March 2026 Project Wrap-Up

Hi all,

March is now over, so it's time to wrap-up the first draft of Original Elementals #9: Arcturus. It is now complete at 84,039 words!

At first this was a tough one to write as I was worried that I wouldn't reach the end. This book is about 10K longer than the others at the moment, but I suppose it is fitting as its the last one in the series.

This book follows Stella, the first person to have all eight elements. Her companion is Arcturus, a demi-god who will never get the chance to meet Aosmhor to achieve some form of immortality. In this book, Aosmhor is still going to be asleep, even the events of Elemental Dragons occur while he's in the same slumber.

Stella decides to turn her back on Zmei right away following the events of the previous books. She works with the Fairy Dragons and bonds with one, Embae. She also meets Vivid in this book, a dragon goddess who was imprisoned decades ago for a crime she didn't commit. She offers to help Stella with Zmei, but does she also have secret intentions?

I loved going back to the Fairy Dragons and getting to explore them a bit more. They were cute in the Elemental Dragons series and I'm glad I got to revisit them. This time, you can learn a lot more about where they came from and some of their powers. This is before hives were hunted down by scientists, so there are many Fairy Dragons in this book.

Stella grows a lot throughout the story and becomes stronger in her own right. I've wanted to write her going from a meek, shy girl to a confident one and I'm so glad that I finally got to do it!

But that is unfortunately, the end of the Original Elementals series...

Or is it?

I know throughout the years I've teased you a lot about a secret tenth book in the series. I can confirm that this will be true! But you'll have to wait for another blog post to find out more!

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week. 

My First Dragon Book

Hi all,

The first dragon book that I wrote was not Blood and Water. I actually wrote about 30K words for a different dragon book when I was fifteen.

This book followed Russet, a dragon hatchling that escaped a petting zoo. She was born into it and didn't know anything other than it, but she always dreamed of running in the forest. One day, when she was a few months old and able to use her wings, she escapes.

At first she loved exploring the forest and all the animals there, until hunger set in. The forest was scarier at night, with predators such as foxes and badgers which attacked her for getting too close to their dens.

Eventually she went back to the zoo to start stealing food and water, which went on for months. Then she met a baby dragon called Lily. Lily was only a few days old, but kept calling out to Russet whenever she saw her. When Lily was old enough to talk, she asked Russet to help her escape. She said that she was special, and was destined to find six unhatchable dragon eggs to learn elemental powers. These elements were fire, water, air, earth, electricity and light.

Russet helps Lily escape and another baby dragon called Xerxes uses the opportunity to escape with them. From there, the three of them travel across the continent looking for the eggs to help Lily achieve her destiny. But the humans know what Lily is, and they desperately want her back. They follow the group on their quest, hoping to stop Lily before she reaches the final egg.

As I'm sure you've realised, some of the elements of this story did carry over to Elemental Dragons! Russet, although not in the main story, has her story told in the Short Story Collection. This time instead of escaping the petting zoo, she is forced into it when her companion dies.

Fire, water, earth, air, electricity and light all made it into the Elemental Dragons series as well. Air was renamed Wind and Dark and Ice were added as elements as well.

This story had the dragons as the main characters, rather than humans. They couldn't understand human speech but knew that they wanted to capture the dragons again. Along the way they meet more dragon characters, all of different types who help and hinder them on their quest.

I eventually stopped writing this book because I came up with the idea for Element Dragons instead. I borrowed a few ideas from the book and decided to write a brand new story. As much as I liked writing the initial story, I fell in love writing Blood and Water and knew that would be my first finished book.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week. 

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March 2026 Project Announcement

Hi all,

My first writing project of 2026 will be the ninth book in the Original Elementals series: Arcturus.

After a long break from dragons, I'm ready to get stuck back into writing them! This is the penultimate book in the series and will wrap up a lot of the plot points throughout.

Stella, the first Elemental to have all the elements at once, has a mission to help the Fairy Dragons. But with her so unsure about Zmei, she doesn't know whether to follow the mission through or not. She's hesitant to keep working with the dragon that has betrayed so many of her friends, but she wants to help the Fairy Dragons.

This book will wrap up the main plot up until the Originals fight against Draca. The events in this book will lead towards this confrontation and what the consequences are.

There will be one more book in the series, which for now I will remain tight lipped about! The tenth book will most likely be my November project, unless I suddenly feel the urge to finish the series in July.

I'm looking forward to going back to a universe that I've written so much about and I can't wait to expand the lore. Now that I've had a break I'm hoping to go back to the series with a fresh pair of eyes. I don't want to burn myself out on the series again as I really want to finish it and see it published one day.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out this book promo to support indie authors!

Support Indie Authors

March 2025 Project Wrap-Up

Hi all,

This is a few weeks late, but I wanted to do a wrap-up post about my March 2025 writing project. The final word count for Original Elementals #8: Turf is...

73,334 words!

It felt so good to write in the Elemental Dragons universe again, I didn't realise how much I missed it. At times I did struggle with writing parts, but for the most part this was an enjoyable experience.

This book centres on Tiegan and her companion, Turf. They take in an Eastern Dragon called Squeaky who they have to raise. Their mission is to get Squeaky to create a rainstorm big enough to help dragons. This is what Zmei tells them, but is it actually true?

Tiegan was a different character to write. She's quite selfish and willing to abandon others to save her own skin. She wants to keep her life the way it is, far away from Aria. Her and Turf live on the streets, though neither of them mind.

This book also introduces a new species of man-made dragons, the Vexwings. They're tiny dragons that get compared to rats or pigeons often. They terrorise the town that Tiegan lives in which causes trouble for the people living there. Because of them, their town is completely overrun and requires outside help to fix it.

The mix of the Eastern Dragon and the Vexwings makes life harder for Tiegan. Especially when Zmei gets involved and she finds herself unable to trust them completely. Draca has turned their back on her too, so it's just her and Turf on their own.

This book was fun to write and I love writing about dragons. The next book in the series will centre on Stella and this will be the penultimate book in the series. It will most likely be my November project as I'm planning a different book for July. 

That’s it for this week, hope you enjoyed reading! Next week I’ll be posting about my dream merchandise, so keep an eye out for that next Sunday.

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March 2025 Project Announcement

Hi all,

It's time for my first writing project announcement of the year! This time I'm going back to Original Elementals with book number eight, Turf.

I'm aiming to write 50K for this book.

This time, the main character is Tiegan, the first Earth Elemental. As the title suggests, her dragon companion is Turf.

Her mission to help the Eastern Dragon. But this will be difficult as she's living on the streets on her own. The other originals are currently in Aria, hundreds of miles away from her. She has to help this dragon by herself and isn't aware of what the other originals know about Zmei and Draca.

After Lucia, Tiegan is the most skeptical about her mission. Instead of helping the dragon, she will show it how she lives on the streets and how she's better on her own. The Eastern Dragon will be young, and will see Tiegan as its parent.

I'm so happy to write about dragons again! After this book is done, there are only two more left to write in the Original Elementals series. This is my longest series that I've ever written and I can't wait until it's all done.

My plans for the series are still up in the air, whether I'll eventually put them on Patreon or just publish them outright on Amazon.

After I've done the prequel series I was thinking of doing a sequel series. It depends on what other projects I have that call to me at the time!

That's it for this week, see you next Sunday! 

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Blood and Water is 99p on Amazon UK throughout February!

Hi all,

Elemental Dragons #1: Blood and Water is going to be 99p on Amazon.UK for the entire month of February!

As always, it's free on Kindle Unlimited.

You can check it out below:

Dragon markings aren’t supposed to appear on humans… but Hazel has them all over her back.

The government sends Hazel, along with every teenager in the country, to an elemental camp to master their powers before they get out of hand. But when her dragon egg hatches into a rare colour, her element is the least of her problems.

Now under scrutiny, she must make sure that no-one ever finds out about the strange markings on her back. If they do, they will permanently sever the bond with her dragon, leaving him dead and her in eternal agony.

What she doesn’t know is that there are others in a similar predicament to her. All different elements and all different markings, but with one thing in common: a previously extinct dragon wants to eat them to consume their powers.

In a world where political parties divide those who would live with dragons as equals or slaves, she needs to figure out the truth before she is swallowed alive by the dragon hunting her.

Fans of Anne McCaffery and Cordelia Castel will love to delve into this world of elemental powers and plenty of dragons!

Amazon

The Old Elemental Dragons Prequel

Hi all,

Before I started writing the Original Elementals series, I was planning a different prequel. This one would have been a standalone, set around twenty years before Elemental Dragons.

It would feature the parents of the elementals. Mainly focusing on Hazel's and Rocky's mother and father - Silva and Trey.

Silva just tries to keep her head down and get through school, but she's currently with Trey. He's a serial womaniser who dumps women when he has enough of them. His worst nightmare is having children as that would interfere with his dream of doing whatever he wants.

They would have been eighteen, just a few years away from graduating and going into the real world. Across a few weeks, they would have spotted something moving through the school at night. Upon further investigation, it would be a Hydra.

At first the group would try to report the dragon but they wouldn't be believed or listened to. A teacher and their dragon goes missing but no-one bats an eyelid. That's when the group decides to investigate themselves.

After a few disastrous tries, they manage to capture it. Instead of being hailed as heroes, they are instead scolded for capturing it as it would curse them and the school. Each of the group would then be cursed in various ways. A few would have been:

Silva would be destined to lose everything.

Trey would be destined to impregnate every woman he sleeps with.

Tran, Wes' mother, would have everyone always take the credit for her work.

Daynah, Marco and Mason's mother, would always want what everyone else has.

David, Melia and Violet's father, would lose his dragon due to his own laziness.

After cursing them, the Hydra moves on. But none of them believe that their curses will come true. It's only when David refuses to take his dragon, Amelia, to the vet that it all starts to unravel. He couldn't be bothered to take her, so her minor wounds got infected and she died.

Tran reports the group to the headmaster but he takes the credit for discovering what they've done.

Over the years, Trey impregnates four women, one of which is Silva. He has Rocky and Hazel with her. He manages to find a woman who is infertile, but even she manages to get pregnant. He eventually leaves Silva, which makes her curse come true. He takes the money they made from the experiments on their children too.

Ultimately this was discarded when I made the elementals clones rather than the biological children of their parents. I liked the idea, but I wasn't quite sure if I could ever tie it together properly with the main series. Hence why it was scrapped and I came up with Original Elementals instead.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out this book bundle before it expires:

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Original Elementals Virtual Advent Calendar

Hi all,

The virtual advent calendar is back for the fifth year running! This year, the theme is Original Elementals. There will be twenty-four facts spread over twenty-four days! The facts will be about the following subjects:

Aosmhor

Zmei

Vivid

Draca

Each topic will get six facts each.

As with all the previous years, an ebook can be won on December 25th! The following books are eligible:

Blood and Water

Venom and Earth

Glass and Ice

Cinder and Fire

Mute

Years

Nirvana

Heaven

Purgatory

Hell

The Plague’s Hope

The Blazing Serpent - to be claimed on release day in 2025

If you would like a chance at winning one of my ebooks, please read the rules below and go to my Facebook page: Jessica Turnbull Author.

If you’re not sure what to look out for, check out some of the previous facts that have been posted:

I hope you have fun if you participate! Next year I’ll be doing a calendar for the Curse of Anubis series! Here is my Facebook page again so you can participate: Jessica Turnbull Author.

That’s it for this week! Good luck to everyone who enters, see you next week.

PS; don’t forget to check out this book bundle too:

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Dragons and Cats

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've written a post about cats so I thought I'd fix that!

In the Elemental Dragons universe, dragons can communicate with cats as they speak the same language. I've mentioned in the past that the two have different dialects but for the most part they can understand each other.

A lot of dragons prefer cats to dogs if they have more of a calmer temperament. This is because they tend to prefer relaxing and snoozing in the sunshine. But they sometimes play, though this gets harder as the dragons get bigger!

The dragons would consider the cat a part of their family, though they don't see each other as siblings. But they tend to have strong bonds that struggle to be broken. Cats can be more aloof, but a lot of times they make it clear that they do love any dragons they're close to.

The one thing that cats hate doing is flying on the back of a dragon. Travelling along the ground is fine and usually preferred for lazy felines. But they don't like being taken up into the air. The wind and cold is too much for them so they will react violently if they are made to fly without wanting to. 

In some rare cases dragons and cats don't get on at all. This may be because of a clash of personality or extreme jealousy. But as long as someone gives both equal attention and is patient, these obstacles can be overcome.

If I had a dragon, I'd like to think that it would get along with my cat, Mishka. She likes being the centre of attention but maybe a scaly friend would make her reconsider!

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week! 

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Being Nothing in Elemental Dragons

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've written a post about the lore of Elemental Dragons and I don't think I've covered this topic too much before.

First of all, what is a Nothing?

In the Elemental Dragons universe, a person or dragon whose partner dies is considered a Nothing. This is because it is really hard to exist without the other.

There are a few examples of Nothings in the books, but the main one that's shown is Bluey (aka Muddy). When he's introduced in Venom and Earth, he is shown without a human companion. The group takes him in with them and he travels with them. But he can't get too close to the city without a human as otherwise they would target him as a Nothing.

What happens to Nothings?

For humans, they're immediately thrown out of any camp that they're in if they're under nineteen. All of their work towards their education is discarded and they are forced to enter the adult world with nothing but the clothes on their back. They don't get the same job opportunities as everyone else and they are looked down upon for having a dead dragon.

For dragons, they are immediately taken to zoos or farms to perform as entertainment. They can be ridden on and fed but they are not treated well. They are not allowed to exist on their own in the wild as they are considered a drain on the ecosystem. This is best seen with Russet and Moon in the Elemental Dragons Short Story Collection.

Can two Nothings pass as companions?

At the end of Cinder and Fire, it's shown that Marco and Cerberus have joined up and are passing off as each other's companions. This can be common for Nothings but very few get away with this in the longterm. The ones that do get away with it tend to have the same elements. If their elements differ, it's a lot harder to get away with.

One day I'd love to write a book about Nothings in the Elemental Dragons universe. But before I start on that I'm going to finish the Original Elementals series. Maybe after that I can focus on what the next series of the universe will be.

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week. 

PS; don’t forget to check out this book bundle!

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