Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. 

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Kacy Ritter, author of The Great Texas Dragon Race which releases today!

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

Failure was the origin point. Seriously.

After trying my hand at a high fantasy YA novel in a medieval setting, I realized I wasn’t writing to my strengths. (In other words, the book was pretty terrible. So, there’s that.) Instead of clumsily writing an uninventive Eurocentric story, I decided to write a uniquely American fantasy in a uniquely American setting. They say, “Write what you know,” and I thought, “Well, I know dragons, and I know Texas, so why not?” To me, it seemed so possible that modern-day Texas could be filled with dragons—and I bet Texans would care for, ride, and train them just like horses. Everything expanded from that concept.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

My protagonist, Cassidy Drake, and her underdog racing dragon became the driving force during the outlining phase. I imagined Cassidy as a bold, stubborn dragon rider and conservationist, desperate to show her grit. The initial plot idea is stolen straight from a classic Western trope, the “Ranch Story,” in which a family-owned ranch—in this case, a penniless dragon sanctuary—is threatened by a larger corporate ranching operation. Then, I merged the plot with a classic competition narrative. (Because, really, shouldn’t there be more dragon racing stories?) From there, I dropped my ideas into a version of Larry Brook’s Story Engineering Beat Sheet and anchored the beats around specific locations across Texas. 

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Absofreakinglutely. While the basic plot of The Great Texas Dragon Race was firmly set, the relationships between its cast of characters shifted as I put words on paper. In time, those characters developed arcs which couldn’t be ignored. The entire writing process really is an exercise in how to “kill your darlings.” Originally, I actually wrote (and queried!) this book as a YA novel. But something clicked when my agent, Adriann Ranta Zurhellen, suggested I rewrite it as a middle grade story. Apparently, I was an MG author in disguise! My editor at Clarion/HarperCollins, Emilia Rhodes, also had critical insight into how I could clarify the overall plot and vision. I’m so grateful for everything these fantastic women did to nurture Cassidy’s story.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

My work, at least for now, is very centered around the weird world of Texas. Texas has so much fodder for the imagination because it is so vast and varied. Whenever I’m traveling around the state, I get inspired by everything: from the old, dilapidated BBQ sign in a lonely town to the weird, campy keychain at a gas station. It’s so easy to develop fantastical ideas based on Texas’s strange nuances. Whether or not the idea is a good one… Well, that’s another story.

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

I LOVE cooking up plots and characters, but I tend to get pretty obsessive once I get “into” a specific idea. Worldbuilding is my childhood pastime, and while I can multitask if I have to, I prefer to be deeply invested in one “world” at a time. For new stories, I will always gravitate toward whichever idea I just can’t get out of my head.

I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

As I write this, a very attentive rescue cat named Joe Biden is hovering over my keyboard while my rescue pup, Nandor the Relentless, looks on longingly. My second rescue cat, Dracarys “Cinder” Soot, finds humans mildly interesting as best, but I still have her fur sticking out of my keyboard. Most of the time, I find the trio pretty distracting, but I don’t really have a choice as I am their designated domestic servant. While I wish I had a rescue dragon to complete the crew, I fear that would make writing even more difficult.

Kacy Ritter is a behavioral health professional by day and MG fantasy writer by night. She is also a member of SCBWI Houston. In between writing and meetings, she imagines taking off on a Texas BBQ and taco tour with her rescue dog and cats. Kacy holds degrees from the University of Texas and the University of North Texas.