Where to Research Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories
This is a collection of research sites for writers. I primarily write science fiction, so there is a heavy focus on science fiction research. This post will be regularly updated, so add it to your bookmarks.
It’s a lot of work to maintain a links collection. If you see a link has gone dead, please contact me and let me know.
General/All Purpose Research Sites for Writers:
- DuckDuckGo – DuckDuckGo bills themselves as “the independent Internet privacy company for anyone who’s tired of being tracked online.” Might be a good option the next time you’re worried that your writing research is going to “get you on a list.” I used it to research my cannibal murder mystery, and I haven’t gotten arrested yet! Just remember to search for “book marketing” and “proper semicolon usage” in between searches for “how to beat CSI methods” and “best places to bury a body 5 miles outside Chicago.”
- Frontiers – Open access journals. Useful for researching aerospace, medical topics, biology, and a lot more.
- Future Science – Non-profit that examines new scientific ideas for the future. Posts may be useful to research or inspire science fiction stories.
- Kagi Search – A “premium” search engine designed to be focused on users instead of advertisers. A paid service, but offers a free trial plan with one hundred searches.
- Marginalia – An alternative search engine “designed to help you find some things you didn’t even know you were looking for.”
- Pixar’s Art of Storytelling – Free online course with Khan Academy.
- r/SelfPublish – The subreddit for everything self publishing.
- SpringerLink – Open access journals. Useful for researching biology, computer science, physics, astronomy, stats, chemistry, and a lot more.
- r/WorldBuilding – The subreddit for creatives who are interested in building their own fictional worlds. Learn about world building, explore others’ creations, and share your own.
- r/Writeresearch – The subreddit to ask questions and improve the accuracy of your fiction.
- Writing Prompts – The greatest collection of science fiction, fantasy, and horror writing prompts on the web. Also, the guy who wrote it is really handsome.
Body Language:
Every writer, regardless of genre, should study body language. Knowing how people move their bodies and faces as they speak, think, share their feelings, and deceive each other will make your characters more believable. It will also give you more ideas for dialogue beats, what exactly characters should be doing during dialogue scenes.
- Beginner’s Guide to Body Language at Healthline – The meaning behind some more subtle types of body language.
- Body Language at Science of People – Gestures and what they mean.
- How To Read Body Language – Eight common body language cues.
- Ultimate Guide to Body Language – Learn how even the most seemingly insignificant bodily gestures can provide key signals of emotions.
- Using Body Language – Another great body language resource.
Characters:
- Behind the Name – Look up names and name meanings for characters.
- Behind the Surname – Look up names and name meanings for characters.
- Forebears – Names and name meanings.
- Social Security Administration popular baby names site – Look up name popularity in different historical periods.
- Writing With Color – Words for Skin Tones – Incredibly useful post on ways to describe skin tones and how to avoid potentially annoying or offensive descriptions, such as food comparisons.
Copyright Issues
These are vital research sites for writers. If you publish anything, you will eventually run into book pirates.
- DMCA Takedown Notice Generator – Easy copyright protection tool.
- DMCA Takedown Notice information at Georgetown Libraries – Learn how to send a takedown notice when you find your work stolen.
- DMCA Takedown Notice template for US and Canadian sites – Learn how to send a takedown notice to non-US sites.
- How to Send a DMCA Takedown Notice Correctly – Learn how to send a takedown notice when you find your work stolen.
- Copyright Infringement Notices Outside the US – For when book pirates steal your book and drag it overseas. Arr!
Estimating things:
When you’re writing a story, sometimes it’s difficult to estimate how big a villain’s secret hideout would need to be, or how much larger your giant killer robot should be compared to a regular, everyday killer robot. These resources may come in handy for writers like me who aren’t too strong with spatial skills.
- Comparing heights – This website lets you enter the heights of two people and compare how they would look standing next to each other. See just how much taller your “a head taller” romantic lead would have to be, or how much taller an Amazon Warrior might be than your adventurer.
- Country Size Comparison – Compare two different countries to see how much bigger or smaller they are than where you’re from.
- Measuringly – This unusual site is filled with size comparisons, so you can get a better grasp on just how big twelve yards, six feet, or three inches really is. Let’s say you’re writing about an asteroid, and you guesstimate that it’s about a hundred kilometers long. You can open up the 100 kilometers article and see that it’s 1,000 times longer than a soccer field, twice as long as a marathon race, and 37 times as long as the Golden Gate bridge. Based on these size comparisons, you can decide if your space pirates need more or less room on their asteroid secret hideout.
Folklore and Mythology:
Researching folklore and mythology can add depth and meaning to fantasy and horror stories.
- American Folklore – Folk tales from the USA.
- Egyptian Mythology – Gods, myths, symbols, and more.
- Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts – Resource from the University of Pittsburgh.
- Folktales from Southeast Asia and Korea – Including folktales from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, and Vietnam.
- Greek Mythology – Gods, Titans, and more.
- Encyclopedia Mythica – Deities and beings from all corners of the world.
- Magic Tales of Mexico – In English and Spanish.
- Open Folklore – This project provides open-access resources on folklore, such as journals, books, web archives, and gray literature.
- Roman Mythology – How much time do you spend thinking about the Roman Empire?
- USC Folklore Archives – Folk myths and legends.
Grammar, Punctuation, and Other Basics:
- The Punctuation Guide – A guide. To punctuation.
- Grammar Book – English grammar rules resource.
- Grammar Girl – Grammar, word usage, and the like.
Historical Research:
- Library of Congress – Research library in Washington, D.C., that serves as the library and research service of the U.S.
- UK National Archives – Historical document collection.
- US National Archives – Historical document collection.
The Perfect Word:
- Onelook Reverse Dictionary – Sort of like a thesaurus. Enter a word, phrase, description, or pattern, and find synonyms, related words, and more.
- Power Thesaurus – A community-driven thesaurus.
- Reverse Dictionary – Sort of like a thesaurus. Enter a word and find synonyms, related words, and more.
- RhymeZone – Rhyming dictionary. Also has “find descriptive words” and “find related words” options that work similar to a reverse dictionary.
- Word Hippo – Thesaurus and other word tools.
Robots:
- New Atlas – Robots – Robotics news. May inspire robot science fiction.
- PAL Robotics blog – More robot story inspiration.
- Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon – Cutting edge robotics tech. May be useful for anyone writing science fiction involving future robots.
Settings:
- Atlast Obscura – Tourist attractions from around the world. Great for setting ideas.
- CIA World Factbook – Basic intro to states and countries around the world.
- Opacity.Us – Photos of abandoned places.
Spaceships and Space Travel:
Knowing how spaceships and space travel work will help your stories feel more realistic. If that’s what you’re going for. Or you could do what I did in The Screaming Void and just say “it’s alien tech nobody really understands…”
- Atomic Rockets – How various types of spacecraft engines work, might work in the future, could hypothetically work.
- History of Space Exploration from National Geographic
- NASA is of course a goldmine of space travel information. Check out Human Space Travel Research and Experiments to Unlock How Human Bodies React to Long Space Journeys.
- Reach for the stars at Frontiers – A curated list of research topics related to space exploration.
World Building:
- Natural Resources and Trade in Fantasy Worldbuilding – Some thoughts and points to consider.
- Resources for World-Builders – For constructing fictional worlds which follow historical rules and patterns, where things like agriculture and armies make sense.
Writing Markets and Open Submissions:
- The Submission Grinder – The Submission Grinder is a submission tracker and market database for writers of fiction and poetry. Use this search engine to find a home for your work.
Writing Tips:
- Helping Writers Become Authors – Theme, scene and sequel, novel outlining, character arcs, everything you could possibly want to know. The very best writing advice I’ve ever come across.
- Mythcreants – Fantasy and science fiction for storytellers.
- Notecarding: Plotting Under Pressure – Interesting plotting method by Holly Lisle.
- Snowflake Method – A popular novel plotting method.
