How the Idea of a Man in a Kilt Built a Literary Empire

A scientist with three degrees including a doctorate, Gabaldon was used to writing grants. She recalls her research about the pinyon jay as she set out to learn why the forest bird built nests in trees next to roads. Curiosity and the need to seek out answers are valuable traits for a novelist, she said. In this case, she learned that the baby jays eat insects. “Weeds are the first plants to grow in the spring and they come up where the land is disturbed – forest roads. Insects eat weeds.”

Her studies in botany would become helpful later, when writing about medicinal plants.

But with that first attempt, she decided, writing a novel would be completely different from anything she’d written before, including the comic strips she wrote for Disney for a short period of time. So, her goal was simply to learn how to do it with a practice novel. She figured no one but herself would be reading it, so she could write about anything. She landed on the idea of a fictional story based on historical events.   

“In that malleable frame of mind,” she explains, she was watching an episode of the television science fiction program “Doctor Who.” The extraterrestrial, known as the Doctor, commonly came upon humans that became his traveling companions. In this particular episode, it was a Scotsman in a kilt. The next day in church, Gabaldon was still thinking about that character. That’s when it came to her: “18th century Scotland!”

Thus, Jamie Fraser sprang to life in her head and on the pages as she wrote “Outlander.”

The other main character, Claire Beauchamp Randall, came to her in a different way. “I had these Scotsmen and I thought it would be interesting if a proper English woman were to come upon them.”

To her surprise, Claire didn’t speak like an 18th century woman. Instead, her voice was modern and sassy. “She kept insisting on speaking that way, so I decided to quit fighting her and figure out later how she got there.”

That’s when Gabaldon created the time-travel element and Outlander unfolded as a historical fantasy love story set around the time of World War II, when Claire, a nurse, travels through time to 18th century Scotland and finds adventure and romance with the handsome Highland warrior Jamie Fraser.   

“Claire has my scientific bent,” said Gabaldon, but Jamie is one of her favorite characters. As she explains, “The characters just show up and start talking. They usually come with a name. They travel with me, like family.”

Gabaldon’s practice novel was published in 1991. The television program “Outlander,” on which she is a consultant, premiered on Starz in 2014. Today, nine books of the planned 10-novel Outlander series have been written and translated into 38 languages. More than 50 million copies of the books have been sold across more than 100 countries.

Currently, the latest television season and the newest book are in a race for which one will be written first. “There is no bigger thrill than having someone read something you wrote and like it!” she said. And when the writing brings tears to readers? “Crying is even better.”

A Return to Her Hometown

Gabaldon recalls growing up in Flagstaff and playing in her great grandfather’s workshop. Stanley Sykes was an instrument maker for Lowell Observatory. He and his brother, Godfrey, previously owned a bike shop in Flagstaff and claimed to be able to make or mend anything.

Astronomer Percival Lowell took them up on their promise and asked the brothers to build him a dome for his telescope. . They did. The Clark Dome was built in 1896. Today it continues to gleam from Mars Hill when the sunlight hits it just right, a landmark that has been part of Flagstaff’s skyline for more than 100 years.

Later, after Godfrey moved away, Stanley built the telescope used to discover Pluto and the dome that housed it.

Gabaldon returned home to Flagstaff as the headlining speaker in Lowell Observatory’s I Heart Pluto festival last month. “When she first started writing, her father was so proud of her,” said Coconino County Supervisor for District 1 Patrice Horstman, who now holds the same position that Gabaldon’s dad, Tony Gabaldon, held in the 1990s, following his 16 years as a state senator.

“She remains true to her Flagstaff roots,” said Horstman. “We are very excited that she is here and that she comes back home to talk to folks she was raised with.” Horstman served as an intern for Tony Gabaldon and lived in his attic for a short period after she graduated from law school.

“It is a huge deal to have Flagstaff’s daughter return to us – someone who is so famous and accomplished,” said Flagstaff Mayor Becky Daggett. “The atmosphere is electric! We are so excited to see her.”

Laura Bailey of Gilbert traveled to Flagstaff to meet Gabaldon at The Orpheum Theater. “When I was earning my Bachelor of Science in nursing, my husband gave me a couple weeks alone to get a lot of my work done,” she said. “But then I started binging on ‘Outlander.’”

Bailey did become a nurse, which is one of the reasons she is a huge fan of the series and the author. “I love fiction and I love how fantasy is interwoven with historic events. You get to learn about the times and the people.”

Marsha Humphrey of Indianapolis, Indiana, also came to see Gabaldon. Humphrey visits Flagstaff often to see her son, a Northern Arizona University student. But hearing that Gabaldon would be visiting in February was another good reason to jump on a plane. “I love the adventure and I love the time-travel aspect of her writing.”   

Reflecting on those first Outlander pages before stepping out on stage in front of more than 500 enthusiastic fans, Gabaldon says she had no clue what life could be like as a professional novelist. “It’s a lot of fun!” QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Photo by Bonnie Stevens: Diana Gabaldon shared insights about her writing career. “It’s OK if you aren’t a linear thinker and don’t follow an outline,” she says about her own style. “You still arrive at the same place.”