TITLE: Dragons of My Heart
GENRE: Fantasy
Boy turns his back on the dragons that have helped raise him when his father dies in an accident serving the dragons. I've gotten him to leave the dragons, but there's a gap (of time and space) before he reconnects and returns to the dragons. I'm looking for interesting sub-plot ideas or other challenges that will take him on his journey back to his roots. (Dragons in my world are an intelectual society- not monsters)
Miss Snark's First Victim
Just a question....does the boy know his father? If so why were the dragons helping to raise the boy and not his father? Could finding out about his father be a sub plot itself?
ReplyDeleteIf I'm correct in thinking that he leaves the dragons b/c he is angry (upset,hurt) and blames the dragons for his father's death, then the sub-plot will involve how and why he changes his mind and returns to them.
ReplyDeleteKristin's idea for him to find out about his father offers many possibilities. For example, they were under threat of death in their homeland (so the dragons rescued them) or they stole something valuable (and the dragons want to keep it for themselves).
If you already know the answer to why they lived with the dragons, flesh that out.
Yes, I would agree with Kristin. Why did he leave? What will make him return? Or is the truth hidden and he believes something else, then finds out on his journey. You could have so much fun with this.
ReplyDeleteWell, if I were an angry young protagonist and I left in a rage, I would want to partake in some quest where I would hurt the people (dragons) who hurt me. Not major hurt - killing or wounding - but emotional. If the dragons hate violence (weird idea for flame breathing lizards) he might try to become a soldier. If they hate human magic, he might try to become a wizard. Something that he thinks will separate him from his former companions, but really only keeps them in his mind. Then something in his new line of work goes wrong, really wrong, and he runs away back home. :) Just an idea - sounds like an interesting set up!
ReplyDeleteThe boy's father was an 'inducted member of the dragon society' in a position of honor and the boy was very close to his father. His reason for leaving is that he is hurt and angry at being left an orphan (mom died years ago) and wants no part of the dragons and their magic that caused his father's death.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of Dragons being an intellectual society. I'd explore the dynamic of Humans and Dragons coexisting. Is one a threat to the other, intentional or not?
ReplyDeleteMaybe you'd like to stick with the boy's story. I assume that the boy, being raised by Dragons would have learned behaviors and customs from them. When he rejects the Dragons, he wouldn't quite fit with Humans, would he? At the same time, he would have inherited personality traits from his biological parents. So he wouldn't quite fit with the Dragons, either, would he? He'd be in constant conflict with himself.
Do the Dragons speak a different language? Even if the boy knew both cultures, he could get into some sticky situations using the wrong word or socially acceptable gesture.
I think you need to give the boy something he wants so he has a goal. Leaving because he's angry isn't a goal. Without a goal, he'll just drift from one happenstance to another. Maybe he wants to become ruler of that region so he can banish dragons or enslave them. Or maybe he wants to become rich and influential so he can keep others from trading with the dragons. Maybe he wants to sneak something into their water supply that would sterilize them. I don't know what Cal is good at, but whatever his strength, have him use it, or want to use it, to express his anger at the dragons. He doesn't actually have to succeed. You can bring in obstacles that keep him from doing the harm he plots, and eventually which lead him to realize he's wrong and return to the dragons.
ReplyDeleteIf he wants no part of dragon magic, he could extend that, wanting no part of any magic (if there is magic in your world aside from the dragons'). So his immediate goal could be to find a life for himself that is as far removed from magical pursuits as he can get.
ReplyDeleteIn the process of that, maybe he gets work as a farm laborer or something, he could become close to the people, and then cause an accident that seriously harms one of his new friends. That might help him realize that his father's death was an accident also, and help him forgive the dragons.
I keep coming back to the boy's mother - I know you've explained here that she died earlier, but perhaps she has family he flees to - and maybe he hadn't met them before because they hate dragonkind, so they abandoned his mother when she chose the father (and therefore the dragons) over her family. Perhaps he seeks them out to get them to help him with revenge?
ReplyDeleteHis father dies in an accident serving the dragons. I deduce that he blames the dragons for his father's death. The boy has an accident that causes a small child (the same age as himself when he lost his own father) some very serious life-threatening injuries. It could be as simple as a car accident. The mother of the injured child would be enraged at him and wouldn't want to listen about the bad weather and horrible road conditions. IT WAS ALL HIS FAULT. The boy would come to realise that the dragons had never meant any harm to his own father and that accidents are something you just can't control and no-one is to blame.
ReplyDeletePerhaps his anger at the dragons causes him to leave in search of a rebel faction that fights against dragons (because dragons wield such power). His mother's family could rank high in the rebels' world, giving him more prestige than some of the other rebels think he's worthy of.
ReplyDelete