In 2008 I returned to my hometown after spending a year in Australia. And nothing had changed, except me.I knew I could never live there again. Years later I found myself writing stories set in small towns in Norway. And no one was more surprised than me.
Linni Ingemundsen
Sometimes writing what you know is the best. When I was a child I once tried to write a story set in Oslo. It was very difficult because I had never been there at the time and the Internet wasn’t really a thing yet. (I know, right?). The only reason I was placing it in Oslo was because the books I had been reading were set in big cities and it never occurred to me that a small town like my own could be interesting to anyone.
The Unpredictability of Being Human is set in a fictional town named Haasund. The reason why I chose a fictional town is because I wanted to draw inspiration from my childhood, but the same time have the freedom to make things up.
The small town gossip. In my book Dad is very concerned about keeping their things private, but of course he cannot control what people are talking about. The only thing he can do is learn to not worry so much about what other people think.
One of the things I like about writing about Norwegian villages is that “no one” has been there and I therefore have the opportunity to invite them into a whole new world.
I think there is a small part of me that envies people who are able to settle down and not have the need to move to a new place every five minutes.The people in Haasund don’t know anything else. And I don’t think they need to.
