I really don’t like research. I wouldn’t say that I write fantasy because I dislike researching the real world, but I don’t doubt that it’s a bit of a factor. The amount of time and effort that can go into minute details that may only come up once, but to which people will latch because of human’s intense desire to be right and/or prove other people wrong. The more stuff I just make up, the less things people can point at and tell me I’m wrong.
However, technically the Storyteller came about because I was doing “research” into fairy tales. And by research I mean I was reading obscure fairy tales. I landed on The Little Wildrose and realized the eagle could be a gryffin, and that was the last spark I needed in order to jump start that book.
I have found some other things that I enjoyed researching. I love reading about Norse Mythology, whether or not the novel I did that research for becomes more than a trunk novel. I have also looked into sociopaths because I find that particular mental affliction interesting as someone who is entirely too sensitive of the emotions of others. And recently I have become interested in mushrooms for a world I’m playing around with that has no sun. Not super deep into that one yet.
There have been story ideas that I’ve ignored because the research I would need to do in order to write the book seems too tedious. I think the big thing is finding something I’m interested in enough to be willing to put in the time.
