Lester D. Crawford
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Lester D. Crawford
@lesterdcrawford.com
68 followers 92 following 240 posts
Writer of stories involving dragons, mostly, that use themes of love, loyalty, friendship, kindness, acceptance, family of origin, and family of choice.

www.LesterDCrawford.com

Related Bluesky accounts:
@thedragonuniverse.com
@dracotation.com
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Lester D. Crawford @lesterdcrawford.com · Nov 20
"The Dragon Universe Utopia Origins" is available on bookseller websites. I recommend purchasing it through your local independent bookstore, or use Bookshop.org to credit your local independent bookstore.
Book cover for The Dragon Universe Utopia Origins showing a child having a picnic with a dragon in a forest
lesterdcrawford.com
It seem A.I. knows about me.

"'The Dragon Universe Utopia Origins' is a speculative fiction book that tells the story of a long-standing war between humans and dragons. It follows heroes from both sides who work together to end the conflict and promote peace, acceptance, and friendship."

#dragons
Book cover for The Dragon Universe Utopia Origins by Lester D. Crawford that shows a child in a forest having a picnic with a dragon who has yellow lightning bolt markings
December 20, 2025 at 11:17 PM
lesterdcrawford.com
"There were dragons when I was a boy."
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

"There were dragons when I was a boy."
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

The quote ends the movie trilogy,
but it begins the original the book series.
sophianyx.bsky.social Sophia_Nyx 🏳️‍⚧️ @sophianyx.bsky.social · 10h
Name your fav film quote.
December 20, 2025 at 7:42 PM
lesterdcrawford.com
#WIPSnips December 20 - default
Hope and Baby's default emotional states.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky #Dragons
Text that says: Hope sank into their connection, their shared inner-world, to explore. She felt the positions of the baby dragon's closed wings, his tail hooked over his feet, and how he sat on his haunches as he used his hands to manipulate the gemstones. His emotional state was happy, which was his default. Hope didn't know if she had a default, unless it was anxious. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 20, 2025 at 7:22 PM
lesterdcrawford.com
#WIPSnips December 19 - high
Hope gets acting lessons for how to look masculine.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky
Text that says: "Let's work on gender presentation. Your clothing's shape does a good job of presenting as masculine. Show me body language that presents as masculine." Hope demonstrated what Mister Emery had taught her, and what she had observed: upright posture with a broad stance that takes up space, expansive gestures, an emotionless expression, and a monotone, low pitch, high volume voice. When she walked, she used a lurching brisk pace, but not rushed, with a longer stride length and swinging arms. "It needs work." "I'll keep practicing." "Indeed. Let's work on stage makeup to enhance the presentation." — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 19, 2025 at 7:33 PM
lesterdcrawford.com
You can read Perfect Dragon, my 100-word story for Christmas 2025, on my Patreon page.
Perfect Dragon: My 100-Word Story for Christmas 2025 | Lester D. Crawford Speculative Fiction
Get more from Lester D. Crawford Speculative Fiction on Patreon
www.patreon.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:26 PM
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#WIPSnips December 18 - request
Hope needs to feed the baby dragon.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky #Dragons
Text that says: "I have a special request, Mister Stirling. Can you sell me meat scraps?" He furrowed his brow and twisted the corner of his mouth, which made his face look bent. "That's an odd request." "Having meat scraps would help me." "Oh, you want help growing bigger and stronger. You could use that, if you don't mind me saying. Do you know how to cook meat?" Hope hadn't thought about cooking the meat. Did the baby dragon need his meat cooked? If he was in the wild, he wouldn't cook it, would he? She didn't know, but she did have an answer to the question. "Yes, I read a cookbook." — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 18, 2025 at 6:38 PM
lesterdcrawford.com
Perfect Dragon, my 100-word story for Christmas 2025, is available to read on my blog. #Dragons
Perfect Dragon: 100-Word Story for Christmas 2025 – Lester D. Crawford Blog
lesterdcrawford.com
December 17, 2025 at 12:13 AM
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#WIPSnips December 16 - moist
Why is there Monsoon?
Do people feel the same about the word moisture as they do about moist? Forecast here is moisture from the sky for the foreseeable future. It makes everything moist. 😀
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky #Dragons
Text that says: The baby dragon said, "Why is there Monsoon?" "The science books I read say Monsoon is caused by an atmospheric circulation that pushes rivers of moisture into the valley and up against the mountains causing the atmosphere to drop the moisture. The circulation oscillates back and forth bringing Monsoon and then dry. Most of the time, it's dry. "What is science?" "Science is a way to understand the world using observations, conclusions, testable explanations, and testing those explanations through experiments and analysis. It's also the knowledge gained by that process." "How does the water get into the sky?" Hope described the water cycle of evaporation and condensation that caused water to fall from the sky. Baby kept asking questions as she did her best to answer them. Hope liked science and its disciplined knowledge about the world based on testable explanations. In a dark world, it was nice to know some things made sense. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 16, 2025 at 6:39 PM
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#WIPSnips December 15 - blanket
I did my best today.
This paragraph in no small part is based on me.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky
Text that says: Finished with reading, Hope checked her emergency grab-and-run carrysack and the sling she had devised to carry the dragon egg to ensure they were ready if she had to escape in the middle of the night. Then, after performing her calming exercise and singing her nightly song, she nestled against the dragon egg with her mountain fox toy in her arms, and covered herself with her favorite soft, pink blanket. As she closed her eyes, she whispered, "I did my best today. I'm safe and have a warm bed. So, now I sleep." She went to sleep in preparation for surviving another day. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 15, 2025 at 6:49 PM
lesterdcrawford.com
I recommend Tamberlane. It inspires me. This page www.tamberlanecomic.com/comic/41/ in particular helped me define the First Plot Point in my story where the dragon Arizesyley says, "I will keep the human child." That moment changes Arizesyley's life, and ultimately, the world.

Thank you, Caytlin.
December 14, 2025 at 8:43 PM
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#WIPSnips December 14 - line
Geometry lessons.
All writing is an experiment.
How goes your experiment?
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky
Text that says: Miss Livia and Mister Finn gave Hope more lessons about geometry. She had had geometry lessons before when she studied points, lines, planes, distances, angles, curves, and surfaces. Her teachers had also gave her a compass for making circles and arcs, a protractor for measuring angles, and a straightedge ruler for drawing straight lines and to measure length. This time the lessons were about spherical geometry. The concept of n-dimensional surfaces of higher dimensional spheres fascinated Hope. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 14, 2025 at 7:30 PM
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#WIPSnips December 13 - control
Inner peace.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky
Text that says: Miss Nella taught Hope that inner peace makes everything possible, and to achieve inner peace she needed to be calm, quiet, and patient; free of resentful thoughts; and indifferent to things she couldn't control. Hope had embraced that philosophy, which had helped her cope with the despair she faced everyday as she struggled to survive. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 13, 2025 at 7:04 PM
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#WIPSnips December 12 - smash
Nose goes smash.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky #Dragons
Text that says: The baby dragon turned, fell over, got up, trotted toward Hope, and collided snout first with the wall. "Are you okay, Baby?" He was a resilient little fellow and unconcerned about having smashed his snout. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 12, 2025 at 5:54 PM
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#WIPSnips December 11 - full
Dragons are 12% air.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky #Dragons
Text that says: The baby dragon was still not much longer than an adult person was tall, and his body was still not proportional to his big hands, feet, and head; nonetheless, he was thicker and his hide was no longer wrinkled, as if he was now fully inflated. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 11, 2025 at 6:23 PM
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#WIPSnips December 10 - pipe
Splashing water everywhere.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky #Dragons
Text that says: "This nozzle is where the water comes out." Hope indicated the end of a pipe a little higher than she was tall. She turned the faucet on. The baby dragon startled, his ears folding back as he pushed himself away. "It's okay, Baby. It's water. See?" She put her hand in the flowing water and splashed it. Through their connection came a feeling of excitement as the dragon came to the nozzle and stepped under the flow so the water washed over him. He said, "Squawk, squawk," opened his wings, flapped them to splash water, and repeated, "Squawk, squawk." "Oh my!" Hope flinched back from the spray and waved her hands. "Shhh. Be calm. Be quiet. Be patient. We don't want anyone to hear us." — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 10, 2025 at 6:29 PM
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#WIPSnips December 8 - fourth
Hope has journals. Writing things down comforts her.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky
Text that says: One journal contained an inventory of Hope's supplies and food caches, as well as a list of her assets, which were primarily gemstones, repaired items, and coin. In the second, she used what she had learned about accounting to record the transactions related to selling or trading assists, and earning or spending coin. The third contained maps she had drawn of the City-State of Tossal and the Worthless Mountains' foothills on which she marked the locations of resources, dangers, and her hidden caches. In the fourth, she documented her experiences and observations. She also used several journals as sketchbooks to draw pictures of things she saw. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 8, 2025 at 6:21 PM
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#WIPSnips December 7 - empty
How could he possible know? It's a mystery even to the author.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky
Text that says: Ready to enter the garden, Hope climbed the wall, hid among the decorative vines, and observed. The garden was empty except for a man sitting with his back to her. She watched him. "I know you're there, Child," said the man. He always said that. How could he possible know? Maybe every few minutes he said, "I know you're there", knowing that eventually he would be right. She stayed hidden and quiet. After a moment, he said, "You can't fool me. Come down. It's safe." Mister Emery always knowing she was there was eerie, but she trusted him to the same extent as the other nice riffraff that helped her, so she climbed down. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 7, 2025 at 7:00 PM
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#WIPSnips December 6 - hook
Holding hands by holding the tip of a dragon's tail.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky #Dragons
Text that says: The baby dragon hooked the tip of his tail over Hope's hand. It was like holding hands. She had seen people hold hands. While sitting in their garden, Miss Livia and Mister Finn often held hands. Hope couldn't remember ever holding anyone's hand. It felt nice. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 6, 2025 at 5:38 PM
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#WIPSnips December 5 - screen
Finding semi-precious gemstones.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky #Dragons
Text that says: The next day was a gemstone day. Hope and Baby traveled over the ridge and went north to the gemstone cave. Baby had only experienced the cave through their connection. Being there in person excited him. He pranced around the entrance eager to go inside. "Be careful in there. I've been systematically screening the gravel and sediment to find gemstones. Don't mess it up." Baby stooped as low as he could, and careful to not mess up the piles of gravel and sediment, followed Hope into the cave. Their connection filled with curiosity and excitement. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 5, 2025 at 5:42 PM
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#WIPSnips December 4 - city
Books banners ban books.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky
Text that says: The City Lords had banned books along with banning education, so having a book was dangerous, but Hope was careful to keep the books hidden because the risk of having and reading a book was worth the reward of acquiring knowledge and experiences. Besides, how much more trouble would she be in for having a book considering the trouble she would be in for being an orphan child, and a girl. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 4, 2025 at 5:47 PM
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#WIPSnips December 2 - percent
Being good at math is a dragon trait.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky #Dragons
Text that says: After learning the ten numeral symbols, including practice writing them, and the concept of the ones column, the tens column, the hundreds column, and so forth, Baby could count. He had mastered numbers and counting easily. Next, Hope taught him the symbols used in mathematical operations and they did simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems. Baby quickly mastered those, which meant they could move on to number lines and fractions and decimals and percentages and negative numbers. Baby was having fun doing math. It was obviously another dragon trait. Hope already had plans for teaching him measurement and algebra and geometry and trigonometry and even statistics and probability. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 2, 2025 at 6:52 PM
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#WIPSnips December 1 - belong
Sentimental yearning.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky
Text that says: The room felt ... safe. It felt like the right place to be, the place where she belonged. A sentimental yearning for her former hiding place and the time she spent there swelled up inside her. Yet, this was not a now place; it was a then place. She missed this lair, but she knew the cave lair was better. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
December 1, 2025 at 6:32 PM
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#WIPSnips November 30 - number
Math was fun.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky
Hope returned the history book and complained it was incomplete. Mister Finn told her there would be more history lessons later. Then, Miss Livia began a math lesson about algebra. Hope liked math and its principles of good reasoning and the truths of number theory. In a world of calamity, math represented order and stability. Math had meaning whereas the world did not. And, math was fun. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
November 30, 2025 at 7:17 PM
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#WIPSnips November 28 - zigzag
Playing tag with a baby dragon.
#AmWriting #AmWritingFantasy #AmWritingScifi #WriteSky #Dragons
Text that says: "I can catch you." Hope charged the baby dragon. "You can't catch me." Baby dashed away in a zigzag, occasionally pausing to let her come close, and then dodging while making his goik, goik laugh. Hope, laughing with him, was unable to keep up. Then he stopped, swung around, and said, "I can catch you." She had no doubt he could. She stopped laughing and ran. Behind her she heard the squelching and splattering of his hands and feet on the rain-soaked grass coming closer as he galloped on all fours. — The Dragon Universe Hope (working title, work-in-progress)
November 28, 2025 at 6:48 PM
lesterdcrawford.com
Happy Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for:

Family
Friends
Followers
And, many other things, including Hope and the baby dragon she calls Baby, the main characters in my current writing project.

#AmWriting #Dragons #Fantasy
Standing on a night-time medieval street, a girl dressed in dark gray pants, shirt, boots, gloves, and broad-brimmed hat is standing with a young dragon only half her height, wings spread, tail and neck bent around the girl, as he looks up at her with a dragon smile and the girl smiles at him. The dragon has red, green, and blue highlights on his head and torso. The end of his tail is red. The trailing edges of his primary and tail wings are blue.
November 27, 2025 at 8:07 PM