The dragons were meant to be dead. But some things never die.
The signs that came before the dragons entered the world long ago have come again, signaling their return. And Pyrus has had a vision. It’s not just any dragon poised to re-enter their world, but the very dragon that his family was said to have killed generations before. The Last Dragon. Whose death secured his family’s rule over Drokana.
He must lead a quest through neighboring nations and unforgiving lands to the Great Expanse. Pyrus must ensure that he is the one to slay the beast, or risk his family’s rule and the very kingdom itself.
The night before I started working on this idea, I finished my very rough outline for “Knowledge is Power.” Just as my friend suspected, doing so freed up some space inside my mind, for getting it on paper seemed to allow me to think of other things.
I had just seen the movie, “Dune Part One” and was incredibly inspired by it. The main feeling I walked away from it with was; I wish I could make a world that felt like that…
The Last Dragon started with a very simple idea for plot, something that was always missing from any stories I’d tried writing in the past. Set in a world where dragons used to live and were hunted to extinction, someone has a vision that a dragon still lives. The prince goes to hunt the dragon and finds more than he bargains for.
I entertained the idea of putting “Knowledge is Power,” on hold for a bit, while I played around with the new idea for a while. The next day I was flooded with thoughts on the different clans of Drokana, the way that magic worked in that world, and possible scenes that could happen.
The next day, I did something I had never done. Before ever writing a single scene, I sat down and started working on an outline. It took a week and before I knew it, I found myself with a sixty page outline. I had always regarded myself as incapable of writing outlines. I’d had friends and writing mentors try to encourage me to do so and I just believed that my brain ‘simply didn’t work that way’. But what I found, was that when I sat down and said “alright, we’re going to write an outline,” my brain simply shifted over its outlining lens and my entire thinking process became different.
Although I have been writing for much of my life, in many ways I consider this to be the first book I’ve ever actually written. I started with a simple story and then I constructed an outline. I actually regarded the first draft as a first draft, considering that it the important part was to get the words down on paper and knowing that I would refine it later. I finished the first draft in six months at around 140,000 words. Those who have been down this road before me know that the second draft definitely has less, hah.
I finished the second draft another eight months after that. The book still has a long way to go. My intention is to follow this all the way from initial inception to published or self-published draft. I am currently working on the third draft while balancing other projects.
I cannot wait to share Pyrus and the world of Drokana with you all. You can expect to hear more about this world and story.
Thank you,
-Y.J. Sargis