1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,520
Speaker 1: Hello and good morning, Tracy. How are you doing today?

2
00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:05,759
Speaker 2: Hello and good morning Errol. I'm doing great. Thank you,

3
00:00:05,879 --> 00:00:07,320
it's nice to meet you. Oh.

4
00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:09,599
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, man, with the reality of life

5
00:00:09,679 --> 00:00:11,560
right now, I need a dragon master because we've got

6
00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,000
the remnants of a hurricane, Debbie moving through our system

7
00:00:14,039 --> 00:00:15,880
right now, and it's like, I need me a dragon

8
00:00:15,919 --> 00:00:17,399
master to get me out of this storm.

9
00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,600
Speaker 2: Oh you sure do. Oh my goodness, hope you're safe.

10
00:00:21,679 --> 00:00:24,600
That's a little bit scary, Debbie. Something.

11
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,640
Speaker 1: I love the fact that you were connected to young

12
00:00:28,679 --> 00:00:31,519
adult readers, and the reason why is because I need

13
00:00:31,559 --> 00:00:34,000
them to be great writers of tomorrow and they need

14
00:00:34,039 --> 00:00:36,920
people like yourself, Tracy, to kind of put that path

15
00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:39,679
in play. Because we all grew up with an author

16
00:00:39,719 --> 00:00:42,159
that we were inspired by, and that's how we became

17
00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:43,920
writers ourselves exactly.

18
00:00:44,119 --> 00:00:47,439
Speaker 2: And in my case, it wasn't just the author that

19
00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:52,240
I read who inspired me. But in second grade, my teacher,

20
00:00:52,359 --> 00:00:57,840
my wonderful teacher, Missus Lukowski, she invited Leonard Tessler, who's

21
00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:00,719
a great author, to come to the class. He wrote

22
00:01:00,759 --> 00:01:03,479
a book called Mister Pine's Purple House, and my eight

23
00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,799
year old self something clicked because here was a human

24
00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:09,920
being who was an author. An author wasn't just a

25
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,239
name on a page, right, And it really cemented the

26
00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,000
idea for me that that was something I could aspire

27
00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:18,599
to be, that I could take my love of reading

28
00:01:18,599 --> 00:01:22,719
and writing and possibly become an author today. And so

29
00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:25,760
I think about that day in my second grade class

30
00:01:25,799 --> 00:01:26,519
room quite a lot.

31
00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,560
Speaker 1: Well, second grade was the same year that I my teacher,

32
00:01:29,599 --> 00:01:32,079
missus Keith. She knew that I wanted to do things,

33
00:01:32,079 --> 00:01:34,959
and she gave me subjects to write about. And instead of,

34
00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:36,959
you know, doing different things like the other students were doing,

35
00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:38,760
she said, I need you to write. You just write.

36
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,120
That's that's your going to be your strength, be a writer.

37
00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,719
Speaker 2: Oh isn't that wonderful? Like how amazing for you to

38
00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,560
have a teacher who recognized that in you and encouraged you.

39
00:01:49,719 --> 00:01:50,760
That's fantastic.

40
00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:53,920
Speaker 1: Now when you have a book like this one, you know,

41
00:01:53,959 --> 00:01:57,120
and you know Rise of the Dragon Master, what's so

42
00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:59,840
inspiring is that you see these pictures inside your head

43
00:02:00,159 --> 00:02:03,239
long before we receive them. What's going on inside that

44
00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:05,439
ahead of yours?

45
00:02:05,719 --> 00:02:08,240
Speaker 2: Well, let me take you back to the beginning. So

46
00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:10,759
the very first book in the series is called Rise

47
00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:14,360
of the Earth Dragon. There are currently twenty six books

48
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,360
in the series, and a new guide to all of

49
00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:23,120
those twenty six books is out today. And so the

50
00:02:23,159 --> 00:02:28,000
idea behind Dragon Masters is that it's serious fantasy for

51
00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:33,960
emergent readers. These are readers who are just discovering chapter books,

52
00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,840
and historically that's when a lot of kids get discouraged

53
00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,479
because they're going from books with a lot of pictures

54
00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,199
and very little texts to books with no pictures and

55
00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:49,039
a lot of texts. And so the Scholastic Branches series

56
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:56,000
for emergent readers has art on every page, shorts, captures

57
00:02:56,039 --> 00:02:58,639
that move quickly, a lot of action. And so I

58
00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:02,840
was brought in a little over ten years ago and said,

59
00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,280
all right, so and you come up with a serious

60
00:03:06,319 --> 00:03:13,120
fantasy idea about dragons. And the answer was yes, please

61
00:03:13,439 --> 00:03:17,080
lets me dry because I've always been fascinated with magical

62
00:03:17,199 --> 00:03:21,400
creatures and so for me, the process began with researching

63
00:03:21,479 --> 00:03:25,639
different types of dragons from all around the world and

64
00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,199
figuring out how could I create a story not just

65
00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,719
about traditional fire breathing dragons, but maybe a dragon who

66
00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,360
lives deep in the earth and can't breathe fire, and

67
00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,759
maybe a very peaceful water dragon. You know, how can

68
00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:43,680
I bring these kinds of dragons? And that turned into

69
00:03:43,919 --> 00:03:47,479
a series where in every book we meet a different

70
00:03:47,879 --> 00:03:51,800
dragon and a new dragon master. And a dragonmaster is

71
00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,000
an eight year old kid who's been chosen by a

72
00:03:54,039 --> 00:03:59,319
magical stone to connect with the dragon. And so, you know,

73
00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,719
every time I down to write, it's a new challenge

74
00:04:01,719 --> 00:04:04,719
for my imagination. I usually start by coming up with

75
00:04:04,759 --> 00:04:07,960
a new dragon and figuring out what's the most exciting,

76
00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,719
fun story I can tell about this creature.

77
00:04:12,199 --> 00:04:14,400
Speaker 1: See, that's inspiring me. I mean, this is just the

78
00:04:14,439 --> 00:04:17,240
fact that you toy around with dragons, because I mean

79
00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,040
even in my adult life, I mean it's like I

80
00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:21,959
believe in them. I know they exist, They're watching me

81
00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:26,160
all the time, and you're proving it true.

82
00:04:26,879 --> 00:04:28,759
Speaker 2: Thank you. I mean, I do meet a lot of

83
00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:32,759
people of all ages who are fascinated by dragons and

84
00:04:32,879 --> 00:04:37,319
definitely believe in dragons. And I think tapping into dragon

85
00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:42,439
energy makes people feel powerful, right, It makes people feel

86
00:04:42,519 --> 00:04:44,480
like they can do anything, and so I think that's

87
00:04:44,519 --> 00:04:46,639
a great type of energy to tap into.

88
00:04:47,519 --> 00:04:49,439
Speaker 1: Now, being a martial artist, that we always learned that

89
00:04:49,439 --> 00:04:52,720
Bruce Lee said, never let anybody see your studies, because

90
00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:54,839
then all of a sudden you now have an enemy.

91
00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,399
So in this book you talk about the dragon master

92
00:04:57,519 --> 00:05:02,040
and what's needed, what's required. Bruce Lye, what would he

93
00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:04,000
say about this, because we're going to learn how to

94
00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:05,279
become a dragon master.

95
00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,160
Speaker 2: Oh well, it's not a real thing secret and it's

96
00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:13,319
something anyone can aspire to. Basically, you have to be

97
00:05:13,439 --> 00:05:19,079
chosen by the magical dragon stone, and a dragon stone

98
00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,079
will read your heart to see if you have the

99
00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,720
heart of a dragon master. And what that means is

100
00:05:24,759 --> 00:05:29,040
that you have three very basic qualities. The first is kindness,

101
00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:34,160
the second is curiosity because dragon masters need to be

102
00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:37,279
curious about people around them and the world around them.

103
00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,759
And the third is the ability to work on a team.

104
00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,800
And if you have those three qualities, you can have

105
00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:46,720
all kinds of other qualities. You can be silly, you

106
00:05:46,759 --> 00:05:50,000
can be impatient, you can be grumpy, you can be goofy,

107
00:05:50,079 --> 00:05:53,240
but you can still be you can still be a dragonmaster.

108
00:05:53,759 --> 00:05:55,800
Speaker 1: Wow. I mean you cover all the things that a

109
00:05:55,879 --> 00:05:58,519
child or a young adult needs to understand in real life.

110
00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:00,519
I mean you bring the honest see, but you're doing

111
00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:02,160
it in a way that shares it through a story.

112
00:06:02,759 --> 00:06:05,920
Speaker 2: I have to say I didn't necessarily start out to

113
00:06:06,079 --> 00:06:11,800
do that, but it's the result of the story crafting.

114
00:06:12,319 --> 00:06:16,519
My main characters are kids. They're thrown into situations where

115
00:06:16,519 --> 00:06:19,439
they have to solve problems right, and in the end

116
00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,600
of the book, we want them to succeed. So in

117
00:06:22,759 --> 00:06:27,160
order to succeed, you have to model certain behaviors right.

118
00:06:27,199 --> 00:06:30,199
You have to overcome your fears. You have to maybe

119
00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:33,800
learn that it's okay to fail and you can try again.

120
00:06:34,319 --> 00:06:37,240
You have to learn how to exchange ideas with other people.

121
00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:39,920
So all of those ideas just sort of came up

122
00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:44,000
naturally as I was writing the series in order for

123
00:06:44,079 --> 00:06:46,959
these kids to be successful at what they do.

124
00:06:47,199 --> 00:06:49,480
Speaker 1: Wow, where can people go to find out more about you,

125
00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,120
especially all of these books that you've been a part of.

126
00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,360
Speaker 2: Sure, So I have a website Tracywest dot com and

127
00:06:56,399 --> 00:06:59,600
that's Tracy with an Ey. That's the best way to

128
00:06:59,639 --> 00:07:02,120
find me, or you can find me on Facebook at

129
00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:06,480
author Tracy West or the other socials at Tracy West Books,

130
00:07:06,639 --> 00:07:08,680
Dan Tracy with an Ey. I love it.

131
00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:10,399
Speaker 1: Please come back to the show anytime in the future.

132
00:07:10,439 --> 00:07:12,959
The door is always going to be open for you. Row.

133
00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:16,079
Speaker 2: I appreciate that so much. This is a really fun conversation.

134
00:07:16,439 --> 00:07:18,240
Speaker 1: Thanks Will, you'd be brilliant today.

135
00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:22,560
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna try. I'm gonna channel my Dragonmaster Den