Fire Breathing

Morning Folks,

Wow. I didn't realize how popular dragons actually were until I reported on the Jennifer Scales series by MaryJanice Davidson and Anthony Alongi. (Click here to go to the official website of the series) yesterday.

So I thought we'd go ahead and talk more about dragons today.

I am actually writing a story involving dragons. I found out some interesting things about dragons clicking on Wikipedia (I looked up Japanese Dragons).

I found out some other interesting things, as well...

In Asian cultures (at least in Chinese and Japanese legends) the dragon was revered as a deity. Generally something of good fortune. (Maybe I had a clue about that, but I don't know for sure).

Another interesting thing you can find on this Wikipedia article is that dragons with 5 claws were imperial dragons (if you didn't know that, now you do :-) )

I saw a glimpse of this whole imperial 5-clawed dragon beliefs in Cameron Dokey's Wild Orchid: A Retelling Of The Ballad Of Mulan, where she describes the Emperor being the only one allowed to display the 5-clawed dragon. (Another good book, but not completely about dragons).

Makes me wonder where and why 5 claws on a dragon came to denote royalty or a high deity. Maybe it has to do with having more power, or showing a caste system. (As in my story, the number of claws the dragon has denotes where in the caste system a person is--5 claws being the royal family, 4 claws nobles, 3 claws those below them and 2 claws common people or servants).

Most stories seem to agree that dragons are generally of the serpent persuasion, thus, reptilian, although in MaryJanice Davidson and Anthony Alongi's books the dragon are more closer related to birds--like the dinosaurs.

It's pretty cool how dragons have so many options, which means if you're writing a dragon story your imagination has several options...pretty cool, huh?

What do you know about dragons? Are you writing a story with dragons?

Have A Thrilling Thursday!