The Outlandish Companion - Diana Gabaldon [202]
I pointed out that the publisher doesn’t do novellas, to which the editor’s response—she’s known me a long time—was, “Oh, I’m sure you could make it longer.”
The final result was the suggestion of a book that consists of three interlinked novellas; the first tells the story of Colum and Dougal MacKenzie, and how the brothers claimed the leadership of the MacKenzies of Leoch; the second novella is the story of Brian and Ellen’s courtship and elopement; the third is Murtagh’s story—his friendship with Brian, his love for Ellen, and how it was that he came to stand as godfather to her son.
So let’s see—that’s six Jamie and Claire novels, one prequel, one companion… and I suppose it’s possible that we’ll have to do a second companion, to catch up with the last two novels (if I do, that book will feature a comprehensive index to the whole series). So there will be either eight or nine books in this series, altogether.
Q: Have you written anything else, besides the Outlander novels? Are you planning to write any different stories?
A: I’ve written lots of other things—comic books, radio ads, scholarly articles, computer manuals, software reviews, technical articles on the proper way of cleaning a cow’s skull—but no other fiction. Outlander was my first novel, and I haven’t really had time to write anything else besides the Claire and Jamie stories yet.
I do, however, have a contract for two contemporary mystery novels, and I expect (hope) to have the first of these finished soon.
Beyond books, I did in fact produce three pieces of short (well, relatively short) fiction during the last year. I was asked to do a story for an anthology called Mothers and Daughters, whose “gimmick” was to have stories written by well-known authors collaborating with either a mother or a daughter.5 I asked my (then-fifteen-year-old) elder daughter if she’d like to do this, and since she said she would, we did. The story—a romantic fairy tale farce involving a white cat and a copy editor—is titled “Dream a Little Dream for Me.”
That experience having proved to be fun for both of us, when another editor asked if I would write a fantasy short story for a German Arthurian anthology, I said I would, if they didn’t mind my doing it with my son (I having a son with a major taste for fantastic fiction). They thought that a good idea, so we produced “The Castellan”—the story of a lonely man of mixed blood, a white raven with a sarcastic sense of humor, and a real dragon lady, who thinks blood is blood, and it all tastes fine.6
I don’t know why it should have been such a big year for anthologies, but it was. The editor of Past Poisons: An Ellis Peters Memorial Anthology of Historical Crime invited me to contribute a historical crime story. This seemed like an offer I couldn’t refuse, so I agreed.
Now, the only historical period I happen to know much about is the eighteenth century, and I didn’t think I could take the time to do adequate research on another period for the sake of a short story.7 So, the eighteenth century it was, and the result was “Hellfire,” a story about Lord John Grey,8 the murder of a red-haired man, and Sir Francis Dashwood’s notorious Hell-fire Club at Medmenham Abbey.
Q: When is the next book coming out?
A: I have no idea. It takes me roughly two to three years to write one of the big historical novels, but this span is affected by things like book tours and other promotional activities (to say nothing of family life). Once a manuscript is delivered, the publisher does need time9 to do the production work, and then the actual publication date is determined by all sorts of factors that aren’t in my control and can’t be predicted.
I write as fast as possible, consistent with producing a good book, and the publisher nobly tries to get books on the shelves as soon as it can—that’s about