<human>: Here's some back story to this question....
I was never a novel reader growing up.. 
Not due to any literacy issues.. I was just more the type to pick up a technical manual to read instead of a fiction novel or fantasy novel series etc...

But in my 20's , my now Wife introduced me to the Sword of Truth series by terry goodkind...
I read every book in the series, and have moved on to read about 8 or 9 other fantasy series... along with Stephen King novels and a few others...

I've always wondered.. how does someone sit down and put these great stories to paper.. 

Besides the wonderful imagination that is needed, I am wondering if there is a well practices method for writing such literature.

In my mind.. I imagine someone like Robert Jordan having a Room filled with drawings, maps , character lists , detailed notes for each and every character from their physical characteristics to their personality and language / accents and unique vocabularies..

lists of locations with illustrations and back history charted out and plastered all over the walls...

From book to book in these series, the amount of content must be HUGE!

If someone like myself wanted to write a novel  I have a very hard time grasping how it all comes together.

Can you condense the text into a few key points?
<bot>: Authors who write novels and long series must have some serious methods to research and record all the details of their characters..  How does an author approach their writing for such books?