Practical Guide For All Writers.  Keeping Cliche-Free And Original.

Here in part two, we are looking at Fantasy Dragons, and there history.

First, we have dragons.  Now we all agree that dragons are AWESOME but, they are cliched.  I'm terribly sorry to say it, but if dragons in your book, you made it a step more cliched.

Look how many books have dragons in them.  The list is almost as lengthy as how many High Fantasy books there are.

And not only that, but in just about every single nation, there were legends of these mythical creatures - what we now call dragons.

This diverse and eclectically known (Princess Writer... ahem :P) creature was used in Japanese legends, Norse legends, Greek mythology - even the Native Americans, a continent away, had ancient drawings of seven headed dragons.

Originally, a dragon was the Devil.  No one liked dragons - they were hated and feared - but they certainly were famous.

In medieval days, an idea in Germany circled around that if you bathed in dragon's blood, you would become immortal.

I have only read about 2 of the German legends, but they are very interesting.  I also HIGHLY recommend a book called 'Story of the Nations.  Germany.' It is a part of a long series about several different nations, published in 1896, so it's hard to get, but worth the effort.

But why are dragons so popular now?

To some extent, it was because dragons have always captured the minds of the people.  Tolkien surely revived the fantastical idea of dragons, creatures like Smaug are unforgettable.

And in recent years, authors have popularized dragons.  Christopher Poalini comes to my mind first.

As you can see though, dragons are cliche.  At least how people imagine them now.

So what can you to make a dragon NOT cliche?  Well, make them different.  Dragons these days are noble and proud, almost all of them are that way.  So why not change it?

Doing extreme and exotic things is always an option with fantasy...

~The WordWeaver

P.S.  There is so many comments and I can't respond to them all today... sorry!  I was going to something that is really important today, but I was only able to write this up... even though all I have to do was move it to this computer and paste it... :P
General J.S.
2/4/2013 08:25:46 am

"move it to this computer a"??? I assume that is and . . . There are so

many legends because they are real. You know that, right? I, in

fact, wrote an essay about dragons, stating proofs that they are real

(or were). Talking about dragons, there is a really neat website

called DRACONIKA.COM.

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General J.S.
2/5/2013 08:22:26 am

. . . waiting for you to comment! *plans how to use marshmallows next if Mr. Ink-splattered doesn't post soon*

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