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The Shape of Things

Posted on May 30, 2022 12:58 AM

All my books have an internal geometric or natural shape that emerges in the course of the work, and once I’ve seen it, the writing goes much faster. I may have no idea exactly what happens, what’s said, etc.—but I do know approximately what the missing pieces look like (e.g., I need a scene here that involves these three people, and it has a sense of rising tension and a conclusion that will lead into that scene over there…).

These internal shapes are normally invisible to the reader—who isn’t looking for them in the first place—but if pointed out, the reader can certainly see them. Here are the shapes of each book in my Outlander series of novels:

I. OUTLANDER — Three Overlapping Triangles

My first book, OUTLANDER, is shaped like three overlapping triangles: the action rises naturally toward three climaxes: Claire’s decision at Craig na Dun to stay in the past, Claire’s rescue of Jamie from Wentworth, and her saving of his soul at the Abbey.

II. DRAGONFLY IN AMBER — Dumbbell

DRAGONFLY is shaped like a dumbbell (no, really ). The framing story, set in 1968 (or 1969; there’s a copyediting glitch in there that has to do with differences between the U.S. and U.K. editions of OUTLANDER, but we won’t go into that now), forms the caps on the ends of the dumbbell. The first arc of the main story is the French background, the plots and intrigue (and personal complications) leading toward the Rising. Then there’s a relatively flat stretch of calm and domestic peace at Lallybroch, followed by the...