I've been working away at THE DRAGON MISTRESS (working title only, obviously) for a few weeks now, and it's coming along fairly well. I have a feeling this will be a longer book than THE CURSED MAN, as, at over 26,000 words right now, I haven't even finished what I had planned out to be the first act (of three). There will be much more that will need adding when it comes to the first rewrite, too.

The story centres around a young woman who teams up with the world's last remaining dragon, to battle against a great evil. Along the way, the woman will explore the world, and learn more about the dragon, and how it came to be the last of its kind. As I said in a previous post, the events of the story run parallel to those of THE CURSED MAN, so at points the two characters will meet each other, their stories overlapping for a brief period. They don't have any real influence on one another, so it's more like Easter eggs for the reader, but its still fun to do. The timings will prove interesting, as I will need to ensure that the characters are in the same points in the world at the same time.

The decision to go with a female protagonist stemmed from the fact that I had never really written a novel with a female lead. Sure, in THE BATTLE FOR THE SOLAR SYSTEM, and H1NZ there were female POVs, but they were never the main characters. I wanted to challenge myself by writing a novel about a woman who was a go-getter, head strong, fearless, and who was willing to step up to the plate when others found they could not, or were unwilling. At the same time, I'm going to work to ensure that she doesn't become a Mary Sue. In the past, I have done this by giving the characters pronounced flaws, which has served to keep them believable and well-rounded. I've not yet decided on what flaw the MC will have, but I'm aiming to steer clear of things such as not being able to read or write. It may be that I notice a flaw emerging as the story goes on.

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