The Best book in the World
The Best Book in the World is a story about two writers that crack an excellent idea at the same time. Imagine a book that covers a lot of genres, a book so amazing that it will end up on the bestseller list in every category imaginable: thriller, self-help, cookery, business, dieting. Everything in one! That book will give fame and fortune to … only one of them. Who will be first to write this amazing script?
You got tired of your career in the finance industry, so at what point did you decide enough was enough?
At one occasion when I worked as head of finances at a very big mortgage institute in Sweden I was giving the board of directors a briefing of how we used different financial instruments. The managing director was seated between me and the board members. He looked bored and after a while he fell asleep! Nobody in the room listened to a word of what I was saying because everybody focused on the sleeping CEO. That made me realize how boring everything about my job was.
You are also an entrepreneur, so can you tell us a bit more about this.
Five years ago I started a literary agency with two other partners. Today the company has five employees and has become one of the leading agencies in Scandinavia. We sell rights for Scandinavian authors all over the world.
You are a copywriter as well as a writer, so how much does this aid your fictional writing?
As a copywriter you have to create and maintain attention in every line. Hopefully it has made me more focused to deliver an experience to my readers.
Where did the inspiration come from for the book?
I asked myself: what would be a really good title for a book? The ultimate name? Once it popped up the whole story came to my head with a big BOOM. It happened at a restaurant and I told my family practically the whole outline in the following minutes.
Your first book was released in 2003, Enn Mann so what can you tell us about this?
It’s about a man that manages to control his dreams. But the more skilled he gets as a dream director the more he loses control of his life when he is awake. He gets into a mess and the story gets really corny since neither Enn Mann or the readers know if he’s awake or asleep. I had a lot fun writing it.
Who are your favourite reads?
They’re so many! But I guess I have to thank some of the guys that made me love the adventure of reading when I was a kid: Jules Verne, Alexander Dumas, Robert Louis Stevenson, Selma Lagerlöf, Joseph Heller, Jean M. Auel, Luke Rhinehart, John Kennedy Toole and Franz Kafka.
Which writers do you most admire?
The ones that make kids want to read books. J K Rowling, for example, turned my three kids into readers. Thanks to her they now live in a big and fantastic world.
What is your writing process?
I go up in the morning and write the whole day. I start with editing the text from yesterday and then move forward in the story from there. This goes on for a week and then I have to spend time with other projects. When the week is over I get severe anxiety problems if I don’t know when the next writing week will come.
What is next for you?
All I can say at this moment is that my next book won’t be the Best Book in the World.