Research: Dragons and Magic and Planets and More!

​Hi All,
 
The other day, a friend mentioned that one thing he admired about The Dragons of Nibiru was all the research I’d done in order to write it. He thought others might be interested to hear about that – so here’s the story!
 
As some of you know, I didn’t start out to write a story about dragons. I was just minding my own business, writing a spaceships-and-aliens sci-fi tale. Dragon-free. But somehow, a dragon managed to force her way onto a page. I tried to continue with my story, but Fianna, last princess of a dying race of noble dragons, had other ideas.
 
In the end, Fianna won the battle. Obviously – just look at the book’s title! Now there’s no going back: dragons play integral roles in the story and series, with Book Two at the editor and Book Three in progress. There are many, many things Fianna wants us humans to know about her race, particularly the dragon-folk of her home world, Nibiru.
 
At first, Fianna’s victory in that battle caused me quite a bit of anxiety. It meant I’d have to re-write huge chunks of the original story. And hells, at that point I didn’t even know where the tale was heading anymore! Most of my worry stemmed from the fact that I knew so little about dragons, though. Now one of the creatures had railroaded my writing, and I was not a happy camper! But once I got to know Fianna and her clan, I was more than happy to tell their story, and with gusto. I dug into some dragon research, and although I'm still a neophyte when it comes to dragonology, I learned a lot. I’m eager to learn even more about these fascinating creatures, too.
 
Now that they were such a crucial element in the story, I had to research not just dragons, but their planet, too – Planet X, also commonly known as Nibiru, among Earthlings who are into such things. That lead to learning more about the rest of the planets in our system, too. Things like their orbital cycles, weather patterns (if any!) and so on.
 
Since a large part of the story takes place on Earth, I also had to do some study about our own planet, too. Was I ever surprised at some of our home world’s strange and wonderful features (natural and otherwise). Things I’d never heard of, like the underground tunnels between Turkey and Scotland, and the ancient cities along their routes. Underground cities, that is! Most are located beneath the country we now call Turkey. One of them is eighteen stories deep, and had more than 20,000 inhabitants at one time, living in a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers. That’s just a sampling of what you can discover in the fascinating articles at the library and on the web, many with photo documentation.
 
Another unfamiliar area was spacecraft, so I spent a fair bit of time studying both hard knowledge and informed speculation on the subject. That included people’s ideas about alien ships they believe to have visited our planet – and the beings who piloted them. There are many who say that several major races of aliens have visited Earth, including those known (here on Earth, at least) as Greys, Reptilians and Arcturians. I’ve tried to do the ideas and beliefs about these races justice in my stories.
 
The same goes for witchcraft and magic. I researched spells, magical chants and other aspects of magic, to lend authenticity to the chants, poems and other magical elements of the book. I was very pleased and proud to have a practicing witch tell me that those parts of the story sound as if they were written by a witch! Well, perhaps – like Celine – I am a secret witch.
 
There were quite a few other subjects I dug into during the writing process. For example, I learned about human (Earthling!) blood types and the “Rh factor,” including some of their history. Did you know that there was a time when all Earth humans had Type O blood? Today we can also have Type A, Type B or Type AB. Interesting indeed. What happened there? I wove my speculations about how that might have occurred into the story. The Rh factor fascinated me, too. According to some researchers, all humans had “Rh positive” blood until about 15,000 years ago. What? That sounds odd and mysterious, doesn’t it? So that’s something else for me to learn more about, and perhaps work into the story as it evolves. Stay tuned…!
 
Well, it’s late and I’m getting a bit tired, so I’ll end off for now. If you’re interested in hearing more, though, let me know! Send me an email, or better yet, tell me in the comments, below. If you like what you’ve read here, I’ll be happy to share more about my research adventures. Oh, and feel free to ask about anything else you’d like to hear about, research-wise or otherwise!
 
Lorna