THE sight of men in kilts rather than knowledge of Scottish history moved author Diana Gabaldon to pen her best-selling Outlander novels.
The Arizona-born writer’s imagination was set alight when she caught a glimpse of kilted men in an old episode of Doctor Who.
The image was “powerful and compelling”, reveals Gabaldon in an exclusive interview with BBC Alba to be shown this week.
Despite having no prior knowledge of Scotland and its history, the vision was enough to drive her to create the Outlander novels that inspired the smash-hit TV series.
“I didn’t expect anyone would read this novel, let alone publish it,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about Scotland but the image of the men in kilts stayed in my head,” she says.
Writing Outlander was her first foray into novel writing but, although she says she had no intention of showing what she had produced to anyone, the series of books has gone on to sell more than 27 million copies worldwide.
Cathy MacDonald’s interview with Gabaldon is featured in Sàr-sgeoil: Outlander, to be shown on Thursday evening. In the programme MacDonald visits some of the Scottish locations that inspired the novels, including Culloden.
Says Gabaldon: “I’ve walked on a lot of battlefields. Most of them are not haunted. That one is.”
Initially she found out about Scotland from library research but has now crossed the Pond about a dozen times.
Other locations featured in the book and television series are visited in the programme including the current seat of Clan MacKenzie at Castle Leod in Strathpeffer – Castle Leoch in the book.
Gabaldon also talks about readers’ reactions across the world to the Scottish imagery in the book and the “Outlander effect” that has been drawing hordes of enthusiastic fans to Scotland. She says she has developed a close connection to the people and places she writes about, particularly Scotland.
Outlander is famous for its time travel element and in the interview Gabaldon reveals it came about because of the problems she was having creating the character of Claire Randall, played by Caitriona Balfe in the TV series.
“I wanted to have a strong female character to create a sexual tension and I decided to have an English woman to create conflict. Then as I started writing the character of Claire Randall she just wouldn’t speak like an 18th century Englishwoman at all. She was speaking in a modern tone of voice and after wrestling with her for a few pages I hit upon the idea of having her travel back in time.”
The third series of Outlander, which is based on the Voyager novel, has already begun shooting and features Culloden.
Scottish actor Sam Heughan who plays Jamie Fraser has said that the new storyline was “really strong”.
“I’m trying not to give anything away, but Culloden, we’ve talked about it a lot. We all know we’ve been shooting that. It looks spectacular. There’s some great stuff .”
Heughan was recently named brand ambassador for Barbour and is to design his own capsule collection for the clothing manufacturer, which should be in the shops next summer.
“I grew up in the south-west of Scotland in the same area that John Barbour created Barbour and it feels like there’s a great connection," he said. "I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be working with them.”
Sàr-sgeoil: Outlander, produced by Caledonia TV, will be broadcast on BBC ALBA on September 29 at 9pm. It will also be available to view on BBC iPlayer.
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