Below is a comment from Diana along with an excerpt from Book Nine of the OUTLANDER novels. Note that there are SPOILERS… From Diana’s FaceBook post on May 21, 2015 at 4:36 a.m.: Congratulations to Germany! They got the Outlander TV series today—so in celebration, I gave them an excerpt from Book 9 on the German website. Though I might as well post it here for the English speakers as well! (NB: There is a major spoiler for Book 8 (MOBY) in here, in case you haven’t read WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD yet.) -Diana The fly spiraled down, green and yellow as a falling leaf, to land among the rings of the rising hatch. It floated for a second on the surface, maybe two, then vanished in a tiny splash, yanked out of sight by voracious jaws. Roger flicked the end of his rod sharply to set the hook, but there was no need. The trout were hungry this evening, striking at everything, and his fish had taken […]
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“Fanny”
Below is an excerpt from Book Nine of the OUTLANDER novels. Note that there are SPOILERS… March 6th, 1988 is the day I began to write what would eventually become OUTLANDER. I meant to write a practice book, in order to learn how to write a novel. Once I knew how it all worked, I thought, I could write a real novel; one I meant to be published. But I didn’t mean to tell anyone what I was doing, let alone show it to anybody. Things Happen, though, and here we all are, twenty-seven years and fourteen books and a lovely TV show later. Apparently I was right, when I thought (at the age of 8) that I was supposed to be a novelist. And so in celebration, here’s a much larger-than-usual chunk of Book 9 excerpts. Hope you enjoy them! -Diana Posted on March 6, 2015: In which, Fanny has just started her first menstrual period, and is more upset than might usually be the case, since to her, […]
Methadone List: THE CITY STAINED RED
Congratulations to Sam Sykes, whose newest novel, THE CITY STAINED RED, is out today (October 28, 2014) in Ebook! (The print version follows in February, 2015, according to the publisher, Orbit/Gollancz.) Sykes’s books are described most often as “epic fantasy”—which apparently means that they’re composed of serpentine plots executed by entertaining characters, and the humor is as high as the body count. While the setting is definitely of Another Place and Time, the people—and other things—you’ll meet there are so real that you’d like to hang out with them, if it wasn’t so dangerous to be in their vicinity. (In the Interests of Full Disclosure, Sam Sykes is my son, and while he’s never read any of my books (none of my children has; as my Eldest Daughter says, “I don’t want to read sex-scenes written by my -_mother_!”), he rather eerily seems to have inherited my pacing, my sense of dialogue, and my penchant for Extreme Vocabulary. I had no idea that sort of thing was coded for in […]
FILM/TV COMMENTARY, Part I: Adaptation, Logistics, and Testicles
Since book-touring is done (thank GOD!) and the show is on hiatus, we have a bit of time to stop, think, and catch up on the email… So—I thought I might address a few recent comments and questions on Episode 8. Not to refute people’s opinions—everyone’s entitled to think as they like, and say so—but just to show you a bit about How Things Work. While most people were riveted—as they should have been; it was a terrific episode—there were a few who were upset at things they perceived to be "missing"—these including: Scenes of one-on-one dialogue between Jamie and Claire More scenes of intimacy Claire patching people up and doing healing And specifically… the "waterweed" scene following the Grants’ raid. (One person also thought we should have seen the redcoats stalking Claire, rather than have them pop out abruptly to seize her as she reaches for the stone.) And there were a number of questions regarding the "Deserter" scene—mostly as to whether Claire had actually been raped or not […]
LA Schmoozing – International Film Rights
Schmoozing in L.A…. So— I had a wonderful time at the Word on the Lake writers festival in Salmon Arm, British Columbia (photos at left and below). Worked like a dog, but that’s normal for such events. <g> I gave two keynote speeches, taught three workshops (on Characterization, How to Make Them Turn the Page (a useful skill, when you write 900-page books), and How to Write (and How _not_ to Write) Sex Scenes. And a panel on how to carve a “writing cave” out of chaos— i.e., making time to write, which is pretty basic, but always fun to hear what everybody’s methods are. (Mine is to work in the middle of the night.) But then, instead of going home, I flew directly to Los Angeles. And for why? Well, it was “Screening week”— during which international television buyers flock to Los Angeles to see previews of all the new TV shows. Sony (which owns the international rights to “Outlander”) was screening their new lineup, of course, and invited […]
26 Years Ago Today…
I get the occasional question as to how I came to write OUTLANDER, and given that today is the 26th anniversary of my doing so, thought I’d maybe post this explanatory message—which I wrote a few years ago in thanks to the Compuserve folk who Witnessed the Creation , now updated. Dear All– On March 6, 1988, I started writing a novel. I wasn’t going to tell anyone what I was doing, let alone ever try to publish it. I just wanted to learn how to write a novel, and had concluded—having written All Kinds of nonfiction at that point—that the only way to do that was actually to write one. (I was not, btw, wrong in this assumption.) Now, as a (rather convoluted) side-effect of my day-job, I’d become an “expert” in scientific computation (really easy to be an expert, if there are only six people in the world who do what you do, and that was my position, back in the early ’80′s), and as an even weirder […]
Casting Commentary
Goodness, can’t leave you lot to your own devices for long, can I? [g] Given the amount of traffic I see in the stats for this blog and my Facebook page, I conclude that the Casting Wars are still boiling along. Well. Look. 1) People are entitled to their own opinions. Naturally, I’d prefer these opinions to be expressed—and received—civilly, but up to you, of course. I believe in the virtues of free discourse. 2) I—of course—am likewise entitled to an opinion. [cough] Now, my opinion is based on rather more information than most others expressed here, because a) I created Jamie Fraser and thus—presumably–have a pretty good idea of what he really looks and acts like. b) While I haven’t yet met Sam Heughan, I’ve seen Rather a Lot of him (about 95%, at a rough guess), both in terms of a. Photographs, and b. Film, and c. Bits and pieces, like audition tapes Naturally, everyone forms mental images while reading. Everybody. I do it when I read other […]
The Third Advent Candle
GAUDETE – The Third Sunday of Advent The third Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday,” from the Latin word meaning “rejoice”: Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete. Modestia vestra nota sit omnibus hominibus: Dominus enim prope est. Nihil solliciti sitis: sed in omni oratione petitiones vestræ innotescant apud Deum. Benedixisti Domine terram tuam: avertisti captivitatem Jacob. This may be translated as Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. Lord, you have blessed your land; you have turned away the captivity of Jacob. — Philippians 4:4–6; Psalm 85 (84):1 A traditional Advent wreath has three purple candles and one pink one: on Gaudete Sunday, we light the pink one! We pause on our spiritual journey to lift up our eyes and see joy approaching—hence we rejoice (before settling back into penitence […]
THE METHADONE LIST – THE SKYBOUND SEA
THE METHADONE LIST: THE SKYBOUND SEA To answer a frequently-asked question of late: No, I’m not going to DragonCon. (I got home from Younger Daughter’s wedding and a short recuperative stay in the UK just day before yesterday. I have to stay home and write!) BUT….Sam Sykes, epic fantasy author (and brother of the bride) came home from the wedding much earlier, has already recovered from the festivities (in spite of being struck in the face with a handful of rice thrown by an inebriated guest shouting “Viva los Novios!”), and _will_ be attending DragonCon, at which he’s launching his third novel, THE SKYBOUND SEA (published in the US by Pyr Books; UK publication happens a little later this fall, published by Orion/Gollancz). [Pyr booth, #709 at DragonCon, Marriott Marquis Hotel] Scott Lynch says of Sam’s books: “Sam Sykes does blood and noise in the liveliest tradition of contemporary fantasy, with all the brash vigor of youth, and with a sly, penetrating sensitivity all his own. Not many writers can […]
A Guided Tour of Diana’s Bookshelves…
I get a lot of questions about what I read, what resources I find "useful," how much research I do, etc., etc. And when interviewers come to talk to me at home, they always want to see my office, and frequently spend half an hour or more browsing my bookshelves in fascination. So I thought y’all might want to have a peek, too. (One question I often get is about how I organize my material. It is to larf, as John Lennon so eloquently put it. I have two—no, three—ways of organizing research material. The books live in bookshelves. Loose papers, maps, reprinted emails, etc. go into one of three zippered… things. (I can’t really describe them; they’re about the size of small briefcases, but made of nylon fabric, mesh on one side, and they zip on three sides.) The red one holds all the printed miscellanea for the contemporary mystery that I’ll eventually get round to finishing, the black one has stuff about the Lord John stories’ background—maps of […]