Did you know Diana Gabaldon sometimes bridges the gaps between scenes?

Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series has made it to the Top 10 in the Great American Read. Did you know some of her scenes are bridged together at later dates?

We all know the love for the Outlander book series. It’s a passion we all share. How much do you actually know about the novels that are now in the Top 10 of The Great American Read? Did you know Diana Gabaldon sometimes writes scenes that she later has to bridge together?

According to Gabaldon, piecing the two scenes together can be more tedious than any of the research and the writing. She shares that some of the bridges and even the scenes are difficult to put together, even if they do look like they just flow out of her.

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One of the things Gabaldon does is put a clue for a mystery into a scene that has another storyline. Readers are so absorbed in the scene that they overlook the clue until it comes up later. This takes time to plan and can be a process of chiseling a masterpiece, as the words won’t always flow in order.

The Outlander books also add two other elements that make bridging gaps harder. It’s important to create an immersive experience that has accuracies from history. With larger books, there’s also the need to make a later book accessible for new readers. After all, some readers are going to pick up the eighth book first and need to feel like they’re not missing too many details without recapping everything for those who have started from the beginning.

You can learn all about Diana Gabaldon’s writing process and more in Parade.com’s interview. She’ll also appear on The Great American Read finale on Oct. 23 as one of a series of guests to celebrate the reveal of the winner.

Are you still voting for Outlander in The Great American Read? Did you know Diana Gabaldon sometimes bridges the gaps between scenes? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

You can vote for Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander in The Great American Read until next week.