The Prologue............."Unexpected Inspiration"



When I write it’s not the traditional writer’s format. I don’t sit down and write an outline, then elaborate, edit, rewrite, etc. I write what I feel and what I “see”.

I began my first book, “Dragonchild” as a type of therapy, a place to get away and lose myself. It came from the raw emotion of being unhappy. It was a story involving dragons, witches, wizards and magic. Not the usual escape story. But I found the characters buried deep inside me. As the story progressed, good and evil were both present. I reached the finale but left the ending suspended. If I wanted to continue the story I could. I finished that story in mid-2002 and it was published in January 2003.

By April of 2003 I was beside myself. I hadn’t written in three months and I was anxious to do something, ANYTHING! So I pondered a continuation and began “The Mystery of Dragon Hall”. I struggled with the connection to the first book, but it finally came to me. Jump from past to present via a “curse.” It worked and I set out on book two. I managed to get through several chapters but then I was stumped. The story revolved around the number 21. Was I going in the right direction? I fought with ideas for months. I worked at Wal-Mart overnights at the time on the maintenance crew. I had eight hours every night to think and run storylines through my head. One morning, in early May I was on my way out and I was drawn to the jewelry counter. I didn’t need anymore I thought to myself, but I began to look anyway. Around the cases I strolled always coming back to the religious section. I was looking at the gold cross necklaces. They were beautiful, but I already had one. I didn’t need another. One caught my eye. I looked at it once and walked away. Something told me to go back and look again. It was elegant, not gaudy. It had small diamonds clustered in the center and at each tip of the cross. I asked the clerk if she thought it was too pretentious, she adamantly said “No.”  I didn’t have my glasses on and couldn’t get a good look at it, but I told her “Ok, I want that one.” She smiled and removed it from the case, rang it up and bagged it for me. I felt good about buying it and paid her happily. I picked up the bag, stuffed it in my purse and went home.

When I got home, even after a long night at work vacuuming carpets and cleaning bathrooms, I needed a cup of coffee. I poured a large cup and sat down with my bagged purchase. I put on my glasses to get a better look at it and opened the gift box she had placed the cross in. As I looked at it I slowly counted the stones. There were three at each point and nine in the center. I sat back in disbelief. There were twenty-one stones. I believed I had been led to this as a subtle sign that God approved of my writing and to continue. I put the necklace on and I still wear it today. The story, which at that point was only 120 pages long, turned into 450+ in the next three months. By September I was finished and sent it to the publisher. The ending of book two was the beginning of a third world war. I didn’t realize until I looked at my completion date that I had finished it on September 11th. Another eerie fact, the official publishing date was December 7th…

Before the manuscript got to the publisher, I had four chapters of book three “Drágön Blood” completed. The story poured out of me so quickly there were times I couldn’t sleep because my head wouldn’t let me. When I finished that book in April 2007 all the storylines were tied up and the trilogy was complete.

The story needed to be combined. I changed a few chapter titles and the three individual paperback books became the hardcover “Drágön Spawn” which I’m happily promoting here. It is a self-published book, but the reviews have been fabulous. 

© 2009 Gretchen Steen

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These books have been condensed into two companion novels. The new titles, "Legend of Dragamere" and "Blood of Dragamere".