Jan 02, 2016 04:09 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

George R.R. Martin had his readers glued to their Twitter feeds New Year's Day while he was publishing a series of 2015 recaps.

In one particular post, the A Song of Ice and Fire author said he somehow lost a lengthy blog post detailing the past year. Instead, he wrote truncated versions in individual posts, so one was about his television work, another about his accolades, so on.

Martin inevitably had to give an update on Winds of Winter, the anticipated sixth ASOIAF novel, and fans of the series believed this update was "the one." Martin previously told Entertainment Weekly he wanted to finish the book before the sixth season of "Thrones."

But like he has done so masterfully over five epic novels, Martin yanked the rug from under his readers.

He is "not finished" writing Winds of Winter and is "months away" from being done. This means HBO's wildly popular show that draws its premise from Martin's novels, "Game of Thrones," will take the lead in the race to the end for the first time.

The show won't hold that lead for long because as long as the book is out before season seven, it will likely posses a chunk of the story larger than the upcoming sixth season. Martin and the show's creators, Dan Weiss and David Benioff, have worked closely on "Thrones" from the start and they are three of a small handful of people in the world who know how the story ends. How either one gets there will be entirely different.

It it's any consolation, previous statistical projections of the Winds of Winter release date have indicated all along that it wouldn't hit shelves until "late 2016 or early 2017." Both FiveThirtyEight and War and Politics of Ice and Fire have been devoted to such projections, which entail factors like Martin's writing pace, his mood, and the growing landscape of the story.

But regardless that the show will get to reveal Jon Snow's fate and possibly a few other major events, there are at least five major plotlines the show couldn't spoil even if it wanted to.

1.     King Stannis Baratheon's conquest

Martin has kept Stannis very much alive in his books. Not only that, he has Theon (Reek) and his sister Asha (Yara in the show) with him. "Thrones" may have already spoiled the sacrificing of Shireen, but everything else Stannis does in Winds of Winter will be unspoiled.

2.     The war for Meereen

Barristan Selmy is also not dead in Martin's books and it's him holding down the city of Meereen in Daenerys' absence. Tyrion and Jorah are outside the city when the fighting begins and have certainly not met Daenerys. Given how she exited Daznak's Pit, they won't meet her anytime soon.

3.     Pretty much anything that happens to Sansa

Sansa remains in the Eyrie learning the art of manipulation from Littlefinger. She may soon return to Winterfell, but it will not be to marry Ramsay Bolton. Martin had his own version of those events.

4.     Pretty much everything going on in Dorne

"Thrones" chose to leave several Dornish characters out of its fifth season, and the sixth as well, barring any surprise reveals. "Thrones" fans were not happy with the Dorne story, especially the Sandsnakes girls. On the contrary, the "Dornish master plan," as it's known is one of the most compelling plots Martin has going.

5.     A particular hooded woman

"Thrones" continually teases Lady Stoneheart's introduction to the show, but never follows through. They even put Sansa in a hood for a pivotal episode just to mess with us. At this point the show let too much time pass to introduce Stoneheart, so it looks like a certain cliffhanger involving everyone's favorite member of House Tarth won't be spoiled ahead of Winds of Winter' release.

6. (Bonus!) The "mummer's dragon"

One of the most anticipated reveals forthcoming in Winds of Winter will be the identity of "Young Griff," who claims to be Rhaegar Targaryen's son Aegon. Along with Jon Connington, who masqueraded as "Griff," Aegon should lead his forces on Storm's End fairly early on in Winds. And if Dorne joins his cause, he'll be hard to stop.

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