DK3

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So, I have started to write the third (and final) book in the Dragonkeeper trilogy. I feel nervous writing about it here. I always feel talking about a book I’m writing will hex it. The book doesn’t have a title yet ( my publisher refers to it as DK3) . And if anyone wants to know what will happen in it…I’m not telling. (See above about hexing.)

I’ve just read YA author Justine Larbalestier‘s blog re writing a third book in a series.

I felt heartened that I wasn’t the only one who finds it hard. Justine was concerned about whether she should or shouldn’t be influenced by what readers say they want to happen. I don’t worry so much about that. The story has to be the way I want it to be, otherwise I couldn’t get it done. It’ll be a year out of my life spent writing it. I have to be thoroughly engaged in the plot and the chararcters…so that means doing it my way.
What I worry about is, Is it good enough? Will readers like it?
Justine was also angsting about bad reviews. They’re not nice, but you can’t please everyone. The hardest thing is, there’s no right of reply. Reviewers can say whatever they want and you don’t get to defend yourself. Which is a good thing. What could be worse than having a whingey author saying everyone’s missed the subtext or the fabulous act 2 turning point or the subtle character development? Everyone is a reader. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Though it is a sweet feeling when a book does well, despite being panned or ignored by reviewers.

64 responses to “DK3”

  1. Dear Carole,

    I enjoyed reading Dragonkeeper & Garden of the purple dragon very much. I am looking forward to Dragonkeeper 3 and so is my mother. I’ll be 10 next month and I’m from Singapore.

  2. Thanks Jeanne,
    Glad to hear you enjoyed the books. You’re the first reader I’ve heard from in Singapore.
    Regards
    Carole

  3. Dear Carole,
    I have really enjoyed reading your books, especially Garden of the Purple Dragon, I can’t wait for Dragonkeeper 3. I live in Perth, Australia. We are studying Dragons at school next term.
    I am 10 years old.

    Regards,
    Varun Kaushik

  4. Hi, Carole,
    I’ve read the Dragonkeeper and Garden of the Purple Dragon four times each! That’s how much I loved your books. I’ve also recommended these books to my friends. We are all looking forward to the third book.

    Love,
    Cheryl,
    9 years old
    Singapore

  5. Cheryl,
    Wow. I don’t think anyone else has read them four times (apart from me and my editors that is). Thanks for recommending them to your friends.
    Carole

  7. Hello Carole,
    i found dragonkeeper as an audio book in my local library. i thought it was brilliant kept me listening for hours 🙂 i’m 17 doing my hsc this year and i think your book is perfect for our english topic of imaginary journeys. now that i know there is a second book and even a thrid one can’t wait till i can get my hands them! Keep writing
    From Katherine
    Camden, NSW

  9. hi carole im steffano i read dragonkeeper and garden of the purple dragon they were really good i just have one question is there gonna be a possibily for dk4

  10. Steffano,
    I don’t think so. I think a trilogy has a nice symmetry. And it feels tlike the story is coming to an end.
    Carole

  11. Hi dear carole!
    I have read the Dragon keeper and Garden of purple dragon i read them in 3 days.
    I love them they where so fun and i loved when Kai was joking.
    Can you do DK3 longer than Dragonkeeper & The garden of the purple dragon please?!

    Im from sweden and im 12 years old and here is a wordlist from sweden!

    Dragonkeeper = Drakv

  12. Hi Carl,
    Glad to hear you liked the books. At the moment DK3 is looking like being a bit shorter than the other two, but it’s too early to tell really.
    Thanks for the word list!
    Carole

  13. Hello Carole. I have read Dragonkeeper and I think it is amazing. I live in the UK and have to wait till 2007 for DK: Garden of the Purple Dragon. Can you give me any clues on what to expect?

  14. Ryan,
    I’m sorry you have to wait so long for Garden of PD, but pleased that you’re looking forward to it so much. If you click on Books in the sidebar you can go to the Garden of PD page which gives a bit of a blurb about the story.

  15. hey i loved both dragon keeper books and have recomended them to many of my friends. i have just finnished reading purple dragon for the second time and love the part where ping used kia’s claws to rip open that evil dudes scars. i loved the description of the smells (ewwwww).live in New Zealand and have just turned 15.
    ps cant wait for dragon keeper 3
    thanks heeps setff

  16. Steff,
    Thanks for the comment. Glad you liked the gruesome bit in Garden of PD. I expected complaints about that section, but haven’t had any yet!
    Glad you enjoyed the book.

  17. if you are worried about if people will like it, well don’t. just ask yourself one thing, were yuor last two (award wining) books a success? people think you are a great writer so just go with the flow.

  19. Carol, I love your book Dragon keeper it’s absolutely fantastic!! At school right now we are studying the book Dragon Keeper and all of our class loves it!! Right now I am starting to read Garden of the Purple Dragon.I can’t wait to read your new book DK3, I hope it’s as good as the first two books!!

  20. Carole,
    for school we are studying dragon keeper. I loved it so much! after i finished it, i straight away got garden of the purple dragon from our library. I finished it yesterday and i loved it. your sentences are so discriptive!! The names in the story are wonderfull, i wish i could write like you!!

  21. Jessica and Bec,
    Thanks for your kind comments. I’m glad to hear your classes areenjoying Dragonkeeper. Hope you enjoy Garden of PD too.

  22. Dear Carole,
    I have just finished the book Dragonkeeper (just five minutes ago), and it was the best book I have ever read. After reading it I have been left in suspence because of the fabulous ending. You really are an inspirational writer. I found out about this book from my friend and decided it would be a good read. I read it and from now on I have read more and more. We are studying Dragonkeeper at the moment in class and reading it the second time was even better. I noticed that you have very meaningful Chapter titles. They don’t give away the Chapter. I agree with bec, she said that your sentences were so descriptive, well done. I will definitely be reading Garden of the PD ASAP! Thankyou for writing such a great book, I can’t wait to read more.

    —
    Shifty

  23. Dear Carole,
    I have to say that your books are really interseting. They have interesting plots and characters. Like Shifty, I absolutely love your chapter titles. It makes me want to find out what it is all about. I have recommended your books to many of my friends. Some of them have read them already! They all say that you really deserve a huge pat on the back. My class is studying Dragonkeeper right now. You may have noticed that some other people have said that. Well, Shifty, Jessica, Bec and I all go to the same school; PLC in Melbourne. Like Jess said, our class is absolutely loving the book.
    Keep on writing these magical and superb books of yours!

    Jen

  24. Dear Shifty and Jen,
    Thanks so much for your kind comments about my books. And for recommending them to others!
    Glad you like the chapter titles. I must say it sometimes takes a long time to get the right title, and there are times when I think I won’t give them titles it’s too hard, but it is always satisfying when you get a good one.

  25. i love ur books & we’re studying DK1 at school as well.but i’m not from PLC.i cant wait till the third book. but if DK3 is really the last book, have u ever thought about writing others. not about ping but other characters in the chinese history? i’m just hoping that u’ll change ur mind about DK3 as the last book in the series. but i still reckon that the DK series r extremely popular. and i hope the last book will be 10 times better( not that the series can get any better, it’s already the top) but i just no that its gona be good – and dont worry about the hexing.

  26. hi carole ive read both books and thought they were really amazingly cool i was just curious to know when the third may come out

  27. Melinda,
    Thanks for your kind comments, and your encouragement.
    Who knows what I might write in the future? Perhaps I’ll write another book set in ancient China, I don’t know. I have some other stories in mind though that I want to write after DK3.

  29. Hi Carole
    I just finished reading Garden of the Purple Dragon and I loved it! I absoloutley can’t wait until the 3rd one comes out. Keep up the good work!
    Lauren

  32. Dear carole,
    hey,i realy enjoyed reading the dragon keeper and the garden of the purple dragon which was suprising because every single book that i have picked up was boring.I think one of the reasons why i like it is because i like dragons and also my mum comes from china,so if i dont understand how to pronounce a word i can just ask her,so im eagerly waiting for the third book which i think is going to be great!

  33. Hi Melanie and Rene,
    Great to hear from readers in Germany. I love to hear about families reading my books together. Did your Dad read you the English version or the one in German?

  34. Alina,
    Really pleased that you enjoyed the books and didn’t find them boring. I hope the third one lives up to your expectations.

  35. Dear Carole,

    I loved Dragon Keeper and Garden of the Purple Dragon. In your third book I’d love to see if Danzi, Ping and Kai Duan reunite. That would be so cool. Also, it would be nice to see Ping visit her Family again. Its a pitty Liu Che became so mean to Ping in book 2. I’ve always wondered, is the girl on the front cover of the two books (Ping), is she a real girl or is it a painting? I hope the third book will be the best of them all.

  37. Dear Carol,
    our Dad reads us the german version. But we have english leasons in school already.
    Maybe we start reading the original version when we are a littel bit older.

    Yours
    Mealnie and Ren

  39. Dear carole

    I, loved both the dragon keeper and the garden of the purple dragon so much I could not wait to get home frome work to read them (i’m 41 years old). I then gave them to my son, to read (he is 12 years) and he was reading the books during class, maybe not exactly correct when you are ment to be doing maths, but he also could not put them down. We both can’t wait till dk3 comes out!!

    Thanyou

    Kate Mason

  40. hello! my name is nicole conway, i’m 13 and i’m from tasmania. i love dragon keeper and garden of the purple dragon and cant wait untill the new one comes out BUT whgen does it come out?
    from nicole

  42. Kate,
    I’m pleased to hear that you and your son both enjoyed the first two Dragonkeeper books. DK3 has a name now. It will be called Dragon Moon.

  44. Hey, omg i love your books. i belive that it is a good idea to keep the books only to 3. When i read the first book, i loved it but hated it at the end because i thought it went know where, and left me asking myself so many questions of what was to happen to ping and kia afterwards.I hadnt relised you wrote another till lately, and was relived. Same with your second book, till i looked it up that there was a third book with high hopes expecting to be crushed. so really, out of all this iv said.. i hope your third book has a great and brilliant thoura ending without missed details left behind. (maybe a good excuse to have the book longer eh?) 🙂 Very happy with your work. Kept me up for hours a night, morning and day. You really brought out the emotions felt within ping through your words… the betral of the emperor WOW left me wanting to smack a spade over his head and bury him into the ground. haha. great work, keep it up!
    Sorry for messy writting and spelling. (gota go to work!!)
    Cya

    Gabrielle, 17yr, South Australia

  45. Gabrielle,
    Thanks for your comments. Glad you liked the books, even if you weren’t impressed with the endings. Endings are hard. No matter how you end a story, there will always be something that happens next. So where do you stop? I don’t like tying everything up with a ribbon at the end. Life isn’t like that and I like to give readers some room to imagine themselves what happens next.

  46. Hi Carole!
    I just finished Garden Of The Purple Dragon yesterday! YOu have no idea how much i loved those books…and this seems extremely wierd but when i left my aunties house after finished the book, i swear i heard flute sounds and chimes! Haha! I was in the school libary for one of my classes and i hated reading the books! I always had to pretend to read them (woops) but my eye always seemd to catch your book on the shelf, and the minute i tried to read it i was hooked from the start! I must say i love everthing about the DragonKeeper series! EXCEPT that the 3rd one will be the last:( Its only october and im going crazy just sitting here waiting for may to come by, im more excited for the book than my own birthday??? Wierd but true…sorry for the really long speeeeech about yuor AMAZING book, i’ll leave now, you’ve giving me inspiration to start writing my books! Thank You Sooo Much!

    Kathleen. 14. VIC. Australia
    XOOoOoxXooOooXXXooOoOoXXoooo

  47. Kathleen,
    Thanks for your comments. I don’t mind the long message at all. I’m pleased that I have inspired you not only to read, but to write as well. That’s great.

  48. Dear Carole

    What are you calling DK3? I am hoping that
    my cousin will read the dragonkeeper series too.
    I turned 10 not long ago.:-)

  49. Dear Carole

    Ooops! I just realised I asked a redundant question. DK3 is Dragon Moon!

    Sorry about that.

    Really looking forward to Dragon Moon. 🙂

    Jeanne
    Singapore

  52. Claire,
    Thanks for your encouragement. It’s great to hear that Dragonkeeper has travelled with you, and was enjoyed by your son. I often prefer kids and young adult books. Their authors aren’t afraid to have a good strong story, which is what I like.

  53. Dear Carole,

    I just wanted to say that Dragonkeeper 1 and Dragonkeeper, garden of the purple dragon and i throughly enjoyed them, i just turned 12 and i love the books you made, im going to miss it

    Thank you for everything
    Ben

  55. oh i just loved ur books!! you hav great imagination, i would want to know what happens next everytime!! is there next series of the garden of the purple dragon?? SO EXCITED!!

  56. Tiffany,
    Thanks. The third book of the Dragonkeeper series is Dragon Moon. It will be out in Australia at the end of March.

  57. Dear Carole,
    Its Rachel here im 12. I have read Dragon Keeper 3 times and am eager to read the second from the little intake of the first chapter at the back of the 1st book. I have done an assessment on it at school, it was really enjoyable. Looking forward to the next book, cant wait, keep up the great, amazing and inspiring work up.! Your imagination is amazing! Rachel

  58. Rachel,
    Thanks for your kind words. The second book (Garden of the Purple Dragon) and the third book (Dragon Moon) are both out in Australia. You should be able to get them at your library.

  59. dear carole,

    i haven’t read the third book yet but i have read the first and second(Dragon Keeper + Garden of the Purple Dragon), and i think it is really good, it is [BY FAR] the BEst novel i’ve read.

    I have read the book around five times, it’s just really hard to put the book down.
    Looking forward to read the third book….

  61. Hey carole:
    Oh my Gosh, i really enjoy ur books! They are my favourite books! They were fantastic and… i don’t know how to describe how much i love them because im not a good writer like you^_^. It was a bit easier for me to understand the books than other people maybe because i am a chinese who move to Australia for 2 years. I still have alot of friends in China and i am wondering if i can translate the books into chinese and let China read them too, can you please reply me in my Email??Awesome Books. Well done Carole!

    Rebecca, 12 years old, Melbourne

  62. Rebecca,
    I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the books. I think the publishers are currently negotiating with a Chinese publisher. If that happens, your Chinese friends will be able to read it.

  64. Hello Carole,
    I’ve just finished reading Dragonkeeper for the 8th time. It’s amazing! I am always so engrossed in it. I’ve just turned 11. By the way, this is 2010, so I’ve already read all four of the series…All so cool! Dragonkeeper, Garden of the Purple Dragon, Dragon Moon, and Dragon Dawn!:D All so fabulous! I’m doing the Selective School Test this year…hope I get in!:D

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