Trygg the Dinosaur
by Paula Louise Salvador
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Middle Grade Fiction,YA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERVIEW:
1. What or who inspired you to start writing?
I always enjoyed writing and telling stories to our two children, and then later to our granddaughter. They recognized parts of themselves in the characters and often hung on every word. I did have to be careful at times though. One story I wrote for our granddaughter when she was small was based on a bossy bison called Betsy. After the reading, her little voice, somewhat broken, asked, “Nana, is Betsy me?” I denied the accusation at the time, but I probably should come clean about that some day.
2. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?
I fell in love with a dinosaur. Yes, a real one. While I was directing our television documentary, “DINOSAUR BABIES: THE NORTH AMERICAN STORY”, paleontologist Dr. David Varricchio (at the Museum of the Rockies in Montana) showed our crew the fossilized egg of a tiny Troödon dinosaur. Some of the shell had broken off, and we could see the little leg of the embryo, all curled up. It looked like an unhatched chicken. I almost melted. I was enthralled, especially because it had been in that egg for 76 million years. My imagination took off. What if that tiny meat-eater made it out of its egg? That was the beginning of Trygg’s story.
“He had to get out. There was no more room for him inside his egg. The top of the shell had a small crack, so he pushed his snout against it and made a large enough opening to finally poke his head free. He stopped to catch his breath, but his feathers were wet, and the air made him shiver. As soon as possible, he needed to get into the sun to warm up. He quickly smashed the bottom of the egg by scratching at it with his back claws, then he wiggled all the way out. What a relief it was to uncurl his legs and stretch out his tail.”
3. What expertise did you bring to your writing?
At university, I studied literature, from the great classics to children’s books, in English and in French. (I also took calculus, but that certainly wasn’t leading to a career.) I did however, work as a documentary film maker, and have written many scripts, as well as magazine and newspaper articles. Later, I took courses on writing fiction specifically for children given by a successful (and funny) children’s author. (And I did my homework every week!)
4. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?
I was raised in the country on the shores of Lake Erie. There were only three houses, surrounded by potato fields. Luckily, each neighboring family had a boy my age, and we had great fun with lots of freedom. We made up whole adventures, and many of the settings in TRYGG THE DINOSAUR were inspired by our excursions. In the book, the shore of the lake (where Trygg lived) at the base of the cliff leading up to the “plain” where Alta lived is certainly Lake Erie and the flat fields above it where we played. And learning to swim (which Trygg struggles with) was one of my mother’s first priorities. She squeezed my sister and me, the next door kids, as well as the dog, into her Volkswagon beetle car and drove us to swimming lessons further down the shore, where we all went in, whether the water was nice and warm or freezing cold. As for the sand bank (where Alta peaks down at the Albertosaurs in the excerpt from Chapter Twenty below), this was actually a favourite spot of ours for playing. That is until the big boys dug a labyrinth of tunnels and persuaded me to crawl in and find out if they were wide enough. My mother managed to put a stop to that, thankfully, before the whole thing collapsed on us.
5. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
Right now, Trygg The Dinosaur is being translated into French by an impressively qualified native Frenchman, experienced teacher, and expert translator. He is also my husband, so we’ve been brainstorming about what names to give all the characters. “Trygg le dinosaure” was easy, and so was Alta. Lady Elspeth, the leader of Alta’s plant-eating herd, has become “Dame Éléonore”, but we’re still scouting around for what to call “Doof”, the uncoordinated Troödon, This is proving surprisingly difficult.
6. Can you give us a sneak peek into this book?
Here’s a bit from Chapter Twenty of TRYGG THE DINOSAUR where Alta discovers a group of Albertosaurs, big predators at the top of the food chain, similar to Tyrannosaurus rex (who evolved about 10 million years later.) This is where Alta hides behind a sand dune overlooking a deep slope, just like I did when I was a little girl.
“Alta realized that she had to keep track of the direction the Hypacrosaurs were going, or she’d lose her way. … Once the herd halted for a break, she looked for a place to rest too. She discovered a crest of sand that had formed between the trees. It seemed safe, so she propped her sore foot on it and was just about to close her eyes when a roar shattered the quiet. She crouched down fast and snuck a look around the dune.
Beneath her, a young dinosaur was bent over a bed of mud that still had a trickle of water left in it. The animal was only a bit bigger than Alta. It had long back legs and a thick tail, but its arms were thin and short. They looked useless. Besides, it was completely ignoring a large turtle who was getting a drink right beside it, so maybe it wasn’t much of a threat to anyone.
Alta knew that she couldn’t trust all animals, especially ones that she didn’t know, but she was so thirsty that she was willing to take a risk to get some water. She started to stand, but then the dinosaur below opened its jaws wide and snarled at the turtle. Alta could see the big sharp teeth curving backward in its mouth. No doubt about it, this was an Albertosaur—one of the most dangerous dinosaurs around. Alta pushed herself tightly against the dune in an effort to keep out of sight, but her foot slipped and knocked a pile of sand down the slope into the mud. She froze and didn’t dare breathe.
The young Albertosaur jerked its head up and stared straight at Alta’s lookout. It called for help, and two huge adults came running. …
Alta peeked down at them. “Must be a family,” she sighed. “Even they’ve got somebody.”
7. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)
I received the worst advice after having spent years writing this book where each alternating chapter is from the point of view of one of the two main characters, Trygg the little meat-eating dinosaur, then Alta, the big plant-eater. One of the editors told me that switching back and forth didn’t work. He felt strongly that even Mark Twain hadn’t pulled it off in “Huckleberry Finn” between Huck’s and Tom Sawyer’s points of view. He wanted me to re-structure the whole book. I didn’t listen to this advice and stuck with my basic set-up. However, it was essential that the reader didn’t end up confused by the jumping between the points of view.
This lead to the best advice I got from this same editor, which was to let the reader in on what each character was feeling, or planning, or worrying about. So in Chapter One, when we read about the newly hatched meat-eater, he shares what’s going on in his head. He realizes that a mudslide is about to flood his nest, and the reader needs to be aware of what he’s thinking.
“The little Troödon knew that he had to save himself. A mass of clay, stones and broken sticks was rising fast around him. He planted one foot in the base of his nest, then he hooked the strongest toe claw of his other foot into the rim. He pushed off and jumped out just before the mud surged over the edge and buried all the other eggs.
“Run!” he cried. “But where?”
Later, in Chapter Four, we have switched back to the point of view of Alta, the plant-eating duckbill dinosaur. It was important to spell out her inner thoughts and grab at the reader’s heart right away.
“The sun rose over the far edge of the plain, but it wasn’t the light that woke Alta. And I wasn’t the noise of the herd honking all around her. It was her empty stomach that wouldn’t stop growling. She’d had nothing to eat since the palm fronds of the day before. Even the family in the nest beside her had no food left.
But where were her parents? All night she had called out to them, until she couldn’t call anymore. Why didn’t they answer?”
I feel that this structure works. And my hope is that it keeps the reader imagining what Trygg and Alta actually think of each other. (Just like in real life when we’re trying to figure out who our true friends are.)
8. Do you outline your books or just start writing?
I just start writing what is buzzing around in my head, or rather in the heads of my characters who seem to take charge.
9. How do you maintain your creativity?
I go for a walk. Luckily, we live in a big city with lots of wonderful ravines and woods and natural spaces. I hike around and let my mind wander. Scenes usually start to pop up in my head, especially when I come across any animals. Dogs are fine, but squirrels and rabbits are even better. (I have to admit that I talk to them all.) The best was a HUGE hawk that actually buzzed me. I felt his feathers on my arm as he flew by me. Fortunately, I told him that I wasn’t going to harm him, and that I would definitely get out of his space. It worked.
10. Anything else you might want to add?
Illustrations are very important in bringing a kids’ fiction book to life, especially when the characters are dinosaurs that most children have probably never heard of. Artist John Bindon and I worked together from the (almost) final draft of Trygg The Dinosaur. He chose the scenes he was excited about creating, and his expertise in drawing dinosaurs was invaluable. In one chapter, I had written an encounter between Trygg and Alta that John explained was physically impossible because Alta the four-legged plant-eater was more than four times the size of little Trygg the two-legged meat-eater. I checked the scientific studies of the fossil skeletons and took note of the measurements. To get a sense of the size of the animals when they first meet as young dinosaurs, I marked the measurements out on the upstairs floor of my house. John was right, and I rewrote the scene.
So not only did John create drawings of the dinosaurs as accurate as they can be, he also gave them great personalities, capturing their fear, their despair, their delight and their affection. Check out our website to see John Bindon’s heart-warming illustrations. Https://tryggthedinosaur,com
BLURB:
Two young dinosaurs from opposite sides of the floodplain bump into each other by chance. He’s a small meat-eater, and she’s a big plant-eater. They’ve got no parents, no food, no friends. They’re supposed to be enemies, but they decide to stick together instead. It’s not easy. When she gets caught with him, she ends up banished from her herd. He faces a huge rival who could stomp him out with one back foot. They have to outsmart a gang of bullies with sharp teeth and long, curved claws. And they struggle to survive the natural disasters of drought, mudslides and a bubbling tar pit. Worst of all, when they lose contact with each other, they fear betrayal. What if their friendship has been broken?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
He had to get out. There was no more room for him inside his egg. The top of the shell had a small crack, so he pushed his snout against it and made a large enough opening to finally poke his head free. He stopped to catch his breath, but his feathers were wet, and the air made him shiver. As soon as possible, he needed to get into the sun to warm up. He quickly smashed the bottom of the egg by scratching at it with his back claws, then he wiggled all the way out. What a relief it was to uncurl his legs and stretch out his tail.
Dark green eggs, just like his, filled the nest. So far, he was the only little dinosaur to hatch. But maybe there were others beyond the wall of his nest. He had to take a look. By reaching high with his hands, he was able to hook his fingers into the dried mud of the rim. His arms were so skinny he could see the shape of his bones under the skin, but he found the strength to pull himself up. His legs wobbled a bit, then they settled, and he stood for the very first time.
“Anybody there?” he called out.
No one answered. He was alone. And he was surrounded by water. His nest sat on an island in the middle of a shallow lake. At least it had been built on top of a mound of earth, so it seemed safe. All was quiet except for the rippling of the small waves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Paula Louise Salvador has had great adventures as a documentary film maker and writer. The scariest was when she stood under the ribs of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton – in the dark! The most fun was filming dinosaur dig-sites from a helicopter. On the dangerous side, she had to dodge alligators in Mississippi – and keep all fingers and toes out of the water.
Paula has met fascinating people, particularly jazz legend Oscar Peterson and composer Philip Glass, who performed in her show on electronic music.
In “BUILD GREEN” for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “THE NATURE OF THINGS”, Paula and Dr. David Suzuki visited rock star Randy Bachman’s super sustainable house. (He played his guitar for us.)
Finally, it was a tiny dinosaur that captured Paula’s heart. For her documentary “DINOSAUR BABIES The North American Story”, Paula held the fossilized egg of a little Troödon. He was curled up inside, just about to hatch. (His leg bones looked like a chicken’s.) That’s where Paula’s story of Trygg begins.
Paula has a Masters in French Literature from l’Université de Provence, France and a Bachelor of Arts (including Children’s Literature) from McGill University, Canada.
CONNECT WITH PAULA
WEBSITE: https://tryggthedinosaur.com/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/PSalProductions
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/paulalouisesalvador/?hl=en
LINKEDIN:https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-louise-salvador-44b92711/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/paula.salvador.31521
PURCHASE LINKS
AMAZON
https://amazon.com/dp/0228813247
KINDLE
https://amazon.com/dp/B07NBRSMS7
BOOKSHOP
https://bookshop.org/books/trygg-the-dinosaur/9780228813248
INDIGO CHAPTERS
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/trygg-the-dinosaur/9780228813248-item.html
BARNES & NOBLE
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/trygg-the-dinosaur-paula-louise-salvador/1130452141
BOOK DEPOSITORY
https://www.bookdepository.com/Trygg-The-Dinosaur-Paula-Louise-Salvador/9780228813248
RAKUTEN KOBO
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/trygg-the-dinosaur
SMASHWORDS
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/921088
APPLE BOOKS
https://books.apple.com/us/book/trygg-the-dinosaur/id1451360457
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Paula Louise Salvador will be awarding $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3863
