Outlandish Chats
April 1, 1999

bar

Diana! Welcome!

DGabaldon: I'm here! Hi, all! [waving] My pleasure! Sorry for the confusion over times... the galleys for the COMPANION went back to publisher yesterday -- I have No Brain Left. [g]

Comment: oh no, don't tell us it's being postponed or something!
DGabaldon: No, No -- pub date is June 11, they tell me.

Comment: I just wanted to say thank you because of how your series has fired my imagination. I love your work and am waiting with bated breath until the next book is out.
DGabaldon: Thank you! I'm thrilled that so many people seem to like the books. Not anything I ever imagined happening. [g]

Comment: Well, I love your work Diana. It's had an impact on my life. Such deep detailed imagery.
DGabaldon: Many thanks! I'm always impressed at how friendly and kind everyone is -- to all the other readers, not just me! I was telling my husband at lunch, there's a saying, "God is in the details." [g] I don't know as I'd claim that, but I do just see lots of stuff.

Question: what I'd like to know, Diana, is this... in Outlander one line really hit me the line where when Claire and Brother Anselm are in the chapel and when Claire asks what to do Brother Anselm says, nothing...just be.... that line really hit me because we have adoration in our parish... what I would like to know is if your faith has carried you through the rough times in your life too???
DGabaldon: Well, thanks. I'm glad that struck you. We have Adoration, too; I go every Sunday night at midnight. Of course, some times are more spiritual than others, since my partner is a professional psychic, and occasionally he feels the need to tell me all about what he's "seeing." [g] Very nice guy, though. As for faith in general, yes. Actually, that's why the chat had to be rescheduled tonight; I'd forgotten about the Holy Thursday services, until I walked into church on Sunday and saw everyone waving palms around!

Question: Okay, this is a question that has had me on both sides of the fence, usually one every other day… can you tell us more about who the Alex BJR (Black Jake Randall) is calling out the name of while he's torturing Jamie is?
DGabaldon: Well, it could be Alex MacGregor -- you recall him? Or his brother. I'm not sure I know myself which one it was -- but we will find out more about the Randall family (you recall, there's one brother left, whom we haven't met yet [g]), and Jamie still has (or perhaps Jenny is keeping it for him) MacGregor's Bible -- we may yet find Alex's mother.

Question: Will the brother be more like Alex or BJ? [VEG]
DGabaldon: Oh, Edward Randall is quite his own man. [g]

Question: When you first started writing Outlander at point did you figure out that it was goign to take you six books to tell the whole story.
DGabaldon: Oh. Well, to start with, I just wanted to write one book… for practice. [G] But when I finished it and sent it to my agent, I told him… "I think there's more to the story, but I thought I should stop while I could still lift it." [G] He told the publishers who offered for it that there was more and they all said, "Oh, trilogies are hot right now, do you think she could do three?" To which my agent (he being a very good agent) replied, "Oh, I'm sure she could!" So they gave me a three book contract. Only then I got halfway through DRAGONFLY and realize I couldn't possibly cram the whole American Revolution into one more book... Anyway, about two years ago, is the short answer. [g]

Comment: wow, you were thinking that far ahead already while writing
DGabaldon: Oh, I could, but these publishers have very limited imaginations, you know.

Comment: If Diana wrote a 2000 page novel, I would read it!
DGabaldon: I reckon you have (read it), considering that there are something like 3600 pages in the four books so far. [g]

Question: At what point did you visit Scotland?
DGabaldon: After I sold OUTLANDER, but while I was writing DRAGONFLY. I couldn't very well tell my husband I had to go to Scotland to do research, while I wasn't telling him I was writing a book. [g]

Question: Have there been any dates set for your book tour for The Companion?
DGabaldon: Yes, actually there are. Just a minute... Had to run across the room and grab the letter from the publicist... [puff, pant] OK… July 6 - Seattle; July 7, San Francisco, July 8, San Francisco (this means around San Francisco), July 9 - Los Angeles… July 10-12 - Albuquerque (only one day of that will be book events; I'm meeting my family there and going to the opera in Santa Fe), July 13 - Denver; July 14 - Cincinnati/Dayton July 15 - Dayton, July 16 - Boston, and then...local events here in Arizona. Fairly short by book tour standards, but I'll be doing a Canadian tour just before this, too. Ga

Question: If Outlander was made into a movie, who would you case as Jamie?
DGabaldon: Oh, I wouldn't. Cast anyone as Jamie, I mean. [g] I've never seen any actor who looks like him. Ga

Question: Someone already asked my question and I got my answer...but do you plan a book tour in FL any time soon?
DGabaldon: I don't plan book tours. [g] The publicists at the various publishing houses do. What you do if you want an author to come to your city, is talk to the managers of all the bookstores you can; they talk to the sales reps, and the sales reps tell the publicists where they most want authors to go.

Question: I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to my aunt at the Scottsdale games. She is the one who was in a wheelchair and asked you to sign a card to a friend saying Let's do lunch! She loves your work - I'm addicted her well
DGabaldon: Oh, that was your aunt? Well, give her my regards. [g]

Question: I have two questions Is the character of Jamie components of people you have known? Is Roger going to be written as a stronger character?
DGabaldon: Well, my husband is 6'4" with red hair, and a very good sense of humor. [g] As for Roger, he'll come further into his own, now that he's in the New World -- I mean, there's just not a lot of heroic scope in Oxford or 1968 Inverness, no matter how great a guy is. [g]

Comment: I am really getting to like Roger, he sure is getting toughened up in the 18th century
DGabaldon: I'm very fond of Roger, too! Yeah, at the moment Roger is sort of wondering whether he can really bring himself to kill someone in cold blood -- and wondering how he can't. Well, see, these books are Jamie and Claire's story; Roger and Bree are important mostly because they're important parts of Jamie and Claire's life -- they aren't meant to take over the show, but they are real characters in their own right.

Question: I have a trilogy question -- first, are you as adept with witty repartee as your characters? Second, would it be appropriate for Ian to use an apishamore, an Objibway Indian word for trail blanket, usually of buffalo hide, while he is with the Indians? Finally a question from the "clan"... any particular significance to the black thumbprint on Roger's wrist -- is it from Jamie/Ian fight, the Indians or dirty fingers?
DGabaldon: No, I think rather slowly. [g] That's why I write books -- I can take my time. I dunno -- what is an apishamore? Well, given that he's living with the Mohawk rather than the Ojibway, probably not, then. [g] Quite possibly they did; but I don't reckon they called them apishamores. Just that Jamie has a strong grip. [g] I figure it was a bruise rather than smudge, myself.

Question: Diana, do all of these characters clammer for your attention?
DGabaldon: Yes, they talk to me pretty much all the time, but not all at once. [g] It's usually only one specific me either... voice I "hear" or one viewpoint that I'm seeing from.

Question: Where did you get the idea for Claire as the first-person character?
DGabaldon: Well, I wanted an Englishwoman, because I thought that had the potential for considerable conflict, given the historical timing. [g] But when I started writing a scene with this Englishwoman, she just announced who she was, and promptly took over and started telling the story herself, making all sorts of smart-ass modern remarks. At this point I said, "YOU don't sound like a historical person!" So I strugged with her for a couple of pages, but I couldn't beat her into shape and make her talk like an 18th century person... so I shrugged and said, "Phooey, I'm not going to fight with YOU all the way through this book. Go ahead and be modern and I'll figure out how you got there later!"

Question: You're very spiritual and have a friend who's a psychic. Do you believe in the paranormal? Any experiences?
DGabaldon: Well, yeah, within limits. [g] I walked into a ghost in the Alamo once, but that's the only really striking thing I can think of.

Question: How many books will be in the Outlander series? {I hope many} and will you ever start another series?
DGabaldon: We'll meet the Randalls and find out more about both their background and their future (i.e. Mary Hawkins and her baby) in the sixth book, I think. Yes, I do have another series in mind -- but it belongs to Master Raymond, not the Randalls.

Question: Will the 6th book be the last?
DGabaldon: The sixth book will be the last of Jamie and Claire's series; I have a "prequel" under contract that deals with Jamie's parents and the 1715 Rising, though.

Question: Will Bree and Roger have any more children?
DGabaldon: I sort of don't think birth control in the 18th century was all that reliable. [g]

Question: I find myself liking and despising Stephen Bonnet. Will we see more of him?
DGabaldon: Yes, we'll certainly see more of Stephen Bonnet (I quite like him myself) -- after all, he knows (or thinks he knows) that Brianna's baby is his.

Comment: Okay....Diana, I just wanted to say that I've loved your books from day 1 in hardcover… LOL... and got my sister hooked besides... and just wanted to say thank you for giving me something to escape to and dream about. I'm a history major with emphasis in the 1700s.....and I find your detail and descriptions just fascinating. Thanks so much for writing for us.
DGabaldon: Well, thank you for reading them and loving them. [smile]

Question: As a budding writer in awe of your work [g] I'd love to know: Do you plot these books formally beforehand, or are you a seat of the pants writer??
DGabaldon: No, I don't plot them; they wouldn't be any fun to write if I knew what was going to happen. [g] No, no outline as such -- it's just that as the story goes on, I do know a few particular things that will happen -- but I don't know how, and I don't know when. They just kind of give me a foothold on the story; a place to work from.

Question: Did Geilis intend bodily harm for Bree, or Royal rewards?
DGabaldon: Well, we'll know more about what Geillis intended, probably, when we learn the details of the Fraser Prophecy. [g]

Comment: Diana... thank you so much for joining us tonight! We'll look forward to seeing you again later tonight!
DGabaldon: Bye, guys, and thanks so much for coming! I'll see you (or possibly some more of you [g]) later on tonight. Happy Maundy Thursday -- or for those celebrating Passover -- Hag Sameach!

Comment: Diana, I wanted to let you know how much my husband loves your books and he is anxiously waiting for your next one.
DGabaldon: Tell him thanks. [g] 'Preciate the male vote!

Copyright Franklin Spier, Inc. 1997.

bar

|| HOME || Jen's Place ||
|| Outlandish News ||
|| The Books || Short Stories ||
|| Outlandish Biography || Outlandish Chats ||
|| Outlandish Rings || Outlandish Sites ||
|| Guestbook -- sign it || Guestbook -- view it || Guestbook Archives ||

bar

This page, free thanks to Geocities.
1