, having spent the intervening time on his U.S. and overseas book publicity tours and attending various conventions. He continued to work, with his two co-authors Elio García and Linda Antonsson, on the illustrated series companion guide ''The World of Ice & Fire'' concordance and Westeros history. He also worked on a Westeros story, the fourth ''Tales of Dunk and Egg'' novella.
  In December 2011, Martin posted a Theon Greyjoy viewpoint chapter from ''The Winds of Winter''; he also announced that another sample chapter would be included at the end of the North American paperback version of ''A Dance with Dragons'', which was originally expected to be released in summer 2012, but was released on October 29, 2013. (International paperback editions of ''A Dance with Dragons'' published a year earlier did not include a new, as yet unpublished sample chapter.) In the first quarter of 2012, Martin read new chapters of other characters at public events, including the chapters of Victarion Greyjoy and Tyrion Lannister. Martin continued work editing anthologies and completing a large, highly detailed series atlas ''The Lands of Ice and Fire'', which was published in October 2012. Martin published another sample chapter from Arianne Martell's POV on his website in January 2013. On March 27, ten days before the ''Game of Thrones'' season four premiere, Martin posted a chapter on his website, titled ''Mercy''. Martin said the new chapter is actually an old one, though never published nor publicly read. In April 2015, Martin posted a Sansa Stark viewpoint chapter from ''The Winds of Winter'' titled ''Alayne''.  In May 2016, Martin replaced this chapter with an Arianne Martell chapter he had read from at Mysticon, and an Aeron Greyjoy chapter that was removed from ''A Dance with Dragons'' was read at Balticon.
  As of June 2016, a total of 11 chapters from ''The Winds of Winter'' have been either read publicly or published as a sample chapter. The point of view characters with released material are Victarion, Aeron, Tyrion, Barristan, Arianne, Theon, Mercy (Arya), and Alayne (Sansa). Several websites, including Goodreads, have dedicated entire discussion panels to any material that has been released from ''The Winds of Winter'', including plot twists, theories, and speculations. In 2018, Martin indicated he would not release any more sample chapters.