Diana Gabaldon Quotes

Author Image

Diana Gabaldon

Profession : Author

Birth : January 11, 1952

Each book develops a strong organic shape. And when that shape is complete, the book is complete. I don't know where the end is. I don't start at the beginning. It's like playing Tetris in my head in a very slow kind of way. All the shapes join up.

Diana Gabaldon

People have been trying to make a two-hour feature film of 'Outlander' for years and years and years.

Diana Gabaldon

While you certainly will recognize 'Outlander' if you've been reading the books, there's also this wonderful sense of novelty and discovery about it because of all the little new touches and twists. I watch it in utter fascination waiting to see what will happen.

Diana Gabaldon

I'm not a team player. I'm used to having total control over everything I do.

Diana Gabaldon

I understand what it is that actors do. They embody someone that they aren't.

Diana Gabaldon

When you're an artist, you can't write with the intent of affecting anyone.

Diana Gabaldon

I began writing 'Outlander' in 1988, so the Internet as we now know it didn't exist.

Diana Gabaldon

If you're writing something that's clearly labelled as an alternative history, of course it's perfectly legitimate to play with known historical characters and events, but less so when you're writing an essentially straight historical fiction.

Diana Gabaldon

Actors act... Their job is to become this character. And I have, in fact, seen Sam Heughan become Jamie and Caitriona Balfe become Claire right before my eyes. It was an astonishing transformation.

Diana Gabaldon

I've never been willing to commit to more than one at a time, because I just don't know - I don't plan the books out ahead of time. So I have no idea how much ground we'll cover.

Diana Gabaldon

All I had when I began writing the first book was rather vague images conjured up by the notion of a man in a kilt, so essentially I began with Jamie, although I had no idea what his name was at the time.

Diana Gabaldon

The media is always looking for a story of one kind or another.

Diana Gabaldon

You won't have a story unless you have conflict, which means if there's no conflict in a situation, people look for a way to make some.

Diana Gabaldon

I read some books, and I thought, 'This is better than sliced bread!' and a month later, I couldn't remember thinking about it. And I've read others that were kind of a slog, and I've put them down and come back six months later thinking, 'Wow, this is great.' So, you know, things change all the time.

Diana Gabaldon

If you're going to have more than one person read your book, they're going to have totally different opinions and responses. No person - no two people - read the same book.

Diana Gabaldon

I have friends who are writers who have had movies made of their books, and they are almost uniformly horrified about what's been done - or, at least, dissatisfied.

Diana Gabaldon

When I am at home writing, I have all the power. I am God. But TV is a polytheistic universe.

Diana Gabaldon

I stagger out of bed, take the dogs outside, and then I'll get a Diet Coke and a couple of dog biscuits and go upstairs. By the time I've consumed my Diet Coke and had a quick run through the morning email and Twitter feed, I will probably be compos mentis enough to work.

Diana Gabaldon

One of the great perks of being a writer is that you can work when you're mentally capable of it, not when someone else thinks you should.

Diana Gabaldon

Mid-afternoon, I'll go out and do the household errands, come home, do my gardening, go for an evening walk.

Diana Gabaldon