Alex Schulman's writing has previously been limited to an autobiographical and historical form, where the writing process has been tied to the truth.
He has written books about the relationship to both his parents, to his wife and most recently to his grandparents.
In an interview in the literature program Babel, he tells the host Jessika Gedin about what it has been like to move into the world of fiction in connection with the novel The Survivors.
- I have been happy that I have been free.
I have not had to consider any mother, relative or brother or so.
It has been nice to be able to write completely freely and to be able to decide exactly what happens to my characters, says Alex Schulman.
"All writing is a journey into the dark"
In the new novel, the author depicts the darkness of a family, a theme that Schulman's readers have also seen in his previous work.
In The Survivors, it happens through the insight into a hurtful sibling relationship between three brothers who know each other so well, but do not reach each other.
- All writing, for me at least, is still a journey into some kind of darkness so it is still always hard in the end, he says.
The idea for the novel is based on Schulman's exploration of his own sibling relationships and the croft where large parts of the Survivors take place is also a real place from which the author has taken inspiration.
His own experiences are something he plans to continue to pour out even in fiction.
- I want to write as if life is at stake.
The moments of that feeling, that's what all my writing is about right now, says the author.