So, it turns out that my high school science studies would actually be VERY important.
Yeah, it probably isn't 100% necessary for fantasy, as some would argue, but unfortunately for them, I happen to be a perfectionist, and efficiency could basically be my middle name. I have always taken my fantasy very seriously, even down to the teeniest details, like for instance, if a rose could grow in hardy island soil.
Seems quite insignificant, right? Well, if you're like me, odd questions like that will keep you awake at night...sometimes literally.
Now, jumping to a much bigger issue (literally). I had always entertained this hair-brained idea of featuring a race of winged people in my fantasy series. Being someone who absolutely loves anything to do with birds and flight (and has dreamed of flying herself), I wanted more than anything to share that love through characters who made my dreams their daily way of life.
When I realized I was determined to create these people, I did the first thing that was highly critical in my creative process. Wait for it...research. I know, sounds super boring, and completely uncreative. Isn't that a bit of an oxymoron?
Actually, for my story's world, it's highly important. Any author knows that research is a pivotal part of the process of creating a book, and also often the most time consuming. While I'm nowhere near the level of painstaking research that it would take to write, say, a historical fiction novel, you might be surprised how much time it really has taken in order to bring Aragnar to life.
First off, the problem of human flight itself. Regardless of the way you look at it, it's indeed quite impossible. Even if people did have wings, there really wouldn't be a feasible way to make us fly. And if we were created to fly, we wouldn't look like...well, people, and that would get weird really fast. So instead, I studied human and avian anatomy, all manner of scientific studies, and worked out way too many wingspan to height/weight ratios in an attempt to find the best concept possible.
Ultimately, one can only do so much, and that's why it's called fantasy, because not everything will be fully plausible, and that's where the genre certainly comes into play.
Even though it's not fully possible, I still managed to work out a fairly realistic concept, and I'll admit that I have become a 'wing anatomy snob', even though I'd say I've probably created a new category of petty. Oh well, I really don't feel any remorse for that.
I won't say I've mastered drawing human anatomy in any way, but the above sketch is just a sample of some of my crazy imaginative drawings while attempting to create a feasible compromise.
I can't tell you have many drawings of winged people I've seen sporting teeny tiny wings that magically can lift them off the ground. Not so with my Aragnarians. Simply put, their wings are HUGE! And because of that, I've had to fully consider that throughout my story.
Even though not every story will have to deal with big-winged people, it still is critically important that as a writer, you factor in any and all details that make your story original, and work with them to a point that they all flow together without snags in the plot or inconsistencies.
And don't let research scare you away from adding more depth to your story! In fact, it can be fun in a way, and when you see all your hard-earned tidbits of knowledge showing themselves in your work, it truly is a special feeling that shows, in part, how rewarding writing can truly be!
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