I met Savannah J. Goins at the online Indie Book Festival, and guys, not only is Savannah a fantastic fantasy author, but she’s also a real-life dragon wrangler! I had so much fun speaking with her last Saturday about story research that I invited her to talk more today about her books, her dragons, and her own author journey.
Welcome, Savannah!
Ellen Smith: Hi Savannah! Thanks for joining me on the blog today. I love the premise for your fantasy series, The Odan Terridor Trilogy. Can you tell readers a little bit about your main character, Enzi Montgomery?
Savannah J. Goins: Thanks so much for having me on your blog, Ellen! Here’s a little peek into where Enzi’s story begins:
Just when Enzi discovers the connection between an old necklace and her ability to turn invisible, a dragon recognizes the artifact he’s been searching for dangling around her neck. And he’s not the only dragon watching her now.
ES: What sparked the idea for the Gwythenian?
SJG: A giant icicle on the side of a mountain, actually.
My family used to drive from Indiana to Georgia to visit family for Christmas, and whenever we drove through the mountains on the interstate, we would see sheets of huge icicles draped over the cliffs.
When I was about fourteen, I thought how cool it would be if there was a ring or something that would give you the ability to see through icicles into other places. Basically like scrying, but I’d never heard of scrying then so I thought I was making it up. And then I thought I would be super original and make it a magic rock instead of a magic ring, since nobody’s ever done that before :)
ES: I have to tell you, I absolutely love the cover art for your series! It’s the perfect fit for your books. How did you find your cover artist?
SJG: Her name is Ingrid Nordli and she is amazing! I saw some fan art she created for a friend of mine, and was so mesmerized by how gorgeous it was that I had to reach out and ask her to create some art for me. At the time, I was looking for character art for Enzi, Gaedyen, Shaun, and Veri. I had a wonderful experience working with her on those, so when the opportunity arose to create new cover art for the series, she was the first person I thought of. I had another fantastic experience working with her again and 100% recommend her!
Enzi
fan art by Ingrid Nordli
Gaedyen
fan art by Ingrid Nordli
Shaun
fan art by Ingrid Nordli
Veri
fan art by Ingrid Nordli
ES: In addition to writing about dragons, you’ve done some real-life dragon wrangling! What has been your most interesting rehabilitating and fostering experience?
SJG: I have fostered a lot of tiny dragons over the last few years. Possibly the most interesting experience is the one I’m in right now, with a bearded dragon I adopted from the rescue.
I adopted Abraxos (points if you recognize the name!) a few months ago and shortly after, he broke his jaw in two places biting my finger. His bones were in poor condition from his previous owner’s level of care. He had an emergency procedure with my friends at the exotic animal clinic where I began my dragon wrangling career and he is still healing and undergoing daily treatments at home.
The vet had never seen a break like his before, so we don’t know how well it will heal, but we’re providing the best care we can for him and are hoping he will make a full recovery with nothing but a bit of an underbite left from the experience.
Another interesting foster I had was a young alligator named Levi (short for Leviathan. Full creds to my creative genius for that one:). He’d been abandoned in a vacant apartment with no heat or food for an unknown period of time in zero-degree weather.
He lived in a large aquarium in my guest room for a few months until an alligator rescue in Michigan had room for him. He was not a nice little dude, either. We kept the door closed because every time my husband or I would walk down the hall, he would launch himself at the glass hissing and cussing at us. By now, he’s probably longer than I am tall.
ES: Besides dragons, you’ve worked with some other really interesting animals! What are some of the most unusual animals you’ve treated as a veterinary technician?
SJG: I’ve worked with everything from tiny axolotl salamanders to full-grown tigers. My favorite animals to work with were the large reptile species (I even got to handle some Gila monsters and beaded lizards once—the only venomous lizard species in the world!) and rats. Rats are awesome little creatures!
I also worked with a couple of kangaroos, a coatimundi, a lynx, a patas monkey who’d been in the news for attacking people, and a lot of local wildlife such as raccoons, foxes, owls, eagles, possums, and giant snapping turtles.
ES: I really love that you’ve used some of your real-life experiences with animals in your stories. What helped you decide to start with writing fiction instead of non-fiction?
SJG: Writing non-fiction never occurred to me until a couple of years ago. As a teen and young adult, I thought all non-fiction was boring (ha! I gobble it up now!) and I’d always loved reading fantasy, especially the Chronicles of Narnia. So I guess it just naturally flowed that way.
ES: What are some of your favorite fiction books?
SJG: The Chronicles of Narnia, Eragon, Tiger Queen, Harry Potter, Six of Crows, and all Sarah J. Mass books, just to name a few!
ES: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far as an author? What advice would you offer new writers?
SJG: The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that perseverance is key. Writing is hard and revising is hard and producing a book out of a manuscript is hard, but you just have to keep doing it. Keep making a little progress every day.
And remember to enjoy the journey, despite the many struggles. I’ve met many of the most important people in my life and made several of my best memories with them all because of writing, because I didn’t give up all the times I wondered if I should. There is so much joy in writing stories (why did you start in the first place, anyway?) so make sure you focus on that and not how hard the hard times are. You can push through them and learn and become a better writer and a better person for it, and have so much fun along the way!
ES: Thanks for stopping by the blog today, Savannah! How can we stay in touch with you?
SJG: To jumpstart your writing journey and/or get unstuck, you can book a one-hour coaching call with me here:
To inquire about booking me as a podcast guest or to speak to your group, please visit this page:
Thanks so much for having me on your blog, Ellen! It’s been a pleasure!
YA fantasy novelist, speaker, and professional dragon wrangler Savannah J. Goins has been a fantasy nerd for as long as she can remember. While spending her days working with real animals, she has accidentally touched both tiger blood and dragon blood, so it’s only a matter of time until her own magical abilities surface. She especially enjoys stories with sword fights and talking animals. In real life, she likes drinking tea and coffee and discovering new bookshops.
She lives in central Indiana with her husband and their dog, and sometimes has a foster dragon or two hanging around as well.