Dragons. The word brings to mind a flood of images from movies, books, and art. Most of the adults I know love dragons. They would happily become one, or befriend one that appeared to them. Most of the kids I know want their own Toothless. (On the other hand, not many want a full grown Norwegian Ridgeback.)
When Brandon Sanderson first started thinking about the story that eventually became his latest book, Skyward, he was inspired by works about dragons—specifically books about finding dragons and learning how to fly them. Eventually, he decided to twist the classic formula of “a boy and his dragon” into a “girl and her starfighter” story, and thus Skyward took flight.
In light of the novel’s origins, it’s interesting to look back at the kinds of stories in which Sanderson has found so much inspiration, which he credits with being some of the first books he ever read as a young reader first getting into the fantasy genre. So let’s talk about the appeal of dragons.
