Let your first idea be a starting point

The best stories take time to grow and develop. Sometimes the first idea needs to be a springboard, so don't hold on to it too tightly to imagine what it could become if you let it mature.

Happy Writing Wednesday, friends! What are you working on this week? Anything exciting? How’s the word count coming?

I’m super excited to dive into our topic today, primarily because getting to chat about The Dragons of the Diamond Throne series is something of a culmination of all my years of writing. I hesitate to say I created this series when I knew what I was doing, but that’s kind of how I feel about it.

Now, to be fair, I actually came up with the idea of this series when I was 12 or so. This was still back in the day when what I was writing was glorified fanfiction, and one weekday afternoon I stumbled onto a show called Sailor Moon. And I thought it was just about the coolest thing I’d ever seen. Eventually, when my family was able to get internet (dial-up internet, at that), I was able to look up more information about Sailor Moon, and even as a 12 year old I didn’t like the direction the story went. Just my preference. But it was such a fun idea, so I thought to myself: “Why not make my own?”

Originally, the series I created was called The Galactic Rangers, and the concept is similar. But as I started building it, I realized that I had an opportunity to do something really special. I came up with the concept when I was 12, but I didn’t really start designing it until I was in college. I knew the characters would be younger than the other two series (Lightkeepers and Reishosan), so I wasn’t planning on writing it for a while.

Then, two things happened in pretty close conjunction. First, I realized the desperate need for middle grade fiction. A lot of publishers and agents say it’s not selling, but I know so many people who really want it for their kids. I figured, if nothing else I could write it so my friends’ kids could have something fun to read.

The second thing that happened? Well, I think it was one of the Met Gala events? I honestly don’t know. But the model Zendaya showed up to some swanky event in a chainmail dress, and some graphic designer edited it into an image of her in that dress, carrying a sword, beside a silver scaled dragon. And every squirrel in my brain went: Whoa.

I have no idea who designed the dress that she was wearing or who manipulated it into a fantastic work of fantasy, but it changed everything.

It was like a literal implosion, and within a few hours I had completely revised every element of the Galactic Rangers storyworld. And they weren’t the Galactic Rangers anymore, because what did that even mean? No, they had become the Dragons of the Diamond Throne, the guardians of the royal family of the Lunar Kingdom (in the book it’s called Ebi-Inyanga). Each one was the descendant of the royal house of one of the eight planets within the Lunar Kingdom (Earth isn’t a normal member for reasons), and every planet has its own unique culture and language and history.

One of the special elements of being a Dragon of the Diamond Throne is that each princess has a little sidekick. They start out like cute fuzzy red pandas, except none of them are red; they are every other color except red. But each of these little red pandas turn into gigantic dragons and fly into battle with their respective princesses.

They’re super cool dragons too, with elemental abilities based on what their planets are known for in my universe. So Mercury is closest to the Sun, so its element is fire. Venus is air (ironically). Mars is seismic activity (so her dragon doesn’t have wings, which I just think is so much fun). Jupiter is storms and lightning. Etc etc etc.

Overnight that series went from one I was excited about to one I was obsessed with. And as I continued to build it and work on the delinquent Meg Mitchell book, my editor made an interesting observation:

In the original book, Meg Mitchell and the Secret of the Journal, every perspective character is a Primary Character in the Heirs of the Mazzaroth series as a whole. Every main perspective character in that book eventually has a book in the series where they are the main character of their own book. So we thought for the revised version of it, we needed to make sure that the characters we introduce are Main Characters of the rest of the series.

As a result of this concept, I realized I needed to actually introduce Reena Ellis in Meg Mitchell’s new book. So that’s what is happening.

Now, Reena Ellis has a novella of her own, Reena Ellis and the Pink Panda Problem (October 2024). It’s her origin story as one of the Dragons of the Diamond Throne. But as a character, she will be introduced in the new Meg Mitchell book (which is hopefully releasing late 2025).

What I love the most about the whole process of coming to create the Dragons of the Diamond Throne series is that ten years ago I couldn’t have done it. I have learned so much about storytelling in the last ten years—even the last five years—that has made me a better writer. It took me 30 years, but I’m in a place now where I feel confident in how I approach a story, even if it’s a story for children.

I was very attached to my original concept for the Galactic Rangers. I had loved that idea since I was 12, and it had been with me through a lot of ups and downs. And I had been looking forward to writing those stories. But I realized that my initial concept was a shell of what it could have been.

Not only did the concept need time to grow, I needed time to grow. I needed space to meet people and venture outside my own comfort zone. Writing a series like the Dragons is stretching me, primarily because of the diversity of the characters. I needed to research. I needed to ask questions. I needed to develop friendships and live among people who were different from me, not because I needed something from them but because it makes me a better person.

While the Dragons series is primarily about superheroes and space dragon battles, the core of the concept is about identity. Each of the characters has a journey to take, to learn that who we are isn’t about what we do or what people say about us or even what people expect from us. That our identity can’t be found in things that change.

If I had stayed with my initial concept, I couldn’t have pursued the identity aspect of the story. It wouldn’t have worked. The original concept wasn’t deep enough. Maybe it wasn’t broken enough. Regardless, I’m so thankful that I didn’t hold on to it.

Sometimes your first idea is truly just a starting point. The first concept that comes to mind doesn’t have to be what you stick with. Use it as a springboard. Grow. Learn. Let it change. And see what the story becomes when it matures a little bit.

The best stories take time.

Thanks for hanging out, friends. Check back next week for a super helpful tool as you navigate your way around these extensive story worlds of mine. And maybe, if I can get my act together, I’ll have something fun for you to read!

Amy