The trick to writing a story

The trick, I sometimes think, to writing a story is not necessarily just to get it written down. Stories can pour forth in voluminous quantities, especially when they find their source in deep places. The sheer onslaught becomes a torrent, unstoppable in its force, and prone to setting its own course.

Note to self: dragons*

"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him."

 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937) 

Smaug, by Eric Fraser

* Actually, make that reptiles, generally. Reptiles that slither close and hiss softly but do not blink, and those that skulk quietly in the long grass. And the ones that spit venom. Especially those.  But not tortoises. Tortoises are usually wise rather than cunning.