Watching Diana write (a brief Book 9 excerpt)

Diana Gabaldon posted something very interesting on Facebook yesterday: a detailed example of how she writes. It's a very brief snippet from Book 9, just a couple of sentences, but Diana goes into great detail about how and why she chose each particular word or image.

* * * SPOILER WARNING!!  * * *

If you haven't read the last chapter of WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD (Book 8 of the OUTLANDER series), then this particular excerpt contains a Major Spoiler.

If you've finished that book, this brief snippet from Book 9 isn't very spoilerish, in my opinion, but everyone's tolerance for spoilers is different, so use your own judgment.

I'm normally a strict excerpt-avoider (no, I don't read #DailyLines!), and in fact I think this is the first bit of Book 9 I've peeked at. I made an exception for this one because it's such a brief snippet, and I very much wanted to see how Diana deconstructed it.  I think it's fascinating to see how she does that!

If you like this sort of thing, here are two more examples:

Annotated version of the "Coda in Three-Two Time" from WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD.  Diana Gabaldon included this piece in the OUTLANDISH COMPANION Volume 2 that was published last year.

Annotated version of the windowsill scene from THE FIERY CROSS, chapter 107, "Zugunruhe".

I hope she'll do more of these in the future.