Reasons and Research

This segment will aim to explain a little more why I research mythology and how I go about it.

The reason I do this research is because I write a lot, mostly within the fantasy genre. I find mythology and legends fascinating. What I see in a legend is what people used to believe, and often what they feared. Where some legends are still believed today, the majority of them have faded away and are now considered untrue. Whether you believe the stories or not doesn't really matter. Personally, it's my view that somewhere within those tales has to be some resemblance of truth.

Although I'd like to think that people are fully capable to conjure an idea of a hideous beast all on our own, I'm fully aware that we're shaped by our surroundings and environment. So these creatures that have now become legend were once truly feared. People believed in their souls that the things of nightmares were real. Although some mythology revolves around things trying to help man kind, most is about things that would prefer to eat us.

I also see a side of psychology within mythology. These stories came from somewhere. Whether it was the misinterpretation of a situation, or some horrid disease that wasn't understood, there has to be a basis to the tales.

It's taken me a number of years to build an understanding of a number of myths. I'm still researching ideas and beings that once used to be a part of peoples perceived reality. I'm forever trying to gather new stories to research, whether getting them from movies, television, friends, books or the internet.

To start my research of any given topic I generally begin with google. It's an amazing tool when it comes to research, that can't be disputed. Another tool I use regularly is wikipedia. People may say it's unreliable, but it can still lead you in the direction needed, just follow the links on the resource list at the bottom of articles.

I've found a number of sites which specialize in legends and mythology. They come in handy a lot. Whenever I find a site which I think will be useful I make sure to book mark it, so I can always come back to it again. Of course there have been times I've forgotten to add a bookmark and realised this a few days later. There's a simple fix for this too. All you have to do is find it in your history and then you can bookmark it.

I also have a list of things to research stuck to my desk, to the right of my keyboard. It makes it easy to access and means I don't forget topics I want to more about, or I've been asked to research by others. In addition to every step stated above, I also keep a record of my findings. I've got a silk covered journal like thing that I was given as a christmas present from a good friend. I call it my little blue book.