The amount of research I do depends on the story I’m writing. For most flash fiction pieces, I do minimal research, however for my fractured fairy tales in Teapot Tales, I did read a lot of fairy tales.
For Swallow Me, NOW! I did quite a bit of research about bullying, even though I have experienced bullying first hand. This was for a chapter where the teachers are talking with the students about bullying and what to do if you or someone you know is being bullied. The policies for dealing with bullying have changed a lot since I was at school!
I have been working on a story on and off for the last few years that has a lot of history in it, and that is requiring a lot more research than most of my books. There are other stories that I’m writing that require minimal to no research as the story all comes from my imagination.