Most researchers sit at a table and read books. My research, since three years old, has been to use my own body.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The notion of a writer sitting in a library doing research isn't what I want. The research I love doing isn't found in a book. It's what it feels like to rappel down the side of a building; to train with a SWAT team; to hold a human brain in your hands; or to dive for pirate treasure. Those are things I've done to research my stories.
Once I engage in something, I really engage in it, and I love the process of reading and researching because I come from an academic background.
What I've tried to do is combine both my personal experiences with scientific research. I like to cross the divide between the personal world and the scientific world.
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
Like any decent researcher, I throw away 90% of my research.
Well I've been writing books. So that, by its nature, is kind of a solitary occupation. And from time to time I have research help, but mostly I've done those completely on my own.
When I really want to learn about something, I write a book on it. Then the real research begins, as I begin to hear people's stories, and huge amounts of information begins to comes straight to my doorstep. Then I can write an even better book the next time!
I am addicted to research, let's say.
I think of my own work as part of a decades-long conversation about books and reading with people I will mainly never meet.
For the traditional fantasies, a lot more of my research comes from reading rather than doing. I like my worlds to feel real, so I do a lot of world building research.