While I don't think this was your intended message...
I wonder what happens when dragons collect and want to feel the effects of breathing fire ("Look what I can do!") after we decide we can do it better without them.
People need to express their gifts *and* feel some kind of reciprocity with others, I think. Otherwise, things can go out of whack.
Definitely! Thank you for this comment. I do think another arc of the story would be what happens if the dragon maybe went back and found a new way to channel his fire for people.
That said, this need was the intent in my mind for the “signal” — he saw that his expression brought others meaning, taught them too, etc which is a value and form of reciprocity. Different than the way he fueled people’s fires, but still a meaningful one since perhaps he and his fellow dragon could work together to find new ways
I was imagining the stereotypical dragon burning everything down -- in this case, because they stopped valuing it. Much like what we do to our environment these days.
I stand re-directed to the hopeful and positive. 🙏
Ah, that makes more sense lol. That's kind of you to say (re: positive), and a little funny to hear myself described that way. When I tell this story to people in person (including my wife), they seem to focus a lot on the "negativity" of how the dragon is cast away and mistreated. But in my view, that is just reality--we toss aside and throw away nature when it is no longer of use to us. I still try to always end with something tangible people can take and maybe grow from.
Some of my other drafts are much darker in how they represent reality (one tale about wildfires in particular is quite heavy.) I usually try to find some sort of productive or positive spin, but sometimes like with those stories, I just can't lol. Those drafts have stayed unpublished. I did try submitting some of them to lit mags and they didn't get accepted. At some point I'll come back to them I think. I do think an important role of a fabulist, as I understand it, is simply to point at reality and show it to people. And reality at present has a lot of darkness indeed.
The good news is...you obviously manage to get us to identify with the dragon and his loss. That seems a good sign. ;-)
It may be our current reality to devalue nature, but that's not to say it doesn't need a good fabulist to re-direct us... we find water in our way, so we build levees, fill in marshes, build on flood plains, pave over ground, then wonder why we get flooded by water just doing its thing by flowing where it can (has left).
I can totally imagine a set -- paired volumes of teaching tales -- one positive, one darker - we can choose which kind of world we prefer to be part of making. Two visions. 🤷
While I don't think this was your intended message...
I wonder what happens when dragons collect and want to feel the effects of breathing fire ("Look what I can do!") after we decide we can do it better without them.
People need to express their gifts *and* feel some kind of reciprocity with others, I think. Otherwise, things can go out of whack.
Definitely! Thank you for this comment. I do think another arc of the story would be what happens if the dragon maybe went back and found a new way to channel his fire for people.
That said, this need was the intent in my mind for the “signal” — he saw that his expression brought others meaning, taught them too, etc which is a value and form of reciprocity. Different than the way he fueled people’s fires, but still a meaningful one since perhaps he and his fellow dragon could work together to find new ways
You are wonderfully positive.
I was imagining the stereotypical dragon burning everything down -- in this case, because they stopped valuing it. Much like what we do to our environment these days.
I stand re-directed to the hopeful and positive. 🙏
Ah, that makes more sense lol. That's kind of you to say (re: positive), and a little funny to hear myself described that way. When I tell this story to people in person (including my wife), they seem to focus a lot on the "negativity" of how the dragon is cast away and mistreated. But in my view, that is just reality--we toss aside and throw away nature when it is no longer of use to us. I still try to always end with something tangible people can take and maybe grow from.
Some of my other drafts are much darker in how they represent reality (one tale about wildfires in particular is quite heavy.) I usually try to find some sort of productive or positive spin, but sometimes like with those stories, I just can't lol. Those drafts have stayed unpublished. I did try submitting some of them to lit mags and they didn't get accepted. At some point I'll come back to them I think. I do think an important role of a fabulist, as I understand it, is simply to point at reality and show it to people. And reality at present has a lot of darkness indeed.
The good news is...you obviously manage to get us to identify with the dragon and his loss. That seems a good sign. ;-)
It may be our current reality to devalue nature, but that's not to say it doesn't need a good fabulist to re-direct us... we find water in our way, so we build levees, fill in marshes, build on flood plains, pave over ground, then wonder why we get flooded by water just doing its thing by flowing where it can (has left).
I can totally imagine a set -- paired volumes of teaching tales -- one positive, one darker - we can choose which kind of world we prefer to be part of making. Two visions. 🤷
Interesting idea! Something to ponder.
It still hits. 🌋 Love the illo.
😊😊