by Jen Braaksma 

Research for a novel? Not my interest. That’s why I decided to write fantasy. You can make everything up, right? No historical accuracy issues, no one to call me out on how a police detective or a doctor works, no worries about geographical blunders. Perfect!

I was so naïve. 

Growing up in a Christian church, I’d always had an interest in angels. White robes, halos, harps and beautiful, bright, shining beings. I got this. Only, I wanted to write about Lucifer, before his fall from Heaven. The story—a version of it—existed, obviously, so I figured I’d read up on it as a starting point, then jump to my own ideas from there. Quick and dirty and get it done. 

I started with the Bible, completely misremembering how little information there is on the battle of the Heavens. Three measly Bible verses. (Revelation 12 7-9). And it said that Satan, personified as a dragon, was thrown down to Earth with all his angels. Earth?? I thought he was cast into Hell! 

More research: Paradise Lost, the epic poem by 17th century English poet John Milton. (Okay, okay, reading excerpts and summaries…) Ah, so this is where our more common perceptions of Lucifer and his battle against God came from. Maybe?

But Milton talks about other angels, too: Uriel, Raphael, Abdiel, Michael. I knew of Michael, had heard of Raphael, but who were the others? 

Which led me to more and more resources digging into angels’ names, their meanings, and the functions or roles of each angel. My pared down list? 82 names. (Did you know “Samael” is also an angelic name of Satan? Or that the angel Kasbeel tried to get from Michael the secret name of God to use in an oath so he’d have power over the other angels? Or that the angel Manit has the power to grant wishes?)

And that led me down a rabbit hole of research places in Heaven (according to the lore, East of First Heaven is where Gabriel resides; Seventh Heaven surrounds the throne of God and contains what is good and beautiful). I discovered classes and types of angels (Angels of Mercy, Angels of Destruction, Choirs of Angels, Angels of Sanctification); I came across the hierarchy of Angels (the highest being Seraphim, the lowest simply common Angels). I found different creatures (deva who were nature spirits, djinn who were created from smokeless fire, sirens and phoenixes.) 

My research came from books, websites, articles, magazines. Since this wasn’t an academic project, I didn’t care about credibility. If I found a piece of lore interesting, whether it had been corroborated by another source or not, I jotted it down. Anything and everything to do with angels, demons, heaven and hell. 

I was hooked! I loved rooting for little-known details; I was addicted to searching out more and more and more (just one more link, one more website…)

I kinda forgot I was supposed to be crafting a novel out of all of this. 

By the time I realized I should actually get to my story, I ended up overwhelming myself. I wanted to put in everything! Even as I started writing my manuscript, I ended up tying myself into knots. 

It was only when my book coach reminded me of a fundamental tenet of writing that I began to focus: build your world to serve your story. 

So I restarted. I focused on Evangeline, Lucifer’s daughter, and what I wanted her journey to be. Then and only then did I start to shape her world, a world I’m proud of creating. A world worthy of Evangeline and Michael and Gabriel and Lucifer and all my other characters.

I pared down, stripped away, then added my own elements (it is fantasy, after all!) Pages and pages and pages of research sat unused. I cringed at first. Then I smiled. 

I have a lot to work with when I write the sequel.

Jen Braaksma is a writer and book coach with a decade of experience as a journalist and nearly two as a high school English and writing teacher. Her first book, Evangeline’s Heaven, launched August 30, 2022 from SparkPress. Follow her on Facebook (@JenBraaksma), Twitter (@JenBraaksma), and Instagram (@jenbraaksmabookcoach) or visit her website.