Imaginary Worlds
There are so many worlds running around inside my head that I’m not sure there’s enough space left for the real one.
Not a problem until you try to get those worlds down on paper. When you know something so intimately, how do you dumb it down to a level to entice the new explorer? How do you remember those little things that will be so important to a new reader, but you’ve spent so much time with them that they’re now just hidden assumptions?
Dragons?
Dragons, I’ve always wanted to write Dragons. For me, the dragon has always been at the heart of Fantasy.
My first introduction, outside the Pern series, was a wonderful little novel by Rose Estes, called Children of the Dragon. It made such an impression on me as a young reader that I went out and bought a copy 10 years later, to give to any hatchlings that I might spawn.
In Epic fantasy they’re majestic forces of destruction, dominating the skies and laying waste to whole nations. While in Urban have somehow shrunk to pocket-sized comic relief, often found setting fire to expensive things in the underwear drawer.
Either way, I want to write dragons… but I’m not that brave yet. Dragons have to be treated carefully, with asbestos lined, kid gloves.
So… Dragons? … a mainstay of fantasy that lifts us from the page and into the worlds on fire-wreathed wings? Or a tired cliché best left off the page? Thoughts?
Comments more than welcome…
EDIT: until I was about to write this I actually had no idea that Estes had written a whole slew of books. You live and learn.
Here be dragons…
Oh, its cute now.
You just wait till it grows up and sets fire to your bath robe.
Arlock.JW 