George RR Martin to focus on finishing book instead of writing for 'Game of Thrones'

American novelist George RR Martin has revealed that he won't contribute to the sixth season of fantasy drama Game of Thrones as he wants to focus on finishing his book The Winds of Winter.

The 66-year-old author told E! Weekly last month that he was making every effort to finish the next book in his Song of Ice and Fire saga before the sixth season of the series based on his novels debuts next year.

Martin has also cut down on media interviews and has cancelled planned convention appearances, including July's San Diego-based mega-conference Comic-Con.

He asserted that maybe he was being overly optimistic about how quickly he could finish but he cancelled two convention appearances and he was turning down a lot more interviews and anything he could do to clear his decks and get this done.

Martin previously penned an episode for seasons 1-4 but opted out of writing for the current fifth season.