• “The smartest historical sci-fi adventure-romance story ever written by a science Ph.D. with a background in scripting 'Scrooge McDuck' comics.”—Salon.com
  • A time-hopping, continent-spanning salmagundi of genres.”
    —ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
  • “These books have to be word-of-mouth books because they're too weird to describe to anybody.”
    —Jackie Cantor, Diana's first editor

INFLUENCES

I know writers of novels who say they don’t read fiction at all while working on a book, out of fear of “being influenced” by what they read. I am struck by horror at the thought of going years without being able to read fiction (though perhaps these people write faster than I do, and take long vacations between books?)—but more struck by the sheer silliness of this.

Everything writers see, think, and experience influences their work. How could it not? Now, it’s true that people do ask writers, “Where do you get your ideas?” and that writers–out of facetiousness or desperation–give answers like, “From the Sears catalog” (or “From Ideas.com,” depending on the writer’s vintage). But the truth is that writers get ideas from every damn thing they see, hear, smell, touch, taste, think, feel, or do—including the books they read.

Naturally, one wants to develop a unique voice, but do kids learn to talk without ever being talked to? You have an individual voice, by virtue of being an individual. And your individuality is composed of your essential God-given spark of personality and of the sum total of the things you encounter in life. Now, whether each encounter is a bruising collision or a fruitful act of love…who knows? But all of it is grist to a writer’s mill; so much should be obvious, if one reads at all widely.

Personally, I learned to read at the age of three, and have read non-stop ever since. I’m 58 now; you can read a lot of books in fifty-five years. I’m sure that every single book I’ve ever read has had some influence on me as a writer, whether negative (I’ve read a lot of books with the mounting conviction that I would never in my life do something like that) or positive.

When I first began to write fiction, though, I was deliberately looking for positive influences, and luckily had quite a few to hand. During the writing of my first novel (OUTLANDER/CROSS STITCH, which I wrote for practice, not intending to ever show it to anyone), I consciously considered the art and techniques of these five writers in particular:

Charles Dickens – Nobody does characters like Dickens did, and that’s why his books endure. He told excellent stories and painted a vivid portrait of Victorian society, but that society consists of people who live, breathe, and speak on the page. I learned from him the art of evoking a character: naming and describing people in such vivid detail as to make them live.

Robert Louis Stevenson – One of the earliest and best of the romance writers—back when “romance” meant adventure and excitement, escape from daily life. TREASURE ISLAND? KIDNAPPED? THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE? The titles alone are enough to transport you, but the clean prose and vivid characters bring you back again and again.

Dorothy L. Sayers – Mistress of dialogue, character, humor and social nuance. From her, I learned that dialogue is the single most defining trait of character, and just how much you can do with accent, idiom, and dialect. Also, that a character is embedded in his or her social matrix, and that matrix is as important as the individual’s personal characteristics.

John D. MacDonald – John D. was a prolific writer, with more than five hundred novels to his credit, in more than one genre, but was best known for his Travis McGee mystery/thrillers. From him, I learned how to sustain characters over the course of a long series, how to maintain a narrative drive, how to write action, and how to pace a story.

P.G. Wodehouse – one of the most popular humorists ever. Pelham Grenville Wodehouse taught me how much sheer amusement you can derive from the English language—and the art of constructing a plot that works so seamlessly that it doesn’t matter how absurd it is. And no one who’s ever had the pleasure of meeting Bertie Wooster and his gentleman’s personal gentleman, Jeeves—let alone his bevy of friends and nemeses (Gussie Fink-Nottle and his Aunt Agatha, to mention only two)—will ever forget them.

I learned a great deal from all these writers—and from hundreds more. What every
writer on this list of personal muses has in common, though, is great skill in the matter of creating characters. And character, I think, is the single most important thing in fiction. You might read a book once for its interesting plot—but not twice. When you meet a fascinating person in the pages of a book, though, you come back, discovering new relevance, seeing new depths—or just enjoying the renewal of a long and lasting friendship.

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46 Responses »

  1. Diana–

    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

  2. Ms. Gabaldon -

    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 !

    • Dear Chris–

      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

  3. Hi Diana,

    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

  4. Dear Diana,

    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

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