Brandon Sanderson - Dragon Writers: An Anthology

Book Description

Dragons are creatures of legend. Of magic. Of wisdom, nature, and the power of creation. They have been in every culture and mythology since the beginning of time.

Writers are creatures of legend. With magic, wisdom, and the power of creation at their fingertips. They, too, are in every culture and have been creating their own mythologies since the beginning of time.

Within each writer is the power of a dragonthe power of creation.

Gathered together are twenty-six stories from writers who dared to tame this power, including New York Times best-selling authors Brandon Sanderson, Jody Lynn Nye, Todd McCaffrey, and David Farland. Through fantasy, sci-fi, romance, and poetry, this anthology celebrates the magic and majesty of dragons, writers, and creativity.

Within these pages, youll find dragons who fly through space, who raise hatchlings, who carry the power of life and death. Some dragons are even featured as swords, planes, and origami creatures.

Dragon Writers is a special collection where magic and myth combine to create something legendary.

All profits benefit the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship

Edited by Lisa Magnum

Kindle Edition 2016

WordFire Press
wordfirepress.com

ISBN: 978-1-61475-477-0

Copyright 2016 WordFire Press

Additional copyright information found

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the copyright holder, except where permitted by law. This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the authors imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover painting by James A. Owen

Cover design by James A. Owen

Edited by Lisa Mangum

Kevin J. Anderson, Art Director

Book Design by RuneWright, LLC
www.RuneWright.com

Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta, Publishers

Published by
WordFire Press, an imprint of
WordFire, Inc.
PO Box 1840
Monument, CO 80132

Contents

Writing Out the Dragons

A Note from the Center about Sharing the Creative Fire and the Meaning of Tribe

We are all connected.

In 2012, I was asked by my friend Kevin J. Anderson to be a guest speaker at an annual seminar he had founded along with his wife, author Rebecca Moesta, and their writing peers David Farland, Eric Flint, and Brandon Sanderson. In contrast to the proliferation of seminars and workshops that exist to teach the craft of writing, the Superstars Writing Seminars had been created to teach writers the business of writing.

When the seminar was founded two years earlier, it was in part because Kevin and Company realized that when writers are starting out, we all share resources and encouragement with one another in the pursuit of our respective careers. But as best-selling authors, it becomes more difficult to commiserate and to find common ground and mutual support. So what began as a private support group soon expanded into the Superstars Writing Seminars, and during their third outing, which was held in Las Vegas, I was invited to share my own experiences and relative wisdom.

At that event, I made two contributions which have since expanded to become something more influential than any of us could have anticipated: my inspirational presentation Drawing Out the Dragons, which came to full maturity at the seminar and is now a core part of the annual experience, and an almost offhand comment about how, to truly become successful at anything, you simply have to focus on finding those who support you in the work you do and the choices you make. And I called that group of supporters your Tribe.

We are all connected.

In the years since, I was invited back first as a returning guest instructor and then as a partner, largely on the strength of the reception to and influence of Drawing Out the Dragons. But the concept of Tribe has also grownsomething evident in the fact that a large percentage of the ever-growing Superstars attendance is alumni. Its no great surprise that participants in the seminar would bond and maintain those connections, manifesting both personally and professionally in the form of friendships and collaborations. At minimum, there was now a shared set of experiences and a large group of peers who could offer support and encouragement to one anotheragain, not unexpected. But Superstars has become something different. Tribe became something deeper, and much more significant and meaningful.

New attendee Ryan Richoux wrote a heartfelt post in one of our online groups about how he had attended as A/V support for our resident Canadian audio tech Stone Sanchez but soon realized that he had been drawn into something greater: Superstars was not just a professional organization. It was a family. It was Tribe. Everyone who attends becomes part of that Tribe, no questions asked. Everyone is accepted, embraced, and supported as if they had always been there.

We are all connected.

One definition of Tribe, in the oldest and perhaps truest sense, is many tinders, one fire. Fuel is drawn from several sources, but everyone shares in and benefits from the flame. The same is true of the Creative Fire, and the drive we each feel to push our work, our lives, and our careers forward. A collection of experiences shared can become a seminar, but the level of support that is brought to bear by becoming Tribe is something that extends past the initial event. The Creative Fire that is brought to Superstars by each member of the Tribe is for the ongoing benefit of all.

There have been two previous anthologies as part of the Superstars Writing Seminar, both featuring unicorns, which were organized and published in order to offer scholarships to allow writers the additional resources they need to have the opportunity to attend. This year, we chose dragons as the subject, in part because the metaphor I use in my annual presentation is that dragons are the fears holding us back, and we need to draw them out and confront them in order to move forward with any decision we make in our lives.

In the midst of a both literal and figurative demonstration of this at the most recent seminar, I hesitatedand the silence was cracked by a voice from the back, a recent member of the Tribe, Emily Godhand, yelling, You can do it, James! That burst the dam, and the entire room shouted encouragement while I finished doing something I thought would be an Impossible Thing and which resulted in a standing ovation and a lot of joyful, inspired tears.

We are all capable of doing Impossible Things. The Superstars Writing Seminars are where we share our Creative Fire and teach one another to do them. This book is a representation of some of the best examples of writing out the dragons that our attendees can produceand with it, another opportunity to offer the experience to more and more people. We are all connected. We are Tribe. And this is the best of what we do.

James A. Owen
Silvertown, Arizona

I Hate Dragons

Brandon Sanderson

My life has taken a turn toward my true love, writing epic fantasy, but I do miss the teaching experiences I once had. So I moonlight as a writing instructor and do my best to make time for being a professor.