[c] Writing The White Dragon did not really begin until 1974/75 after the New England Science Fiction Association invited her to its annual convention Boskone as Guest of Honor, which included the special publication of a small book for sale on site.

[4] Having the arrangements with Atheneum in writing, McCaffrey was able to shop for a mortgage and buy a home, to be called 'Dragonhold' for the dragons who bought it.

[7] Taking place seven years after the events of Dragonflight, the book opens with Menolly, youngest daughter of Masterfisher Yanus, Sea Holder of Half-Circle Seahold,[e] in the fictional world of Pern.

Frustrated and heartbroken, Menolly chooses to leave her Hold and live Holdless, a dangerous enterprise as flesh-eating Thread fall regularly on the area.

Menolly is present when the clutch hatches and inadvertently Impresses nine hatchlings, forming a symbiotic, psychic bond with them and making herself responsible for their care.

Menolly is shocked to find others at the Weyr have fire-lizards and that the creatures' discovery and potential has become a point of deep interest to dragonriders.

On the pretense of having Menolly show him her fire-lizards' ability, Robinton tricks her into performing one of the songs written by Petiron's mysterious apprentice, thus revealing that she is the composer.

Fixed gender roles make Menolly an outcast, as she is unskilled at tasks which are regarded as women's work on Pern and excels in the male-dominated field of music.

[8] The American Library Association in 1999 cited the two early Pern trilogies (Dragonriders and Harper Hall), along with The Ship Who Sang, when McCaffrey received the annual Margaret A. Edwards Award for her "lifetime contribution in writing for teens".