According to her son Todd, McCaffrey's agent Virginia Kidd and editor Betty Ballantine provided crucial advice and assistance in her struggle with the sequel to Dragonflight.
In addition to being McCaffrey's agent and editor, Kidd provided emotional support and graduate level English instruction to McCaffrey though she was at times a harsh critic, telling her to burn the first version of Dragonquest.
McCaffrey made a fast start in Ireland, completing for 1971 publication Dragonquest and two Gothic novels for Dell, The Mark of Merlin and The Ring of Fear.