Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" (Book 1)

Gabaldon is a superb writer. She uses a lot of detail in scene description and keeps the pace moving. The story kept me interested through to the end. It was more of a romance than I thought it would be, though. But she was original in how she spun the romantic elements into the story. Very good read, overall.


Here's what Gabaldon recently wrote regarding the writing and publishing of "Outlander." I find it very interesting and, as a writer, inspiring: 

"I didn’t intend that anyone should ever see this book. I wrote it for practice, as a means of learning to write a novel, and chose historical fiction because I was a research professor—I knew how to look things up. But after all…if no one was going to see it… So it is Big, Fat Historical Fiction (ala James Clavell and James Michener), and it is very accurate in that regard. That’s just…not quite all it is. Let’s put it this way: if I’d known anyone was going to see it, I wouldn’t have written it. I mean, I’d have written a book, sure. It just wouldn’t have been this book. I kind of did anything I liked—and I like a lot of things. So all I could say is that OUTLANDER is Eclectic (always a good word when you can’t describe something), Entertaining (at that size, it better be), and above all, dead honest. Because after all, no one was watching…" Best, —Diana

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