Lindsay Galvin writes for middle grade, teens and adults. A qualified teacher, she lives on the beautiful south coast of England. When we included the fabulous Darwin's Dragons in our subscription box for confident readers, we were very excited to be able to ask her a few questions and we included the interview in the activity magazine. Here's a snippet of what she had to say to us!
What was it that inspired you to create Darwin’s Dragons?
"I have always loved anything to do with mythical ‘monsters’, starting with my Dad reading Greek myths to me when I was very young. I wanted to bring a mythical creature into a real world setting and the story grew from there! If dragons had survived without discovery until 1835 then they needed to be somewhere very remote. Once I knew I wanted to include Darwin, the Galapagos seemed like the obvious choice. The active volcanoes of the Galapagos are a bonus…because where else would you expect to find fire breathing dragons?"
What was the most surprising thing you learned while researching this book?
"I was surprised to learn that Mr Darwin didn’t only study animals, he sometimes ate them! He tasted all sorts of unusual and rare animals, from Galapagos iguana to panther, he even tried a sip of tortoise wee. The Victorians had quite different ideas about animals!"
Do you have a favourite character from any of your books?
"I think it has to be Farthing in Darwin’s Dragons. I absolutely adored writing about this totally unique reptile and her friendship with Syms, I could imagine them together so easily which made writing it much easier".
Do you have any pets or favourite animals?
"I have two cats and a puppy and I love them in different ways. My cats are so independent and relaxed, and my dog just adores us all so much and makes us laugh every day. My family had an African Grey parrot when I was growing up and he spoke to us all the time, I’d love to write about a talking bird one day. My favourite wild animal is probably the octopus as they are so intelligent and strange, they really interest me".
What’s the hardest thing about becoming a writer?
"The hardest part for me is when I am writing the first draft. I have an amazing story in my head, but it just doesn’t come out that way at first. It takes lots of edits to make it into the story I want it to be. I wish it was a quicker process, but I’ve just had to learn to be more patient, and keep working on it, bit by bit".
Lindsay's other books include The Secret Deep and My Friend The Octopus. You can find out more about her writing at https://www.lindsaygalvin.com/
