[9][11] Gabaldon was the founding editor of Science Software Quarterly in 1984 while employed at the Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University.

[9] Gabaldon happened to see a rerun episode of the Doctor Who science fiction TV series titled "The War Games".

[16] One of the Doctor's companions was a Scot from around 1745, a young man about 17 years old named Jamie McCrimmon, who provided the initial inspiration for her main male character, James Fraser, and for her novel's mid-18th century Scotland setting.

[9][15][16] Gabaldon decided to have "an Englishwoman to play off all these kilted Scotsmen", but her female character "took over the story and began telling it herself, making smart-ass modern remarks about everything.

[21][22] The Outlander series focuses on 20th-century nurse Claire Randall, who time travels to 18th-century Scotland and finds adventure and romance with the dashing James Fraser.

[2] Set in Scotland, France, the West Indies, England and North America, the novels merge multiple genres, featuring elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and science fiction/fantasy.

[41][42] They can be generally categorized as historical mysteries, and the three novels are shorter and focus on fewer plot threads than the main Outlander books.

[51] A Breath of Snow and Ashes (2005) debuted at #1 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best-Seller List[52][53] and won the Quill Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror.

[54] In 2007, The Montreal Gazette noted that Gabaldon's books "are in demand in 24 countries in 19 languages", and that the author "continues to churn out one bestseller after another.

Also, Gabaldon received the St. Andrew's Society of Los Angeles & Southern California "Robert Burns Lifetime Achievement Award."

[60] Reviewing the Lord John series, Publishers Weekly said that "Gabaldon's prose is crisply elegant"[61] and that she "brings an effusive joy to her fiction that proves infectious even for readers unfamiliar with her work or the period.