Goodreads asked Brian Van Norman:

How do you get inspired to write?

Brian Van Norman So many ways. I'll give an example... "Immortal Water" was not supposed to be what it was. It began as a thriller set in 1981 Florida but you can't research Florida without coming across Juan Ponce de Leon. Something about him was strange. It seems he lost his war dog Becerillo and spent an unusual amount of time mourning the dog. Why would a man, especially a hardened Conquistador, do that? Suddenly I found myself writing the novel on modern Florida but reading it's history. Often, when I research, there are 'holes' in the research. In my first novel "The Betrayal Path" it came down to an unknown man in a boat who took General Wolfe down the St. Lawrence River after which Wolfe completely altered his tactics. In "Immortal Water" I discovered records for the second voyage of Juan Ponce de Leon to Florida were mostly missing. In both cases I was inspired to fill those gaps.

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