I started taking a basic biology course and I really loved it. I started asking research questions incessantly. I was drawn very quickly to biology.
If you are a researcher you are trying to figure out what the question is as well as what the answer is.
Key is the question of where do new ideas come from. Historically four places: government labs big corporations startup companies and research universities.
I travel a lot to research the locales for the books. I have professional contacts that I can ask questions of or show them scenes to vet.
In the frantic search for an elusive 'cure ' few researchers stand back and ask a very basic question: why does cancer exist? What is its place in the grand story of life?
I write to satisfy the story or poem or piece of fascinating research that speaks to me. To rub a sore to resonate with joy to answer a question no one else has satisfactorily answered for me.