The Incarnation of Ghorn, really!

The question of “to outline or not to outline” has been raging over on the AW board this week. I am no outliner, but I don’t begrudge those of the I II III set their plan. I feel like the story is there, I just haven’t written the outline. I’ll get there eventually.

This “by the seat of your pants thing” can be fun. As I’ve said, I know where the story is going, I just don’t know how I’m going to get there. Sometimes that can be hard, sometimes, it is damn fun, especially when the surprises happen. In my last post, I alluded to a dragon named Ghorn. The problem with Ghorn is that in the first book, we don’t see him. He is briefly mentioned and that brief mention lets us know he is a little off. “Off” as in, not like other dragons. The first time this hint is dropped, Jale is thinking about her lover, Baerwen, who is missing, and Ghorn, his bond (think: partner) has fled because something has happened to Baerwen (we don’t know what at this stage.) When I wrote this little sentence, “He was a singular and unique dragon. In truth, few might miss him, but few knew him as she had.” I honestly didn’t know what I was talking about. I thought it might be cool if Ghorn was a little different. Every story needs its odd ducks, its comic relief. It squiggled at my brain, because if I didn’t come up with some way that he was different or strange, I would have to go back and take that out. Cut to a book and a half later, and Ghorn’s uniqueness is only a hint at his true nature, which turns out to be a much bigger part of the story (and perhaps the 3 books I see beyond the first cycle of stories - cue dramatic music!) 

What is his different-ness, you ask? To what drum does he dance? Sorry, kids, to find that out, you must wait. If the luck of the Warlocks is with us, the Tales from the Dragonfael will be finished and published someday... or perhaps you will be given the task of beta reading. (The latter, as we all know, is more likely than the former, but hey, we gotta dream, right?)