Recently I was made aware of a critique partner who wrote about a stupid dragon. Is that okay? Or is there some taboo about writing things that are different from established norms?
My opinion: go for it.
The established norm for aliens visiting our planet are they are more intelligent. But then there are movies like Morons from Outer Space. You can even make a case for the movie Signs being about idiots invading a planet covered with a chemical that kills them. Yeah. Allergic to water, and you come to a planet covered with water.
So if you want to make up a story with a dragon that’s not super-intelligent, what’s the problem? DRAGONS ARE MADE UP! Have you seen any dragons flying through the sky lately? Has the USAF reported sightings of dragons? Did any of our Martian probes detect signs of dragons? I don’t recall any stories about that, so I’d say there’s a better chance of the Flat Earth Society being right than dragons existing.
When it comes to writing fiction, there’s a reason it’s called FICTION. “Something invented by the imagination,” according to Merriam-Webster. You make it up, you can make it any way you like. Want to write a story about flying dwarfs and tunneling elves and orc magicians and aliens who invade a water planet when they’re allergic to water? DO IT!
Make it entertaining, believable, and you can even make a TV series about a family with no redeeming qualities.
Or is that another “stupid aliens” story?
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