So: After milling around Starbucks for hours, discussing all kinds of stuff, from the nature of Lord Foul's power to studying mucus, we ate some smell-free food at the pub across the street and made our way to the event. Apparently there were 150 tickets, but there couldn't have been more than a third of that number in attendance. After a horrific, bumbling introduction by a man who claimed to be a big fan but had evidently never read many of the books, SRD offered to do whatever we might request of him, including readings and so forth, but would rather just make it a Q&A. It soon became apparent that everyone else in the room was almost comically ill-informed - no-one, including the compere, realised the Last Chronicles comprise four volumes, for example. Several of the questions were ones to which we already knew the answers, mainly from the Gradual Interview, but occasionally some interesting snippets came to light. I'll post the ones I remember, and hopefully Gart and Na can add any I miss:
--In response to a predictable question about Covenant The Movie, SRD gave an interesting answer. We already know the Chronicles have been optioned, and we also know this doesn't indicate anything much. What was news was who has optioned it, and why. According to SRD, the people who optioned it are people who "don't need to make a Covenant movie - they could be making something else". One produced Saving Private Ryan, one produced Independence Day, and the screenwriter they've selected wrote the screenplay for Band Of Brothers. Again, SRD highlighted that these people don't need to make Covenant, but they want to because "they fell in love with the books as teenagers". They're fans. Allow me to illustrate: These people are so keen to keep the hypothetical film as faithful as possible that they are trying to pitch it to studios without revealing the plot. They know no studio would buy a story with Lena's rape in it, so they are taking the same approach as the Wachowskis apparently took with the first Matrix - they're putting together a beautifully painted storyboard so they can say "This is what it'll look like! Isn't it great?!". Sounds odd, but it worked for the Matrix.
--On a personal note, the talk by SRD's father which inspired him to write about a leper was the last time SRD saw him alive, and the letter Donaldson Senior sent SRD with details of leprosy was the last letter SRD received from him.
--I asked a question about SRD's writing technique: "I've read comments from you, probably in the Gradual Interview, that your role is to tell the story, to convey a story that needs to be told. When you use ideas or concepts like the Sunbane, Sandgorgons, the Lurker of the Sarangrave - do all these ideas just come to you or do you sometimes have to contrive them in order to facilitate the story?"
SRD's response here essentially amounted to "a bit of both". From time to time, he reaches a point in the story where he needs a particular thing to happen, but none of the characters are there to do it, and they have no reason to be there. SRD has a reason for them to be there, but that's not enough; the characters need their own reasons. In such situations, he writes to himself: "Dear Steve, boy you're really stuck on this one..." etc, until an idea eventually emerges. Sometimes it feels like the idea came from outside, sometimes he's aware of the process that formed the idea, but always he knows there's a part of his mind that will come up with something if he trusts it to do so. At this point he mentioned something he feared might be a Runes spoiler, but he handled it carefully and I will try to do the same. It shouldn't be a spoiler if I'm careful, but I'll black it out anyway.
Spoiler
To paraphrase: In Runes, there is a phenomenon called a caesure (SRD pronounced this "seizure") which SRD chose from a selection possibilities - he has several ideas for achieving his aim in this regard. The aim in question was this: "I needed something to represent a particular dilemma faced by Lord Foul".
--Another point about writing: SRD always sets his books, even the mystery ones, in fictious worlds/cities because real places are too inflexible. He places things where he needs them to be, and if he can't do that, he can't write. For example, the layout of the Land isn't haphazard or random - every detail is where it is because that's where he required it to be in order to tell the story. On this note, he mentioned that the map of the Last Chronicles Land will be "vegetatively different" because Sunder and Hollian, who remade the Land after the Sunbane, had never seen a forest. They may have tried to create forests (or they may not) but it won't be the same as in the past.
--On creating the Land: When SRD conceived the idea of the Land, it was the antithesis of leprosy. He had a leper, and he created a world that is the logical opposite of a leprosy-induced hell. This theme of logic runs through the whole creation of the Land. The Lower Land, "where Foul's servants prowl", is physically lower than the Upper Land because that makes sense. Mount Thunder and Andelain are in the middle because it's logical.
--On creating the types of characters he does: Every writer across the globe will advise you to "write about what you know". SRD writes about characters who struggle because he knows about struggle. He is a person who struggles. However, he very deliberately avoids writing his own struggles into his characters.
--Advice for budding authors: Stretch yourself. One of the things that prevents a good author becoming a great author is that they write things they know they can write. SRD said you must always push beyond your boundaries and write in a way you're not sure you can, in order to achieve your best work.
--Several people have commented on the change in SRD's writing style over last 20 years - the fact that his language is less elaborate and extravagant. SRD is aware that "years of struggle" and lack of youthful vigour have pared down and simplified his style. He is simply not the same person who wrote the earlier Covenant Chronicles.
There may be others, but they elude me. As I said, photos will follow later this afternoon, once I've replaced a .dll file in order to connect my camera.
I forgot about that!
) *grin* He reminds me a lot of my best friends, especially in the way he talks, his sense of humor, his honesty, etc. 
that just makes me want to meet him all the more.