Rhyming Poem "Sky Master"

So the next poem we had to write in my creative writing class was supposed to rhyme. I am not good at making things rhyme. At all. I struggled with this poem a lot. When writing I went with the topic that is easiest for me, as you will see.

Sky Master

High above the clouds,

At the end of all skies,

Where there are no sounds,

This is where it flies.

Those below stare

Upward in awe.

It passes within the sun’s flare,

Its great maw

Open as it lets out a roar.

Patrolling

The heavens, it soars

Enforcing

Its law.

When without warning,

All around it saw

The world was storming.

The forces of nature at war.

Land and sea in conflict.

Creatures of ancient lore

Intent to inflict

Any pain

To overthrow the other

And gain

The world from the grasp of its brother.

People cry out for the Sky Master

And in a flash of green

Arrives the terrible creature.

In all his majesty for the first time seen.

The storms cease

The ancient battlers silenced

A plea for peace

A stop to the primal violence.

The Master of the Sky won,

Sending his enemies

On the run

With ease.

Legends of its deeds go on

And we can only imagine

What it must be to look upon

That Dragon.

Bonus points to anyone who knows what this is referencing.

Dragons in The Dragon Ambassador

I wasn't paying attention to the world around me today because I was tired, and while I was zoning out, an idea came to mind, and from that idea, I solved a lot of the problems I had with my novel. These are some of the notes I've made so far for The Dragon Ambassador.

Every magical race has a defining characteristic and an antithesis race. The antithesis race’s defining characteristic is the opposite of the other race. An example would be that Dragon’s characteristic is courage, thus their antithesis, the Shadow Serpent, are creatures of fear. In general, there is a race with a good characteristic and a race with an evil characteristic. There are exceptions, like Elves, who are creatures of boredom, and their antitheses, the Sugar Imps, who are creatures of Excitement, neither of which are evil.

Dragons:
Antitheses to Shadow Serpents, Dragons are beings of courage. They will never run from any situation and will often charge headfirst into them. Since they are huge fire breathing lizards, this caused some misunderstandings and humans came to fear dragons. They can only communicate with other beings that have an equal measure of courage, something that is very rare, and so they had almost no way to communicate with the people who were hunting them down. Often, if there was a human courageous enough, they would be hunting dragons instead of trying to listen to them. Hunted nearly to extinction, they went into hiding until there came a day that an ambassador could be found to speak for them.

Shadow Serpents:
Antitheses to Dragons, Shadow Serpents are beings of fear. They are constantly in hiding from the rest of the world. They stick primarily to the shadows, and as such, their eye sight has diminished, but their other senses have increased. They magically hold shadows to themselves, so that if they should venture into the light, they are surrounded in blackness and no real detail about them can be seen. They are shaped similar to dragons, but it is unknown how far the similarities go. Because of their extreme fear of everything surrounding them, they have developed a hatred for most things, but they are too scared to do anything about it.

Things to Figure Out Before NaNo

So, before NaNoWriMo there are quite a few things I need to figure out about The Dragon Ambassador. Perhaps writing out a list will help me come up with a solution to these problems.

~I need to decide if this will be a more Modern Day Fantasy (like Fablehaven) or if I should create my own Fantasy world like I usually do. At first I was going to do the modern fantasy, but I really like making my own fantasy world. The problem with that is that its time consuming. But still fun.

~I need to finalize the dragons in my story. In every story I write with dragons, they are different, and that is one reason I like writing them, I can always do something new with them. So I need to figure out how my dragons work in this.

~I need to figure out what other fantasy/mythological creatures will be in this story. I know a few, but its good to know what my world consists of.

~I need to name my characters. Always hardest part for me.

~I need a conflict. Right now this is still just an idea with no real plot. Plots are quite important.

~With conflict, I need antagonists. Someone eval must be present to mess things up for my good guys.

~I need to decide on the point of view. My options are having it all from the point of view of one very important character, or splitting it between three very important characters. I've never done a story with just one view point and I want to try, but I'm not sure if this story will allow it.

Thats a pretty good list. I'mma stare at it now and think about it for a while. I'll update this later with a post about my Dragons when I'm done shaping them.

More Fablehaven Dragons!

So you may remember a post I did where I was excited about the first Fablehaven book talking about dragons. Or you may not, that's okay too. That isn't important, what is important is that in the third Fablehaven book, dragons are much more prevalent.

There was nothing about them in the second book unfortunately, but in the third book they are important and this makes me happy. They even introduced dragon tamers, which also makes me happy.

What is even better is that the next book is supposed to focus even more on dragons, since dragon is in the title.

Books Read in 2010: Dragon Thiefs

I was supposed to update this a long time ago, as I finished these books a long time ago. I am a champion procrastinator. Anyway!

Throne of Jade

This is a book about dragons! Automatic +1 awesome. Throne of Jade is the Sequel to His Majesty's Dragon and takes place during the Napoleon Wars. England and France are at war because Napoleon is being Napoleon, and instead of just fighting on land and sea, they also fight in the air with dragons! There's another +1 awesome.

The main dragon is called Temeraire and I'm sure that I've never pronounced that correctly. His captain is Laurence who was a ship captain before Temeraire hatched, and was then thrust into the air force. I think Laurence is a pretty cool guy, eh slays Frenchmen and doesn't afraid of anything. (Obscure Internet references FTW!)

The main conflict is that Temeraire is a super rare Chinese dragon and the Chinese want him back. Temeraire doesn't want to go back, and this causes problems.

This book was awesome and had tons of dragons (+1 awesome) and I was speaking in an English accent for weeks after reading it. If you like history and if you like dragons, you should totally read this. NEXT BOOK!

The Lightning Thief

While this doesn't have any dragons, it does have a lot of Greek Mythology. Like, if everything in Greek Mythology was true and what that would mean for today. Basically the main character is a demi-god and for a good part of the story he is trying to find out who is father is. He is eventually given a quest to stop a looming war by finding something that was stolen from Zeus. Hades is the primary suspect and so they head for the underworld and have lots of adventures on the way.

I'm a total nerd, and whilst reading this I had to look up Greek Mythology to better understand who the characters were and what their stories are. This made my inner nerd giddy. Yay for being a nerd!

If you find Greek Mythology interesting, you should totally read this series. Highly recommended.

List:
The Demon's Lexicon
Fablehaven
The Third Sign
Throne of Jade
The Lighting Thief

I'll have more to add soon. I'm reading six books at once, so it takes some time to finish them. Hopefully I'll actually add them when I finish instead of waiting for weeks.

AH HA!

Number of pages it took for Fablehaven to include the word Dragon: 169

Sorry, I know this is a silly post, but I was just waiting for that. +1 awesome point for Fablehaven. Now what would really be something is if there was an actual dragon, and not just someone talking about dragons.

Dragonhounds

Generally after reading a book about dragons, I have dragons on the brain for a good while. I had just finished a chapter in one of my dragon books (Throne of Jade) and thus had dragons on the mind. I was with my dog and recalled that he was named for a dragon (Falcore from Never Ending Story) and this idea popped into my head. If I don't write it somewhere it will leave me, and I might as well put it here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keith followed his guide into the rebels camp, noting how disastrously organized it was. If this place was attacked, even by a small force, it would be decimated, and the fact that he had found it so easily suggested that Lord Graslin probably knew of this place and was biding his time, letting the rebels hope before he tore them to pieces. Hopefully he would be able to change the circumstances here before it was too late.

There was some barking up ahead and a few enormous dogs started running for Keith's guide. Keith had never seen dogs of such size before, and as they got nearer he began to doubt that they were dogs at all.

"Falcore, Tempest!" Keith's guide shouted as the beasts neared.

Keith had no idea what to think of these beasts. They had the shape of dogs, yet instead of fur, they had scales. Their eyes were not reptile eyes however, and looked like dog eyes. There were stubs on their shoulders that looked as if they might have once been wings. Their tails wagged like a dogs and they barked like dogs, but they were definitely not dogs!

"What...?" was all Keith managed to say.

"What's the matter? You've never seen a dragonhound before? That's not surprising, they're a rare breed," Keith's guide said.

Dragon...hounds?" Keith asked. This revelation only brought more questions.

"Yep, you see a few decades or so ago, there was a wizard who knew that his dogs were nearing the end of their lives. His dogs were his only companions, so in order to elongate their lives, he magically infused them with dragon blood. This definitely made them live longer, and had a few side effects that he wasn't expecting. We have that with a few more years of proper breeding that we can make those stubs on their backs become full wings, wouldn't that be something?"

"Its definitely something alright," Keith agreed, unable to look away from the dragonhounds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Perhaps I am a bit too obsessed with dragons?

I'm not sure what I'll do with this. I already am writing to many things at the moment, so perhaps this will stay in the archives until I can finish a few of them. Who knows. Also, it already sounds incredibly cliche, what with the rebellion, and the evil lord who knows where they are but is confident enough in his awesome to let them think they have a chance (ultimately leading to his demise). So if I do ever make something more of this, I'll have to work to make it any good. But this is true for any story.

Of Dragons

Dragons are my favorite mythological creature, and if you haven't figured that out yet, then you haven't been paying attention at all. One great thing about writing about dragons is that they can be almost anything. There are so many different stories about dragons and in each one the dragons are always a little different. In some stories they can speak, in others only a choice few can breath fire, and so on. Thus, I have mostly determined what the dragons in my story will be like and wish to show you now.

There are three different types of dragons. There are the Snake, the Drake, and the Wyvern.

The Snake dragon is basically a Chinese dragon, but there is no China in my fictional world (that doesn't have a name yet) so I called them Snakes. These dragons are very long with four legs and have no wings, yet are superior in the air compared to the other two. Most Snake dragons have a venomous bite and some can spit poison. Those that don't are considered inferior.

The Drake and Wyvern are very similar. Some consider the Wyvern to be a sub-species to the Drake. Drakes are traditional Dragons. They are massive, stand on four legs, and have enormous wingspans. Wyverns have only two legs and what would be their front legs are instead wings that they can use to help them stand when on the ground. Drakes and Wyverns usually have an elemental breath, with the most common being fire, though there are also some that can breath ice, electricity, wind, light, and darkness. Then there is a superior ability that very few have and that is to shoot pure energy from their mouths in a devastating attack. If any Drake or Wyvern does not have any of these abilities they are considered inferior.

There are rumors that there is a fourth type of Dragon, though most don't beleive it.

Dragons are not the only mythological creatures in my story, and you can look forward to a post describing the others later on.

The History of the Dragons.

I just finished Brisingr and I felt compelled to write. You may recall the post where I wrote three paragraphs about some young man who was checking a list. Well, I have given it a lot of thought, and I have some characters and some of the history of the world it takes place in. After finishing Brisingr, I wrote this.

Jason sighed at sat down on the table again. “The history of dragons is a long one, as is any history, so please don’t interrupt. I don’t care if you have any questions, save them for later. It is said that near the beginning of time, Dragons were the first species to have any intelligent thought. Of course, that is contended far and wide, but it doesn’t matter. The dragons started out savage, the most of any race. They would have destroyed themselves if it weren’t for Bahamut.

“Bahamut was the greatest of dragons. He was one of the first, and was very old, and very wise. He saw that the dragons would end up killing themselves if something wasn’t done, so he set up laws for the dragons to follow. Many dragons didn’t like that he had proclaimed himself their lawmaker, but none could contest with Bahamut, for he was the most powerful of any dragon, even at his age. It took time, but Bahamut eventually was able to calm the dragons. They were still fierce beings not to be trifled with, but they had stopped killing one another and other intelligent beings. You wouldn’t be able to say that they were civilized, they still loved to fight, but they were much better than they were.

“Bahamut ruled as the king of the dragons for a long time. Some say that because of his wisdom, he was blessed with a substantially long life, others think that his tales of greatness are exaggerated in dragon history, but every person who has successfully become a dragon knows, or so my parents have told me, that he was the greatest dragon who ever lived, and that he lived a long time. I could go on and on about his great exploits, but I won’t. There are too many things to say, and I would not be able to do him justice. When he realized that he was soon going to die, he needed to find a dragon to take his place. He held a great tournament among the dragons to find one who was worthy to rule the dragons in his stead, but he found none. He had many children, and they all went to their father asking for him to give the thrown to them, but he refused. He realized that he had spoiled his children, and that none of them would be able to rule honestly.

“Bahamut was beginning to lose hope. He needed to find a replacement before he died, or he feared that there would be a great war among the dragons as they all sought to take the throne, and that the dragons would return to their savage ways.

“Travelling all across the land, he searched for a Dragon worthy of the title of king. Back then, there were many creatures and races, some more mysterious than others. Bahamut went to all intelligent races, hoping that they would be able to help him. Most just cowered at the sight of him, others chased him away, for they remembered the way dragons had once been. Others tried to share with them their wisdom. The phoenixes tried to teach him how to stay alive forever, as they could, but Bahamut was a dragon, and not a phoenix. The centaurs told him to find a group of wise dragons and have them all share the throne. The leviathans mocked him for trying to find one who could control such a species. The few humans who were brave enough to speak with Bahamut, such as King Odin, tried to give him advice, but back then, humans were not as wise as they are now. There were several species that we have lost record of that tried to help Bahamut, but Bahamut never found an answer that satisfied him.

“One species that Bahamut visited, the name of which has been lost to history, had the ability to see into the future. They told Bahamut that dragons were doomed to die out. Bahamut didn’t believe them; he thought them insane, as they seemed to tell that to every species that came to seek advice from them except humans.

“Bahamut gave up his search. He found no one and he was nearing his grave. He feared that the ones who could see into the future had been right, that his race was doomed, but then on his journey back to his home, Bahamut met a strange creature.

“Again, we do not know what species the creature was. Many of the old races have been lost. Some believe that this creature was the only one of his kind, because there isn’t any other mention of any other creature like this in all the histories we know of. This creature saw Bahamut and saw his incredible sorrow for all dragons and had a desire to help Bahamut. The powers of this creature must have been great, for the blessings it gave to Bahamut.

“It asked Bahamut, ‘What troubles you great dragon?’ Bahamut replied, ‘I fear that my race is doomed to extinction, and there is nothing I can do about it.’ “I shall help you then, for I do not wish to see the dragons die.’

“The creature blessed the dragons to be an immortal race. That doesn’t mean that that a dragon cannot die, but that they would never die out. He blessed that there would always be dragons on the earth. Bahamut thanked the creature and asked how he could repay him. The creature said that he was not finished. ‘I have one more blessing for you, great Bahamut.’ He blessed Bahamut with enough life to raise another son. He warned him that he would need to raise him right this time, because this would be his last chance. If his new son wasn’t worthy to be a king, then the dragons would still become savage, and his blessing would have become a curse to all species, for the dragons would destroy everything.

“Bahamut knew that he needed to this right. He raised his new son away from other dragons. He raised him and loved him. He named him after himself, Bahamut. The day he died, Bahamut named his son, Bahamut the Second to be his successor. Some say that Bahamut the Second was even greater than his father.

“Most history after that is incredibly boring and not very important. Dragons were a proud and great race and helped shape the ancient world, but then something happened. We have no record of exactly what happened, but it must have been great and terrible. Somehow, every race but the humans were wiped out. The immortal race of the Dragons died. The Phoenixes, who were individually immortal, died. All races that had intelligence died, except for us. Humans somehow survived. Whatever catastrophe that happened wiped out so all the races on the earth, but somehow passed over the humans. No history that the humans kept tell of what happened. Most don’t even mention that something happened. The only one that tells that something happened says that for some reason, the other races that have traded with humans stopped showing up. Later it says that they were gone, and that they don’t know why.

“For a long time, humans lived alone. After a time, most forgot about the other races. The ones that did remember them say that they were myths. But they weren’t myths. They had existed. After a time, some humans started showing odd behavior. Some would breathe fire. Others started flying. One day, a man named Stephen came across a mountain lion and had no means to protect himself. As the lion jumped at him, he transformed into a dragon. Dragons were blessed to always be on the earth. Something tried to wipe them out, but they were unsuccessful. The spirits of the long gone dragons couldn’t leave the earth and go into the afterlife, they had to stay, and that was painful for them, so they saw the humans and saw that they were the only ones left and decided to join their spirits with the humans. A body cannot handle two spirits inside it at one time, especially if one is a dragon, without dramatic changes. People who have had the dragons spirits reside in them became the first Dragon Knights. Their children didn’t have dragon spirits go into them, but they could still transform. The ability to turn into a dragon is passed down from the generations. The dragons live on through humans, as was their only choice. The history of the dragons that we know we learned from the first Dragon Knights. They gained all the memories of the dragons that joined with them, except for the memories of how they all died out. We are the descendants of the first Dragon Knights.”

So, what I still don't know is what this great and terrible catastrophe was. I'll come up with something though.