Researching Magic
Although I primarily write fantasy, there’s a great deal of research which goes into the creation of my stories.�� I suppose I could simply make up the entire thing, but I love legends and mythology so I actually enjoy the research.�� That research has given me new ideas and taken my characters to places I couldn’t have imagined!
Along with a pretty extensive collection of legends, I admit I’m addicted to Wikipedia.�� While I do look up specific objects on that site, I also click on the sources below the articles.�� It is through these external links that I have found on-line library collections of 16th century illuminated manuscripts and a little known compilation of Native American legends.�� Being a writer when there’s such a vast wealth of knowledge available is exhilarating.
The creation of magical powers is another part of my stories, and��I spent hours developing it for my first book and more time increasing my knowledge since then.�� I have read books on magic and herbal healing, mostly those written by modern practitioners of the craft – and while I’m not a witch – as an author, I like to have some basis in reality for my stories.�� Many cultures have a strong tradition of herbal and crystal healing��and��those areas find their way into my work as well.�� ��I have expanded on those resources to develop my own brand of magic.�� I like spending a few moments flipping through my dictionaries of healing herbs and crystals to get some inspirtaion for my stories.�� Sometimes, I write my characters into impossible situations that I have no solution for – a few flips through one of my resources sometimes turns up the perfect answer or at least gives me a grain of knowledge that I can expand into a viable solution.
All of the research gets filed into my brain, or��scribbled��onto index cards, or typed into documents that lurk on my computer.��That process makes writing as much about learning as about creating a story.�� I think that’s the thing that keeps my reader interested –��there’s really something to learn hidden in my stories.�� I know��the research and learning is what keeps me interested��as a writer – there’s so much out there that I feel like I’ll never run out of fuel for my stories.
Filed under: #amwriting, craft of writing, indie author Tagged: #amwriting, Author, how I write, readers, research, Urban fantasy
