Dragon of the Moon... Drache Arm Luna Part II

Happy Blog Day Everyone!

This week, I’ll carrying on the talk from last week about my fantasy story that never made it, Drache Arm Luna, talking about the further developments it took. As usual lets get onto the weekly briefs!

Weekly Briefs

Harvey Duckman Presents…Volume 2

Word on the street is that work is progressing well on the second volume in this might anthology series (yes, you can have a series with just two volumes so far… Don’t judge me.) This should be hitting in July at some point, so if you want to read an exclusive Brennan and Riz adventure, The Black Cat on the Prowl, then make sure to pick it up! As a fantastic bonus, you’ll get so many other great stories to boot!

Creator Chaos

Very soon, it will be my turn to star in the next All About Me series, if you have any questions that you want me to answer, send them in to us, and I’ll aim to get through them all! Check the link below to see Peter Hartog’s All About Me!

Last Sunday we recorded the latest episode of Creator Chaos and it was a blast! Everything flowed beautifully and listeners, you’re in for a treat! Zack is due to start editing so hopefully, when next week’s blog goes live, I can tell you it’s up to listen!
A reminder of who the rest of Creator Chaos are:

Me – I don’t think I need to explain myself…

Kelvin Rodriguez – Fans and followers of the #vss365 tag will recognize this fellow and his creations, a master of the pun.

Zack Brooks – Author of the ‘Charlie the Cupid’ shorts and ‘The Trials of Amaford” novellas, the second of which is out now so please look for ‘How Not To Be A Scribe’ and give it a read (and if a review, assuming you get the chance!) ! A great guy and the defacto leader of our rabble.

Pete Hartog – Author of the novel Bloodlines, and currently working on its sequel. A great guy with a great taste in music and a fantastic name.
Click here to listen to all the podcasts so far and look out for us on Spotify and Apples Music Service!

Vector Unit Regen Orphan’s War

Still on hiatus, hoping to resume it soon!
To catch up on the series so far, click here!
If you follow the #CharacterChaos tag on Twitter, I’ve chosen to answer this months questions as the main characters, Drake and Ava. Search the tag to see what they’ve got to say for themselves!

Brief Mentions

Liking what you’re hearing about Brennan and Riz? Click here to look at the short story collection of their adventures so far! Looking for their newer stuff? Click here for their Christmas encounter with a Yeti, or click here for the anthology containing the short ‘A Walk Through The Pleasure Gardens’, get this one and you also get a whole host of brilliant short stories as well from fantastic authors.
Click here to find me on Goodreads
And now…time for our main feature presentation…

The Dragon of the Moon…Drache Arm Luna Part II

Last week, I spoke about the original ideas behind Drache Arm Luna, and the design document I created in late 2007/08 but of course the idea wasn’t to end there.
A few years later, or five, I came to revisit the idea, and look at where I left it and what I could do to change it so I was happy with it. The armour idea was the key component, but I had to get the story for it right.

So I began with the Clans, I wondered if my original idea of giving the Clans their own country, the alternative being setting them up as guilds in different countries, but that wasn’t satisfying. I went and looked at the middle ground. This was to shrink the size of the countries that the Clan’s governed (a way of trying to curtail their power. Imposed on them after the First Dragon War) and give them embassies in the Free Realms (I.E All the countries that weren’t ruled by Clans.). I then created more countries of different sizes and allegiances, noting how they interacted with the Clans. Some of them would have been friendly, enjoying trade and protection, while others would have been afraid of the power of the Drache Arms. Then I worked out if any of these countries would have been land that would have fallen under the control of the Clans in the distant past (using the world I created in the first place.) and looking at how that would affect things.

Sadly I never got far enough in the design to really give these places their own unique identity, along with any shared influences from the Clans. The Clans themselves remained unchanged over then the land they controlled. With the same ones being present. However, this wasn’t to be the case for long as I planned three stories. The first was just to feature the Clans, and be based on an idea I had for the first version of Drache Arm Luna, that of the Twilight Chasers. This would have seen a group built of representatives of the Clans hunting for the Drache Gotts. These beings were dragon gods named after Dawn, Dusk and Twilight. This is actually from an even older story idea, proving that you should keep all the ideas you have!

The second story though, would have seen new armours appearing, based off certain real animals like Wolves, Lions and Eagles. Joining them would have also been Insect based armour, namely Spider, Scorpion and Beetle. This would have caused an arms race of sorts as the world tries to gain balance between the different powered groups.

The last story however, would have been set further on in the time line and focused on the fight against a new power that had gained control of several countries using weapons I had dubbed, Alchemy Arms, that were based on concepts like Sword and Shield. These, unlike all the others mentioned before, were completely human made. They would have been equal in power to Drache Arms and the other ones. Taken together, the three stories would have told the story of the world, and would have contained overlapping themes and a thick tendril of darkness that ran through them. The last story in particular would have revolved around the last member of the Luna Clan, working to unite everyone.
No more work was done on this story series though.

Despite all these changes, I still never found the spark that I needed to get writing done on it. I found it hard to come up with an origin for the amulets that contained the Drache Arm, at least, an origin that people would have taken seriously. No matter which one I tried, questions poked holes in the material, and it fell apart. Sadly I shelved it, only returning to it at one point for Roleplay material, which didn’t help much.

Would I come back again to this idea? If I got inspiration I would, I still believe in the concept of the Drache Arms but it still needs something else, something that I lack at this point in time. I think it’s an important tool for a writer, to be able to recognize when an idea isn’t working, to shelve it for the future. No matter how involved we are in it.

So that’s it for Drache Arm Luna, but next week…Next week I’ll be doing something special as we dive into the Lost Writings once more. This time though, we’ll be looking at the origins of Brennan and…Zivo? Yes, in honor of Brennan and Riz’s third birthday, I’ll be going back to Brennan’s sci-fi beginnings and how he turned from that, into the protagonist everyone loves today (well those that read him), see you next time!