Annette Miranda asked Jeaniene Frost:

i'm hearing more and more about the importance of research when writing a story, with a paranormal story, one that has such a 'real' feeling as your books do what if any research do you do?

Jeaniene Frost Before I say anything, my method is not the ONLY method. Some authors do tons of research with every book. Some do very little. Some do a medium amount. As I've said before, there is no "one size fits all" way to write.

That being said, I usually end up doing quite a bit of research. For me, it helps to know the lore behind the paranormal creature I'm writing about, even though I've changed a lot of that lore to suit my own wishes. Also, I write stories set in "today's" world, so every time my characters travel (and they travel a lot) I have to research whatever city/state/province/country they're in.

Example: in the book I'm writing now, I did between three and four hours of research on the setting where the book opens, all for only a couple sentences of description. This is how it usually goes, by the way. While it doesn't feel like an efficient use of time some days, if I don't do it, someone from Vagharshapat, Aremnia will doubtless read those chapters and email me to say "You got this, this, and THIS wrong!" ;). Some days, I love research for all the quirky little details I learn. Some days, it's like pulling teeth. Some days, I write a scene and add a note that says "Do setting research later!" and fill it in after I've completed the book.

See? No single way to do it, even for myself :).

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