Author Heather McCorkle

I spent almost every free moment I had last week researching for my new novel, a historical young adult fantasy. It's set in Ireland, hence the picture of this amazing old castle. Researching this has been so much fun. I've started outlining now and can hardly wait to begin writing it. This one feels like it's going to be special. My sources of research ranged from the internet to the real world. My favorite place to search for anything is Google and Wikipedia . But, as with anything you discover on line, you have to double check your facts. I love libraries and believe they are one of the best places to go for research and fact checking. However, the library in my town barely has more books than I do in my personal collection (it's a very tiny, isolated, town). In the absence of a library I go to Barnes and Noble's  on line store and pick up the best books on the subject I can find. Since I'm moving on to outlining my new novel I'm going to have to put...

I hope all my American followers had a safe and fantastic Independence Day this weekend. The holiday had me reflecting upon our freedoms, the freedom of speech in particular. Which, oddly enough, led me to think of researching a novel and deciding what to put in and what not to. I know what you're thinking, why would a fantasy writer be researching a novel? The novel I'm researching for is going to be a sort of young adult historical fantasy. This novel involves a Mariana trench depth of researching. I'm even going so far as to learn another language to help immerse myself into the culture and get the voice for the story just right. When you're writing a story that requires so much research it can end up making your novel too fat. But, having invested so much time and hard work in it you might find it hard to cut unnecessary parts. You may have a tendency to put all that great research in your novel when it isn't needed. Here is an easy tip for what to leave out...