We sat down with John Condon to talk all about his process behind We are Dragons illustrated by Patrick Corrigan, and published by HarperCollins.

We Are Dragons is brilliant! Where did the initial idea come from?

That’s very kind of you but the brilliance of the book has as much to do with Patrick Corrigan and the team at HarperCollins as it does me.

The idea originally came about because I wanted to do a story based on the rhyme Ten Green Bottles. I had some fun generating outrageous scenarios for a group of little dragons to find themselves in. As you can imagine the rhyme scheme handled itself. “Ten small dragons, sitting in a tree. Ten small dragons, happy as can be. But if one small dragon should accidentally sneeze…” Well, chaos ensues.

But then, as often happens when I have just finished writing a new text, a book was announced that had the exact same idea, albeit without the dragons. So, after sobbing quietly to myself for a bit I decided that the story I was writing was more about the fun and chaos than it was about the rhyme and counting. I started again, this time with a rhyme scheme that had some zip and energy, which, as it turns out, was a much better fit for the story. I now have a story that I am much happier with.

There’s a real sense of playful anarchy in the story — how important is it for you to let stories be loud, silly and a bit out of control?

I believe that a story should be what it needs to be and more often than not it shows me what that is in the writing process. I can try and force fit a story into a slot I might want to fill (for example, I would love to have a heartfelt Christmas story published some day) but, at some point in the process the story will let me know what it really is. In this instance, the characters let it be known that they were up for fun and adventure and they then took me on a journey of discovery.

I have a young son who is often (so often) loud, silly and seemingly out of control but that’s who he is and it’s a large part of his development as a person and exploration of the world around him. I believe it’s important that he have space and freedom to be loud and silly. And, as we all know, it’s vital that children see themselves reflected in the stories they read. So, when writing this story I had him, and children like him, firmly in mind.

What’s your favourite moment of chaos in the book and why?

Oh, wow. There are so many great moments, thanks to Patrick. That said, even when I wrote it I had a feeling that the town square scene was going to be epic. And Patrick did not fail to deliver. There is so much to discover in that one spread that you could study it for ten minutes and not find every little visual story being told. I LOVE it.

We’re living in a world that can feel quite heavy and daunting, even for young children. Why do you think light-hearted, joyful stories like We Are Dragons feel particularly important right now?

Stories like these give, I believe, children a chance to breathe out. They let them know that it’s okay to be silly. It’s okay to make noise. It’s okay to laugh until your belly hurts. That kind of joyful chaos is a reminder that the world isn’t always (or only) serious but that it’s also fun and full of the possibility for adventure. And every child deserves to feel that.

With the National Year of Reading encouraging children to fall in love with books, how do you think stories like We Are Dragons can help spark that joy and excitement around reading?

I think the key word there is joy. If a child associates reading with joy, you know, belly-laugh, can’t-catch-your-breath joy, then you’ve won. You’ve done the most important thing. My son has a thing he does when he is reading something that really connects with him, especially if it’s funny. He’ll laugh and then shake his head and say (entirely to himself) “Ah, that’s great. Really great.” When he did that as we read We Are Dragons for the first time, I almost cried with joy. Instead, I laughed with him in that moment and it was wonderful.

We Are Dragons is meant to be read aloud, loudly, with sound effects (if you can manage them). And when a parent and child share that joyful experience together, laughing at the same moment, pointing at the same picture, that’s a memory being made. A bond that is being strengthened. And memories like that are what bring children back to books.

What role do you think laughter and chaos play in helping children process the world around them?

I’m lucky that I have a front row seat to this every single day. My son can turn any room into what looks, from the outside, like complete chaos. But in reality he is exploring, testing ideas, pushing limits. Seeing what happens if he does this. Or that. The chaos is how he makes sense of everything. I think that’s why children respond so instinctively to stories like this. The dragons aren’t being naughty for the sake of it. They’re just being alive. living in the moment and exploring their world. And kids will recognise that when they read this book. I hope!

Do you have any memories of books from your own childhood that were simply fun, and helped turn you into a reader?

I didn’t really read much as a young child, I was more interested in television and cinema. The books that eventually turned me into a reader though were the Fighting Fantasy game books published by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. I didn’t discover them until I was around ten or eleven but I instantly fell in love with them. It’s proof that there are books out there for everyone and whichever book it is that makes a child (or anyone) fall in love with reading is a great book.

When you’re writing a rhyming, high-energy story like this, what comes first for you: the rhythm, the jokes or the characters?

Well, usually it’s the characters but, as mentioned earlier, in this instance it was the rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme I later dropped to focus on the characters. Ha!

What’s something you would love to write about in the future?

I already mentioned this too. I would love to have a Christmas book published one day. A story about family, or friendship, during the winter season. There are quite a few festive books that we, as a family, bring out every year to read at bed time and I know other families do the same. I’d love to one day be told that someone somewhere brings out my book every year too. That’s my dream. Or perhaps my Christmas wish.

Watch the book Trailer here:

---

Get your copy of We are Dragons here.

To work with John, get in touch with his agent Georgia Tournay-Godfrey here.