One of the most difficult things about writing is that sometimes you have to kill your darlings. And I’m not talking about characters (this time, anyway). Here you will find some scenes from the Dragon Singer Chronicles that I love but that had to be left on the editing room floor. Most of these scenes had to be cut because the story changed or the characters morphed, so nothing here is canon. But if you’re looking for a little more content with Alísa and Co., or interested in seeing bits and pieces of how the story changed over time, these scenes are ones I deemed worth keeping in my folder even though they would never be published.
The White Scale
Once upon a time, the beginning of Songflight was far longer. Chapter 1 of the published version was chapter 3, and we spent more time with Alísa in Karn’s camp and in the village. Though it was great for world-building, it took forever to actually get to the inciting incident of Alísa’s dragon empathy being discovered. And as I edited new drafts, Alísa’s story and personality changed to make most of those initial two chapters irrelevant.
This is the one scene from those chapters that beta readers actually liked quite a bit but I couldn’t figure out how to make it work in the story anymore. It is set in the village of Azron as Alísa and her friends prepare for the feast at the dragon-killing ceremony. In this version of the story, Alísa has two gal-pals in Karn’s clan—Trísse, who we already know, and Karri, a bubbly blonde empath.
Eldra Veni Appears
In one version of Songflight, chapter 2, after the clan learns of Alísa’s dragon empathy and Kallar and Alísa have their big argument, Alísa accidentally summons an Eldra—Veni, the Eldra of Wisdom. This scene lasted in my draft about three days before I decided that it was WAY too much!! 😆
Despite the cheesiness of the scene, I did like playing with the spiritual world of the book, and it helped me flesh out a few things about how the Eldír work in the published version. I especially liked the idea of Wisdom’s brothers—one representing Science, one Religion, one Culture and The Way Things Are, and one History and Past Experience—and Wisdom himself, who almost exclusively speaks in questions. I hope I get to use them for real sometime…
Meeting Koriana
In the original version of Songflight, when Alísa ran away from her father’s clan to find Graydonn, she actually made it to his mountain home without being waylaid by highwaymen. I decided to go with the version I published instead for three reasons:
I wanted to show the beginnings of Alísa’s powers as she called for aid against the bandits
a few betas felt it was unrealistic for her to make the two-day journey with zero problems on the way and I ended up agreeing
in this version, the other dragons should have figured out that Alísa was a Singer just by her calling up the mountain, yet they didn’t. Hello, plot hole!
Despite its failings, this version still holds a place in my heart for its tension and Koriana’s badassery against her alphas. Enjoy!
A Light In The Darkness
In draft two of Songflight, Koriana and Graydonn were far more hesitant to tell Alísa that she was a Dragon Singer. Wanting to be absolutely sure that Alísa wouldn’t turn on the dragons like Allara did, they waited until she had Illuminated Sesína. As Sesína ate her first meal, Koriana told the story of Bria. Alísa did not take this well, leading to this deleted scene.
In the end, I decided this scene didn’t work with who Koriana is. These were the actions of a manipulator, not the brutally honest dragoness she is. Alísa had already proved herself a friend of dragonkind by the time they all got to the cave in Twi-Peak, so there wasn’t a reason to wait a week for Sesína to hatch and ensure that Alísa would have a bonded dragon before she learned of her Singer status.
You might recognize bits and pieces of the scene from the published scene after Alísa learns Bria’s story, where she decides she wants to end the war rather than win it for either side. I far prefer how it is now, with Alísa coming to her conclusions rather than needing Sesína to guide her to those conclusions. Still, there are certain elements in this version that I quite enjoy, such as tiny Sesína’s ire toward the much larger Graydonn.
Selene In The Cave
In the first version of Stormdance, Selene and Kat came to visit the dragons in their cave at the beginning of the book, right after the dreki’s memorial. I wrote it in order to help reintroduce readers to all of the dragons, as well as introduce Selene’s point-of-view, complete with her synesthesia. However, it ended up taking too much time and space in the book and made for a rather slow beginning, since this happens before the presentation to Me’ran and Yarlan’s opposition to Alísa.
I was able to repurpose certain parts of the chapter in other areas of the book, but there are other conversations in here that I love but wasn’t able to salvage. Enjoy some human-dragon culture clashes and sibling shenanigans!