I am so in awe of the series Outlander that I had to research to find who is that brilliant mind who could have thought of such an amazing story. You are truly a genius – words fails me how wonderful and absorbing ‘Outlander’ the series is, we are hooked on your storytelling gift and enjoying every minute of it. I will be buying your books for my family and friends. You have inspired me and many others in the world. You have managed to recreate parts of history and added fiction to it with craftsmanship skills.
Congratulations and well done.

Prim Maxwell

I am currently reading the entirety of Katharine Kerr Deverry cycle and wondered if the series influenced you in your writing? I have just ordered ‘Out of Avalon’ as both yourself and Katharine Kerr have short stories listed in it. The Outlander series is fantastic, thanks for all of your great work.

Rob

Thank you! A lot of my research sources are noted (as is a piece on Scots dialect, Gaelic, etc.) in THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION, which has a Bibliography of some 600 books used in the research for the first four books of the series. There will be a Volume II of the COMPANION, covering the next four volumes (and probably the Lord John books as well), but that won’t be out until after MOBY (WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD) is published next year.

–Diana

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the first 4 books in the Outlander series…the main story and all of the interesting sidebars are wonderful, entertaining, and engaging. I must say I have already re-read the first book a couple of time, and listened to it on audio a couple of times…it is just very, very well written.

Thank you for this lovely “gift” to readers.

I am a constant reader, and was recalling the only other items I have ever read about Scotland.
One was a series of novellas serialized in Scottish ladies’ magazines in the late 1960s.
The other was Sir Walter Scott’s book, Rob Roy: set against the “first” uprising with very similar scenes and story lines. Yours are more interesting and better written, even tho he is the “father of historical fiction.”

That said, I would be interested to know about your research sources, especially concerning the old tales, myths, balads, etc. I am also curious about your sense of the dialect: certainly you do a wonderful job with the language/dialects/Gaellic, etc.

Finally, I particularly enjoy your references to traditional healing methods.

Lovely work – brava !

Thank you for this amazing post! I am in awe of your writing skills and this post allowed me to see who has influenced you. You also make me want to go and read the authors you mentioned and see if I can pick up on what you noticed in their writings. Lastly I have to say that not only is the Outlander series timeless, but the characters are the most developed and captivating and real and relatable and engaging and wonderful and and and…

I recently reread An Echo In The Bone and was stunned by how many memorable moments I forget! I reread something Jamie said to Claire the other day and the only thing I could think of was 'DAMN Diana is so brilliant I can hardly stand it.' You had me in tears.

"When a man dies, it's only him AND one is much like another. Aye, a family needs a man to feed them, protect them. But any decent man can do it. A woman… A woman takes life with her when she goes. A woman is infinite possibility."

I wish this was printed somewhere in the Bible… absolutely englightening.

Keighley

I read _all_ the time, no matter what else I'm doing–and reasonably fast, yes. In an average (i.e., not frantically busy) week, I'll probably read 2-4 novels, plus assorted newspapers, cartoon anthologies [g], and other stuff.

Judie–I, too, like Donna Leon, JD Robb, and Sue Grafton, but I'm not familiar with Tapply and Craig. I'll have to check them out…thanks! And might I suggest Robert B. Parker, especially the Spenser novels. Spenser and Susan Silverman are right up there in the relationship class with Claire and Jamie. (But his books are MUCH shorter.)

Oh, and try Dana Stabenow's Alaskan mysteries, featuring Kate Shugak. I believe Dana's a friend of Diana's.
There are other series I like, but you're right; the best ones are the series with the strongest characters.

Diana — I also learned to read at age 3. In addition to having all those years of books (a few more than you), I am also afflicted with the blessing/curse (sometimes it's one, sometimes the other) of being a very fast reader. What about you, if I may ask?

Err….maybe you want to read my books a trifle _more_ consciously. [g] Only OUTLANDER is written in the first person. NONE of the Lord John books has any first-person stuff at all, while all the other Outlander books are written with a combination of viewpoints (Claire is the only character with a first-person point of view, ever. Everyone else–Brianna, Roger, Jamie, Lord John, Young Ian, William–has third-person viewpoint).

Which I suppose answers your last question. [cough]

As to the first one, mostly I'd just read those authors repeatedly–but I'd _noticed_ what they did. I didn't sit down and say, "Oh, ah, how did he/she do _this_?", because I already knew how. But it wasn't just a matter of falling into someone else's voice, either; I did _know_ exactly how John D. MacDonald handled the question of Travis McGee's past in each knew book, for instance, or how Dorothy L. Sayers used idiom and accent to depict class distinction (and how those in turn affected character and plot).

But you know, it's just whatever works for you, in terms of reading, analysis, or whatever. Anything that lets you get words on the page is the right thing to do!