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AOTW: Where do your ideas come from? Do you rely on traditional mythology or folklore as a foundation for your books? If so, how do you research those subjects? Does the Internet ever come in handy?
Lynn Flewelling: Mythology and folklore certainly inform my work and world building, but I'd say that real world history is probably the strongest influence, and that's where the bulk of my research takes me. I have a lifelong fascination with other cultures deeply and firmly rooted in my parents' subscription to the National Geographic when I was a kid, as well as the scholarly adventures of explorers like Thor Heyerdahl (Kon-Tiki, Aku Aku, The Ra Expeditions), the adventure fiction of Jack London, Joseph Conrad, Dumas, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Mary Renault and Robert Graves' historical fiction . . . The list is vast.
I was first steered fantasyward in a serious way by Tolkien and Le Guin, though I suppose Dr. Doolittle and the Alice books were an early indicator. As for "ideas," however, if you mean the stories themselves, human history, with some magic thrown in. I'd like to think that my characters are realistic enough in themselves that they could be relocated to another sort of book entirely and still work.
To answer the second part of your question, yes, I do quite a lot of research. I find the Internet of middling usefulness.
Michael Stackpole: Ideas, in general, just come from a lifetime of experience. Often I'll look at history, or the sorts of things other authors do, and ask myself, "How would I approach that?" I do draw a lot of inspiration from folklore and mythology, because the motifs that folklorists have identified really form a lexicon that storytellers can use to evoke mood and sensations. They are the building blocks of communication when it comes to fantasy tales and without them any fantasy would be flat.
In terms of research I have amassed a collection of research books that cover mythology, military history, diverse cultures, odd inventions and whole bunches of other stuff. The Internet can be useful for research, though the inability to access the accuracy of the material found can be a problem. By and large I use the net as a place to start gathering information, then I sift it and doublecheck the material I want to use.
Robin Hobb: I can't honestly say where my ideas come from. Usually they are odd bits of inspiration that are set aside in the desk drawer with other odd bits. After a time, they seem to congregate in piles, and then they start to look like a short story or even a novel. But that does not mean that research and a solid foundation are not important. If I want a reader to suspend disbelief about the fantasy elements in my stories, then I must make the rest of it absolutely believable. If my hero rides his horse across a desert for days with no food or water, and then charges into battle on this steed and fights off a dozen bad guys, any reader who knows anything about horses is going to sniff and say, 'that animal would have been dead three days ago. It's certainly in no condition to charge into battle.' And if my reader cannot believe what I say about a horse, then how am I going to convince him that what I say about dragons is true? Anything that can be researched should be. In the course of writing my books, I've read about bee-keeping, ink-making, tree-grafting ... you name it. If my characters do it or know something about it, then I have to have at least a basic understanding of it. So the research element is essential. And fun.
Basing things on mythology or folklore? Well, I think it would be hard to avoid that entirely. But I don't bind myself to hard and fast rules. Stories and storytelling have always adapted to the times and the people.
Sean Russell: My first six books were all influenced by periods of history: the Asian books by T'ang dynasty China and tenth century Japan; the next four books by eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe (mainly England). The series I'm doing now (starting with The One Kingdom) is more like a traditional "high fantasy" setting. I think of it as sanitized medieval. he original idea for The One Kingdom was that characters would be traveling down a river repeating the adventures (though much altered) of Huckleberry Finn, but in a fantasy setting. Nothing of this original idea remains in the book but it was the idea that got me going.
Juliet McKenna: I don't look to folklore or myth for my plots; those are built from the tensions between a historically plausible world and classic fantasy themes like magic powers, quests, people lost in time and so on. Of course, to create that plausible world, I read a great deal of history, often on social themes and I pick up interesting ideas from folklore along the way, which I use to enhance my characters. When I'm creating a culture for Einarinn, I read myth and legend from actual cultures where I see potential parallels, using and fusing ideas from a range of sources to give my invented society a convincing depth.
L.E. Modesitt: As with many authors, I suspect, in my case it would be difficult to pin down any specific source for my ideas, since I'd read an enormous amount of both history and mythology long before I started writing fiction. While the Internet occasionally comes in handy for some details --- such as for finding the floor plan for the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg --- most of my research occurs indirectly and long before I write a specific book. In essence, I've always read widely and continue to do so, and I maintain a modest personal research library based on that reading.
Lois McMaster Bujold: Ideas come in from everywhere, one's whole life experience including everything one has ever read or done. Seldom does a book or story have a single source. My two fantasy novels did incorporate a deal of real world research, however. The Spirit Ring was set in a 15th Century Italy where magic worked, and so required pretty much the same sort of background reading as for a historical novel. (I also drew on a trip to Italy I had made years back, long before I'd ever thought of becoming a writer.) Although The Curse of Chalion is set in a fantasy world, it drew, similarly, upon the history and culture of medieval Spain. I had been largely innocent of the history of Spain until a few years ago, when just for fun I took a course at the local university. I knew almost immediately that I wanted to use this background in a book, but it took a couple of years before I saw how. So, reading mostly; I've only begun to use the Internet. I was delighted to find that the ancient city of Segovia, Spain, has a website --- with pictures and maps!
Elizabeth Haydon: They come from dreams, from musings while mowing the lawn, from nature, from my alternative completion of tales other people have told. They are inspired by legend or something overheard at the grocery store, from Malapropisms I committed as a child, or that I hear my own children commit. In short, ideas come from everywhere.
I have done a great deal of study of traditional mythology and folklore, so while I would like to believe the cosmos I created, along with its histories, theologies, cultures and mythos, is as original as possible, it would be disingenuous to believe that any writer's "world" is not at least a little bit derivative. In my case, I rely a lot on animist and Native American/Maori traditions, as well as the Celtic, Germanic, eastern and Norse for inspiration. The trick in creating something "new" is to make it consistent within itself, not be limited by what is possible in other traditions, and try not to borrow too directly from anywhere else.
The Internet is invaluable for research, but I use it more for scientific and technological structure. For mythology and folklore I prefer to get my research from dusty old books or, even better, from a primary source over a cup of tea or around a campfire.
Teresa Edgerton: Ideas can come from anywhere, and at times when I'm not even aware that I'm looking for them --- as a result, I think I am always researching. At the moment, the history of the 17th and 18th centuries is proving a fertile source of ideas. In the past, fairy tales, ghost stories, and Victorian novels have inspired me. Also Celtic mythology, but not just the usual stories that everyone knows; I try to cast my net as widely as possible. The Internet comes in handy occasionally, but usually as a means of putting me in touch with other resources --- mostly books.
Martha Wells: I read a lot of history and folklore from different areas and that's where I get ideas for places and situations. I usually use the library and the bookstore rather than the web, though I often buy books online. There are some web sites out there with good information, but usually it's easier for me to find the detail I need in the library.
Terri Windling: I do indeed find a great deal of inspiration in myth, folk lore, and traditional fairy tales. I write articles on these subjects for Realms of Fantasy magazine and other venues, so I try to stay current on the latest in folklore scholarship. The Internet is a useful research tool. The SurLaLune Fairy Tale Page is the site I refer to the most.
Margaret Weis: My ideas start with the characters. We create the world and give them challenges and then we write their stories. I do research for the books, but, no, I don't use the internet. I like to have research material in hand.
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