My research process doesn't vary much. I do a little reading to establish a timeline and decide how I'm going to approach the story.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I tend to research as I write so that the narrative can take priority, which is important for a piece of fiction, I think, finding out facts as and when I need to.
I love research so much that I do an enormous amount; it helps put off the moment of starting to write the story.
It takes me three or four years to research and write each book and the individual stories stay with you for a long time afterwards.
I had been writing for about twelve years. I knew pretty well how you could find things out, but I had never been trained in an academic way how to go about the research.
I am a story-teller, and I look to academic research... for ways of augmenting story-telling.
Sometimes I'm asked if I do research for my stories. The answer is yes and no. No, in the sense that I seldom plow through books at the library to gather material. Yes, in the sense that the first fifteen years of my life turned out to be one big research project.
I'm a great believer in research. I have to know about a place before I write a story that is set in that place.
I spend about eight months researching and outlining my book.
How much research I have to do depends on the nature of the story. For fantasy, none at all.
Time spent researching varies from book to book. Some novels require months, even years of research, others very little. I try to do most of my research before I begin but inevitably questions emerge during the writing.