I have a love-hate relationship with research.

I absolutely adore the beauty, intrigue, and detail good research brings to any story but I’m not a big fan of the massive amount of time it takes to discover those awesome details. I’ve spent hours in search of the name of a certain light fixture because it was an integral part of the story set in the Victorian era or another half hour in the throes of google-search mania to discover what type of fabric composed a certain gown.

Crazy.

However, research can also be dangerously inspiring.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been looking up information for one book only to find the research spanning beyond the framework of the current book and inspiring another one…or two.

Yesterday, after doing a little studying on our local ‘castle’, The Biltmore House, a story began to form between the lines of research. And then…another. A historical and contemporary, one interwoven into another.

Will they be in the same book? I’m not sure, yet. Maybe.

But it looks at employees of the Biltmore House, past and present, and how lives and love can span generations to impact the present.

How about you? Have you ever had a brand new story evolve out of the remnants of your research?

If you’re a reader, what tidbits of history do you enjoy in the books you read?