Social media hashtags: #DailyLinesWithBusiness, #MinnieAndHalsNovella, #Outin2017
This blog entry is actually part of a longer piece called "Want to Watch Me Write?" that I’m putting together in desultory fashion, between other things. It’s a modest example of what-all goes on my head while I’m writing, including all the thinking that happens before, during and after the writing of a single scene.
Our scenario is that it’s 1743, Harold Grey is struggling to raise his father’s defunct regiment, and has just shot a man named Nathaniel Twelvetrees, who had seduced Hal’s wife (she’s just died a month ago, along with the child to whom she gave birth—and Hal doesn’t know whether it was his or not). Hal’s not very stable emotionally at the moment, and his anxious friend, Harry Quarry, is sticking close by him as Hal goes to call on an officer with a good reputation, whom he’d like to recruit for his new regiment. The man lives in a Georgian terrace—a line of upscale townhouses, facing a common fenced park. Hal and Harry pause by the park, opposite the house they intend to visit. This is the thinking-while-I-write versions of the scene’s beginning; I’ll show you what the (more or less) finished version looks like at the end:
Hal reached through the iron bars of the fence and tweaked a leaf [carefully broke a twig] from one of the bushes [a small tree].
“What are you doing?” Harry demanded, stopping in mid-stride. “Picking a bouquet for your button hole? [ck. Period use of “bouquet” for this, though pretty sure I’m right]
[What does the leaf look like? I want it to be something either striking or aromatic… flip over to Google, “English shrubs,” and within a few clicks get “Seven Fuss-Free Shrubs for your Garden,” with pictures, the first of which is Crataegus persimilis, ‘Prunifolia’—the cockspur thorn, which has “few but very long and sharp thorns” and the instant I read that I know what’s going to happen…]
“No, I wanted to see if this is what I thought it was, but it is.”
“And what’s that, pray?” Harry gave the [wait a minute—have just thought maybe it isn’t a leaf he picked—that’s not the most interesting bit of that plant. Quick shufti beginning with “What does hawthorn smell like” (having picked up that cockspur thorn is a hawthorn, and hit paydirt in several directions. “Hawthorn” is one of the oldest words in English, has a great history in terms of English landscaping, the leaves are said to taste like bread and cheese (at least they’re edible), and (best of all) “the flowers have a scent that is said to be that of a woman sexually aroused.” O, serendipity…]
“And what’s that, pray?” Harry came back a step to look at the twig in Hal’s hand. [go back up and change “tweaked a leaf”] The foliage was cool in his hand; it had rained a bit earlier and the leaves and flowers [this had better be set in springtime, so I can have flowers] were still damp [no “wet” is better, he feels the water on his palm], were still wet, water droplets sliding down his wrist [the inside of his wrist?], disappearing into the cloth of his cuff [frill of his cuff? He’s a dressy man, but “cloth” is alliterative, and would he have a frilled shirt-cuff with his uniform? I like the visual of “frill,” let’s go look (I have a book of British uniforms of the 18th century in my office that would answer this instantly, but as usual, it’s in Arizona and I’m in Ontario, so…)]
[Hiatus of four days, owing to working non-stop at the Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games, flying back from Toronto, and then dealing with all the stuff that piles up here when I’m gone for more than 24 hours…]
[Not that I have written nothing in those four days; I’ve done four bloody email interviews, sixteen complicated emails dealing with business; printed, read and signed three different contracts (for the artwork in “I Give You My Body…” which came out yesterday! And arrived as an Amazon #1 Bestseller, which is gratifying. For reasons best known to Amazon, they listed the category as “memoirs”…), for a novella/short story collection, and for a short piece for an odd anthology of car stories (don’t ask; I’ll tell you about it when it comes out in November). Also wrote small pieces of a Book Nine scene and pulled together both a small chunk of Book Nine and a small chunk of Minnie and Hal.]
Where was I? Oh, frills. On the good side, where I am is back in my office, and as expected, a quick glance at UNIFORMS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (by John Mollo, Illus. Malcolm McGregor, published 1975 MacMillan) show me that yes, indeedy—infantry officers did wear frilled shirt cuffs—though no other regiments’ officers seem to have. So now we have that settled…
Here’s what I’ve actually got of this scene so far:
“Hal reached through the iron bars and carefully broke a twig from a small tree growing by the fence.
“What are you doing?” Harry demanded, stopping in mid-stride. “Picking a bouquet for your button hole?”
“No, I wanted to see if this is what I thought it was, and it is.”
“And what’s that, pray?” Harry came back a step to look at the twig. The foliage was cool in Hal’s hand; it had rained a bit earlier and the leaves and flowers were still wet, water droplets sliding down his wrist and soaking into the cloth of his frilled cuff.”
This doesn’t look like much—and it’s not—but it is a kernel. It’s my way into the page and into this scene. Hal and Harry are moving and speaking, and it will be pretty easy to pick up this conversation when I come back to work on this scene tonight, because obviously Hal’s going to tell Harry that it’s cockspur thorn, continue with the leaves tasting like bread-and-cheese as they cross the street and go up the steps of the house, and end with the scent of the flowers, Hal handing the twig to Harry while he rings the bell [ck if houses had bells in 1743, or only knockers], and as the door opens [to reveal whom? We don’t know…], Harry is discreetly sniffing the flowers, which he puts in his own buttonhole as he follows Hal inside.
But now you see why it takes awhile to write this stuff…
Selected Social Media Comments:
Below are some reader questions about this post from my Social Media accounts (in bold type) with my replies, selected by my Webmistress. Before anyone asks, no, we can’t copy and paste ALL of the comments. <g>
With so many writing projects going on, how do you keep them all straight and not confuse characters and plot lines?
How do you know you just had lunch with your husband and not your best friend? They’re just different things.
“Life is in the details.” Am I right to imagine that you have a general sense of the plot before you start writing, but the details come to you as you write? You’ve told Sam how the series will end, so you know where the plot needs to go, but getting there seems unmapped. I love that you take the readers along for a ride outside the book as well as in it. THANKS!
No, I have no idea of the plot. I don’t plan books out ahead of time, I don’t work with an outline, and I don’t work in a straight line. <g> I have the end of the series, but it actually isn’t part of the plot, if that makes any sense..…
What a gift! This post is a little mini-movie of the written word which helps those of us struggling to become writers. A process. Insight. It may not be ours, but that’s ok! So exciting to see a process that is unique and you and not a regimental set of steps—to get from first word to last. Thank you!
Have never understood why people think a) that there is “a regimented set of steps” to writing something, nor yet b) why you’d follow such a plan if there was one. <g>
I’ve been reading I GIVE YOU MY BODY and I love it as much as any of your books. If there are any of your books, it’s because I haven’t found them! Including the co-written ones with Sam Sykes!
There aren’t any books co-written with Sam. His novels are entirely his own.
Webmistress’s note: Fantasy author Samuel Sykes is Diana’s son. Check out his home page for more information about his work:
I love seeing your process. It makes total sense to me to add those notes (like go back and change x) while you go instead of breaking the train of thought. Thanks for sharing!
But I don’t add those notes; they’re shown here, but in real-time, that’s what I’m thinking—and while I sometimes leave square brackets for a specific piece of missing information—“[tree]”—more often I just go find/check what I need right there—since what I find may well affect what comes next/later.
I have a question related to this, Diana! What does your work with editors look like? Is it very developmental, with constructive feedback shared throughout drafting? More focused on high-level looks at certain checkpoints? Something else entirely? Given your long history as a writer I’m just curious about that part of the process as well. Editor/author dynamics can be so diverse and interesting.
No. <g> I don’t write in drafts, and the way I do write would be impossible for anybody else to have much impact on. I write the book, and when I think it’s finished, I send it (sometimes in chunks, but that depends on the book and how it’s coming together for me) to my U.S. and U.K. editors, and they both send back comments. Some are purely mechanical—catches of repeated passages or imagery, minor confusions of timeline, straightforward typos or minor errors, etc.—and some are asking for clarification of some point or expressing a minor reservation about something—and those are left up to my judgement. But every editor works differently with different writers.
How do you keep these tidbits organized? Do you have multiple pages/tabs? Way back when I had to write papers, we used index cards and outlines. I keep trying to picture your organization as you have said you might write down incidents way ahead of when they fit in into any book. You amaze me ! Love your writing! Thank you for all the enjoyable hours.
It’s just in my head. I do “organize” my scenes, insofar as I give each scene a unique filename so I can find it when I want it. <g> A file name consists of a word signifying which book it is (all the main Outlander novel are called “JAMIE” — JAMIE, JAMIE2, JAMIE3, etc.; we’re now on JAMIE9. Whereas THE SCOTTISH PRISONER was called “PRISON” and BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE, “BROTHER.” Each new book has its own folder/directory, into which all its files go.
The filename then has a symbol indicating the year of creation, followed by a dot and a 2-3 digit extension that indicates the date on which I began work on that scene/file. So a scene that I began today, for instance, in BEES, would be called JAMIE9@.91 .One started tomorrow would be JAMIE9@.92, and so on. Files for BEES from 2015 were all called JAMIE9!.(date).
The other component of this very crude organizing system is a file (there’s one for each book) called the MFILE (for “Master File”). This is just a list of the filenames, each being followed by several keywords:
JAMIE9@.313 – coon hunt, Bluey
JAMIE9@.818 – Smokeshed, Brianna and Fanny
etc.
So when I write what comes after “Smokeshed,” I can open the MFILE and do a quick search for “One an officer” and I’ll find JAMIE9&.92 (because that’s what I’ll be working on tomorrow).
As to putting the pieces together… I think in shapes. Geometrical shapes. And so sometimes the pieces flow together because of their content (“Root cellar” follows “Smokeshed,” for instance), but sometimes because of the way they fit together, which wouldn’t be easily describable in words, but which is intuitively obvious to ‘em.
What size hard drive do you need for that? Do you have a backup system?
Text/document files really take very little room (though I think I have a 2-gig hard disk in this machine). I have all my writing folders embedded in Dropbox, so when I save to my hard disk, the same file goes automatically to Dropbox (which not only serves as backup, but is accessible from any other of my devices, so I can retrieve the file I made on my Alien (which is huge and weighs nine pounds) to the Mac Air that I travel with—or, in a pinch (if called on unexpectedly to read an excerpt somewhere) I can pull something into my iPad and take it on stage.
That said, I do also back up the most important files once a week to both a thumb-drive and the external Time Machine backup for the Mac. I also print out the scenes as I finish them, for my husband to read, and I throw the annotated copies (after I’ve read them <g>) into a storage box—just in case of EMP’s.
Your writing is very tight. When you include a detail, it is likely to be important or significant later. How far ahead do you look when writing? Did you know that John Grey was going to reappear so many times in so many books? You bring back so many characters when we think we have seen the last of them. Is there a big picture somewhere?
The bigger picture just emerges as I work. People think this or that is clever foreshadowing— when all it is, is that I looked back from some further vantage point and said, “Oh, I could use that bit here, couldn’t I?” <g> (A story doesn’t run in only one direction.)
I think your mind works a lot like mine does. It’s highly nonlinear thought processes that you’re showing here, but there’s a logical flow down each side-path. I wonder if that’s the scientist in us… At any rate, I enjoyed the walking tour of your method, and it is even clearer to me now what a labor of love your writing is. Every scintilla of detail, down to the degree of moisture on the plant, is finely crafted. Thank you for being such a conscientious creator of your world!
Linearity is by no means the only model of logic. <g>
How do you separate fiction from reality? When I am engrossed in one of your books, I feel that I’m looking at the moment through the characters of the book, if that makes sense. The characters seem so real but not. Yet you are living it daily. Probably thinking about the next scene or paragraph of any given project at the time.
Fiction is just a different reality.
I love your brain! Just how many of YOU are in that head?
I’ve never tried to count…
Thank you so much for sharing. I have an idea for something I’d like to write about. I’ve begun the research process but have been lamenting about how to write it. Seeing your process made me realize that my approach is similar to yours and so it begins… Thanks for the inspiration.
All you gotta do is start—and then don’t stop. You’ll figure out the how (or rather, which “how” works for you) as you go.
Everybody’s brain is wired up differently; the key to succeeding (as in, get words on paper <g>) is to figure out how your own brain works best, and work with it, rather than trying to force it into some preconceived notion of “how it’s done.”
You always type your writing? And never write it out in longhand?
If I wrote in longhand, it would be illegible within seconds; I change words, sentences, paragraphs, clauses, pretty much nonstop.
“Desultory” was not in my vocabulary before I read the OUTLANDER series. <g> Nor was “peremptory.”
Stick with me, kid… I can teach you a lotta words…
This blog was first posted on my official Facebook page on September 1, 2016, and appears here with a few selected social media questions/comments and my replies.
I have been a reader all my life and I didn’t know about your series, Outander, until the tv show started. I liked it so much, I immediately purchased all 8 and read them one after another. Then I read them all again and purchased everything else you’ve written, to read. I love your work, obviously. I was a huge fan of James Michener, I always learned so much fact along with being highly entertained and you are every bit as good. I love your humor, your pace, basically I just love your work. Thank you. Must be very cool, being you. Such a smart lady. Take all the time you need for #9 and 10, I’ll be waiting… But, very glad that you’re getting close on 9.
I have never done this and I hope it is heard. I lost my dad to Alzheimer’s in October 2017, my dog of 11 years just passed this April. I just finished book 8 in the Outlander series. I wanted to thank you so much for these books. Through many years of my dad’s decline, they were my escape. They are the 1st books I have read in years and my hubby got me the 1st one for Christmas 2 years ago, what a great gift! They made some sad times more bearable. I cant wait to get ahold of book 9, and thank you again for these wonderful books!
Mary,
So sorry for the loss of you Dad and your beloved dog. You have my deepest sympathies.
BEES may be finished in the fall of 2019. With a publication date some time after, to be determined.
Thank you for the kind words!
Diana
Your writing is always so readable, enjoyable, and packed with new words for me to look up! I never thought I could enjoy reading this much.+Thank you! Patiently awaiting the arrival of Bees. No pressure! You’re a master story teller. It’ll be ready when it’s ready!
So glad to hear about another writer who doesn’t use an outline! I am a “pantster” too.
Hello,
I probably don’t have anything to say that has not been said already but I will anyhow. I have been loving your characters for a long time. So when a new book comes out I read the whole series over again to extend the pleasure. Now with nine books I did start early in anticipation of ‘Bees’ because I don’t think I can wait the time it takes to read the whole series to finally crack open the new book.
I feel quite attached to your characters and am surprised at the emotions their experiences create in me.
I have mixed feelings about Bees, even though I look forward to the next book , knowing it is the last I know I will be sad. It has been a lovely ride though. Thank you so very much for the many wonderful years of reading. I can only hope you have new stories to be told and more characters for us to fall in love with.
Warm regards
Sandra
Hi, Sandra,
So glad that you love Diana’s books, too, but hang on to your hat… Diana has said there will be a Book Ten after BEES! Then she is planning write a prequel about Jamie’s parents after that, and has other ideas, too.
There are still wonderful things to come…
Cheers,
Loretta
Diana’s Webmistress
OMG… I started writing almost a year and a half-ago, and it’s like you live inside my head! I do the same thinking in my head, and also the frequent pauses while I quickly look up somethinng online, etc.
I think the brackets are genius! I’ve tried to write an outline, but it just doesn’t seem to work out. But if I’ve had a few days of intense writing, I’m in a fog as I think of details, or remember something in a previous chapter that I could bring up again.
And of course so many great things pop into my head when I can’t get near a laptop or even a piece of paper…
Thank so much for this!
W.
Would love to see you write a new book series. After you finish book 9 & 10.
About a totally new “family”.
Hi,
As I’ve stated elsewhere, once the Outlander series of novels is finished, I may write a prequel novel about Jamie’s parents. And I have some other ideas, too, involving Master Raymond. Plus a totally new direction—a contemporary mystery set in Phoenix. Time will tell! <g>
-Diana
Can’t wait for more books and the new season of Outlander! I first bought your book at my local Barnes & Noble several years ago and have been hooked since then. My husband has also read your books and is just now watching the TV show (he also says he likes them as well). Keep up the great work!
Dear Diana,
I have recently finished book 8 and am already missing the characters so much that I am thinking of starting the Outlander series all over… but maybe I will try your other books first!
I am in awe of all the research you do and have learned so much from you about all kinds of things, even subjects (e.g. history!) which have not not been my favorites in the past.
Inspired by your series, we recently took a trip to Scotland (Edinburgh & Inverness) which was a celebration of sorts for my sister and myself, as we were in Scotland exactly fifty years ago. I don’t know if you are familiar with the Clan Fraser of Southern California, but back in its heyday there was a lot of contact between the members and the actual Scottish clan Fraser, and in 1968 there were 37 members of the So. Cal. clan which traveled to Scotland and spent two weeks as guests of the then Simon, Lord Lovat (17th), including us all staying in his hunting castle in Beauly, being taken to a picnic on an island in the middle of a loch, meeting the Lord Mayor of Edinburgh as well as Princess Margaret, and sharing some of the smoothest Scotch (of Fraser origin) I have ever tasted – pretty heady stuff for an eighteen-year old as I was then!
My sister and I decided to swim across the loch to the picnic as we were impatient waiting for the rowboats to take us all over three at a time, and I can only say we were lucky to have been experienced swimmers or I’m not sure we would have survived the icy cold and fast-rushing water. I’ve been told that Lord Lovat remembered and talked about that escapade for a long time!
My husband and I took a bus this June to Beauly from our b & b in Inverness (Castle View Guest House, highly recommended!) , had supper at the Lovat Arms and visited Campbells store where they still sell a variety of modern and ancient Fraser tartans. As far as I can tell, the tartan you chose to clothe Jamie in is not a standard Fraser tartan, or not one I recognize, but I understand the need for artistic license!
One other tiny discrepancy I came across recently in book 8 was mention of a “chestnut with a black mane”; chestnuts always have reddish-brown manes and tails along with the same overall body colors, and any brown, reddish brown to blackish-brown horse with a black mane (and tail, and often stockings as well) is considered a bay. I have horses at home, am an animal lover, and was a zookeeper for 20 years at L.A. Zoo.
I look forward to hearing you speak in person sometime, if you ever come to the Northwest – perhaps at Powell’s Bookstore in Portland… maybe on a book tour to promote “Bees…”!
best wishes, and many thanks for such great entertainment from your books, Lydia
Hello from Fountain Hills, Arizona.
Love all of the Outlander T.V.series plus have read all of the Outlander books.
Also anxiously waiting for Outlander season 4 to come out.
It may seem silly my question is however what happens to Ian’s half wolf dog Rollo in all of this?
A lover’s of all pets.
Thank you.
Debbie
Hi Diana,
Part of me wants to take notes on the various plants you write about and their uses for helping and healing our bodies ~ LOL.
I really Love your books. I am so happy to hear you are working on #9! I love re-reading your books also.
Thank You for following your heart and writing these books. I am always astounded of the amount of research you do and your attention to detail. What an amazing mind you have!
I have a question I have wanted to ask Someone for many years. I have many books that are in series ~
All of Anne McCaffrey’s, the Clan Of The Cave Bear, Twilight, True Blood, and more. In every series there are things about the characters or things that happened that are changed in the books as the story moves on. Jamie was 6’6″ tall and then he was said to be 6’4″ in a later book as one example. I am wondering why this is done It seems to me it must be intentional since it occurs in every series I have read. Will you please enlighten me about this? It’s been bugging me for years! LOL
Thank You for the good life lessons in the books also. I am 66 years old and still learning them. Sometimes I even enjoy the process.
Love and Blessings.
Gingi
I stumbled upon outlander on stars when I was laid up after a foot surgery. I have a hard time sitting still and paying attention to television. Not with outlander. I binge watched season one in one day. I can truly say that I am addicted to the t.v. series……then I picked up the books. Oh my god Ms. Gabaladon, you are, in my opinion, the best author of all time. The best I have ever read at least, and I have read quite a bit.
I find your writing to be enthralling. I have always found the subject of time travel to be fascinating but you take it to a new level. Your series is the best female led novel and television franchise ever. Unfortunately, female led series tend to become unbelievable after some time, at least they seem so to me. However, your characters continue to be likable, believable, fascinating, and down right addicting. I have learned so much from your writings. I sincerely thank you for all of your historically accurate information.
Yes, I am an outlander junkie and I am eagerly awaiting my next fix. Cannot wait until I am able to read BEES. Thank you for allowing us to sneak a peak into your fantastic imagination and creativity.
I just finished reading all eight Outlander books. What a masterful series! I felt I lived them and the end made me cry with joy, as if it were my own family. Since number nine won’t appear until next year, I will definitely re-read the entire series, as well as check out the other books you have written.
My mother, ever the avid reader, has been a huge fan of your series, both books and television. After I saw that first episode, I knew I had to read the books. I have not seen any more of the video series but I will one of these days. We love to discuss your story during phone calls. My mother is 88 and always makes great reading recommendations. She knocked it out of the park on this one.
Your use of language is spectacular. I can tell you love interesting, unique, and colorful words. You keep me busy looking them up! I greatly appreciate how well you have woven real history into your story. This further enriches the entire experience.
I love that you live in Arizona. I do, as well. I hope if you do any author events that I will hear of them. I would greatly enjoy hearing you speak about your books.
Thank you so much for the amazing ride, full of laughter and tears, nail biting moments, and love. I can’t wait for it to continue!
Have read all your books since 1st came out…water under the bridge about 20 years! A friend also in hospitality business at the time recommended ‘Cross Stitch’ as a true way to relax. It has surely taken me out of myself for hours & hours in the years between then & now.
Friend is now long gone & would love to know that your ‘story’ has been so interesting, long and convoluted!
We have travelled to some of ‘the places’ in Scotland long before the TV series so can picture them. (Hopetoun House where family were once foresters on the estate and further north…)
As a genealogist I’ve enjoyed travelling the same roads & in the steps that my ancestors did 200 yrs ago.
Censuses have them at a given time but what were/are their stories from the
I look forward to the 9th book. Hopefully in the next year all will be revealed.
Liz NZ
Hello, I am a beginning writer or hope to be anyways. For as long as I can remember I’ve had ideas for writing and will begin a story but get caught up in trying to figure out the entire plot rather than individual scenes. I wonder if when you began you had similar trouble or if you have any advice on getting past this.
Hi Diana
I noticed in your reply to Jaunita on September 6, 2018 that you mention among other ideas for books you may have one involving Master Raymond. It would be wonderful to know what happened to him after Paris.
Thanks for all you fabulous writings
Lesley
Absolutely agree! Master Raymond is one of my favorite characters too and is worthy of his own series. Can’t wait for the new book to come out. It’s definitely an exercise in patience and I’m sure will be worth the wait.
Your books are great. I read about the overall scenario and did think any author could do it justice–how wrong I was! I delayed even considering looking at them. Now I am hooked. I loved the way that you used real names (like an island for a village) for fictitious places or people. At first, having a little Scots Gaelic, I was turned off by things that did not seem right to me but was pleased that you were making a stab at it and more pleased that you are now getting excellent advice. More important, you build the characters and situations with so much depth and perspective the I feel that I have met and associated with many of them. ( I particularly like the way that only Claire narrates in the first person.) Characters even have memories that do not match what was reported earlier in the series (or maybe my memory is bad). For now, the end of Written … Blood has left too many loose ends in places where no one from the family is there to tie them together. I look forward to the next book.
Beanachd leat. a charaid,
Rev
I love your writing style! I just got back from Lancaster PA where I grew up. Our family is big into genealogy and a relative found some new info while in Germany. It sparked some ideas for a great book. I have no idea how to start. Do you ever take ideas and story lines and help others formulate in your style? I think you would be very interested in the history we’ve uncovered. It would also extend to Lancaster and continue with the Amish background. I have so many ideas! Please help!
Dearest Diana,
I’ve been a fan of your books for a very long while and through your work you’ve inspired my own creative writing. I first found Outlander in a bookshop I worked in for a few years in the Virginia Highlands in the Blue Ridge. Changed my reading habits and opened new horizons. I was 12 years old when it was published so forgive me for getting to the party a little late. Anyhow, thank you for sharing your thought process here on this blog. It’s encouraging to hear someone you respect and look up to reveal how their writing comes to be. I am about to reread the Drums of Autumn in preparation for the new season of Outlander and can’t wait to dive into your new stories. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with us and bringing to life people and places that we all hold dear.
~ Jackson Bond
Hi Diana I still remember the first time I read Crosstitch in the 80′s before I had children. Now I have feel that Jamie and Claire are related or best of friends to me. I have basically grown up with them and I absolutely love Claire and the way she deals with life. They are real life living breathing people. Now my boys are 21 and 18 along with Briana. Your series is my favourite and the mini series is a fantastic rendition of the books. I love both. Please dont end the series. It could be the first ever series that could easily have 20 books. You have created something really special. And I have over and over used Claire’s strength and love to use in my own life. Thankyou so much for this. Thankyou. I guarantee a lot of people would say the same.
Congratulations on brilliant story-telling! I can’t believe I’d neither seen nor read anything from the Outlander series until the past few weeks – and me a Mackenzie who lives 20 miles from Culloden! I initially thought – here we go, another American writing about romantised, stereotypical Scots people – how wrong was I? You’ve got the Scottish character nailed to a tee. And thank you for not portraying us all as savages in mud huts – Scots have long contributed to the world in terms of philosophical thinking and innovative ideas. I’m totally in love with Jamie Fraser (though have yet to find a Scotsman anything like him despite living in Scotland for 55 years!), and Sam Heughan’s not bad either……. You’ve also done wonders for Scottish tourism. I love the use of Scottish words such as “fash” and “guddle” – how did you know about them? The characters are beautifully crafted, the historical research painstakingly done, and the writing fabulous. I feel the loss of the Outlander world each time I finish a book. Thank you.
Hello Diana,
I’ve never written to a writer before. Do you critique your fan mail?
Thank you so very much for introducing me to the Frasers! I listen daily with Audible and they have become cherished family members that are sorely missed if real life gets in the way of my listening time. I’ve listened to all 8 multiple times in the last 3 years and will probably get in at least 2-3 more full series listens between now and BEES. Keep the Daily Lines coming, please!
This series has kept me going through some tough times. Whenever I feel like my life is a royal mess, Jaime and Claire are caught up in something far worse and come out the other side as better people. If there is a patron saint of writers, (Jamie will know) I hope he keeps you close.
I’ve been curious about Jamie’s dreams. He dreams of the grandchildren as if he can see through time. Will that be something we hear more about? Is it Jaime’s unique version of Claire’s time travel gene and something he explores? Claire has noticed, but you haven’t expanded on it. Maybe it’s more of an unconscious way the grandchildren reach out to their Gran Da? Just wondering.
Slainte!
Karen