Dragons, Monsters and Villains

When I was first shopping The Greggs of Kesselt under its former title way back in 2004 I received one rejection letter that I found humorous. The gentleman was taking issue with the fact that I have a dragon in my fantasy genre book. Okay, so he doesn't like dragons. That's cool. But how he wrote; he found it incomprehensible that a dragon would be used in any fantasy novel. Really?

I believe what he was trying to convey was that by using a dragon I could not possibly be worthy of publication because dragons are cliché.

If dragons are cliché then I guess tell that to Van Gogh about bowls of fruit or flowers.

Which brings me to my point. A good story in part, is about how the author uses the elements within, to tell the story. Having a dragon in a story is not bad its how the dragon adds to the story that matters. I will continue to have dragons in my stories.

Which brings me to my choices of monsters, villains and fantasy creatures. First you must know that I have had much exposure to Greek and European mythology. I draw from that rich source to populate my stories and Kesselt. Admittedly, I like to use different creatures from those that are most commonly written about. I do believe that some creatures are over used. By adding different creatures I think it brings fresh story elements. So the gentleman was partly correct. But I don't believe in departing totally from the norm.

I have read a number of books where the authors have departed from the norm of fantasy so much it truly wasn't enjoyable. There's avant-garde  and then there's being out right ridiculous. When I use a new creature I want it to add to or move the story along. Sometimes I write to please special people in my life.

My daughter has just as vivid of imagination as I do. When I first wrote The Greggs of Kesselt she would read along. The scene with the unicorn was added based on her suggestion that I couldn't just use dark creatures all the time. My use of the unicorn was my Grimm take on them. Unicorns haven't always been the pastel creatures of  contemporary pop culture.

For my villain race I chose Kobolds. Kobolds come from Germanic mythology. They were evil spirits from mines. I first learned of them from Dungeons and Dragons. In D&D lore they are a reptilian humanoid like race described as dog-like. On Kesselt I have transformed them into a canine humanoid like race. I understand my version is not in keeping with the German or D&D versions. My Kobolds come from a D&D campaign where the Dungeon Master used them extensively and described them as canine. I used that description when I was in need of a stock villain race for the book and my second forth coming book.

When it comes to villains I don't use them as a bad force that needs to be vanquished. I use them as obstacles for the protagonist. I have not been a fan of the perpetual villain. That's why there is no one villain in my books. In life there are always several forces that seem to always be circling causing stress. I like that concept for my books.

One of the main reasons I like the fantasy genre is because I can tell a story drawing from a palette of variety. I can mix and use different types of characters. In the end I believe it only adds to the story and satisfies the imagination.  Enjoy the dragons, there will be more.