Would you be so kind to tell our german readers something about yourself?
I suppose I could, but I'm not sure either where to start or where to stop. That being the case, I'm sending (as a separate email) an essay that I did by request for the local newspaper here, for their feature called "Arizona Diary." It has a bit of my family background, as well as a few things about me.
KLiCK HERE to the essay and a biographie.

Do you have a favorite writer or book? Which new author is very promising to you?
Well, I read everything and lots of it , so it's difficult to choose _one_ favorite. My rave of the moment, though, is a series of historical mysteries by P.F. Chisholm (aka Patricia Finney), set in Elizabethan England, and featuring Sir Robert Carey, a real historical person who was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth's, and who served as Deputy Warden of the West March, on the Scottish border. Very funny, very well researched, and beautifully written. I'm also madly in love with Sir Robert's sidekick, Sergeant Dodd.

Probably you have heard this question a thousand times, nevertheless, when will we see part five and six of the "Outlander-Series"?
I hope to finish the fifth book--THE FIERY CROSS--sometime late this year, perhaps September/October. I can't say for sure exactly when it will be _available_, because that's up to the publisher, but I imagine they'll publish it fairly quickly, since they know people are waiting. There's usually a delay for translation of the foreign editions, but I think that will be small or nonexistent this time, since I work very closely with my German translator, and will probably be sending her disks of the book as soon as it's finished, rather than waiting until the English version is published.

What were your feelings when you saw "Outlander" in the book-stores for the first time? Did you celebrate this?
Well, I'd imagined it so many times that the reality didn't make that much impression on me. What was _really_ amazing was seeing it as a real book for the first time. That's a feeling that never goes away--the sense of awe and delight when I get the first bound copy, and realize that all the bits and pieces of story that took so long to build are now a real BOOK. I recall when the first copy of DRUMS arrived in the mail. I opened the package, admired the book, whiffed the pages, inhaled the scent--and then, since my husband and I were on our way out to lunch, put it down on the table near the door. My husband stopped, holding the door opened, and said, "Don't you want to take it along with you, to fondle?" "Yes," I said, "I do!" So I took it to the restaurant with me.

How did you get the ideas to these wonderful stories about Jamie and Claire? Did or do you use some of these ideas you and your sisterhad invented in your childhood - as you tell us in your book "The Outlandish Companion".
No, I've never used anything from those early stories. As for ideas for the OUTLANDER books...I don't know. Where do any ideas come from? Just everywhere. I don't plan the books out at all--though as the series progresses, I naturally know a little more about what will happen in the later books--and I don't write them linearly, so each one has hundreds of ideas, which come from everything from billboard images to snatches of conversation to something I saw in my kitchen (like the image about the redcoat soldiers parting the crowd "like vinegar dropped on mayonnaise," in the beginning of DRUMS. Books come from the imagination, and one friend of mine recently described my own mind as "like a compost pile--simmering, seething, and highly fertile." That's just about right...and everything I see, hear, read, think, or do serves as mulch.

I can hardly believe that you have never been to Scotland although you describe the landscape and the people in such a realistic way. Have you been there in the meantime? Did you enjoy it? Do you know something about the meaning of your last name? It sounds like a Celtic fairy-tale.
I've been to Scotland _now_; several times, in fact. I'd never been there when I wrote OUTLANDER, though; I just did a lot of library research (I was, after all, a research professor at the university ). But yes, after we sold the book, the publisher gave me a three-book contract, so I said to my husband that I thought I really must go and see the place. We did, and I've been back to Scotland three or four times since then. Lovely place! I wouldn't mind living in Inverness, sometime.
Yes, I know something about the meaning of my last name, though it hasn't anything to do with Celtic anything, so far as I know. It's what they call a "place-name," meaning that it was a name that originated in connection with a specific town or region. In this case, it can (I've been told) be traced back to a town called Gavaudon, which is in Spain, near the French border, in the area they call Galicia. That _is_ the ancient Celtic area of Iberia, but so far as I know, Gavaudon has no particular Celtic associations.

Which of your four novels do you like the most? Do you have a favourite character? Have you ever thought that such a "Jamie & Claire - mania" would arise from "Outlander"? Are you in close contact with your fans?
My favorite book is always the one I'm working on at the moment, so right now, it's THE FIERY CROSS. No, I don't have a favorite character--I like them all. And no, I had no idea that OUTLANDER would ever be published, let alone arouse so much interest! As for contact with fans...well, I'm answering these questions, am I not?

Do you have plans for the time after Jamie & Claire? How will your future as a writer look like? Do you want to continue writing historicals or do you plan to write a contemporary? Isn't there an enormous pressure upon you when all your forthcoming novels will be compared with your "Outlander series"? How do you handle negative feedback (have you ever had some?????).
Yes, of course I have plans, but we'll have to see how things work out. I have a contract for two contemporary mysteries; if those seem successful and the characters keep talking to me, then I'll continue with it as a series--if it isn't and they don't, I won't. I _would_ like to write a book on writing, a nonfiction book that I've been calling THE CANNIBAL'S ART. I'm not working seriously on this at the moment--too busy with FIERY CROSS and the first mystery--but I do squirrel away little bits and pieces that I think may one day be used in that book. And I would like to tell the story of Master Raymond, but that's a ways in the future.
Pressure...well, there would be if I let it. As it is, I know perfectly well that half the people who read the new book will say, "Oh, this is great! WE want to hear more about these new characters, the OUTLANDER characters are all old and boring, why don't you give that up and do another of these right away?" And the other half will say, "Oh, we don't like this at all! Obviously, you shouldn't do anymore of these--you should go back to what you do well and write another Jamie and Claire book!" See, I KNOW this is what will happen, because it happens to every single writer who does a different kind of book. For that matter, it happens to every author who writes more than one book , unless s/he's the sort who writes the same book over and over.
Everytime I have a new book out, lots of people say, "Oh, this is even better than the last ones!" but a few people say, "Oh, I'm disappointed, I liked the last one better!" There's obviously no way to please everyone, so I've never tried and don't intend to. I'll just write what I like, and if other people like it, too, that's good.

Was your success surprisingly to you and has it changed your life?
Sure. Nobody _expects_ success like this. And of course it's changed my life. Now I write full-time, for one thing, and don't work as a scientist anymore. Now people constantly want me to go speak, sign books, do tours, etc., so I spend a great deal of time either traveling or writing letters explaining that I can't go somewhere. People want me to do all sorts of things--give them cover quotes, advise them on their writing careers, etc., etc.-- that it would never have occurred to them to ask me to do before.

Are you able to tell us the date of publication of "White Knight" and what the story is about?
No. I hope to finish it right after FIERY CROSS, but again, the publication date is strictly up to the publisher. The story deals with an investigative journalist named Tom Kolodzi, his quest for personal revenge and forgiveness--and what that does to him and the man he's pursuing. It's set here in the American Southwest, in and around Phoenix.

How does your working day look like?
My working day is messy. There's an account of one such day in the COMPANION (which they tell me will be published in Germany this August/Sept), but the _general_ outline is as follows:
up around 9 (husband gets kids' breakfast and shoves them off to school). Eat breakfast--Diet Coke and chocolate--while reading email. Answer urgent email that can be done quickly; put others aside to answer later. Office chores - respond to invitations, send bios, press releases, make travel arrangements, return phone calls, make appointments.
Around 10:20 or 11:00, begin work. Write for an hour or so, to get a good foothold on some scene before lunch. Lunch, usually with husband. Short domestic break, or run errands with him.
2-2:00 - maybe write, maybe answer longer email, maybe write something for website, maybe do interview questions 2 - kids start coming home from school. Snacks, chat, errands--dry-cleaning, petfood, grocery, pharmacy, flute lessons, drama rehearsals, buy new underwear, etc. 5-5:20 - work in garden 5:20/6:00 - start making dinner 7:20/8:00 - help kids with anything they need help with, exercise, lift weights. 10:20/11:00 - 12:00 - short nap, unless someone needs me for something midnight - 2:00 AM - main writing time. Fewer interruptions, and my mind works better then. 2:20 - Lock up house, go to bed.

The next few questions are special ones according to your "Outlander series". Many people directed me to ask these questions. In your book "The Outlandish Companion" you say Claire and Jamie will never go to the 20th century together, because you want Jamie to keep his dignity, which he would lose if he was standing in front of TV-sets, microwave stoves and the like, perplexed like a child. But it would be interesting to know how Jamie gets along with the "modern" way of life and I haven been waiting for that all through the first books. Haven't you changed your mind about that in the meantime?
No!!

If I remember right, in "The Outlandish Companion" you also say that you are not writing chronologically but a bit here and bit there, putting it together later. I can hardly believe this, as your storyline is so closely knit together. Is it really true that you're using this method of writing?
Yes.

Honestly, a man like Jamie does not exist in real life and probably has never existed. He has got ALL the good characteristics a man can possibly have. You just can't help but fall in love with him. Who was/were your role model/s for him, if you had any?
Well, my husband is very tall, red-haired, and has a good sense of humor. We've also been together for nearly thirty years, so I suppose you may draw your own conclusions about that.

Are you going to reveal who the father of Jeremiah, Brianna's son is?
Yes, eventually.

Are there plans for a movie-version of "Outlander" in the meantime? If yes: which actors would you prefer for the leading-roles?
Well, the books get optioned for films every now and then, and I imagine in the fullness of time, a movie or mini-series might eventually get made. If and when it does, though, I would have nothing at all to say about the casting.
I don't see a great many movies and I never watch television, so I don't know a lot of actors, in any case. For what it's worth, though, I've never seen anyone who _looks_ like Jamie and Claire-- but then, that's not essential. They would just need to be good actors.

Something else, which is not a question, but we want to tell it to you ever since we read your books: You're a brilliant writer. If we were allowed to take only five books with us to a desert island, your books would be our choice - which would cause some trouble for us if the two sequels of your story had been released by then (G)
THANK YOU!!

Many, many thanks for this interview!!
You're more than welcome!

Copyright 2000 Stefanie Schulte

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