Quickwrite Story Starters: "They Called me Dr.Snail and..."

 
"They called me Dr.Snail and..." "Snail," Interrupted Herring, picking bits of fish out of his teeth with one claw. "Firstly, you've never been called Dr.Snail, you've just been called Snail your whole life. Secondly," Herring started, jumping up off of the stone chair he was sitting on to his feet. "You don't even know how to bandage someone up with seaweed when they get wounded!" Herring had raised his voice higher than he intended, shyly sitting back down. "Herring, I meant it as a joke." Snail placed one talon to his forehead, making a why-can't-you-take-jokes impresion to Herring. "I know it was a joke," said Herring as he slumped into his chair, rough stone and shells stabbing at his camo-green scales. "It's just that - umm - being on patrol during the - umm - night is - uhhh... boring?" Snail slapped his hand against his face and peered through his claws, frowning at Herring. "That... Is a completely different subject!" Snail slammed his fist on the table. "I wish I wasn't on night guard duty with you!" "Hmmph," snorted Herring. "And I-" Suddenly, a deep blue Seawing crashed into their post, baring her teeth and snarling at the two guards. 

"Give me the key," said the Seawing, holding out her hand as if expecting the 'key' to appear in her palm. "T-t-the missing p-princess," spattered Snail. His eyes widened, making them look like two, miniature, full moons. "Yes, yes. I'm the missing princes, blah blah blah. Just give me the key and I will leave you unharmed." "What key," asked Herring, tilting his head to the side. "You know what I mean," spat Princess Tsunami, crinkling her snout as if someone had killed a fish three years ago, left it to rot, and dropped it right in front of Tsunami's face. "The key that unlocks the chain around Clay's - the Mudwings - Leg." Snail and Herring exchanged glances. "Spit it out you slimy worms!" Herring gulped, his eyes widening to match Snail's. "We have our orders," yelled Snail as he slapped his hands on the stone table, yelping when a sharp shell cut his palm. The princess sighed, calming herself down to finally speak in a kinder way. "Look, I know you have your orders from Shark but your just going to have to trust me." She placed one taloned hand on her chest, smiling. "That Mudwing is not some old regular Mudwing, he is from the prophecy, he is my friend. Without him we, The Dragonets of Destiny, will fall apart and the prophecy will never be fulfilled. Imagine the stories of  the two squid brains who let the Mudwing drown! So - just - give me the key."

The two Seawing guards were frozen for a minute, (that felt like several), then started whispering to each other. Herring and Snail turned around to face the female Seawing. The acidic-green Seawing turned his head to face Snail and bit his lip. Snail snarled at Herring and nudged him forwards towards Tsunami. He glanced at Snail, then at Tsunami, bit his lip harder - drawing blood, hesitated for a moment then finally held out his closed fist. As he slowly opened his talons, a ring of keys appeared in his palm. The keys glittered in Tsunami's eyes, some bronze some silver, some very rusted and falling to pieces, and one a beautiful gold; like Sunny's scales. Herring pointed at the golden one, the keys jingling as he lifted his pointing hand out from under the shiny objects. Tsunami held out her hand and winced as the keys hit her scales. They were colder than she expected. "Thank you," she said, holding the keys to her chest. Tsunami turned around, spread her wings - revealing her royal patterns around the edges of her skin, and dove out of the cave. "Well," said Snail after a few minutes. "That went well." "Well?!" Herring stamped his foot. "Queen Coral is going to kill us when she finds out we let the Mudwing go!" "Herring," Snail shouted, grabbing Herring shoulders. "Shark was the one who gave us orders and besides, that was the queen's daughter. If anything she would reward us." "Oh yeah," said Herring, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Tsunami!" Sunny ran over and gave the princess a hug. "You got it! You got the key!" "Yes I did, Sunny," Tsunami replied, smiling. "Wow," joked Riptide, water splashing around his webbed talons as he approached Tsunami. "I doubted that you would get the keys for a minute." "Hmph," grumbled Tsunami, half laughing. "Urrm," started Clay, interrupting Tsunami's grumpy-laugh. "Can you guys get this chain of me?" Clay gestured to the metal band around his back leg. "Oh, right. Sorry Clay," said Tsunami as she fiddled with the keys. There were around 35 keys on the ring and only one was gold - the gold key to unlock Clay's chains. The darkness of the cave didn't help with finding it either. After a few minutes of searching for keys and sticking them in the keyhole, Tsunami - with help from Riptide - finally found the gold key. "This one!" Tsunami grabben the key ring and grabbed the golden one. She stuck it in Clays keyhole and turned it right,causing the lock to make a clicking noise. The metal band creaked then popped of the Mudwing leg, clanking on the stone floor.

Quickwrite Story Starters: Turtle Knew This Was a Bad Idea

 Turtle Knew This Was a Bad Idea. Following an 2000 year old Nightwing animus that can read minds and forecast the future just to keep an eye on his sister and to maybe save the world. Turtle always imagined saving the world from evil villains and being a hero. He imagined being the hero in his mother's stories, fighting of bad-guys and protecting the Seawing Summer and Deep Palace, but that never happened. Now he was leaving Jade Mountain, for the second time, and heading towards the rainforest. He clutched his sack around his neck tightly - the sack that contained his animus touched objects including his stick that hid him from Darkstalker. Darkstalker's enormous, black, star splattered wings created wingbeats as loud as 50 blue whales snoring at the same time; which is very deafening. While Turtle was cautiously following the Nightwing at his own risk, Anemone was zipping and zapping - somersaulting and backflipping along side Darkstalker. It was obvious to see that she was showing off. Turtle nearly chuckled. The green Seawing prince had not flown so much in ages, causing him to have to use his animus touched stone on his sore wing muscles multiple times. 

After three tiring, sore and extremely boring days of flying over grassy plains, Darkstalker had finally came to a stop midair. The huge Nightwing suddenly plummeted down into the thick canopy of leaves of the rainforest along with Anemone and the Nightwings from Jade Mountain Academy, leaving a huge hole in the leafy cover. Turtle followed them, diving down and down deeper into the beautiful scenery of the rainforest. Around him, there were leaves of all shades of green glistening in the sun, hundreds and thousands of brilliantly coloured flowers swarmed the greenery of the rainforest. Down below, around 84 Nightwings were all huddled together in a empty section of the rainforest, ruining the beautiful colour scheme of the beautiful scene with a giant, black blob. On a thick branch, overlooking the Nightwing pile, was Queen Glory of the Rainwing and Nightwings. Her scales were a bright pink with dark purple dots, her underbelly was splotched with an outstanding yellow over vivid pink. Upon Glory's head was a perfectly woven sky-blue flower crown, hand crafted by the queen herself. She gave a friendly wave at Turtle but before he could wave back, Darkstalker settled down besides Glory blocking Turtle from the queens view. 

"Ahh," said Darkstalker after a long, awkward silence. "Don't you just love the smell of the rainforest?" "Uhh," started Moon. "Have you ever actually been in the rainforest?" "Nope," Darkstalker replied, ripping apart a leaf he yanked off the tree above him. Below Darkstalker, the Nightwings started to panic and shudder at the sight of the 2000 year old dragon. Turtle flapped down onto a branch opposite to Darkstalker and sat on in, the first rest he had has in days. It snapped. Turtle started flapping franticly as he fell, barley catching himself before he collided with the ground. Moon barely held in her chuckle while Anemone burst out laughing, nearly falling off the branch she was on. "What's so funny," asked Darkstalker, turning his head to face Anemone. "Was it the branch that randomly snapped?" "No it was Tur-." "Anyways," Darkstalker interrupted, waving one talon at Anemone. "Hello, fellow Nightwings. I am Darkstalker, nice to meet you." Darkstalker held out his hand as if someone was going to shake it. 5 of the Nightwings fainted. Darkstalker frowned, mumbling something under his breath. To Turtle, it sounded something like 'What a great start to waking over my hive'. Turtle thought he probably misheard him. "Nightwings, Nightwings," said Darkstalker, slowly closing his eyes then opening them after he finished his sentence. "There is no need to be afraid of me, I've changed. All the rumours you've heard of me are false." He put one hand to his chest. "Trust me." Another Nightwing fainted.

Quickwrite - Story Starters: Have you ever...

 "Have you ever hugged a dragon with fire scales?" "Uhh, yes," replied Clay, confused. "Why?" "I'm trying to figure out something that none of you have done," explained Qibli, gesturing with his talons towards the dragonets of Destiny and the rest of his winglet. "Ooo! That sounds fun!" Kinkajou started clapping her hands together. "Ok. Umm," started Qibli, scratching his head with one claw. "Has anyone killed their own father?" After saying this, Qibli thought that he had already won. "Yup," said Tsunami. "Wow. When you said that it came out waaay too happy sounding," joked Qibli, hiding his smirk. "Get on with the round already," grumped Winter, raising his voice higher then he intended. "Ok, ok," muttered Qibli, clapping his talons together. "Well, umm... Has anyone accidentally summoned a absolutely humongous, mind reading, future telling, animus Nightwing that was totally kinda evil?" "Oh you just had to," said Peril, rolling her eyes.

Everyone except Winter and Peril started laughing. Peril sighed, watching the rock in her palm steam and smoke. "Alright," Qibli started. "Has anyone-" "STOP! That's enough," Winter shouted, slamming his fist onto the floor. "I think it's my turn to do one." He looked around the room at his winglet and the Dragonets of Destiny, his tall, thin ice spikes on his neck clanking against each other. "Has anyone been sold by their own mother?" "I have," said Clay, jumping up. "Winter-" Qibli choked. "Has anyone been unloved for their whole dragonet-hood?" Winter please-" Qibli drooped down onto the floor at Winter's talons. "Has anyone-" "STOP! Please stop," sobbed
Sunny. "Winter, stop being so horrible!" Winter snorted, clear ice shards puffing out of his nose.

Kinkajou stared blankly at the dragons surrounding her. "Okaaaay... Anyways, can I do one?" Kinkajou started jumping like crazy. "I think she should have a turn too," agreed Turtle, pointing at Kinkajou. "YAY!!" She stopped jumping off the walls, stopped at Turtle's talons and started panting while still smiling. "Ummm... " Kinkajou started curling her tail around one claw. "I got one! I got one," she shouted, jumping up and down again. "Spit it out then, " spat Tsunami. "It is- it was- I forgot." Kinkajou started waving her hands around franticly. Tsunami sighed and Winter frowned towards the brightly coloured Rainwing dragonet. The dragons started to head towards the exit murmuring to each other. "WAIT!!" Kinkajou yelled as loud as she could which surprised most of the dragons, stopping them in their tracks. "I've got it! Has anyone kissed another dragon?" "Ewwwwww," said all of the dragons at once, Turtle and Qibli laughing at each other as they pretend to throw up. Winter shot a this-is-why-you-don't-let-her-do-stuff glare at Turtle.

Quickwrite - Story Starters: There was Smoke Everywhere...

 There was smoke everywhere. Tsunami mightn't of been at the Seawing Summer Palace for long, but she knows somethings up. The smell of ash woffed in the dragonets faces as they exited the prisons, although Tsunami thought she saw something red flash by above the canopy... "Seawings! Mother! Look out, we're under attack!!" Suddenly, a flaming log shot through the roof, causing the leaves to burst into flames. As the leaves burnt away, Skywings became visible. The flame-coloured dragons shot into the Summer Palace, blasting fire-balls at any dragon who interferes.

"W-what's happening," squeaked Sunny, curling into a small ball on the smooth, rock floor. "We're under attack by Skywings, duhh." "Glory," sighed Tsunami. "Now is NOT the time to be sarcastic." Shark and six other Seawing soldiers darted up towards the Skywings, holding spears in one hand and letting the other shake with fear. Seawings pushed and shoved each other around to escape the commotion through the entrance, underwater. "We can't escape," cried a seaweed-green dragon with a sobbing new-born dragonet in her grasp. "There are too many of us trying to get out at once!" As the fire finished off the canopy, it started to lick at the stone walls. "How are we going to get out," asked Clay. "I know a way," Tsunami replied, hiding her fear. "The underwater exit is swarmed with too many dragons though," spat Glory, thinking she outsmarted Tsunami for once. "No, another way." "What do you mean, Tsunami," questioned Sunny. "We have to," started Tsunami. "We have to go through the Skywings."

"WE CAN'T GO THROUGH THE SKYWINGS," panicked Starflight. "THEY'LL KILL US!" "Not unless we dash past them!" "Tsunami," sighed Glory. "Your crazy."Tsunami suddenly grabbed Starflights arm. "C'mon Starflight, you and me." "WHA-" Tsunami had already shot into the sky with Starflight screaming behind her. "Rrrr," growled Glory as she flew up to catch up to Tsunami. Soon, Sunny, Clay, Glory, Webs, Tsunami and Starflight were flying through waves of Skywings, red and orange claws slashing at them. "Your not getting away that easily," called Blister grinning. Suddenly, princess Blister yanked Webs from out of the sky and thrust her barbed tail towards him. Fortunately, she missed his heart and instead, stabbed his swamp green tail. "Arrggh," screeched Webs, flying as fast as his wings could take him, puffing heavily. "Webs!" Sunny shot out of the sky to help her old guardian. Just as Sunny helped Webs catch up to the others, Tsunami dove out of the sky, like a spear slicing the sky apart, and pinned Blister to the ground. She slashed at the Sandwing's under-belly and then flew back towards the others, hoping Blister's barbed tail wouldn't come near her scales. As the sun set and the three moons rose, the six dragons flew for miles, hoping to find land to rest for the night.

Quickwrite - Story Starters: A-ha! Sunny Finally Found What she had been Looking for

 A-ha! Sunny finally found what she had been looking for. A bright green cactus stood right in front of her, its black spikes reflecting the sunlight. After visiting Blaze of the Sandwings near the Ice kingdom, the Dragonets of Destiny (including Sunny) had been trying to sought out a cactus to bring back to their - used to be - guardian, for he had been stabbed by princess Blister at the Seawing summer palace. Sunny had asked Blaze how to cure Sandwing venom, Blaze was confused about this because Sunny didn't even have a poisonous barbed tail like most Sandwings but she still answered with cactus juice. Sunny started to tug on the cactus, the sharp spikes stabbing at her hands like dragon talons.

"Don't try and bring the whole cactus, just snap one of those arm-thingies off," chuckled Tsunami, pointing at the small cactus growing off the big one. "That's what I'm - ouch, trying to do," Sunny replied, starting to cut the arm off with one of her claws, turning green-y from the cactus juice spurting out of the wound. The cactus finally broke off and the force caused Sunny to fall onto her back, leaving a little pit in the sand. She placed the cactus down and climbed to her feet, brushing sand off of her wings. Tsunami picked up the cactus stub in her talons, wincing as it pricked her palms. "Oh my goodness," shrieked Starflight. "We're trapped! Trapped in the Kingdom of Sand! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!" Starflight pathetically flapped around like a seagull with its head bitten off, flinging sand in all directions.

"Shut up," Glory chuckled, grabbing a handful of sand and throwing it at the chickened-out Nightwing. It hit him on the chest, sand getting stuck between his black scales making him look like a night sky. "Don't worry," called Clay. "The tunnel is still here, it's just covered in sand." "Oh yeah," said Sunny. "I can still see the cactus ring circling the exit." Clay started to dig and sure enough, the tunnel came into sight, Its mouth yawning in front of them. Starflight sighed in relief as Sunny nudged him, a smile spreading across his face. As they started into the dark tunnel, the warmth of the desert faded and the cold rainforest air surrounded them. Sunny stepped onto the damp, rainforest floor mud squelching between her talons. She missed the desert already. "Did you see that in the distance," asked Glory, pointing back at the tunnel."See what,"replied Starflight, scratching his head with one claw. "I saw it." "Me too Clay," said Sunny smiling. "I think." Clay chuckled. "I think," started Glory. "That it was Burn's stronghold...

Quickwrite Story starters - Clay Didn't Mean for it to Happen...

Clay didn't mean for it to happen. He didn't even know how it happened. Just a minute ago, he was on top of Fjord, pinning him to the ground, then all of a sudden, Fjord was on top of him, tightening his grip around Clay's throat. It all happened so quickly, Clay was startled then out of nowhere, small, black blobs of liquid splattered over Fjord's face, eye and wing. The light, sky-blue Icewing blinked in confusion, wiping the inky, black blobs off his face. Suddenly, Fjord let out an ear-piercing cry, Clay covered his face and closed his eyes, preparing for Fjord to blast him with his frost breath.

Fjord stumbled back, still screaming, covering his face with his talons. His spiked tail thrashed furiously, like it had a mind of its own. Clay had to leap out of the way of Fjords body, crashing to the ground. Clay still had his hands covering his face, just daring to peek through his claws. Fjord had dark-blue patches of sizzling scales and flesh along his arm, wing and face, exactly where the liquid had hit, still bubbling. Clay thought he was going to be sick. The Icewing was dead, the crowd was laughing and Clay hadn't a clue where the venom came from. For all he knew is that he didn't have venom in his claws. He didn't want to harm Fjord, although he most certainly did. 

Reading Questions - Wings of Fire: Winter Turning

 Wings of Fire: Winter Turning

Tui.T.Sutherland

Discussing  my Personal choice of book with others

Why did you choose this book? 

Ever since I was five, I have been obsessed with dragons; collecting them, drawing them and trying to read about them. It was very rare for me to find books about dragons but after being introduced to this book series, I can’t stop reading Tui’s books.

If you were a character, what would you have done differently in a situation in the story?

If I were Winter, I wouldn't of been as grumpy and grouchy because his Winglet decided to help him save Hailstorm and stop Icicle from harming Queen Glory.  

Where is the book set?

‘Winter Turning’ is set in many different biomes around Pyrrhia including the rainforest and the destroyed Nightwing island.

If the book was a tv show, what actors would you cast?

If Wings of Fire became a major movie, it is most likely to be animated so it depends on their voices which, to be honest, I don’t know a lot of names of voice actors.

Think about structure & language features

If the main character lived next door, would you be friends?

Definitely, but he is a dragon, I’m a human. He is around 10 times bigger than me but luckily, he is a dragon who would rather keep me as a pet so, more like keeping each other as pets rather than friends.

What does the place look like in your head as you read? Would you like to visit there?

I always imagine Pyrrhia as a beautiful dragon-shaped island, the rainforest (or Rainkingdom) as a huge, green forest with multiple multi-coloured flowers but muddy and damp around the forest floor. The  Rainwings would sleep and rest in hammocks made of strong leaves and live in rounded treehouses, made of leaves, amongst the trees.

Why do you think the author wrote this book?

Tui.T.Sutherland is fascinated with mythical beasts of all kinds so after writing the book ‘The Dragonet Prophecy’, the book took flight so she has written over 15 books for the series ‘Wings of Fire’.

What new words or facts did you learn?

Heaps! Well, only 1 or 2 because most of them I haven’t a clue what they mean. I have learnt what impervious means though, I have used it in my writing twice!

Quick-Write; Story Starter: Starflight picked up the clue...

  If you were wondering why the title was so long or the "Starflight picked up the clue" part, here is a little exclamation about what I'm doing. We got to choose a story starter to write a quick story, so I chose the story starter, "Starflight picked up the clue". We got to choose what the story was about so mine was 100% about dragons again for the 3rd time.  Here is my quick-ish story down below, I hope you like it. 

Starflight picked up the clue, well, scent really. "Can you smell something? It looks like you can," Glory said, making faces to try and keep her voice calm. "Yes, yes I can. Something... decaying." Mangrove turned a pale green, representing fear. "I'm sure it's not Orchid," Glory explained in a soothing, calm way. Glory whispered, "right Starflight?" "I can't tell." Glory turned a pale red and stamped on Starflight's tail, as black as night, with her front talon. "Ouch! I said I couldn't tell!" Glory gave him a "are you serious" look. "so, uhh, Mangrove, me and Starflight will, ummmmmmm... go and see what has died," Glory added quickly. "Yeah, you wait here. ok?" Mangrove thought for a moment - a loooong moment then finally nodded his head in agreement. "Ok, don't be long. Tell me if you see Orchid!" Mangrove called after them. Glory and Starflight had already started to follow the scent towards a small lake with a waterfall crashing behind it, sending sprays of water towards the two dragons. As they got closer and closer, the smell got worse and worse.

"Ahhh!" Starflight screeched in shock of standing on something squishy. "W-w-what is it?" replied Glory; turning her scales back to their original colour instead of pale green. "Oh, it is just a sloth, you are a silly little black dragon," chuckled Glory. Starflight shot a frown in her direction. "I am NOT little, I am exactly 13 talons and 42 inches," corrected Starflight in his "know it all" voice. Glory rolled her eyes. "Aaaaaanyways, lets focus on the dead sloth instead of how short you are. Starflight snorted a plume of smoke out of his snout in half-agrement. "Look at it's leg," started Glory, "it has a wound spewing with greeny-goey, pussy stuff," she pointed out. Starflight thought he was going to be sick, his face turning a slight green.

"What do you think killed it?" Asked Glory. "I don't know of any wing that has venom besides Rainwings, besides, Rainwing venom bubbles and sizzles when it comes in contact with a living object," assumed Starflight. Glory hadn't listened to half of Starflights exclamation; she had been focused on a strange boulder. "Hey Starflight, look at that boulder over there. It just doesn't feel... right," said Glory, studying the strange rock. Starflight gave her a confused look. "It looks fine to me," disagreed Starflight. "I'm just going to go check it out,ok?" "Ok. Call me if it is interesting which I highly doubt!" called Starflight. Glory started to creep over towards the boulder, keeping an eye out for suspicious dragons lurking around. *Gasp!* "STARFLIGHT! Quick, come over here!" yelled Glory. Starflight's heart leaped out of his chest. He came running towards Glory at full speed, which is unusual for Starflight, knocking leaves aside. "Look," called Glory, pointing at the rock. Starflight gazed into the rock, Glory was right. In the boulder was a deep, dark tunnel with purple and blue vines leaking out of it. It was horrible, like someone had ripped a hole in the earth. "I know what this is,' started Starflight. "It was created by an animus dragon, an animus besides Anemone.  

Quick-Write; Sentence Starter: Today Was Just an Ordinary Day...

 If you were wondering why the title was so long or the "today was just an ordinary day" part, here is a little exclamation about what I'm doing. We had to write a quick story starting with the sentence starter "today was just an ordinary day". We got to choose what the story was about but we had only 30 minutes to write it.  Here is my quick story down below, (P.S, it is not finished). 

Today was just an ordinary day. Two twin Sandwing dragonets were rolling around in the desert sand, their scales glistening in the sunlight. They were clawing and kicking at each other, fighting over who got to eat the last scavenger in the Kingdom of Sand. The tall one Mirage, was the one who started the fight as he was the dragon who caught it in the first place. His twin Cactus, had tried to attack a scavenger den once, losing his barbed tail in the progress. "Ouch!" Cried Cactus, "just because my name is Cactus, doesn't mean I'm immune to them!" Cactus got up, rubbing his underbelly and picking out thorns. "I'll do it again if you don't give me my prey." Replied Mirage with a grin on his face. "Grrrr. Oh alright" said Cactus, handing over the scavenger. Mirage snached it out of Cactus's talons and ate it in one bite, sending bits of slobber out of his jaw. Just as Cactus was walking away, Mirage bumped into him, knocking him back into the cactus.

Cactus was sure he did that on purpose, he was going to tell mother. First he was going to push Mirage into a cactus, then he will know how it felt. As Cactus approached the heavily guarded doors to the kingdom, he hadn't spotted Mirage. Maybe he is hiding, he thought to himself. He scanned the kingdom for Mirage, failing to find him. As he was searching for his twin, 3 Skywing solder's, a crimson one, a bright red one and a orange one, were watching him, holding Mirage prisoner, knocked out in their grasp. "Okay Mirage," called Cactus. " I give up. you can come out now!" He hoped Mirage would listen. Suddenly, an orange Skywing pounced out of his hiding place, grabbing Cactus in his talons. "Help!" Cactus shrieked, clawing and biting the skywing. "Someone hel-!" The solder had smacked Cactus hard in the back of the head, knocking him out along with Mirage.

As he gained consciousness, he felt cold wind blowing up against his back. As he slowly opened his eyes he saw Mirage on the opposite pillar to him. The wind, pillars and lack of sand suddenly told him where he had arrived, he was in the Kingdom of Sky...