What I Have learned as I write

I have never really thought about the work a writer puts in as they create their stories. I have learned no matter what you are writing, research is a great thing to do. Researching will help you learn more about the subject and can lead to ideas that can help you make that certain subject yours.
I know pretty much everything about vampires, but that doesn't stop me from doing continual research on them. Looking into the different versions of vampire throughout the world helps me decide what will make my version mine. What is it that will make my vampire stand out from the others?
 Example, The Vampira has vampires that are pirates, I got this idea from the book Vampirates, written by Justin Somper. If you haven't read it yet, I highly suggest that you do. I need to catch up on the series, but it is really good. I am not going to use the term vampirate because it was his idea and of course copyright keeps me from doing that anyway. They will be pirates on a ship, but vampires, Desi and I are making this version ours. We don't want people to think we are stealing Somper's idea. That just wouldn't be right. Hopefully I made sense.
This version will focus during the time of the Golden Age for pirates. The setting does take place a 100 years before, but the main story is during 1600's-1700's. What we are going to create will be revealed in time. If I told you everything, then you won't be surprised. ;D
I may spend hours pouring through books and surfing many webpages as I learn more about what I am writing. Writing in a time frame that actually happened is a little difficult. If you don't know the circumstances during that particular time, it is going to make it harder to be believable. Hence the importance of researching. Nowadays everything is in reach via technology, which is awesome. It makes it so much to easier to look up things, I prefer books majority of the time because unlike the internet there is a more likely chance of the info being correct. On Wikipedia anyone can change that info. With a book that is in print, makes it harder to do so.
Researching has benefited me in the long run. I learn more things, which I love doing, and can use that info to make my books much better.
I get so excited to use info that I found in my books. Knowing that my readers will learn something as they read makes all that hard work worth it.
I have added another one of works on My Works page. It is after Vampira.