Hello all,

Welcome back! Let’s dive right in.

(OBLIGATORY SPOILER ALERT HERE:)

“Hi Jim,
I was wondering if you could tell me what inspired you to write Drakin? You spent years working on these novels and put out a 7-book series. As a writer myself, I know how much time and effort has to go into these kinds of things.
Thanks,
Meg”

Hi Meg,

Thank you! Yes, it’s been a real labor of love, but one I’d do over and over again if given the choice. Drakin was only meant to be a trilogy. Yet it expanded to several books. To answer your question as to where I got my inspiration from, well honestly, it’s my music. I listen to a lot of heavy metal and over the years have seen a lot of album art, as well as fan art surrounding the idea of a half dragon woman. Some of it was cool looking, others… a bit more grotesque. Honestly, Drakin originally was more just something I was thinking about publishing online as a sort-of episodic web-story. However, it took shape into something far more serious and Drakin: The Story of Raiya was born.

I’ve always loved dragons, ALWAYS! Everything dating back to Fafnir, Smaug, the ancient Chinese water dragons, to the manaketes in Fire Emblem. So I wanted to create something along those lines, but unlike many of those stories, I wanted to create lore where dragons weren’t necessarily the bad guys, or they wouldn’t always be the bad guys.

The Orphans of Haven was… unexpected. I had a plan for a three novel story that would take us from one war to the next one. However, making the leap from the first novel to the third was becoming a struggle for me. Eventually, I came up with a simple damsel in distress where the twist was the damsel was a dragon. Our hero was a broken down soldier with no reason to live following the war. It was originally named Nylie’s Tears. However, over time, the novel took on more of a life of its own. The dragongirl damsel actually took on far more of a dynamic role while it’s later revealed that the broken down soldier was an extreme racist against dragons due to the horrors he experienced at their hands during the Red War. However, he grew, changed, and took pity on our dragongirl in order to save her life. In doing so, he gained a new reason to continue on. What’s more, their fates turned out to be a lot more intertwined than either of them realized. It went from being a novel that I had little enthusiasm for to being probably the best novel I’ve ever written and definitely my favorite of the bunch.

So I hope this helps. I drew a lot of inspiration from music, art, and my own love of dragons. Thanks for the question! Keep them coming!

Readers, if you liked the book, please take a moment and leave me a quick review or if you’re pressed for time, some simple stars will suffice!! I wouldn’t ask, but the more exposure my book gets, the more copies it sells. Word of mouth is everything in this business! Thanks so much, all! I greatly appreciate it!

https://a.co/d/fvwmK1H

Thanks, friends! I’ll catch you on the flipside!

-Jim

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jhwriting@proton.me

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim