Teaching, Transformation, and Frostbitten Fiction

"Teaching, Transformation, and Frostbitten Fiction"

Posted by Rin Nocturne | May 23, 2025

I recently stood in the back of an elementary classroom watching a student try (and fail spectacularly) to pretend they weren’t watching Youtube videos on thier school Chromebooks. Meanwhile, I was supposed to be taking professional notes on lesson pacing and student engagement—but all I could think was: this is kind of like writing a novel.

Hear me out.

Writing Heart of the Current (Book Two in the Dragon’s Breath, Human Heart series) has felt a lot like navigating a high school classroom. Chaotic. Vulnerable. Deeply personal in a way you only realize once someone else is reading what you wrote—or watching you teach. There’s that sense of being constantly evaluated while also trying to do something meaningful and real. Something that will actually stick.

Just like a lesson plan, every scene starts with an objective. Then the characters (bless their dramatic, emotionally damaged hearts) start improvising. Lyra especially. She’s this fierce, exhausted single mom who’s spent her whole life trying to protect her kids from magic—only to find that the magic isn’t done with her. Honestly? Same, girl. Same.

In teacher mode, I’m observing structure and discipline. In author mode, I’m channeling ancient dragon sigils and cursed dreams under frozen seas. Somewhere in the overlap, I realized: transformation doesn’t always ask for permission. It just… shows up. Usually when you're trying to act normal. Sometimes that means your students surprise you with deep insights. Sometimes it means you accidentally write a scene so raw it wrecks your own emotional state.

And sometimes? You wake up with dragon scales on your fingers.

Or, at least, Lyra does.

I wanted Heart of the Current to explore what it means to evolve when the world expects you to stay the same. To grow claws while still packing lunches. To answer the call of ancient magic while running late to brunch with your kids. To be a teacher, a mother, a protector—and still claim your own damn mythos.

This book was born in the weird liminal spaces—after grading essays, before I had to submit observation notes, in those witching hour moments when inspiration hits right as you’re about to sleep. Writing it was a reminder that magic and responsibility aren't mutually exclusive. They're just harder to juggle. (Especially if you're already bad at juggling.)

If you’ve ever felt like you’re living multiple lives—human and dragon, teacher and artist, mom and monster—this one’s for you.

🌀✨

Heart of the Current releases June 3rd, 2025. You can pre-order it at any of these portals of wonder:

No pressure. But if you've ever needed proof that moms can be magical badasses with unresolved trauma and cryptic prophecies? Lyra's waiting.

–Rin Nocturne
Author. Educator. Occasional cryptid.

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