A Goodreads user asked Nalini Singh:

Hi Nalini! My question is more general, and one you may get a lot. In terms of your worldbuilding, what would you say is your biggest source of inspiration? p.s. My patrons cannot get enough of your titles!

Nalini Singh Hi Fran! I think I learned worldbuilding from reading great worldbuilders. I wasn't analyzing them at the time, just really getting lost in their worlds.

Anne McCaffrey's PERN books had a big impact on me growing up. I could imagine her world, imagine these dragons flying over the landscape. It was so very real.

Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books are also favorites and again, she built this incredible world that felt so real to me.

So when I began writing my own books, I wanted to create something that felt as real to my readers. As if you could push aside the story curtain and just walk into that world and hang out for a bit. That is my driving inspiration in the overall sense.

In terms of my specific worlds, each one was inspired by something different. With the Psy-Changeling world for example, it all began while I was thinking about psychic abilities and how cool it would be to have telepathy or be able to teleport... and then I thought, but hey, what if this awesome ability drove you insane or made you a murderor? What would you do to survive?

So a lot of times, it's that "what if" idea, and then taking that initial what if idea and really digging down deep into it.

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