For the thousands of fans of Jamie and Claire Fraser, the good news is that their creator, novelist Diana Gabaldon, has reached the point where everything is coming together in her writing of “The Fiery Cross,” the latest book in her “Outlander” series.
“But I won’t let go of it until it’s ready,” said Gabaldon, 47, from her home in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The story of the series, which began in 1991 with the book “Outlander,” is reminiscent of a fairy tale in its utter implausibility. In the late ’80s, Gabaldon was married, the mother of three children younger than 6 and a professor of ecology at Arizona State University. She had written professionally for years–everything from scientific articles to software reviews to Disney comic books. “But I always wanted to be a novelist,” she said, “and I decided that if this was going to be my life’s work, I’d better get started.”
She said she decided to write a novel strictly for “practice.” Long a mystery fan, she first considered writing a book in that genre but eventually decided to write a historical novel because of its “lack of restraints.” She also figured her expertise in academic research would be a plus.
“I had no particular place or time in mind,” she said.
Around this time, she watched an episode of the British sci-fi TV series “Dr. Who,” which featured an 18th Century Highland Scot named Jamie MacCrimmon. “There was the kilt factor, which was fetching, of course,” Gabaldon said, “and people with entertaining accents.”
The next day she went to the Arizona State library and typed “Scotland, Highlands, 18th Century” into the electronic card catalog. She found more than 400 books on the subject and became intrigued by the profound societal changes during the era: the end of feudalism, the 1745 uprising that effectively ended the clan system and the beginning of the Enlightenment. It seemed the perfect period in which to set a novel.
As she began to write a story of 18th Century Scotland, with “no outline or characters, just a time and a place,” a woman named Claire Beauchamp Randall “arrived,” demonstrating a distinctly 20th Century sensibility.
Claire, a World WarII combat nurse on holiday in the Highlands with her professor husband in 1946, had somehow found herself in 1743 Scotland, and Gabaldon’s historical novel eventually became a historical/time-travel novel. Early in the book, Claire meets and is forced to marry a young Highlander outlaw named Jamie Fraser.
During the writing of her “practice” novel, Gabaldon posted excerpts on CompuServe’s writer’s forum bulletin boards. Other participants were intrigued by her story, and one, a published writer, referred her to his agent. The agent immediately took her on and auctioned “Outlander” to several publishers. Delacorte Press (now owned by Random House) bought it and offered her a three-book contract. Readers have eagerly followed the lives and adventures of Jamie and Claire through four novels spanning more than 20 years (“Outlander,” “Dragonfly in Amber,” “Voyager” and “Drums of Autumn”).
“People say to me, `Don’t you get bored writing about the same characters?’ But I’m not writing about the same characters,” Gabaldon said. “They grow and they change. These books are the story of the evolution of a marriage. Everyone knows how people fall in love. But how people stay married–that’s much more complex and difficult and interesting.”
“People are interested in life, death, sex–the eternal verities.”
Gabaldon, a petite woman with long, dark hair and a sly sense of humor, describes a writing process that sounds almost supernatural. Her books are not outlined or even written in sequence.
“I don’t create characters. I just listen, and they talk to me.” Each of the four books (ranging from 850 to 1,100-plus pages) has taken two to three years to complete.
“How do I do it? I work like a dog,” she said, laughing.
Gabaldon’s books are considered genre-busters, and they leave booksellers in a quandary about where to shelve them. “Outlander” was marketed as a historical romance, a label Gabaldon eschews. “I like romances a lot, but these aren’t romances. I think they’re in the same genre as the historical novels of James Clavell and Colleen McCullough.”
Readers call the books addictive and are wildly enthusiastic about their blend of history, action, sly humor, sex and eroticism–and of course, the tempestuous marriage of Claire and Jamie Fraser.
Gabaldon said she has no problems with writer’s block. “I’ve had it exactly one time in my life–years ago, when I was writing my thesis. Now I just find a place where the ground is soft and start writing.”
Gabaldon attributes the tremendous loyalty and affection Jamie and Claire engender in readers to the characters’ “honor and intelligence. They actually love and are firmly committed to each other. They’re honest-to-God people with flaws and greatness, and I neither glamorize nor demonize them.
“One person recently told me, `What I like most about your books is that your characters are mentally healthy.’ I thought that was a great compliment!”
Gabaldon is also writing a mystery set in modern-day Phoenix, tentatively titled “White Knight.”
“The idea for it had always been in the back of my mind, sort of a fuzzy idea,” she said.
She seems gratified and mildly amused by the fervency of some of her fans. “I think half of them believe that I do time travel,” she said, laughing.
She rarely visits the several on-line fan sites where readers discuss all things “Outlandish.”
“I just don’t have the time,” she said.
On CompuServe, she co-leads the Research and Craft writer’s forum. “That fulfills my need to teach,” she said.
For Gabaldon’s thousands of fans, there’s no end to the magic wrought by Jamie and Claire’s story. Volume 5 of the series, tentatively titled “The Fiery Cross” and due to be published in mid-2001, can’t come too soon for readers like Tammy Shanahan.
“Three years ago I’d never read a historical romance,” said Shanahan, a Gabaldon fan and aspiring romance novelist. “A friend gave me `Outlander.’ I was instantly hooked. I was reading day and night, every minute I could get. When I was finished with the first book I had to buy the next, and the next and then the last. Never do we get to follow a romance like Claire and Jamie’s through four wonderful books. No romance can compare to the likes of the `Outlander’ series. I’m so looking forward to the release of “The Fiery Cross.”
“Here’s why I read Diana Gabaldon,” said Silhouette Books novelist Ann Roth. “I particularly like her attention to detail. Clearly, her books have been carefully researched. Using wonderful and sometimes obscure details makes the story real, brings it to life. And of course, her characters are wonderfully crafted. So human. How could any female not fall in love with Jamie?”
“The Outlandish Companion” (Delacorte Press, $24.95) offers a full synoposis of four novels by Diana Gabaldon along with a complete listing of the characters, including family trees and genealogical notes.
