As a writer I tend to do a lot of research on various topics. Whether I am writing fiction, poetry or children’s books, some kind of research is always involved. All writers have their own way of researching and for me it involves lots of amazon and google searches. At the end of this post I will post some helpful links that I have come across over the years that I still use today.
Have you ever heard a writer say, “if the FBI looked at my search history they’d certainly arrest me.” Well, that is true. I have come across some really chilling searches in my day just to find the correct information for what I am writing.
I’ve spent hours perusing over crime scene photos and open and closed case files of the missing and the murdered. To involve myself in my stories I take every route I can to immerse myself into my characters day to day lives and routines. I really want to get into my characters head and for me it’s by doing diligent research.
You may be asking yourself, where do I start? I have so many ideas and I don’t know what to research. Well, I think it’s always best to start at the beginning. Once you latch on to a character that you like, do a deep-dive into their background. Start with where they work, who their related to, any special skills they have, and so on and so on…
If you are stuck on your character there are plenty of worksheets that you can fill out to give you some inspiration and background on your character. I will link them below.
After you have your characters nailed down, start on the setting or your world building. What do your buildings look like? The land? What’s the whether? The natural tongue of the land? When you are building your world always be sure that if you are using a real place that you have the correct information. You’d hate to come across as arrogant or ignorant because you didn’t do enough research.
Once you have all of that glorious information, you are ready to move on to actually writing your story. So, in short, the best and worst thing about writing is research and no matter how much you love or loathe it, it’s got to be done.
As promised here are some useful links that I use to develop my story:
For Character, business, spells and so on:
https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/shop-names.php
Thesaurs, rhyming dictionary, definitions:
Character Generators:
Traits list:
AuthorHayleyTimmons 