Here be dragons! Giant reptiles of many varieties have worn the name, what imagery comes to mind when you think of dragons? Is a dragon the fearsome creature of mediaeval legend? Or does a more snakelike creature from folklore come to mind?
Smaugust began in 2016. Stories of dragons have fascinated people world over for aeons. As a writer of fantasy most of us are going to want to write a dragon story at some point, and Smaugust provides us with a great opportunity to do so.
Most of the monthly themes on the blog began as prompts for visual artists, but there is no good reason we as writers can’t use them too. Either as a stand-alone piece, or as an addition to your other work use one or all of these prompts to get your creativity flowing.
Prompts & Ideas
Week one: But I want to ride it! Forget slaying, tell us about the time your character convinced a dragon to let them ride it. Whether for need or fun, write about a human who gets to ride a dragon. Was the dragon happy about it? Begrudgingly accepted the ride? Is it the dragon’s goal?
Week Two: The Lair was Empty. They were ready for battle, but no one was home. Are they nervous? Dare they touch anything? What happens if the dragon comes back? How would it play on the mind of adventurers to find an empty lair after months of searching?
Week Three: The treasure wasn’t what they expected. Maybe the greatest prize turns out to be books. Maybe a person? A pie? Is the character happy or mad about it? This could be an exploration of what “treasure” means or the perspective of different characters about the treasure.
Week Four: It’ll hatch any day now. Who is waiting for the special moment and why? Will be be a pet or sold? Do they want dragons or is this unexpected chaos? What goes into raising baby dragons?
C.M. Wellsmore 