How I Research for a Fantasy Story

Researching for a fantasy story sounds weird, right? It's not like I can pop over to the farmer's market and find a local Fae to double-check my world-building. I don't have a friendly neighborhood vampire or troll to phone up either. What I do have is mythology.

Peruse Some Mythology:

I think, oftentimes, we forget, or maybe it's just me, that we have hundreds of years of stories to pull ideas from. We don't have to reinvent the wheel, so much as we get to add our own imagination to the pot. 

When I sat down to work on The Curse Breaker, my debut novel, I pulled an old Irish folktale anthology off my shelf (one of those in-the-moment purchases that I couldn't bear to part with and vowed I would read one day) and perused it. I didn't make it through too many stories into that collection before I found the story that served as my foundational novel idea. 

I have done the same for other stories of mine as well. I've pulled mythology details from Korean and Japanese stories, Greek and Roman, as well as Scandinavian literature. There's seriously a treasure trove out there if you don't mind getting a little lost in the countless amazing stories that have been passed down over the ages. 

Google Image Search What World You Have in Mind:

Once you've got a pocket full of neat ideas, it's time to move forward in your story universe. The next step, for me, is to go search for some nifty images on the internet. 

You can also tag in Pinterest or Pixabay (which is a free image site and where this post's photo came from). I'm sure that there are dozens more that are just as great. 

Artists have such a fabulous way of taking dreams and turning them into something living and breathing; something shareable. I often look to artwork for world-building detail inspiration. Plus, this serves as an excellent way to actively work on your story on the days the words just won't come out. 

Add Your Own Spice to the Mix:

Inspiration is great, and there is lots of it. But the very best part of any story is what you, my lovely writer friend, add to it. 

There's no one else who can build a story like you. No other writer has the same voice or style as you. So use all the things that make you fabulous (of which there is a lot) and sprinkle it all over those foundational ideas.  

Just as it is the artist's heart that adds magic to their painting or sketch, it's your emotion that adds heart to the story you're writing.

Dragonflies and Trees ~ Story Research by @jsubject & an #excerpt from MADE FOR HER #SFR #SFRomance #Romance

 

DRAGONFLIES AND TREES:

How my Story Research Method has changed

by Jessica E. Subject

When I first started writing for publication, my research consisted of looking up everything I could possibly need to every topic I referenced in my stories. I printed out pages and pages of material, emailed and interviewed sources with multiple questions, and kept all this material in binder upon binder, so I had it all to reference.

Recently, when I was rearranging my office, I realized I hadn't used most of the material I'd saved over the years. So, I went through it all, and ended up recycling most of it.

My research methods have changed since then. As an author, I know very little of what I actually research will make it into the story. So, unless I'm interviewing someone, I only write down the information I need as notes in the book I'm using to write my story. Yes, as I currently research information on dragonflies, and wetland vegetation, I write all kinds of notes across the top and in the margins of various pages. I also jot down information in my series notebooks if it might pertain to other stories in the series. And if there's a website or video I want to reference again, I'll bookmark it. No more binders full of information I'll never use again.

I'm curious, as an author, do you find your research methods have changed as you've written more books?

As a reader, would you like to know tidbits of information the author learned while researching for their story that didn't make it into the book?

Here's an excerpt from MADE FOR HER, which was a very research-heavy story...

Colonel Jones grabbed the remote before focusing on the three-dimensional holographic picture beside her. Another presentation for the general public, but she doubted it would work to recruit anyone. The audience was always more curious than willing to enlist. 

“In 2084, as you know, Earth made first contact with the Rafkels, a peaceful species living on the planet Raf, located twenty light-years from Earth.” She pressed the button to show her spectators an image of the still-foreign planet. “While meeting this species remains years away, their message warned us of other intelligent life forms in our own galaxy.” 

Mikayla rolled her eyes. The actual message had not been a warning, rather a fact, but the government insisted on changing the wording to garner more recruits and support for cloning. “Since then, world governments have combined efforts to develop a spacecraft that will take us faster and farther into space. 

“If you join the military today, you will learn how to fly these vessels and train the clones for future wars. Science fiction has now become our reality.” Yeah, like that would work to recruit people. Who wrote the speech, anyway? Very few, if any, would ever make it to the SFTC, Space Flight Training Center. “It will never be your life on the line, but that of men and women created only for that purpose. Serving your country is no longer about sacrifice, but about honor.” 

She cringed at the bullshit words. People still died all the time. Terrorists, like the ones who’d killed Daniel, still objected to cloning, causing destruction and death. Just last month, a popular off-base nightclub, known to be a military hang-out, had been turned to rubble in a matter of seconds after a suicide bomber with known allegiance to the Al-Tidoa group blew himself up inside the building. Many, both clone and human-born, had died. 

When Mikayla switched the display to the live feed from Onatria’s main lab in Geneva, she sighed at the collective gasp. Robotic arms transferred material between Petri dishes at various stations while other, more complex equipment dissected strands of DNA. Human-born and clones alike wore white lab coats and watched new life grow under their microscopes. And in a glass-walled clean room, casket-like clear chambers held young clones attached to a multitude of tubes. Except for the military and Onatria staff, this was the first time anyone had seen the labs. The government had grown desperate for people to enlist. 

MADE FOR HER

By Jessica E. Subject

After terrorists murder the love of her life, Colonel Mikayla Jones trains squadron after squadron of the clones he brought to life, to take to the skies. When she discovers a young clone of her husband in her newest class, her world spins out of control. How can she command the look-a-like when she can’t help but yearn for him to fill an ache in her heart?

Dare was created to be the best. As the first Daniel clone to leave Onatria labs, he needs to prove he is more than just a DNA copy. To do that, he must rely on the wife of the man who donated his genes. But when she refuses to train him, Dare faces discharge and returning to the labs. Can he convince Colonel Jones to finish his training and find a way into her bed? Or will long kept secrets unhinge the entire clone project?

AMAZON US | UNIVERSAL BUY LINK

How Do You Kickstart Your Muse? by Diane Burton

Last week, a colleague posted on Facebook, asking for help. She was adrift, having lost her day job and searching for a new one has been frustrating. While she has the time to write, she can’t get motivated. She asked if it’s ever happened to anyone else.

My response and several others was an overwhelming YES! Been there.

So what do you do when your work-in-progress (any of them) doesn’t interest you. And no new idea is popping up. Several writers responded with suggestions. As I wrote my response, I thought this would make a great post. Most of us go through something similar. A time in our lives when we just don’t feel like writing.

The following writers offered suggestions:

Margo Hoornstra

Anne K. Stone

Thimgan Hayden

Tracy Ragap Keely

Lucy Naylor Kubash

Diana Stout

Erin Bartels

Nancy Gideon

A frequent suggestion is to read. When the well is dry, you can't get anything out of it. Stress has a way of drying up creativity. Take this time to read—in your genre as well as in other genres. Try something new.

Follow Julia Cameron’s (The Artist’s Way) advice and write “morning pages.” Every morning, write three pages in longhand (pen on paper). Stream of consciousness. Vent about the job search, life in general. If you can’t think of anything to write, write “I can’t think of anything to write” over and over until something occurs to you. Another recommended book is Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Since writing is a right-brain activity, try something left-brain: cleaning out files, organizing research, re-organizing notebooks, type up research notes.

Write for fun. Something crazy and wild. Something you’d never submit. Don’t worry about publication.

You know those templates that you get at workshops or are available online? Character sketches, world-building outlines, etc. Fill them out for your WIP.

Read movie blurbs (newspaper, Netflix, TV guide). Take the blurb of a movie you haven’t seen and start writing. Remember, it’s for fun. Or write Fan Fiction. Write an episode of your favorite TV show. (FYI, my high school girlfriend and I used to do that; with ourselves as the main character. 😊).

Write questions about your character (or the plot). If you can’t answer, ask another question. Interview your character. You get to play both roles, interviewer and interviewee (as the character).

Write a short story for Women’s World magazine. They have a Facebook group for potential authors.

Check out OneWord.com. A new word is presented each day. Write about that word for sixty seconds (or longer). That might stimulate an idea.

Watch movies. Binge watch a series. It’s passive, but possibly what you need right now.

Since you have the time, this is a good time to take a writing class. A couple of people recommended classes by Becca Syme, writing coach. If you belong to a writers’ organization (like Romance Writers of America) check their website for classes.

Watch YouTube videos that help your research (e.g., women in Elizabethan or Victorian times.)

Write one paragraph a day on your WIP. The lack of pressure may help you write more, but don’t force it.

Get a writing buddy and go to a coffee shop and write. No internet, turn off your phone, no distractions. Some writers use noise-cancelling headphones for even less distraction.

The best advice, though, was hang in there. Give yourself time to settle into the new “normal” (whatever that is). The desire to write will come back. It’ll take time.

My thanks to the lovely ladies who responded to our friend’s cry for help. We all want her to succeed. In the process, she’s helping all of us who go through the doldrums more often than we’d like.

What do you do to kickstart your Muse?

14 Signs of a Great Romance

I know we're almost a week past Valentine's Day, but in the spirit of the holiday, I wanted to look at healthy romantic relationship today...

As a romance author, the entire point of my books is to create a romance between two (fictional) people which ends happily ever after. But what does a great romance look like?

Romance and all things romantic can be different for different people. Some think of romance as gifts and dinners. Some think of it as supporting each other through the daily grind. There's a reason why there are boatloads of books on Love Languages and communication between men and women. Because keeping a good relationship in the healthy and functioning category takes dedication and effort.

Rather than writing about my own opinion of a great romance, I thought I'd go with what various experts say are signs of a healthy relationship. Because, for me, a great romance isn't all flowers and pretty words. A great romance always has a happily ever after--in other words a healthy, productive relationship which lasts after the final credits or the book is over.

Think about your favorite romance novels or movies. Which of those romances embody many (or even all) of the following traits of a healthy relationship?

1. You Communicate
2. You Trust Each Other
3. You Speak Your Mind
4. You Like Yourself and Your Partner
5. You Let Things Go
6. You Make Joint Decisions
7. You Talk to Your Partner Before Others
8. You Support Each Other in Growth Opportunities
9. You are Friends
10. You Keep Your Individual Identity
11. You Fight (Productively)
12. You are Willing to Put "We" Before "Me"
13. You Inspire Each Other to Be Better
14. You Enjoy Each Other

HAPPY (Belated) VALENTINE'S DAY!

P.S. Personal addition to the list, sign #15: You don't wait for Valentine's Day to say "I Love You!"

Resources
14 Signs You're in a Healthy Relationship, REAL SIMPLE Magazine
6 Sure Signs of a Healthy Relationship, Psychology Today
8 Signs You're In the Right Relationship, Huffington Post
10 Signs You're in a Healthy Relationship, Life Hack
15 Signs You're in a Healthy Relationship, Glamor

Researching Ghosts by Diane Burton

Have you ever started researching a topic only to discover you’ve spent the better part of an hour going from one site to another to another? Those pesky side links. If I'd been at the library, my table would've been covered with books.

In a HubSpot (marketing site) article about bad habits, the author wrote about Black Hole Browsing. Although I’d never heard of that term, I knew exactly what it meant. I’ve fallen victim to that bad habit more than once. In fact, while researching the topic of ghosts for this post, I visited way too many sites.

Casper is my idea of a ghost. Although I’ve never seen a ghost, I believe others have because they believe they did. What how could I possibly write about ghosts when I write science fiction? That took some researching and before I knew it—Wham!—I’d fallen into that Black Hole.

Back on topic. I do believe the spirits of our deceased loved ones still care about us and watch over us. My main character in Mission to New Earth does, too. (Funny how that works.) An only child, Sara was suddenly orphaned at 26. We don’t think of adults as orphans, do we? After author Pauline Baird Jones wrote about losing her parents and thereby making her an orphan, I thought about myself. I guess you could say I’m an orphan, too, since both my parents are gone, though not as traumatically as Pauline’s or my character, Sara. My parents died of old age and complications of COPD and Alzheimer’s. My sibs and I had plenty of time to prepare.

Losing her parents made Sara’s decision to sign up for a one-way trip to a new planet a lot easier. Then I started to wonder. What would Sara’s folks think about her leaving the teaching world and going into training to be an astronaut? Would they approve, be fearful for her, or caution her to be safe and stay home? Would they like her choice of mate, Marsh Rayburn, former SEAL and her second in command on the mission? I never go into that in the story, but I like to think they would watch over Sara, keeping her safe. More like guardian angels than ghosts.

Mission to New Earth

Blurb:

Would you go on a one-way trip to explore a new planet? Would you do it to save humankind?

Earth’s overpopulation and dwindling resources force the United Earth Space Agency to expedite exploration of new planets for a possible new home. When new crises ensue—a giant tsunami and the threat of nuclear winter—the timeline changes. Eight years of training crammed into four. Sara Grenard and her team prepare for launch, but are they ready for the one-way trip? Will the Goldilocks planet prove just right for Earth’s inhabitants? Before time runs out.

Amazon ~ Kobo ~ iTunes ~ ARe ~ Smashwords ~ Barnes & Noble

Throughout the month of September, I’m running a Giveaway for a $10 Amazon Gift Card. Pop over to my blog to enter. 

Diane Burton writes science fiction romance, romantic suspense, and mysteries. She blogs here on the 13^th of each month. She is also a contributor to The Roses of Prose blog, posting there on the 30^th. On Mondays, she muses about various topics on her own blog.

New Story - New World by Diane Burton

A couple of weeks ago, I talked to a group of readers at the Saranac (MI) library. One fan asked if I would set any books in a different world from those in my Switched and Outer Rim series. I’d already written a short story for The Roses of Prose blog set in a different world. Afterward, I thought why not expand the short story into a novella.

Since I had the main characters—not fleshed out—and a basic plot, I could think more about the world. I’m a pantser, and that means I build my world as I write. Again, the basics were already in place. In the future, Earth needed to do something about the effects of population overload. NASA’s successor had already transformed Mars with domed habitats, but it was time to expand beyond our solar system to find that Goldilocks planet where humans could live free of artificial atmosphere. A planet that is not too hot, not too cold. A planet that is just right for humans.

The story begins on Titan, Saturn’s moon, the jumping off place for the Goldilocks Mission. There, three teams train, preparing for the trip to their designated planet. What did I know about Titan? Not much. So research became really important. Even though my characters couldn’t go out in the methane atmosphere I still had to write what the outside world was like—preferably accurate, because sharp readers will let you know mistakes, often in reviews.

I needed to know what would the habitats be like. Again, imagination along with what I could find out from the Mars One project filled in the details.

When I was in high school (college, even), I hated doing research. Dry texts, boring subjects. That’s what happens when you don’t get to choose your own topics. Or get to decide what about the topic you need to know. That’s how I research. I get to a spot in the story that needs more detail than I know. I can’t move on until I find out. Some writers advise inserting "[add more detail]" then keep going. Something in my makeup won’t let me.

If I plotted first, I would do all my research up front. I might even draw diagrams of the habitats. Alas, if I did, there might still be little details I hadn’t thought of. Or, I would have too much info and be tempted to include it in massive info dumps, as my critique partner often says.

I think my way is more practical. I look up what I need for that part of the story. But you know what happens when you research on the internet? You read the article, get what you need then—oh my goodness, links. Ooh, that one sounds interesting. Click. And that interesting article has more links. Click, click. Oops, I forget to check the other links attached to the original article. Click, click, click. So easy to get sidetracked.

Besides the internet searches, I found (to my dismay) another terrific source. The Great Courses. Their catalogs include videos and books on every possible subject. I need to warn you, though, don’t click on that link.  If you do, you’ll learn why I’m dismayed. Because after you buy one item (not that I’ve only bought one), their catalogs keep coming. Some days that’s my only mail. Still, they offer great discounts and the topics are so interesting . . . Maybe I need to check  out . . .

What’s wrong with doing all that research? I’m not writing the story. While it’s great to learn so much, especially about our solar system and the search for Goldilocks planets, I still need to finish the novella.

Here’s a little excerpt from Christmas on Serenity. The science fiction romance novella will be released before Christmas. I hope.

As I make my way down the corridor to our quarters, I stop at the narrow walkway between the Admin section and Crew Quarters to look out the viewport. Through the lighter-than-normal smog, I think I can see the hills of Xanadu near Titan’s equator. The techs say we’re too far away. Even so, I always search for landmarks when the smog lightens. This land is as foreign as that around Ares Station. From the pictures sent back by the probe of the Earth-like planet my team named Serenity, our new home will look as natural as Earth itself. I want so badly to believe the reports that the surface will have breathable air, that we’ll be able to walk outside without our enviro suits, that we can live there as we live on Earth.

Do you like to read a lot of info in a sci-fi romance story?

Diane Burton writes romantic suspense, mysteries, and (her favorite) science fiction romance. She blogs here on the 13^th of the month, on The Roses of Prose on the 30^th, and on her own blog every Monday, where she talks about any topic from baseball to mothers to Disney cruises.

Research All the Things

I’m not sure if I’m overly obsessed with research or whether I’m just really good at choosing locations and subjects for my books about which I know virtually nothing.

Over the course of writing my latest manuscript, I spent four months researching the housing costs, landscape, street names, cemeteries, restaurants, rainfall and average temperature, distance to other cities, architecture, politics, economy, demographics, history, churches with obscure services, vehicles, hotels, and a million other little details for the setting, even traveling to the location to do some last-minute verification and get a visceral feel for the place before finishing my revisions. Many other hours of research went into the court system, public defenders, plea bargaining, magical practices, mythology, poisons, alcohol, knife wounds, bleeding out, PTSD, and even underwear. (My Google search history, I’m sure, has landed me on all kinds of watch lists.)

As I started formulating a plan for my next manuscript even as I was finishing the last, I tried to pick something that wouldn’t require quite so much research, because I’d like to finish this one a little more quickly. No sooner had a ghost of an idea entered my head than I was off to the search engine, checking out property and land rights, maps, indigenous culture, bars, and male strippers (yep, just slipped that right in there) for a new setting. I’ve also chosen professions for my two main characters that I know nothing about. There will be agriculture and animals with large heads involved.

And as I google LGBT-friendly wedding vendors in, of all places, Billings, Montana, I have to wonder: why do I do this to myself? Why can’t I just, as the adage goes, write what I know? My mother gave me that advice when I was thirteen years old after reading a story I was working on. She was probably right in that case; I didn’t (and still don’t) know anything about what it was like to live near Hiroshima at the end of World War II.

It would be great if I could tap the experience of my personal career history and write an urban fantasy series about being a cop in Louisiana or a crime series about being a forensic anthropologist in Montreal. But writing about a heroine whose work experience spans essential oil boutique clerk, bowling alley snack bar waitress, data entry specialist, word processor, administrative assistant, web graphics designer, and editor just doesn’t have the same punch.

I write about what I don’t know because it interests me. Hopefully, I do a passable job of writing somewhat knowledgeably about the situations and places I put my characters in, though I’m sure I’ve made many mistakes. No doubt I could make my life easier by using the city I live in as a setting, and giving my characters jobs I’ve done. But I could also make my life easier by not writing at all. And what fun would that be?

Guess I’m all in for the next ride, environmental activists, gay cowboys, and all.

Holidays...

January 12 is a holiday - Feast of Fabulous Wild Men.

Now what kind of holiday is this? Well, I tried to find out because as I've mentioned before and all who know me can tell you I love chasing rabbits down trails. But as many of my rabbits trails do this one led to a dead end. On the website – Holiday Insights – they suggested surfing the net and feasting your eyes on fabulous wild men... And in the effort to be a good blogger, (cough, cough) I did so.

After an hour or so of that – I want all the readers here to know it was done for this blog not personal enjoyment (wink) – I decided I needed to finish writing this post. I'm happy to report there are in fact many fabulous wild men out there.  I've included a picture of one of  the wild men I really enjoyed feasting my eyes on:)

But what really started this stroll down the rabbit trail was research for my holiday romance suspense I'm currently working on. I know how my family celebrates, how my husband's family celebrates, and close friends but what about traditions I'm not familiar with. I want my characters to layered and my plot to have some interesting elements which may be achieved by including some lesser known holiday's or ways of celebrating those that are widely known.

Now I don't think my hero or heroine will be partaking in any Feast of Fabulous Wild Men but I did enjoy the eye candy the dead end supplied. I also did come across some very interesting things that I will incorporate into my WIP.

I'd love to hear what are some of the unique holidays or celebrates you've come across.