I used to be a scientist. I went to university, became a biologist, learned to think critically. I believe in evidence. I will change my hypothesis based on evidentiary support.
I also absolutely love stories of the supernatural.
This is all lovely and self-indulgent, but to the point of this post- I believe all authors, bards, storytellers, chroniclers, tale tellers and writers are secretly dragons.
I will construct this argument just like the debates of my youth.
Definition- Dragons are mystical creatures, characterized by their cunning, tendency to live in dark, warm caves, ignore or terrorize the surrounding populous, consume inappropriate snacks (princesses are not a balanced diet) sleep for long periods of time, and most importantly, hoard things of value.
It isn’t always gold, jewels are spoken of in many tales, so I use the term ‘value’ very deliberately.
If we accept this definition of Dragon, then we may move on.
(If we do not, then comment below and we can talk…)
Writers have a one hundred percent crossover in characteristics with the list above.
They are cunning- the amount of literal murders plotted, executed and uncovered by writers is breathtaking, the work poured into research, the wordsmithing each sentence into a perfect bouquet to hand to a careless stranger to glance over. Endless cunning. Balancing the work with publicizing, managing social media, negotiating with agents or publishers, all examples of great cunning.
Writers tend to work in really weird places. A wonderful friend of mine works in their smallest bedroom with the curtains closed and the internet disconnected. I personally work in my home office, toasty warm with my toes buried in a fleecy blanket.
Writers absolutely fall into one of two states- ignoring literally everyone around them as they type furiously, deaf to the cries of housemates or family, intent on expressing this thought before it flitters away like so many butterflies. Or they terrorize everyone. Be it reading sentences to the nearest person for a reaction, asking people bizarre questions about the phase of the moon on a summer evening in 1964, or if a butt plug would be detectable by airport security. They consistently and constantly barrage people for feedback and help. Then the cycle starts again.
Don’t get me started on the snacks.
Or the procrastination-napping. Or the ‘I-wrote-my-wordcount-for-today-so-I-am-allowed-to’ napping. Or the ‘I-didn’t-write-my-wordcount-for-today-so-I’m-avoiding-the-work’ napping. Or the snack-induced napping. Or the ‘there’s-no-one-to-ask-if-this-idea-is-dumb-so-I’ll-wait-until-they-get-back’ napping. Or the ‘I-can’t-work-because-there’s-too-many-people’ napping.
Most importantly- hoarding things of value.
We hoard ideas, images, tales like they’re precious. We curate these gems into woven tapestries of gold and hold them up to show everyone how beautiful a world we built. We devour the tales from others, increasing our own hoards, we buy books and books and books and articles and posts and poems and narratives from all over the world and cuddle them to ourselves with warm joy and comfort. We seek more even when our storage is full and we have no time to consume it. We create things of intangible and immeasurable value from nothing more than thoughts.
Not all cultures on this plant value gold, or jewels, or other precious metals.
Every single culture on this planet has stories.
Every single culture places value on the stories of their families and communities.
The most powerful church in the world is based on a book of stories. Whether you believe them as fact or fable, sacred or not, the impact those stories has had is unarguable.
If we take money as the measure, some of the richest franchises in the world are based on stories (Disney, looking at you).
We have always and will always need to share our experiences, stories make us human. I include songs, epics, ballads, poems, fables, novellas, short stories, series, movies, TV shows and every other story. If there’s a sequence of events that display or invoke an emotional reaction that’s a story.
Stories are how we teach, how we communicate, how we grow.
And writers hoard them.
Such value, gathered and curated with such passion.
Dragon.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Love, Frankie xx