A Slice of Orange

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 Romania. They also found three crispy men. One of the men had managed to spear the dragon before she torched them.

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.

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Hi everyone! Check out the exciting online classes offered by the
Orange County Chapter of RWA!

“Heightening Conflict Through the Fatal Flaw & Shadow”
with Connie Flynn
November 16, 2009 – December 12, 2009

Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassNov09.htmlCOST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com

ABOUT THE CLASS:
Three-dimensional characters need to evolve as your story unfolds. Troubles often arise when writers try to create characters who continually reveal new layers. Learn how the “triangle” technique can unveil your character’s suppressed or shadow traits, which will emerge as the character struggles to overcome a deeply hidden flaw. It is the overcoming of this flaw that creates dynamic action, both external and internal.
The class will help you
• Identify your character’s surface traits
• Find the corresponding shadows
• Match those to plausible “fatal flaws”
• Add natural traits that build tension
• Increase internal and external conflict
• Use plot points to ignite character change

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Connie Flynn teaches popular fiction writing at Phoenix College and, periodically for Arizona State University’s Piper Writing Center. She has written award-winning paranormal romances for Penguin and has recently expanded to mysteries and has completed two novels and one script, and also a short story, which was published by Red Coyote Press.
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassNov09.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members

Coming in January 2010–
“The Purpose Driven Scene” with Lynn Kerstan
This workshop focuses on how to develop a scene that is chock-full of character development, conflict, emotion, and for the reader- a vivid sense of “being there.”
http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html. Check out our full list of workshops.

Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure
you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group! Sign up at
the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html or send a blank
email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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A

by Monica Stoner, member at large

What’s NaNo?

A month of not always controlled insanity, where you put aside everything but your creativity. Words flow from your creativity to the screen, without stopping for filtering by your brain. Why no filtering? Mainly because we are our own worst enemies when it comes to finding reasons not to write, and the best reason we can come up with is “It’s not quite good enough.”

NaNo grants you permission to write badly. Permission to throw words on a page and see what sticks. Permission to make up characters on the fly, change their hair color, change their names, and plot without logic.

For those who outline in detail prior to putting the first word on the page, NaNo can be either frightening or exhilarating, or a heady combination of both. For those “pantsers”, writing by the seat of their pants and catching up with logic later, NaNo can bring a sense of camaraderie. After all, they’re pantsing with millions of people around the world. Most of all, NaNo gives a reason, or maybe an excuse, to write.

At the end of the month, those who have achieved the minimum goal of 50,000 words in the sprint marathon writing challenge can tell the writing world they’ve established and reached a goal, and in the process have at least the bare bones of a real, finished book.

And isn’t that better than spending the month watching re-runs?

For more information on NaNo, including how to sign up, go to: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Monica Stoner
tsent@ix.netcom.com
You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something.
-Winston Churchill