About the Author

Welcome, friends, to The Dragonspire! I’m Louise, and I love dragons, Merlin, and dairy-free chocolate. This writing thing? I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember.

When I was 11 my English teacher told me I had a talent for writing. It stuck with me, and in that same year I wrote my first book, ‘Grim Fandango 2,’ based on a puzzle solving video game! I love great stories, whether they be in books, TV, films or games.

I’ve written over 52 short stories, but I’m still trying to master the art of finishing a novel. At the moment I’m working on two first drafts, Dragonspire & Second Chance at Destiny. (links to shiny project pages to follow in 2019, when I stop procrastinating by adding dragons to my profile pic, etc! For now they link to excerpts and posts with project updates.)

Destiny is the story I’m focused on right now. It’s an Arthurian legend/Merlin retelling set after the battle at Camlann. I’ll self publish it, and my other stuff, one day, but for now I’m blogging for fun 🙂

I blog about fantasy stories, magic, dragons, and anything that interests me or influences my writing. Expect fun weekly writing prompts, (I host #sunscribbles on Twitter) short stories, gushing over TV (historical drama, superheroes, anime, and animated films like The Flash, Arrow, Merlin, Psych, Sherlock and Fullmetal Alchemist) and medieval history, with occasional posts on gaming, drawing, photography, cooking, and books I’m reading. I’m also a crazy fangirl and adore fanfiction. (Dedicated TV/Film fandom page to come in 2019!)

Everyone has a favourite film, right? One they put on when they’re feeling down as they snuggle under a blanket fort with hot cocoa? Mine’s ‘How to Train Your Dragon.’ (Just don’t talk to me about Hidden World: It doesn’t exist!). I’ve always loved dragons and have two plush Toothless to keep me company as I write! 

I adore character driven stories. If I love them I love the story. If I don’t, no matter how good the world building or plot is, I’m done, finito, DNF! A strong bunch of characters can drive a narrative, and years later I’m still gushing over the video game Star Ocean 3, despite a crazy plot! 

Speaking of gaming, I’ve been known to devote hours to Japanese RPG’s like Tales of Vesperia. I also like Hearthstone, Borderlands, and 7 Days to Die (open world survival games are awesome!) but the game I’m hyped for is the Final Fantasy VII remake: I loved the original back in 1997 and I’ve wanted a remake for years!

I have a BA in history, with a focus on landscape archaeology (particularly castles!) and medieval history. I adore anything medieval and spent a lot of time daydreaming in lectures and plotting fantasy stories with kings, queens, knights and sword fights. I also spent far too much time researching Arthurian legend, which wasn’t even on the syllabus: A helpful tangent considering my current work in progress! I’m currently studying an MA in Creative Writing part time at Teesside University. It’s awesome 😀

I live in a small town on the east coast of the UK, where it rains nine months out of the year and is foggy the other three. I love spending time at the beach, especially when writing and looking for inspiration, being taken by surprise by great stories, ‘shipping’ couples that aren’t canon, and taking pictures of all the pretty scenery I can find!

I believe the best stories inspire, and my dream is to publish stories just like that. Stick around, be inspired, and by all means feed the dragons. But beware the magic. It’s out of control!

Thanks for visiting 🙂

– Louise