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Date Posted: Tue, April 12 2022, 21:34:02
Author: CindyG
Subject: QOTD for Wednesday, April 13, 2022

The following quote is from The Outlandish Companion (Revised and Updated), by Diana Gabaldon, “Prologue.” Copyright © 1999, 2015 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.

“Enter another accident. I rarely watch TV, but at the time I was in the habit of viewing weekly PBS reruns of Doctor Who (a British science-fiction serial), because it gave me just enough time to do my nails.4 So, while pondering the setting for my hypothetical historical novel, I happened to see one very old episode of Doctor Who featuring a “companion” of the Doctor’s—a young Scottish lad named Jamie MacCrimmon, whom the Doctor had picked up in 1745. This character wore a kilt, which I thought rather fetching, and demonstrated—in this particular episode5—a form of pigheaded male gallantry that I’ve always found endearing: the strong urge on the part of a man to protect a woman, even though he may realize that she’s plainly capable of looking after herself.
I was sitting in church the next day, thinking idly about this particular show (no, oddly enough, I don’t remember what the sermon was about that day), when I said suddenly to myself, Well, heck. You want to write a book, you need a historical period, and it doesn’t matter where or when. The important thing is just to start, somewhere. Okay. Fine. Scotland, eighteenth century.
So I went out to my car after Mass, dug a scrap of paper out from under the front seat, and that’s where I began to write Outlander; no outline, no plot, no characters—just a time and a place.”

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Replies:

[> Aha! Like I said, Divine Intervention 😊 👍. There’s nothing wrong with a little daydreaming during a particularly long sermon and look what happened. -- Kathy in PA, Wed, April 13 2022, 7:01:06


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[> And the rest is history! -- DianaH, Wed, April 13 2022, 9:14:17


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[> That passage was my very first exposure to any of the books. At a book store flipping pages in books looking for good reads. Saw the words Doctor Who and stoped to read that passage. (BIG Who fan...old who) did not buy the book and it would be a few yrs before I would read Outlander. later got the OC vol one and say to myself "I remember this passage". -- JamesG, Wed, April 13 2022, 15:32:52


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[> [> That’s so cool that you found it again and remembered! Because of this passage I tried Dr. Who, starting with the very first. It was the tv of my youth and I just couldn’t get past the bad sets and costumes. I haven’t tried any of the modern versions yet. Anything Diana recommends I at least look at. Do you remember her Methadone List? I read some good ones from that. -- Kathy in PA, Wed, April 13 2022, 18:14:16


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