Some people build fantasy worlds with magic systems, ancient bloodlines, and sprawling maps.Mine started with a name from my family history, and then, a bird. Well, not just a bird. A dinosaur bird. A massive, majestic skybeast I first met in a survival game.

Most indie authors who have studied the business of being an author don’t write books with the dream that we are going to make a ton of money. We write because we are driven to. We write with the dream that someday, somewhere, one of our books will be somebody’s favorite book. Or maybe our dreams go so far as our being someone’s favorite author. That’s why our days are filled with writing sprints, emotional plot twists, and the constant hustle of trying to be seen.

This writing journey started in October of 2022. I was playing around on Reedsy and discovered their variety of templates for the early stages of novel writing. On a whim, I downloaded an outlining template and started to play with it, making up a story on the fly.

While fantasy stories do give an author a tremendous amount of creative liberty, there is still a need for a certain degree of believability. Whether it is the costs of magic, the flora and fauna, or geography, there is an awful lot of research that goes into creating a story world from scratch. When I started plotting the Battles in Bloomtide series, I knew I would need to create a fantasy map and royal family trees. What I didn’t expect was to find myself researching the tidal effects of twin moons or the average speeds of hypothetical creatures based on wing size. Now that I am knee deep into writing my second draft, I thought I would share a list of some of the delightfully unexpected rabbit holes I have found myself in over the past few years.

There’s much to be said (and many jokes to be made) about character names in fiction, especially in the fantasy and sci-fi genres. Authors seem to fall along a spectrum—on one end, you have the letter salads like Draexejornal, names so complex they make readers' eyes glaze over as they desperately search for a manageable nickname. On the other, you find the overly simple, almost jarring choices—like Bob or Tom—names that feel out of place in a world filled with magic, alien landscapes, or ancient prophecies.

A unique name from generations ago on your family tree. An interesting mythological creature from the lands your ancestors walked. That feeling you get when an actor portrays their minor character so well that they tower above the main characters. When you find yourself stepping between the worlds of your life without a full transition and you can't help but giggle. Inspiration is everywhere. These are the small discoveries that can inspire entire worlds.