Feeling discouraged and unable to visualize my characters

[rktho]

I'm writing a book on dragons and I'm having trouble writing them in a believable way (ie, in a way that doesn't sound like I'm writing about flying humans while occasionally mentioning spines, wings, or flames.) My dragons walk erect on two legs and are twelve feet tall. They have spines on their backs and heads that collapse like fans, and their ears are the same. Males have squarish snouts while females muzzles are more pointy. Male horns are spiral ridged and dark while female horns are ivory smooth. They live in cities and have an emperor and an advanced police system. In addition to natural fire they have weapons such as swords, spears, and bows, as well as the concept of armor. Other than armor, satchels, hoods, rings, or other such practical items, they don't wear clothes. (Their genitals are hidden by an inconspicuous flap.) Dragon cities are often based on the outskirts of forests where there is plenty of game, and towns are spaced apart so there's usually at least one city within flying distance of another one.

I can describe it all I want, but I can't visualize it, and if I can't visualize it, I can't write it. What's wrong with me? Does the premise just not work?

 

[elemtilas]

To be quite frank, they sound quite a lot like humans! I'm having (maybe the same?) difficulty in pinpointing exactly how these people are dragons and not humans.

To me, spines and wings and horns don't make a dragon a dragon. Obviously, they live in cities, wear spectacles (if nothing else in the way of clothing!), they make tools and useful articles, etc., etc. just like humans. So, I can see very clearly ways they are similar. This is like saying people in London and Berlin both eat sausages, ride underground trains and wear hats.

What makes a dragon a Dragon and not a Man is his inner nature! It looks like you're going for a clearly smartly designed reptilian being. Maybe start there? What makes a reptile tick? I read an article online recently about how to tame our own behaviour with respect to our "primitive" reptilian brain. Perhaps a look at something like that will lead in an interesting direction as far as behaviours, thought processes, expectations, moral reasoning and a host of other cognitive functions.

This will naturally lead to considerations of how culture, religion, philosophy and art come into play in their society. If their society even has those things. There's no reason to assume Dragons must be artistic! There's no reason to assume they must share our morality or that they must think the way we do. Finding those key differences will really make your Dragons pop!

I have to say: I like the picture you paint of the civilised Dragon, but it strikes me too that their kind of civilisation is very much like ours...

 

[rktho]

To be quite frank, they sound quite a lot like humans! I'm having (maybe the same?) difficulty in pinpointing exactly how these people are dragons and not humans.

To me, spines and wings and horns don't make a dragon a dragon. Obviously, they live in cities, wear spectacles (if nothing else in the way of clothing!), they make tools and useful articles, etc., etc. just like humans. So, I can see very clearly ways they are similar. This is like saying people in London and Berlin both eat sausages, ride underground trains and wear hats.

What makes a dragon a Dragon and not a Man is his inner nature! It looks like you're going for a clearly smartly designed reptilian being. Maybe start there? What makes a reptile tick? I read an article online recently about how to tame our own behaviour with respect to our "primitive" reptilian brain. Perhaps a look at something like that will lead in an interesting direction as far as behaviours, thought processes, expectations, moral reasoning and a host of other cognitive functions.

I have to say: I like the picture you paint of the civilised Dragon, but it strikes me too that their kind of civilisation is very much like ours...

Mine don’t “wear” specs per se; those would fall off when they tried to fly. But an aging dragon might keep a glass handy to hold in front of his eye from time to time.

I need a little more help than stating the obvious.

 

[elemtilas]

Mine don’t “wear” specs per se; those would fall off when they tried to fly. But an aging dragon might keep a glass handy to hold in front of his eye from time to time.

Sorry. The picture in your avatar shows a Dragon wearing ordinary spectacles.

I need a little more help than stating the obvious.

Then perhaps a different question will be in order.

Because, yeah, as described thus far, it's obviously not working! You've got pretty window dressing, but this is a Kingdom of Hats. I'm just trying to help you, from a reader's perspective, where & how you can make the premise work.

I guess if that's too obvious, then maybe you don't really need our help so much as a sympathetic shoulder to cry on for a minute?

 

[rktho]

Sorry. The picture in your avatar shows a Dragon wearing ordinary spectacles.



Then perhaps a different question will be in order.

Because, yeah, as described thus far, it's obviously not working! You've got pretty window dressing, but this is a Kingdom of Hats.

Yeah. So I guess the question would be, IF dragons lived in cities, HOW would they do things differently from humans? The premise is the if. To give it meaning, I need to answer the how, and I’m having trouble doing that.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

Yeah. So I guess the question would be, IF dragons lived in cities, HOW would they do things differently from humans? The premise is the if. To give it meaning, I need to answer the how, and I’m having trouble doing that.

To understand this, you have to understand why people started living in cities. Moving into cities is a fairly recent phenomenon (since the Industrial Revolution). But, of course, there were still cities from before. People move into cities for economic reasons. I would imagine that in medieval times it was because their lord moved or people realized I can be an armorer for a lot of rich snobs at court if I move to the city or some such thing. Then more people moved to service them. Trade was important as old cities were built on trade routes, navigable waters, ports, etc and serviced trade. Safety from animals and other humans was also a consideration.

So, 1) how do the dragons trade?

2)What technological level are they at (have they had the magical equivalent of the Industrial Revolution)

3) What are the threats, both dragonmade and natural?

 

[rktho]

To understand this, you have to understand why people started living in cities. Moving into cities is a fairly recent phenomenon (since the Industrial Revolution). But, of course, there were still cities from before. People move into cities for economic reasons. I would imagine that in medieval times it was because their lord moved or people realized I can be an armorer for a lot of rich snobs at court if I move to the city or some such thing. Then more people moved to service them. Trade was important as old cities were built on trade routes, navigable waters, ports, etc and serviced trade. Safety from animals and other humans was also a consideration.

So, 1) how do the dragons trade?

2)What technological level are they at (have they had the magical equivalent of the Industrial Revolution)

3) What are the threats, both dragonmade and natural?

1) How do they trade or what do they trade?

2) They have not had an industrial revolution, magic or otherwise.

3) One immediate threat is fire. Dragons can control fire as easily as humans can control spitting or humming, but still, if they’re not careful they can burn something they don’t want to. So obviously, not everything is fireproof, but most things are. Small villages are more susceptible to grass fires as they’re based on flat areas near small forests (wealthier towns are based in more desirable locations.)

Another would be invaders. My dragons are surrounded by a species of short dragons in large numbers on two sides, large mountain-dwelling dragons on another, and up north, serpentine, flightless dragons with four legs in addition to arms. Luckily the latter two are peaceful for the most part, because the bigger dragons would pose obvious military threats. Just as obvious, however, is that my dragons wouldn’t be nearly as helpless as humans would in that situation.

Marauders and criminals would be a threat as well, mostly from the same species and region.

Famine poses an indirect threat; my dragons don’t farm crops, but their prey would be affected by shortages of vegetation. On a similar note, overhunting would pose a threat as well, especially without an agriculture to speak of.

Off the top of my head that’s all I can think of.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

1) How do they trade or what do they trade?

2) They have not had an industrial revolution, magic or otherwise.

3) One immediate threat is fire. Dragons can control fire as easily as humans can control spitting or humming, but still, if they’re not careful they can burn something they don’t want to. So obviously, not everything is fireproof, but most things are. Small villages are more susceptible to grass fires as they’re based on flat areas near small forests (wealthier towns are based in more desirable locations.)

Another would be invaders. My dragons are surrounded by a species of short dragons in large numbers on two sides, large mountain-dwelling dragons on another, and up north, serpentine, flightless dragons with four legs in addition to arms. Luckily the latter two are peaceful for the most part, because the bigger dragons would pose obvious military threats. Just as obvious, however, is that my dragons wouldn’t be nearly as helpless as humans would in that situation.

Marauders and criminals would be a threat as well, mostly from the same species and region.

Famine poses an indirect threat; my dragons don’t farm crops, but their prey would be affected by shortages of vegetation.

Off the top of my head that’s all I can think of.

Cities, in this case, will need to be trade hubs, of some kind. So, how to the dragons trade. If it is by air, they will need to have some kind of flight plans. The more flight routes that converge on the city the bigger the city. That would require more tall buildings and stone and steel buildings. Frankly, I think that dragons would be excellent smiths as they can control fire easily. This would allow for some interestingly tall buildings. Building and road proportions will need to be different. I also imagine that they won't have walls, but for the flightless dragons wide trenches and deep ones with spikes.

Humans really love circles, no idea why, and soft corners. You should consider whether dragons think like that or if they think angularly. What do dragons consider beautiful round or angular?

 

[rktho]

Cities, in this case, will need to be trade hubs, of some kind. So, how to the dragons trade. If it is by air, they will need to have some kind of flight plans. The more flight routes that converge on the city the bigger the city. That would require more tall buildings and stone and steel buildings. Frankly, I think that dragons would be excellent smiths as they can control fire easily. This would allow for some interestingly tall buildings. Building and road proportions will need to be different. I also imagine that they won't have walls, but for the flightless dragons wide trenches and deep ones with spikes.

Humans really love circles, no idea why, and soft corners. You should consider whether dragons think like that or if they think angularly. What do dragons consider beautiful round or angular?

Excellent points— flightless dragons would mostly keep to themselves where they can build their cities to their personal conveniences, but as to how flying dragons trade, it depends on how much they can carry. 25 deer can’t be carried by a dragon that’s only twice the size of a human, so perhaps there would have to be roads for transporting large quantities of goods. However, that’s not to say they couldn’t fly with an insignificant amount or use said roads as a primary form of transportation. (Flying is faster, after all.) The big dragons I mentioned have a number of individuals who are willing to work for hire, so I’d imagine they’d be influential in trade with their increased strength. But, those dragons wouldn’t generally go so far as to actually live in said cities because it’s a little small for their comfort. I imagine they’d set up little communes where they can live with their fellows during their stay as immigrants, returning home when they feel they’ve amassed enough wages.

My protagonist's father and grandfather are blacksmiths-- definitely suitable trades for dragons. My protagonist doesn't continue the family business, though-- he becomes a hunter and his mother becomes a meat seller. Said father and grandfather died in an accident in the smithy.

As for buildings, yes, I'd imagine they would have very tall buildings, and not bother with stairs very much either. But I also imagine poorer villages would resort to dwellings that were more underground, since it's easier to dig than gather material to build tall buildings. (My protagonist lives in that kind of village.) Back to urban cities, however-- what would these buildings look like, beyond the materials used to make them? How would they handle doors? You don't want just any random dragon flying into your house. On the other hand, you don't want to make it too difficult to enter a building, especially a public one such as a tavern. Would some buildings-- mostly residential-- have trapdoors on the roof, perhaps, for guests to wait at, while a shop might boast a wide, doorless entrance on the side of the wall? Also, how would dragons prioritize floors? Would the main floor be the ground floor, or the topmost? Also, to what degree would roads be useful to flying dragons who aren't pushing carts? Would they ignore them or would they serve as guides somehow?

Also, another question that needs answering-- suppose someone is chasing you. How do you hide when everyone can fly and get an arial view of the town? Or perhaps overhangs would be an architectural staple-- to save on material, perhaps, or for purely aesthetic reasons?

As for what they'd find beautiful, I imagine since female faces are more round compared to the males' square snouts, they would find sharp points beautiful and admire hard edges as masculine. For example, cones would be considered a beautiful shape. Round corners would play a little into their concept of beauty since there are rounder corners in female dragons compared to male ones, but mostly I think roundness would evoke prey-- fat cattle, or the rump of a buck. Spheres would be more appetizing than aesthetically pleasing and I imagine if they cut their meat neatly instead of ripping it apart they would present it as round.

I think I'm liking what I've come up with so far. What about you?

 

[Consultant_Timelord]

As far as how buildings and cities would look, an important question to ask is what level of development are we looking at? Like, medieval cities were very unplanned sort of sprung up organically, you could imagine taller buildings like the burrow in Harry Potter where each level is added on as needed without any cohesive design plan. If they are more developed then cities might have actually planned layouts and buildings would be more cohesive and designed. This plays into the layouts of the roads, if trade routes are planned or they just sort of happen. Buildings could be used in marking the trade routes in the air, taller buildings could show the dragons where to trade and there could even be trade buildings that have a trade post on ground level for goods sold on the ground and a trade post in the air for air bound goods, this way your society could impose taxes on all entering the city be it by foot or wing. Or maybe dragons are naturally chaotic and don't believe in following a prescribed road so they just voyage as they please.

I feel like the question you need to answer is are your dragons chaotic or organized? Go with the wind or planners? Then I would suggest going on pinterest or google images and looking up images of human society from your favorite point in history for inspiration and then adapting those societies to how your dragons would have built it.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

It seems like your problem is that you've essentially taken humans and dressed them as dragons. But there's a dissonance there.

I think you would be helped by comparing the history of both species. Humans are social creatures who lived in tribal hunter-gatherer societies (often nomadic) up until the advent of agriculture. I'm not sure what dragons are like, but often dragons are portrayed as solitary and they are typically carnivores. That would change how a "society" would come about.

You have to think about how the traits you've given the dragons make sense. For instance, bipedality is a really risky trait and i'm not sure a creature that already had lots of natural weapons would develop it, since the ability to carry, manipulate or throw things wouldn't be absolutely essential to their survival.

Think about why your dragons' weapons make sense. Somehow i'm not sure how effective a spear would be against a flying creature, if you are both flying? It seems like flight could totally transform warfare.

Dragons can fly, so that would probably change transportation and cities entirely. For one thing, travel would be much easier. It would not be as hard to explore and spread out over a large space. There probably wouldn't be roads between cities, just trail markers, unless roads were needed for carrying goods. And buildings would be designed so that a flying dragon could land on them and take off from them. Doorways would have to accommodate wings. Would they bother with furniture?

Are dragons purely carnivores, or do they have any use for cultivating plants.

My point is, you can't easily take a species incredibly different than humans and develop them to a point where they look very like humans. The differences will have important effects.

 

[rktho]

It seems like your problem is that you've essentially taken humans and dressed them as dragons. But there's a dissonance there.

I think you would be helped by comparing the history of both species. Humans are social creatures who lived in tribal hunter-gatherer societies (often nomadic) up until the advent of agriculture. I'm not sure what dragons are like, but often dragons are portrayed as solitary and they are typically carnivores. That would change how a "society" would come about.

You have to think about how the traits you've given the dragons make sense. For instance, bipedality is a really risky trait and i'm not sure a creature that already had lots of natural weapons would develop it, since the ability to carry, manipulate or throw things wouldn't be absolutely essential to their survival.

Think about why your dragons' weapons make sense. Somehow i'm not sure how effective a spear would be against a flying creature, if you are both flying? It seems like flight could totally transform warfare.

Dragons can fly, so that would probably change transportation and cities entirely. For one thing, travel would be much easier. It would not be as hard to explore and spread out over a large space. There probably wouldn't be roads between cities, just trail markers, unless roads were needed for carrying goods. And buildings would be designed so that a flying dragon could land on them and take off from them. Doorways would have to accommodate wings. Would they bother with furniture?

Are dragons purely carnivores, or do they have any use for cultivating plants.

My point is, you can't easily take a species incredibly different than humans and develop them to a point where they look very like humans. The differences will have important effects.

Those are some very good points. My dragons are omnivores but don't regularly consume vegetables and don't grow crops. They're very spread out, and the only roads between cities would be for carrying goods. (Of course, they'd be helpful guides for fliers as well.) As for furniture, well, they need to rest as much as humans do, don't they? But a human chair won't cut it for a creature with a tail and wings, so stools would be very prevalent. Beds would be meant to be curled up in rather than laid in plank-like (resembling a nest.) Tables would be a must so they wouldn't have to keep everything on the floor, but mostly I imagine they'd be standing-height tables. They might not think to combine the chest and the table to create the desk drawer or cabinet, though. Actually, I don't think they would use drawers very often if at all. For some reason I don't think sliding containers would appeal to them. Everything would be on hinges instead. As for doorways accommodating wings, I think public places wouldn't bother with closing doors at all and just have an open entrance, while dwellings would have an upward-opening trapdoor on the roof to drop through and fly out of. Both would of course be very large, but I think entrances to dwellings would only be large enough to fit one dragon at a time while lodging establishments and such would accommodate customers entering and exiting at the same time.

You're right about the spear now that you mention it, but I think they'd still have swords and knives. A sword is just a longer claw, and that would be an advantage in a fight. (They could also have rings or armbands with Wolverine-style blades on them to that effect.) Also, bows would be useful for shooting down flying targets, but in that case, bows would be huge and maybe built on platforms-- I'm thinking a rotating platform so they can swivel it if necessary, but it has to be light enough that they can fly with it so they can place it on top of buildings with ease. In terms of fire weapons, there could be a "drink" that increases their range, and they might use long torches as weapons as well. As for weapons to use while in flight... the effectiveness of ranged weapons might be lost (since they don't have any weapons as precise as a gun) so a dogfight would have to be hand-to-hand. The only ranged weapon that would work effectively would be fire breathing. Also, if they can create explosives from the materials they have, they could drop bombs on targets on the ground while in flight. (I imagine those would be useful in counterattacking the archers.) I think dragon battle attacks would be fairly swarmlike. I also think they may use weapons in hunting, but it's easier to catch a deer than fight another dragon, and they already have their breath weapon, so at most I think they'd only carry a knife or two, or wear prosthetic claws.

And actually, now that I've mentioned Wolverine blades... My McGuffins are swords of power. What if instead I made them long blades that were inserted together into a gauntlet or something a set? That way anyone collecting them could wield more than two at once.

 

[Chessie2]

I have to agree that your dragons sound more like humans than dragons.

Now, I'd like to pose a different perspective: newer writers tend to create stories and worlds that are very strange and unique from what they are used to reading just to stand out. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but they try to create something so unusual and "lookit this cool thing I made!" that it becomes more about the idea than the story. My theory is that, because their writing skills aren't strong, they try to stand out by having an idea that's entirely different from what has 'been created before'.

I am not trying to bust down your idea, but it does seem like you are trying way too hard to be different and your imagination is having a difficult time entertaining it enough to write. You're doing yourself a disservice by trying to create dragons that aren't really dragons. So, how are you going to end up writing about dragons if they are, in fact, humans?

The uniqueness should come from the story you tell about these dragons. There are A LOT of dragon books, movies, & video games out there who are able to gain an audience for their work by putting a creative spin on their dragons. Uniqueness in creativity comes from the story that only you can tell: plot, character, how characters interact, setting, storytelling voice, & vibe. Trying to look super cool by using that dragons that (sorry) don't sound like dragons at all is what I wager is causing your distress.

There is this super neat Russian movie about a dragon shifter prince who kidnaps a village girl and takes her to his secluded island. Now, when he kidnaps this girl he is in full dragon mode. She's hanging out in her village, about to get married, and during the ceremony he sweeps her away with his claws in front of everyone. He then drops her off on a part of the island that is rocky, scary, and surrounded by ocean. He hides from her for days and slowly but surely introduces himself in human form. The whole story is about their relationship and how she comes to understand that he is the dragon and she learns why he kidnapped her. It sounds like your basic story, right? But it's well done & beautifully acted. It's a unique twist on an old trope (shifter). <--- That is what you want to go for. A unique twist on something old because your creative mind is already familiar with that.

The point is that if you try to make things too unique then your creative mind can't lock it down enough to tell a story.

 

[Heliotrope]

^^^ Ain't this the truth? I agree. You sound like you are more focussed on the "coolness" factor than on an actual story. You are finding it hard to pin down because you don't actually have a character, or a story. I would suggest really trying to narrow it down. Don't worry about what the cities look like, or how they are different than human cities. All that can come. Narrow it down to one, single character, and one single problem.

For example, lets look at some other non-human characters in fiction and media:

Lightening McQueen is a racing car. What would a racing car want? Well, he wants to win, obviously. Ok, so what is his flaw? Well, this is where he does need to be human. He needs to have a flaw human beings can identify with because, well, the audience is human beings. So McQueen is cocky. Arrogant. In order to win he has to be knocked down a few pegs.

Another example, Dusty Crophopper. A crop dusting plane from a small town who wants to race in an around the world rally. But he is afraid of heights! lol. An airplane, afraid of heights!

Last example, Mrs. Frisby enlists the help of some intelligent lab rats and mice in order to save her home from a farmer's plow.

Notice, how, in all of these examples, the want is true to the type of character? What would a race car want? What would an airplane want? What would a field mouse want?

So what would a dragon want? You are thinking too broad. You are thinking large scale, cities and entire civilizations. Narrow it down to one, single character. One dragon. Who is he/she? What does he/she want that only a dragon would want?

 

[Heliotrope]

Does the premise just not work?

This is your issue. A cool world building idea is not a "premise". You don't have a premise. You have a world building idea. You only have a premise when you have a character with a goal. That is what you need to focus on.

 

[rktho]

^^^ Ain't this the truth? I agree. You sound like you are more focussed on the "coolness" factor than on an actual story. You are finding it hard to pin down because you don't actually have a character, or a story. I would suggest really trying to narrow it down. Don't worry about what the cities look like, or how they are different than human cities. All that can come. Narrow it down to one, single character, and one single problem.

For example, lets look at some other non-human characters in fiction and media:

Lightening McQueen is a racing car. What would a racing car want? Well, he wants to win, obviously. Ok, so what is his flaw? Well, this is where he does need to be human. He needs to have a flaw human beings can identify with because, well, the audience is human beings. So McQueen is cocky. Arrogant. In order to win he has to be knocked down a few pegs.

Another example, Dusty Crophopper. A crop dusting plane from a small town who wants to race in an around the world rally. But he is afraid of heights! lol. An airplane, afraid of heights!

Last example, Mrs. Frisby enlists the help of some intelligent lab rats and mice in order to save her home from a farmer's plow.

Notice, how, in all of these examples, the want is true to the type of character? What would a race car want? What would an airplane want? What would a field mouse want?

So what would a dragon want? You are thinking too broad. You are thinking large scale, cities and entire civilizations. Narrow it down to one, single character. One dragon. Who is he/she? What does he/she want that only a dragon would want?

Well, I have a story, it's just that I've been going through it and I'm not satisfied with the way I'm writing my scenes and I'm thinking I might need to delve deeper into the dragonness.

As for characters... okay. Let's take a look at my protagonist.

Ginzaekh lost his father and grandfather at a young age in a blacksmithing accident. To support his mother and brother, he and his two friends, Ash and Gazi, hunt game to make ends meet. They hear that the emperor has lost something important to him (a precious but otherwise seemingly ordinary crystal) and is offering an enormous reward for its return. Days later, they stumble upon it and realize that return it could mean the end of Ginzaekh's poverty (and Ash and Gazi aren't the richest dragons either, so they would also get a cut of the reward.) Leaving is dangerous-- he won't be around to procure game for his mother's meat shop, and the crystal's reward is so sought after that many are willing to kill to get it. On top of that, there's a murderous dragon named Sar Argandi who hates the emperor and will do anything to sabotage the crystal's return. And Ginzaekh's uncle Nat, who he was going to ask for help, is acting strangely and by his own admission can't be trusted. And those are just the threats that Ginzaekh knows about. There's a secret history under his snout full of magic and family legacy and the emperor's true nature.

After he learns said history, his motives change a bit.

He learns that his uncle is actually trying to protect him, and that his uncle, father and grandfather were practitioners of magic, and his father and grandfather were not killed in a smithing accident, but the emperor, who is a dark wizard, murdered them in order to take something he wanted from them. His new drive becomes avenging their deaths and finding his place in this secret new world that's been revealed to him.

 

[elemtilas]

Lightening McQueen is a racing car. ...

So what would a dragon want? You are thinking too broad. You are thinking large scale, cities and entire civilizations. Narrow it down to one, single character. One dragon. Who is he/she? What does he/she want that only a dragon would want?

And perhaps most importantly: what does it mean to be Dragon? From what little I recall of the Cars movie, they're basically humans with human emotions, needs & reactions dressed up as cute cartoon vehicles designed to appeal to small children. (And also to separate as much money as possible from said childrens' parents who will inevitably have to buy 15484 different franchise products.) Our (human) wants stem from deep pschosocial needs and often half addressed & fleeting desires. And this is certainly a valid line of questioning for Dragons too. But how can you answer "what does a Dragon want" if you don't even know "what a Dragon is"?

 

[elemtilas]

He learns that his uncle is actually trying to protect him, and that his uncle, father and grandfather were practitioners of magic, and his father and grandfather were not killed in a smithing accident, but the emperor, who is a dark wizard, murdered them in order to take something he wanted from them. His new drive becomes avenging their deaths and finding his place in this secret new world that's been revealed to him.

It's an interesting story.

It's a very human story!

This is just my opinion, but you have a very human story with very human characters doing characteristic human things with quintessentially human motives, all because you do not yet know what a Dragon even is! I think you're right: you need to delve deeper into Dragonness! Now, none of us can really help you with that. I can tell you what I think dragonness should be, and maybe that would be helpful to you just to get some ideas. But only you can determine the answers that will fit within your world & setting.

 

[rktho]

It's an interesting story.

It's a very human story!

This is just my opinion, but you have a very human story with very human characters doing characteristic human things with quintessentially human motives, all because you do not yet know what a Dragon even is! I think you're right: you need to delve deeper into Dragonness! Now, none of us can really help you with that. I can tell you what I think dragonness should be, and maybe that would be helpful to you just to get some ideas. But only you can determine the answers that will fit within your world & setting.

Yeah. I mean, at least his motive at first is gold. That's dragonlike. But the underlying reason for those motives are human, and there's the rub. On the other hand, I'm not sure a dragon motivated by greed is the best protagonist. I'd prefer a sympathetic protagonist so the other characters can have some grey or the illusion thereof (the murderous extremist and the protagonist's uncle as respective examples.)