The one thing I thought I wouldn’t need to worry about when I started writing adventure-fantasy novels was research. After all – I’m writing in a completely made-up world of my own imagination. But boy was I wrong!
I find myself researching all kinds of things from how a particular flower smells to the way a sky lights up with a sunrise. I often look-up the list of mythical creatures to get ideas about what I want my creatures to look like and how they’ll interact within the world I’ve created. I’ve also found myself researching magical abilities and how these have been used previously, even if I decide to apply different rules and change the effects, as is my creative tendency.
I mostly use the research as a way to get inspired with how something may look, smell, or feel like so I can write in a way that elicits the senses of the reader and helps them become engrossed in the world I’m building.
These are just a few samples of some of the weird and wonderful things I’ve found myself researching. It’s amazing what’s available on the internet these days. If you have a random thought – try typing it into a search engine like Google and see what results you get.
Anyways… back to writing…