Wanted: One Dragon
One day I was talking to a friend who had bought a new shop to sell wonderful things like really old radios and gramophone players. I said I thought his shop was lovely, and he replied he liked it very much, but there was no dragon in the cellar. I asked what he meant and he said, ‘Come on Beth, you of all people should know that every cellar has to have a dragon!’
I said, ‘What a wonderful idea, can I use that in a story?’
He said yes, and that’s why this book has special thanks to Philip Knighton in the front.
I used his shop as the setting for the tale, and the town I used to live in (Wellington, in Somerset), and the wonderful autumn carnivals we have as well.
Oddly enough, the year I was writing this story, the Wellington carnival really DID have a very realistic looking dragon right at the end of the procession… I often wonder what happened to it? Did it find a nice dry cellar to curl up in, or did it catch a cold?
The way this book came into being shows you can get ideas for stories from anything. You just have to keep your ears and eyes wide open!
Have a look on my tips on advice for writers!
Wanted One Dragon has been translated in Russian (2002)
