Mawgrim

Yes, there's a lot of overconfidence about fighting Thread at this point in their lives. They know -and have seen - that people and dragons die fighting Thread, but like many at that age, don't believe it can happen to them.

D'gar can see what they need to do, if only he can keep S'brin from losing it at the slightest thing. Quite a few of the weyrlings moving up suffer from overconfidence. That’s why the first couple of months in a Wing is so dangerous.

Turn’s End passed by. Loranth’s newest clutch took their places in the barracks. D’gar heard a couple of the lads from Suderoth’s clutch making the same sort of comments he’d done, wondering if their dragons had ever been that small, clumsy and noisy. By early spring, most of them were flying well. Even Gemalth was doing circuits of the Bowl, Zalna’s hair tucked under a flying cap. ‘Doesn’t she look great in wherhide?’ K’torl’s voice was full of admiration. ‘And just see them fly!’

Oh no! Now they'll have to take off their clothes to dry out!

Somehow I don’t think this was inadvertent. Funny though.

Another chilling chapter.

I was reading a blog entry by @Comicality the other day concerning revisions of old stories. It struck a note (and has an awesome example of revision in an iconic scene from 'Star Wars') as I have lately been digging out some of my old stories and re-reading them. Some of these things are so old they were printed out on a dot matrix printer (don't ask, kids) or even typewritten, complete with Tipp-Ex corrections. It's always interesting to read back your own work. Sometimes it makes you wince; could you really have constructed such a clunky sentence. Other times you think, 'that's not bad at all.' In a few cases, I decided to re-type the stories and found myself instinctively editing as I went along, not to the point that it changed the story arc, just editing out unnecessary purple prose and correcting punctuation and grammar mistakes from a time I knew no better. Occasionally I realised that a plot point could be made more obvious, or that the technology mentioned placed it firmly in the past, when really it could just as well be set in the present day with the addition of mobile phones and computers rather than landlines and newspapers. Of course, many of my stories of the cinema business are always going to have to be set pre-2010, as that was the fateful year when most cinemas changed over from film to digital projection, making thousands of projectionists redundant and projection boxes totally unmanned. Anyway, here is the first of my re-imagined and re-edited cinema stories, 'Wrong Rewards'.

Rob knocked twice on the door of the manager’s office, waited for long enough to let Fitzgerald stash away his bottle of whisky, then went in. It was a dingy room, with walls stained brown from years of nicotine. Even though smoking indoors had been banned a while ago, it had never been redecorated and the aroma of ghostly cigarettes still lingered, together with the greasy redolence of many a takeaway supper. The walls were hung with faded film posters and framed publicity awards dating back to

Rob thought he’d left his past behind, along with his former lover and his ambition. Now just a projectionist in a provincial town, when he hears that the company he used to work for has bought the cinema, he knows he will have to confront old ghosts.

You never know what that volcano will spit out. Toasted F'drun, anyone!

Yes, they definitely do in canon, later on, which is one reason why I wanted to show some of the ways things are wrong there from the start. Thanks for your comments.

The Benden infirmary was becoming an all too familiar place. D’gar sat patiently as the healer examined him. He winced slightly whenever she hit a particularly tender spot. ‘You really do get yourself into the wars,’ she said. ‘But you’re right. There’s nothing broken. You won’t be feeling up to much for the next couple of days, though. I’ll give you some fellis to take for the pain and to help you sleep.’ She turned to H’rek. ‘Just two drops in a cup of wine should suffice. Don’t let him h

Lots of information in this chapter. I’m wondering if Jaimee's mother is involved with the dodgy Shepherd Ministries.

Strong opening chapter, intriguing enough to hook the reader. And killing a dog establishes the villains as truly evil!

That's why I put the prompt words at the end, so it wouldn't spoil the surprise.

Well, I woke up with an idea for the prompt that made me laugh and goats are a change from dragons!

It had been a long drive to Shirebrook Farm in steadily worsening weather. When they had left Leicester, the sky was merely grey, but the further north Andrew drove, the more threatening it became. Matt looked up from his phone screen. ‘There’s definitely snow falling across the Peaks now,’ he said. ‘Remind me again why we had to move in the middle of winter?’ ‘We didn’t really have much choice in the matter, what with the second lockdown slowing up the whole process. Anyway, i

Responses to story prompts.

He's a real 'jobsworth'.

Definitely. He's been brought in as an assistant, but he really doesn't have the necessary qualities. You can learn a lot from watching someone make all the mistakes.

She didn't really go into the details very much at all, apart from the fact that the riders are totally caught up in it. Normally, you are just aware of your dragon's presence in your mind; when they mate, you become one with the dragon, experiencing everything that they do.

Very creepy glimpse inside the head of a serial killer. He's obviously been stalking his next victim for a while, to have noticed so much about him. Many people do the same on public transport; cutting themselves off from their surroundings with games, music or chat. It makes you realise how unaware of your surroundings - how potentially vulnerable - that might make you if you catch the eye of someone who means you harm.

T’mudra was throwing things around the barracks again. That had to mean Jassainth was getting proddy. This would be her third time and it always seemed to have the same effect on him. S’brin ducked as a pair of wherhide trousers came his way. ‘Bet you’re glad I don’t get like that,’ he said to D’gar. ‘Where is it?’ T’mudra muttered, throwing more things out of his storage box. ‘Which one of you’s taken my mending kit?’ ‘No one has. It’s over here.’ D’gar picked it up off the floor

Great anecdote about clearing that toilet and keeping Gabe's secret. It looks as if Heinrich has been totally taken in by Rita's act. I still think she's a scam artist. Lovely to see Gus and Rick able to spend some time together. Let’s hope the fishing trip goes as planned.

I've been spending quite a lot of time over the past few weeks making sure I am several chapters ahead of posting. There are now only two more chapters left of 'Gone Away, Gone Ahead' before reaching the end. I have had a few comments asking if there’s going to be a sequel and over the past few days I’ve been seriously considering that. I'm still working on the prequel, 'Threadfall', and estimate there's probably another 20-30,000 words to go on that. If someone had said to me that I would manage to turn out over 200,000 words in under a year I would probably have said, 'no way'. But thanks to lockdown, work drying up and the opportunity I've managed it. By now, I was expecting to be in the middle of moving house, but COVID and the UK stamp duty holiday has meant the property market is crazy at the moment. Both my sale and purchase are currently held up by the local authority search, which I’ve now been told won’t come back until 26th February. I’m not even going to start packing until much nearer the time, so I’ll have another few clear weeks to spend writing. I've just finished a chapter in which I had to write a death scene. There have been quite a lot of deaths so far in 'Threadfall', and I hope it’s not depressing the readers too much, although I try to leaven it with light-hearted moments. I always knew the story would be darker in tone than 'Gone Away, Gone Ahead' and there is worse to come before the end. I know I've managed to get a scene just right if I end up crying while writing it and this one certainly made the keyboard a bit damp. My husband was looking at me as if I was mad and asking what had upset me. 'I've just killed a dragon,' I replied, sniffing. Anyway, regarding that sequel. I didn't actually intend to write another 'Dragonriders of Pern' fan fiction, because I have several original stories I’d like to work on and post. But as people are reading it and enjoying it, then maybe I should? I might take a break for a while before starting (and the move will certainly mean that I need to do that) but those characters are now firmly embedded in my subconscious, to the extent I sometimes dream about them and often find myself writing scenes in my head while out walking or gardening. Plus I have another six Turns to write about in the gap between 'Dragonflight' and ‘Dragonquest'.