Interview with Lindsey Kinsella
Happy Tuesday, everyone! Hope you guys are up for another author interview! Today, the amazing Lindsey Kinsella is hanging out with all of us! So, from the second I got Lindsey’s first email, I knew he was going to be a fun one. He was discussing his book in that first email, and I got hooked on how unique his idea was. That’s the great thing about meeting authors from different genres and even different parts of the world, everyone has something amazing to share with the world. And Lindsey’s is pretty amazing. His book challenges the way dinosaurs have been presented in the media. I mean, think about it, really think about it. Have you ever seen a dinosaur movie or book where the dinosaur wasn’t a man-eating monster or a children’s playmate? I haven’t. Reading Lindsey’s book was not only eye opening, but it gripped me from the start. The book probed into another reality, and I really loved that. Besides Lindsey’s lifelong obsession with dinosaurs, he also really loves cars. I don’t mean that in the way that he just likes to look at them or collect them, he prides himself on restoring them. That was another bond moment for us because my late grandfather used to do the same thing and everything I learned about cars, I learned from him. My grandfather has been gone for nearly a year now, so it was nice to be able to talk about cars with someone again. So, if you ever find yourself needing to get on Lindsey’s good side, just spout some car knowledge and I have a feeling you’ll do just fine. If you’d like to read another perspective on the life of a dinosaur, be sure to check out The Lazarus Taxa!
How did your writing career begin?
My writing career really kicked off in the summer of 2020 when, as some of you may recall, the apocalypse came to town and we were all told to stay home. Now, in the shadow of COVID, being bored was a pretty nice problem to have—but it was a problem nonetheless. As such, I turned to writing—a past time which hadn’t crossed my mind for well over a decade.
I can’t say I expected anything to come from it, after all it began as little more than a way to kill the time, but I soon found myself fully emersed in the process. I ultimately felt the resulting novel deserved more than to be hidden away on a laptop hard drive—and so, here we are!
If writing was a sport, what would your mascot be?
It would have to be a dinosaur! I’d go with a fully feathered dromaeosaur (or “raptor” as they are often known)—it best represents both my favourite subject material (natural history) and also my love of dragging pop culture into modern science and banishing old tropes.
Take me through your process of developing ideas.
The basis for most of my story ideas is rooted in my love for paleontology. It’s a topic I am hugely passionate about and I reckon that comes through in my books.
For The Lazarus Taxa, the idea stemmed for a very basic desire to present a new perspective of dinosaurs to the reader. I wanted to show them as animals in their natural environment, rather than simply rampaging movie monsters.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Pretty much my entire music collection. I think most people of my generation grew out of their emo-pop-punk phase some ten years ago, but not me!
What is the most exciting part of the writing process for you?
It’s definitely the later drafts. The first draft is fun from a creative perspective, but it can also be daunting, and the end result is usually rather underwhelming. The later drafts are where the story really begins to take shape, where the character develop and the world comes to life. It’s so satisfying to see how much the story improves with every draft.
If you could live anywhere, where would you pick?
Don’t get me wrong, I love my native Scotland, but it certainly would be nice to live somewhere a little less... wet. I think, if I could master the language, Italy would be a good choice. A warm Mediterranean climate, great food, excellent healthcare, spectacular views, and rust-free classic cars!
What feelings or thoughts do you hope your writing gives the readers?
I hope I can relay a variety of emotions. I think my writing style has a lot contrast between the light and dark tones within the same story, and so I hope the readers will laugh, cry and cower in fear in equal measure.
Besides writing, what is another talent of yours?
I am quite a dab hand with a set of spanners! I currently own a bright yellow 1980 MG B-GT, a small British sports car, which I’m in the process of restoring. In the past year it has been mechanically restored and is roadworthy after 3 years without being started. Now, I’m in the process of making her pretty!
What is one car you’ve always wanted to own but don’t?
Just one? That’s a hard choice! I’m a huge petrol head with a massively varied taste in cars. I’d love a 60’s American pony car such as a Chevy Nova, or a retro rally car like a Lancia Stratos, or a big V12 grand tourer like an Aston Martin DB7.
If I really had to pick a favourite, though, it would be the Lotus Esprit—a mid-engined, British sports car from the 80’s. I’ve always loved the uncompromising approach of Lotus—the only priority is lightness. It’s probably the purest form of motoring.
How do you incorporate your everyday life into your books?
I think there are a number of ways my daily life creeps in, some more impactful than others. For example, cars are my other passion—I organize local motor shows every summer—so I make a point of writing cool, believable vehicles such as the TD5 Land Rover Defender in The Lazarus Taxa. This also impacted the main character, a field engineer called Sid. Having a good mechanical knowledge was vital in writing him in an authentic way—and it was important to have a few mechanical mishaps to cement his importance within the team.
There are more subtle aspects, though. For example, I often have wood pigeons in my garden (they are a particular favourite of my fiancée) and decided to use their calls as the basis for one of the dinosaur calls.
What do you need in your writing space to concentrate?
I can be quite easily distracted, so primarily I need quiet. No TV, no music, no phone—just writing. Having no distractions is easier said than done in a house with two (soon to be three) children! As such, I often find myself writing late at night when everyone else has gone to bed.
Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?
For an author who hasn’t yet made a start, just have a go. I put off writing for a long time as I felt it was an unobtainable goal, that writing a book was something reserved for some imagined elite. I now know that writing is accessible to everyone. Sure, traditional publishers are a hard nut to crack and elitism exists in literature as it does everywhere, but self-publishing is now easier than it’s ever been. You have nothing to lose!
Please include a short bio of yourself, the book blurb you’d like me to use, and the book cover. If you’d like to include any other information, feel free to. If any of the questions make you uncomfortable, let me know and I’ll adjust. Thank you!
Bio:
“Lindsey Kinsella is a Scottish writer and author of the science fiction novel “The Lazarus Taxa”.
While a qualified and experienced naval architect and an avid car enthusiast, he always reserved a space in his life for a deep fascination with paleontology. This drove his writing process as he strove to write tales of the rich and complex history of life on Earth.”
Blurb:
68 million years in the past. Deep time—the true final frontier. But all is not as I seems. Which should be feared most—the dinosaurs… or the people?
The Lazarus Taxa follows the first scientific expedition through time to the Late Cretaceous.
Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NP1M1S9/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_K3JZ23J09RKNYJCQRZRC
