BY: BOOKMANS

Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander series, discusses her writing method, research, why she isn't surprised Lord John Grey is such a popular character, the upcoming Outlander graphic novel, Dr. Who, and An Echo in the Bone, the follow-up to A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

Diana Gabaldon is the author of the bestselling Outlander series, which includes Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, and A Breath of Snow and Ashes, as well as the spin-off series of Lord John Grey novels.

She will be reading at the 11th annual Arizona Highland Celtic Festival in Flagstaff on Saturday, July 19th at 3 p.m., and will sign at the Bookmans booth immediately following.

Photos courtesy of Diana Gabaldon, with credit to Nancy Castaldo and Barbara Schnell.

What do you enjoy about speaking and signing at Celtic and Highland festivals in comparison to a standard book tour?

Men in kilts, what else?

Do you have the same enthusiasm for promoting a new book as you did five, ten years ago? 

I don't know as I ever had what you'd call enthusiasm for it. It's part of the job, and I'm actually a lot better at it now than I was in the beginning, so probably enjoy it somewhat more. A book-tour is still not something anybody does for fun, believe me. 
 
What's the most common question fans ask you at readings? 

WHEN IS THE NEXT BOOK COMING OUT?!?!

You started a blog in January - Voyages of the Artemis - because, as you say in your first entry, you didn't have the facility for fan feedback on your website. How are you finding the experience so far? 

It's a lot of fun, though what with recent travels and house - buying/furnishing etc., I've not posted as much as I'd like lately. Should be able to get back into the rhythm of it this month, though.

As someone who started her career by posting excerpts of Outlander on CompuServ in the eighties, do you feel that early online presence helped foster the popularity of your novels?  

Oh, yeah. Given the weirdness of what I write (books with no discernible genre - or all of them - and plots and conflicts that no one yet has succeeded in describing in twenty-five words or less), the only way of inducing people to read them was - and is - handing out free samples.

Will AN ECHO IN THE BONE, the follow-up to A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, be the final book in the Outlander series? Is the novel still set for release in 2009? 

No, and yes. Probably early fall of 2009, as we'd like to coordinate the release with a new graphic-novel project (a "new" Jamie and Claire story, based on - but not a straight adaptation of - OUTLANDER), which the publisher hopes to release in mid-summer of 2009.

What's a typical day of writing like for Diana Gabaldon right now?  

I'm heavy into the new novel - what I call "critical mass," where I can sit down on any day and the book is up and running - so right now, I'm working (usually) in three shifts. In the morning, I stagger up to my office around 9:30 or 10 with a Diet Coke and do email for a bit; then when I'm compos mentis enough to write - around 10:30 or 11:00 - I'll try to get a foothold on the work for the day. After lunch, I'll maybe get another hour, maybe two, before I go out to run household errands, do exercise, garden, cook dinner. After dinner, I hang with my husband for awhile, then tuck him in (he likes to go to bed around 10 p.m.), and go lie down with a book. If no one needs me for anything, I'll usually fall asleep within twenty minutes or so - but will wake up at midnight or 1 a.m., at which point I get up and go back to work. The major part of the day's work takes place between midnight and 4 a.m., which is when I go back down to bed.

What's a better feeling: finishing a novel or when it's actually released? 

Finishing. Nothing like it.

Your background and passion for research is evident in every book you write. How much does your research help form the story you are telling? Has something you've stumbled upon in your research ever changed your planned direction for the story?  

Well, the research and the writing are concurrent - and I don't really plan the direction of the story to start with. I don't write with an outline, and I don't even write in a straight line. I write in bits and pieces, where I can see things happening, and then glue bits together. As I get more bits, the pieces start to form larger chunks. 

So yes, I constantly take "kernels" of inspiration from the research, and as the scenes form, I discover things I want/need to know, which sends me back to the research material, which provides more fascinating bits, and…so forth, and so on.

Is there one source in particular you've relied on more than any other during the course of the series?