Diana Gabaldon's appearance at Celtic Highland Tea

Diana Gabaldon spoke yesterday at the annual Celtic Highland Tea in Flagstaff, Arizona, sponsored by the Northern Arizona Celtic Heritage Society (NACHS). As in past years, they made a virtual option available, which I appreciated very much. It's always a pleasure to hear Diana speak in front of a smaller crowd! Here are a few notes I jotted down:

On writing scripts for Season 8: Diana said she wrote "an episode and a half" for Season 8. She collaborated with show-runner and executive producer Matt Roberts on the writing of the series finale, Episode 810, "so the fans can blame me [rather than Matt] if they don't like the way it ends." (I think she was mostly kidding about that.)

Will the show end the way Book 10 does? No. "The ending of Book 10 is kind of complex [....] They don't have time to do that [on the show]. I won't tell you what they did do, but it works pretty well."

What was her favorite book to write? VOYAGER, "because it had an interesting structure", three strands braided together. She said that the transitional sections in Roger's viewpoint in that book are "turnbuckles" (a word I'd never heard before), brief scenes that move the story forward.

The shape of book 10: Diana said that it "looks like the eye of a hurricane". I'm pretty sure she's mentioned this before. My instant reaction was to imagine events swirling very fast around a central core (Jamie and Claire, perhaps?), leaving chaos and destruction in their wake. Yikes! (Or something like that. Keep in mind I'm only speculating!)

Other than Jamie, who's your favorite character? "Lord John," she said without hesitation. I wasn't surprised by that at all, considering how much time she's spent writing about him.

What has OUTLANDER given back to you? The first thing that came to her mind: "Waking in a hotel room in the pitch dark, not knowing what day it is or where I am, or where I'm supposed to be." Diana says she spent much of last year in that state, because she was traveling so much. It sounds utterly exhausting! (She did add something more positive, which I neglected to write down.)

Anything you'd like to take home from the costume department, now that they've finished filming? "No, not really. I'd kind of like them to keep their magic."

Do you think you'll ever stop writing? No. Diana has a number of things she wants to write (eventually), "both fiction and non-fiction", but the one she mentioned specifically was the book about writing, which she's referred to in the past with the working title of THE CANNIBAL'S ART.

Would you change anything about the books? "No. I don't let go of a book unless I'm sure it's the way I want it."

Have you done any other cameos? No. She said that having done it once, she wouldn't want to do it again. She talked about how hot and uncomfortable it was during the filming, wearing her 18th-century costume. But she still can say her line from EP104 exactly as she did in that episode, as she demonstrated for the audience.

What about BLOOD OF MY BLOOD? Diana didn't talk much about the prequel TV series that will be premiering on STARZ this summer, other than to say, "It's good!" She said nothing at all about the Brian/Ellen prequel novel, though I'm sure it's still on her list of future projects.

I don't know if they will put the video of this event up on YouTube, but if they do, I'll post the link here.