Well, now–here’s a question to keep you entertained while I’m gearing up to visit the UK: What sorts of things might you like to see in THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION, Volume II?
I’ll be working on this book during 2010 (yes, yes, along with Book Eight, and a few other things, no doubt), but am just beginning to form up an idea of the potential contents. There will of course be
Detailed synopses of
THE FIERY CROSS
A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES
AN ECHO IN THE BONE
and
LORD JOHN AND THE PRIVATE MATTER
LORD JOHN AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE
LORD JOHN AND THE HAND OF DEVILS
“Cast of Characters” listings for all the aforementioned books. These lists note which books each character appears in, and give a thumbnail description of each character (for those readers who have trouble remembering who’s who).
A Comprehensive, Alphabetized and Phonetic Glossary of All the Gaelic in All the Books (so far). [g]
Interesting Features on Writing in General (chunk writing vs. outlines, how to organize scenes so you can find them again, the Fine Art of Backing Up, etc.) and Writing These Books in Particular (the “shape” of each book, internal structure, and interconnections)
Reader’s Guides (book-club discussion questions and commentary)
Features on Costume and Cookery of the 18th Century
A Truly Massive (but well-organized!) Bibliography, of allllll the References used in writing the more recent Books.
Many Inspiring and Beautiful Photographs of the Scottish Highlands (and perhaps a few less inspiring ones of the author) taken by Barbara Schnell, the German translator for the books.
A Selection of the most Piquant, Poignant, Offensive, and/or Hilarious (whether deliberately or inadvertently) Letters received–and the Author’s Unexpurgated Responses to Same.
Controversy: Commentary and discussion on the more controversial scenes, themes, or incidents in the various books.
So….what else? All suggestions welcome!
Dear Nancy–
Well, not _quite_ voyageurs [g], but I think you'll enjoy the next Lord John short piece–"The Custom of the Army." That'll be out in March, in an anthology called WARRIORS (edited by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois), and it deals with the battle of the Plains of Abraham, before the Citadel of Quebec. It's got French people in it. [g]
Re out-takes, etc.
Look, guys–I think many of y'all are under the impression that I think these books out in advance, and thus _have_ scenes, storylines, etc. that just don't make the final cut.
That's not how I work. I _don't_ plan the books out in advance (at all), and I work in disconnected pieces that eventually sprout connections and join (slowly) to form a coherent shape–at which point, the writing gets faster and easier, because I can see the shape of what's missing.
Once in a long while, I'll start a scene and it just doesn't go anywhere. Most often, I just leave the fragment and go work somewhere else, and sometimes later (sometimes _much_ later), I'll come to a spot where I realize that fragment can be salvaged to fit, or can be the springboard to something quite different–but I really don't _have_ tons of unused 'stuff'. Almost everything I write either ends up in the book, or is just fragmentary bits that I shovel into a compost heap and mind occasionally for imagery or ideas. That kind of stuff wouldn't make any sense to a reader, though; it's not even complete sentences, for the most part, let alone a coherent scene.
ONCE in a long while, I'll have a scene that's coherent and good–but just doesn't fit in the book. Generally, that's because it belongs in the _next_ book [g], so I just keep it until the spot for it shows up.
But no, I really don't have any kind of out-takes that would be interesting to read.
Dear Chelsea–
My regards to William! [s]
Henri-Christian is (in part) the result of a brief conversation I had with a Canadian producer at CBC, where I was doing an interview on a book-tour some years past.
After the interview, we were chatting, and she remarked that one thing she particularly admired about my books was the way in which I portrayed people with disabilities–i.e., as real people, part of their families and communities (it was Iain Finlay she was struck by; the man with cerebral palsy in FIERY CROSS, at the Gathering)–and mentioned that she had a young daughter with achondroplasia.
It immediately popped into my mind that Fergus and Marsali's next child was a dwarf, and so I did a certain amount of research on dwarfism in general, achondroplasia in particular–and asked a couple of my medical friends whether they'd had an experiences with such children.
So that's where Henri-Christian came from. When I was working on ECHO, I knew I had to have some Really Pressing Reason for Claire to travel back to America before Jamie could leave Scotland, and thought of various things, including a dangerous subsequent pregnancy for Marsali–but we'd kind of Done That with Lizzie and the transverse lie, and you really don't want to repeat an effect without a truly good (dramatic) reason, so…eventually I asked one of the aforesaid medical friends (Dr. Amarilis Iscold, a lovely Brazilian pediatrician) whether she could think of anything that might be a dangerous problem for Henri-Christian–maybe something respiratory (because I'd read enough to know that children with dwarfism often have such problems), but it had to be something Claire could reasonably address with what was available in the 18th century. So Amarilis came up with the notion of adenoids–mentionoing that enlarged adenoids often run in families, and if they did in this case, Claire might have noticed Germain or the girls mouth-breathing, or having the classic "long face" of a person whose adenoids prevent them breathing normally through their nose. So I put in such a mention, in one of Claire's letters to Bree, and there we were. [g]
I am dying to know how you fit everything into your day! Especially with kids (I know your kids are older now) but seriously how did you ever get a moment to yourself?? Even as I type this everyone is suddenly talking to me! How do your organize your day? Also, how do you keep track of all your ideas and different story lines along with paying bills and grocery shopping??
Check out this great museum-the history of shoes is detailed, with photos of the collections:
http://www.batashoemuseum.ca
How about a section that lists chronologically the various sex scenes in the books! *g* (You know, just in case there's a need, ye ken!)
If that's not feasible how about listing some holiday traditions (ex: Christmas) that was enjoyed in the 1700's.
Dear Diana,
thank you for asking
- Maps, yes please.
- Costumes are a great idea… Claire's Gutenberg gown for example
- Maybe a recipe or two for anything from food to hair shampoo
- Indians… for example what would a typical Mohawk look like
- Inspirations… I love finding out what inspired various scenes
- Picture of Rollo
- Maybe tie-in with a charity that Claire would have liked, like 'Médecins Sans Frontières'. donating a small percentage to it.
- Lyrics and music to one or two of the songs from the books.
Overall, I would love to see new material (thoughts) of any kind. When I read the first companion I was a bit disappointed that I had actually come across most of the interesting stuff already, either on your website or in interviews.
Good luck with the writing and should you find yourself anywhere near Devon on your UK tour, I'd be happy to play tourist guide for a day… or maybe, considering the weather, I should say, show you were to get a good hot chocolate!
Hope you have a great time whatever the temperatures
I'd love to see recipes for the food they ate and for the non-toxie herbal tinctures and such that Clare uses. I'd love to see all the recipes but I appect that puttingones that could be toxic could be a risk.
I would like to see a timeline of the battles referred to in the books. I admit I did not pay attention to my history classes.
I would love a kind of blueprint of som of the important buildings like Castle Leoch, Lallybroch, the house in the rue tremoulins etc.
It would also be very interesting to know if you found some more "accidental" similiarities between your stories and the real history. I loved to read about you finding out about the Scot called Dunbonnet and after using it in your story found out that this guys name was actually James Fraser (or only Fraser, I can't remember…).
Or/And maybe some information about the everyday life in the 2nd half of the 18th century(including customs etc) would be very interesting and even supportive to understand and relate to the actions of the characters a bit more.
And after all I would love it if you could but some decent gaelic swear words into the gaelic-thing part of the companion( only if this is appropriate, of course ;)).
Could something like this even be possible??
It happened so often that I read one of your books, Jamie or Murtagh or whoever was swearing in gaelic, Claire didn't understand a thing and Jamie said that this is not meant to be understood by a lady. This always kind of bugs me
I don't have much to add to the great suggestions by everyone else, but I do have one wish. I'm not sure if it's feasible or not, but a companion cd that has some of Roger's songs on it would be so neat!
I'd love to see a few pages devoted to some sort of herbal, in an 18th century style.
References to the herbal/natural remedies that Claire uses would be nice. How do you developed certain characters like William or Rachel? Who was the dog that inspired Rollo? Jamie is hilarious, intelligent men have a certain brand of humor that is a cut above. What or who do you draw from in order to make up the funny scenes with Jamie's cutting wit (and Claire's for that matter).
Thank you so very much in advance for Companion II and although I seem to be in the minority, I really like the idea of including the Lord John timelines and other information.
I have noticed that nothing happens to a character without a reason. Just as the connection came to light regarding Geillis and Roger, I have a hunch that there may be one or more additional connections between the Greys and the Frasers and the MacKenzies and the Murrays before all is done (or my imagination is on overload waiting for the next installment LOL).
While echoing (pun intended) the many pleas for maps, timelines, biographies, floorplans, herbals, dictionaries, fashion info and the like, I also really appreciate the fact you will offer a bibliography as things you mention in passing often send me off on various research tangents
The one in your current Companion is quite dog-eared at my house, I assure you!
Could you possible include a currency converter-type thing or something that talks about the value of barter versus gold/silver/paper notes not only here but in Scotland/France? That way, as they all travel back and forth, we'll understand more about the commerce involved.
Speaking of commerce, I love the bits of knowledge you impart about farming and printing and education and shipping and sailing and becoming a minister and all the other "occupational"-type bits (should I include piracy, smuggling, prostitution, spying and revolt on the list as well? Many of the characters seem to enjoy the seamier side of life).
One other map not mentioned that I would love to see would be the locations of all the standing stones mentioned (and any others that are in the various vicinities as I feel we may see more locations in future stories). My assumption has always been that these sets of stones are extant fairly close to where you have placed them?
Finally, thank you for going ahead with this project now instead of waiting. I've started my annual re-read of the series and am running constantly to the current Companion to look stuff up–how cool that (perhaps) by my 2011 or 2012 re-read, I will have Companion II to highlight as I go along…
I agree with the suggestions of, and would love to see: maps, timelines that include both Outlandish and historical events, family trees, and blueprints & elevations of homes or other locations important to the books. I also like the idea of Interesting and Unusual Facts and Tidbits.
I like the suggestions of recipes and remedies, but think these have potential as stand-alone publications.
Meant "floorplan" of buildings, not "blueprint," but don't know how to edit the comment. :-p
Oh yes please, Maps!! yes, maps.
As a trained Geography teacher I deplore the state of map reading in todays world! (ever watch the Amazing Race???LOL) So much can depend on how far it was to get to the creek to get to the field where the battle was!
And the family trees of everyone would be nice!
And finally a time line where you can see who was doing what when! And why they were doing it and not with someone else!
(hum guess the history part of my training is showing too isn't it??)
Maps, definitely, please, and family trees, but contrary to a lot of wishes mentioned here, I'd hate to see pictures of characters or costumes etc. That's something the mind adds while reading and you get used to these – your own images. As soon as they are provided from the outside – so to speak – your own private J&C universe crashes forever, which I personally would regret very much. Besides, pictures are quite expensive to add to a book…*g*
Oh yes, I repeat the request for maps, maps and more maps – floorplans for some of the houses would be magnificent…., and drawings of costumes would be fantastic as well.
I'd like to see you add a section on how you interwove HISTORY with FICTION perhaps? How did you decide to depict any historical persons?
In additon, a 'Jamie's entry might be fun – what does he have to do to when he gets up, does the chores, etc? We know alot about how Claire's days progress from the books, expanding on Jamie's views would enrich the overall story, and probably please alot of the readers
In addition to lots of the stuff mentioned above, I'd love to read your thoughts or essay on A Marriage. God knows there are lots of different kinds of marriages, but I love all the contrasts of the marriages of the couples you portray – just would like to hear your impressions of the state in general!