Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Rescuing a Dragon(fly)

The spider, much smaller than the dragonfly caught in its web,  works busily at wrapping its meal in silk.  The dragonfly's eyes are frosted white with death. 

I don’t revile the spider for the other little life taken.  Catching and feeding on prey is, after all, one of the things spiders are designed to do.  But a couple of days ago, I rescued another dragonfly  — a blue rather than green like this dead one — from a spider web.  This one is properly called a damselfly, but more people know what a dragonfly is; and the damselflies are close cousins.

The arachnid had not yet injected the venom to kill it and begin the digestion process; and the damsel-dragonfly had not yet tangled itself so thoroughly that it could not be extricated without damage from the web.  So, I gently got the dragonfly loose and eased bits of spider silk from its forelegs and one wing with a pin.  It flew to a leaf on a nearby althea and spent several minutes cleaning itself before it darted away.  It, too, is a predator; and there's an abundance of mosquitoes, flies, and ants to keep it well fed here.

And as I watched the slender blue creature go, another story erupted.  Not dragonflies.  No, lop off the last syllable — this is a dragon story. 

People often ask where an author gets ideas.  The pat answer is everywhere.  I don't often hear writers give any specifics beyond everywhere.  Maybe the idea founts are so varied or so ephemeral that the writer him-/herself isn't exactly certain.  For myself, something as transient as hearing a single word or glimpsing a color/texture/shape will ignite a story.  More often, it's more substantial than that, even if the substance is a dream.  Or some moment in life that no one else would give a second thought.

I have two dragon stories in progress already and one more waiting **ahem** in the wings.  One in process is a companion story, a side story, to my Kamanthian world and novels. The other story can only be described as steampunk with dragon. The waiting one is in-brain brewing; and some research will be needed because it involves a couple of odd twists on dragon lore.

Creatures fill my world, my imagination, my dreams, my stories.  There are, of course, natural ones — dogs, cats, horses, and a wide diversity of wild animals; but from dream-time has come some odd variations.  I've ridden tigers the size of Clydesdales.  A spaniel-sized zebra gave birth to a pair of baby zebras in my laundry room.  I've faced challenges in getting a basilisk ready for a reptile show, including cooking up bait-treats for the show ring and making goggles to cover its eyes.  My neighbors have threatened to call animal control when I had a minotaur calf grazing in the backyard.  Sooner or later, some version of a dream creatures shows up in a story.

The story erupting  now involves rescue.  Will it be the rescue of a dragon?  Perhaps the companion of a dragon?  Or something else? Don't know yet, but I do know this dragon combines reptilian and insectile features. Its purpose isn't to guard a mountain of precious metal treasures; but it is a guardian, one under siege, with enemy snares around it and venom poised to destroy it and that which it guards.  

And outside —among althea, bonsai cypress, dwarf spruce, and too many weeds climbing over the fence — a mosquito nourishes a dragon damsel.

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