There is a recursive relationship between research and inspiration.
I find that the two feed off each other in a way that's hard to quantify--usually inspiration sparks the first round of research, but then the research sparks a new wave of inspiration, and so on and so forth, until it's really hard to answer questions like ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด? because the answer is a complicated snarl of: ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐น, ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ป, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐'๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ-๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด and so on and so forth until right this very moment while I'm still researching as I finish up edits.โฃ
I understand the problem better now after taking Becca Symeโs Strengths For Writers course, when I learned that I have this lineup:โฃ
#1 Contextโฃ
#2 Intellectionโฃ
#3 Inputโฃ
#4 Learner. โฃ
(And then connectedness, empathy, belief, developer, ideation, and strategic, for any Strengths Finder wonks out there.)โฃ
Basically what this means is that I can get carried away with research--especially for a series like Thornchapel where there's so much to learn, so much history to weave into the setting, and so many Feels and Themes to work in.
I've had a couple people ask if I've kept a list of what I've read for Thornchapel, and BOY HAVE I!!!!! The bibliographyโas much as Iโve been able to gatherโis below.
(Yes, those are Dewey Decimal numbers on some of the books. I try to Dewey all my non-fic [although I'm behind a year or two.])
(Lipstick is Covfefe by @lipslut)
Thornchapel Bibliography
Non-Fiction:
Armstrong, Karen. Short History of Myth. New York: Canongate Canons, 2018.
Aslan, Reza. God: a Human History. New York: Random House, 2018.
Bell, Catherine M. Ritual, Perspectives and Dimensions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Cunliffe, Barry W. Britain Begins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Davidson, Hilda Roderick Ellis. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions. Syracuse: Syracuse Univ. Press, 2006.
Ellis, Peter Berresford. Celtic Myths and Legends. London: Constable & Robinson, 2008.
Fox, Kate. Watching the English: the Hidden Rules of English Behavior. Boston: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2014.
Frazer, James George., and Robert Fraser. The Golden Bough: a Study in Magic and Religion: a New Abridgement from the Second and Third Editions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Kaldera, Raven. Pagan Polyamory: Becoming a Tribe of Hearts. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn, 2005.
Lyall, Sarah. The Anglo Files: a Field Guide to the British. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2009.
Macfarlane, Robert. Landmarks. London: Penguin Books, 2016.
Mansell, Chris. Ancient British Rock Art: a Guide to Indigenous Stone Carvings. Glastonbury, Somerset: Wooden Books, 2007.
McCoy, Edain. Celtic Myth & Magick: Harness the Power of the Gods and Goddesses. St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.: Llewellyn Publications, 1998.
Mueller, Hans-Friedrich. โThe Pagan World: Ancient Religions Before Christianity.โ The Great Courses Series.
Newman, Hugh. Stone Circles. Glastonbury, U.K.: Wooden Books, 2018.
Newman, Phil. The Field Archaeology of Dartmoor. Swindon: English Heritage, 2011.
Oliver, Neil. A History of Ancient Britain. London: Phoenix, 2012.
Paxton, Jennifer. โThe Celtic World.โ The Great Courses Series.
Purkiss, Diane. At the Bottom of the Garden: a Dark History of Fairies, Hobgoblins, and Other Troublesome Things. New York: New York University Press, 2005.
RavenWolf, Silver. To Ride a Silver Broomstick: New Generation Witchcraft. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2016.
Rees, Alwyn, and Brinley Rees. Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales. London: Thames and Hudson, 1975.
Robb, Graham. The Discovery of Middle Earth: Mapping the Lost World of the Celts. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.
Rovelli, Carlo, Erica Segre, and Simon Carnell. The Order of Time. UK: Allen Lane, 2019.
Sjoestedt, Marie-Louise. Celtic Gods and Heroes. Mineola: Dover, 2000.
Voth, Grant. โMyth in Human History.โ The Great Courses Series.
Fiction:
The China Garden by Liz Berry
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton
Lammas Night by Katherine Kurtz
The King Must Die by Mary Renault
The Secret History by Donna Tartt