1. Story Statement:
Sorenya of Faul’s Run must learn to take control of her own destiny and escape the dark forces that seek to claim her life, mastering new magic while adapting to an unwanted life as one of the scale-bound.
2. The Antagonist:
Kshiael has made a pact with his gods—a stranger’s life for the power to rule the kingdom of Merridell—but is thwarted when the scale-bound intervene, killing the one he seeks. Instead, he must find her daughter, Sorenya, who is now under their protection. Slowly, he comes to realise that everything in Merridell is not as it seems. Sinister plots take root around him even as he becomes less certain of his ability to trust his own perceptions. Grappling with failing health, twisting reality, and the looming threat of his own death, he must find a way to capture Sorenya, or lose everything he has worked for.
3. Breakout Titles:
Silver-Bound
Shadow Wing
4. Comps:
Anne McCaffrey, DragonRiders of Pern series
Why: This was my original inspiration. Both are YA fantasy fiction that focus on what life might be like with dragons; however, my novel challenges the trope that dragons/their riders are inherently good. Unlike McCaffrey, I also added a greater focus on magic/mages, and the relationship I felt would develop between dragons—who give their partners power—and those born with power.
Christopher Paolini: Eragon
Why: Both novels appeal to fantasy fans with a dragons, magic, and grand-scale battles. The settings are similar (high fantasy kingdoms ruled by monarchies), and both deal with coming-of-age stories.
Additionally: Rebecca Yarrow, Fourth Wing and the video game, DragonAge: Origins
5. Hook Line:
Two fates, intertwined: A young girl—torn from home by the scale-bound—must learn to take control and fight to escape what seems inevitable. Meanwhile, a faraway king struggles to uphold a dark bargain with his god and defend his throne as sinister plots unfold, all the while questioning his own sense of reality.
6. Primary Conflict:
Ripped from her home by the scale-bound, Sorenya finds herself hunted by dark forces and struggling to escape the war that follows. Forced to flee her fallen keep before she’s ready, she must choose between her own safety and finding help for the only friends she has left. Lost and stranded after her escape, she meets a mysterious young warden named Piper—and the two unwittingly head directly towards danger, discovering a land ravaged by spreading darkness along the way.
Secondary Conflict:
Sorenya craves her freedom, but feels unable to contemplate it. Little by little, the people around her introduce her to the concept that she can make her own decisions.
Tertiary Conflict:
Kshiael struggles to protect his throne and find Sorenya. He slowly discovers a web of plots against him.
7. Settings:
Nothing:
•Setting: Frozen, inescapable darkness only accessibly by dragon’s back. Nothingness.
Ba’sanar:
•Ruled by prominent houses of wealthy DragonKnights and mages who pay for their children’s lives
•Setting: An alternate “mirrored” plane of reality with light that never changes. It looks like the real world, but is not quite right.
Cilynorian Wilds (central Cilynor):
•Languages: Cylinorian
•Setting: Snowy, but not as bitter as the far north. Great planes of snow fens stretch to distant horizons. This is the heart of Cilynor
Cilynorian North:
•Languages: Orelian, Cilynorian
•Setting: Snowy and mountainous, sparsely populated with scattered, rural villages.
Cilynorian Southeast:
•Languages: Pyrrian, Wyrish, Cilynorian
•Setting: Alpine; redwood forests bordering cliffs that drop to a battered coast and angry seas. Rolling, green hills. Icy, babbling brooks. Mild weather—less harsh than the bitter north.
Cilynorian Southwest:
•Setting: Desert and the golden plains. Not explored, just briefly mentioned.
Cilynorian Southern Islands:
•Setting: Tropics. Not explored, just briefly mentioned.
Northern Vael:
•Languages: Vaelish, celestial
•Setting: The frozen north. Merridell—in the northern-most mountains—is the capital. Also includes the magical Scarlet Wood, the Under, and the Seam (mountains).
Southern Vael:
•Languages: Laiteca
•Setting: Desert, sand flats, and deep canyons.
Middle Kingdoms of Vael:
•Setting: Grass plains meeting with untamed forest and endless, lush farmland that is being overtaken by blight and darkness.
Act one of the novel primarily takes place in northern Cilynor across a range of cities—mainly the snowy north. The scale-bound live in the Ba'sanar, an alternate plan of reality where they train and spend their free time.
Act two of the novel takes place as the MC moves through Vael to the northernmost city of Merridell.
