My Journey from Adult Novels to Young Adult Fiction: Inspired by a 3D-Printed Dragon Egg

It started with one 3D-printed red dragon egg. I needed a prop to help me visualize something in the story — a small object that would carry a lot of weight in the plot — and someone in my family printed one. It sat on my desk, and I looked at it while I wrote, and it helped.

That was a while ago. The situation has since escalated.

We now have 3D-printed dragon eggs in multiple colors, 3D-printed dragons in various sizes, and an assortment of dragon-adjacent objects that have migrated from my desk to the shelves to the windowsills to places I don't entirely remember putting them. The printer has not slowed down. If anything, it has opinions about what the universe needs next, and we are all just living in it.

Jax, my Chihuahua, has also developed opinions. Specifically, he has decided that small dragon eggs are his and will remove them from wherever they are sitting and relocate them to wherever he feels they belong. I have found dragon eggs under the couch. Behind the dog bed. Once in his food bowl, which I choose not to analyze too deeply.

This is what it looks like when a story takes over a house.

It started because I needed something my grandchildren could read. My adult series is not for them — not yet, not for a few years — and I wanted to write something we could share. The red dragon egg was already in the story, set in the distant past, carried by a little girl. It felt right to let that little girl have her own book. My oldest grandchild got so involved in building that story that I genuinely have to credit them for parts of it. Their imagination went places mine wouldn't have gone on its own.

My youngest granddaughter cannot wait to hold the physical book in her hands. The others are almost as excited — they're just not quite ready to show it yet. That might be the best review I've ever gotten.

So now we have a young adult series, a house full of dragons, a Chihuahua with a collection, and a family that is more invested in this fictional universe than I ever expected when I sat down to write the first book.

Not a bad outcome for one small red egg. 🐉