By Janet Quinn Cornelow
Dragons. The mythological creature that breathes fire and graces our fantasies. Everyone seems to love dragons. Even Harry Potter had dragons.
I wished that I had put dragons in my Augeas fantasy series and have been trying to figure out how to work them into it.
Then I saw this television program about dragons. They found what they thought could be a dragon in a frozen cave in
All cultures seem to have a fire-breathing dragon myth. The strange thing about all of those myths is the fact that the dragons are physically the same. Besides the fire-breathing part, they also all flew and had large mouths and teeth.
When the frozen dragon was dissected, they discovered that it would have been able to breath fire. Those studying the body of the dragon figured it had to have been a pre-historic creature that developed during the dinosaur period. They think it was a large predator and that dragons may have caused some of the damage that has been found on the skulls of tyrannosaurus. The dragons were one of the first birds and soared in updrafts like condors. They lived in the mountains and may have used their fire abilities to keep their eggs warm.
Then the dinosaurs disappeared. Those studying the remains of this juvenile, female dragon theorize that the dragons must have returned to the water at that time and that is why they survived. Maybe that is what the Loch Ness monster is.
Then, when the world changed again, the dragons left the water and returned to the land. Then they returned to the mountains and their frozen homes where they were hunted by man. The myth of the knight hunting the dragon to save the lady in peril could have come from this creature found frozen in a cave with the three men she took with her.
It was a fascinating special and if I could find the channel again, I would tape it.
However, it does help with my dilemma of how to put dragons into my Augeas series. When Rayna goes after Gideon into the mountains, there can be dragons there.
Books on sale or free
This is the Tax Collector from my short story, Weaving A Dream, part of Whiskey Shots, Vol. 17. Myna must face down the tax collector and not allow him to cheat her out of her money and her home.
The new year has started, and with it, new ideas. I have been judging the Rita’s and I always seem to come up with a new story idea while I am reading. It is a “Oh, I have never done this type of story. What could I do?†The Enchanted Hawk was one of those books. I read a shape-shifter book and decided I wanted to write one. However, I didn’t want to write werewolves or any other type of were animals. So, Brylyn of the Hawk Clan came into being. Of course, when you have shape-shifters, there is always the clothing problem. When they shift, they are no longer dressed as humans, so when they shift back, they’re naked. I read one book where the werewolves carried backpacks with a change of clothes in them so they didn’t have to run around naked. I decide I didn’t want my shape-shifter naked, running through the castle with evil men after her. So, I decided the clothes turned into her feathers or fur. I can do that. It is my world.
Sometime last year I came up with an idea for a short contemporary dark fantasy involving a Chimera. My plot group told me it was too good of an idea with too much to it for a short. I thought about it and decided maybe they were correct, but then I had to come up with a new idea for the short. I haven’t done that, but, while I was reading the books I was judging, I decided maybe the characters were too good for just one book. I could make a serious out of this. The hero and heroine could chase more monsters after they kill the Chimera.
That leaves me with more work. For a short, the world doesn’t have to be as developed as it will for a series. Also, I have to come up with new monsters. I don’t want to be using the same monsters as others. I don’t do were-creatures or vampires. I guess while I finish my sequel with Sam – he’s still in bed with Jubilee – and write a sequel to my mystery, I’ll be doing world building. Lots of world building.
Books on sale or free