One of the joys of writing fantasy is the bizarre search history you accumulate along the way. Worlds need to work – they need logic, texture, movement, sensations and the occasional detour into absurd topics. These rabbit holes not only enrich the writing process, they also help worlds feel genuinely occupied.

These are 10 things I researched recently and why they were fun and helpful.

1. Describe eco-fantasy as a sub-genre…

Eco-fantasy isn’t as simple as ‘fantasy with trees’. It focuses on the relationships between characters and the natural world, often treating nature as an active, influential force rather than a backdrop. Think ecosystems, cycles, interdependence, and the consequences of imbalance. Eco-fantasy encourages paying attention to details you may otherwise overlook: the way light moves through leaves, or the texture of soil underfoot.

2. What do baby mice eat?

Baby mice drink their mother’s milk. By two to three weeks, they explore solid food. This includes grains (oats, barley, wheat), seeds (sunflower, pumpkin), soft fruits (berries), vegetables (peas, leafy greens), insects for some species and nuts. In the wild, they generally mimic what the adults eat.

3. What’s the fantasy equivalent of ghosting someone?

Options for ‘vanishing’ socially in a world without texting or phones:

• avoiding a communal cooking fire
• strategically changing travel routes
• inventing an urgent quest whenever awkwardness appears

4. How does a fox hunt animals under the snow?

Foxes use extraordinary hearing to locate prey beneath snow, triangulating sound with head tilts and then performing a dramatic leap before diving nose-first into the snow. It’s part physics and part acrobatics.

5. Why do some mushrooms glow in the dark?

Bioluminescent fungi glow for various reasons, possibly to attract insects, disperse spores, or protect themselves from oxidative stress. Their glow is often described as a greenish, eerie lantern-light – great for atmospheric worldbuilding.

6. What does it feel like inside a cave?

• Damp stone – cold, mineral, slightly metallic under fingers
• Earthy soil – rich, musty
• Stale, unmoving air – pockets of stillness that feel heavier than open air
• The faint scent of algae or lichen – subtle but unmistakable
• “Rock breath” – a geologist’s term for the shift in humidity felt on your skin before your nose registers anything
• Bats – their wings and high-pitched calls add movement and life
• Temperature and texture – sudden shifts from cool to chilly, rough rock underfoot, and slippery or jagged surfaces that demand attention

7. How does light move through crystals?

Crystals can refract, scatter, split, or trap light depending on their internal structure. Quartz, for example, bends light slightly (birefringence) and can create subtle rainbows if the angles are right. This is helpful for describing magical objects or environments without resorting to “it glowed mysteriously”.

8. How long does it take to move through a snowy forest at night while being pursued?

It turns out this exercise is much longer than anticipated. Factors include terrain, snow depth, visibility, temperature and how often the character stops to question life decisions. This research is great for pacing tense scenes and avoiding accidental teleportation of characters.

9. Different ways to describe snow (when you live in a place where snow is rare)

• powdery (soft, weightless, easily blown)
• crusty (crunches underfoot, betrays you immediately)
• wet snow (soaks through boots and dignity within minutes)
• sugar snow (grainy, slippery)
• silence snow (the kind that swallows sound and makes everything feel unreal)

10. How do animals navigate in the dark?

A helpful catch-all: many animals rely on whiskers, echolocation, scent trails, heat detection, or memory maps.

So….

If you feel strange about your research, remember that somewhere out there, a fantasy writer is asking whether mountains hold grudges.

Photo by Birger Strahl on Unsplash