Interest in writing seems to be flourishing during the corona pandemic.
SVT Kultur has previously reported that Bonnierförlagen received 25-30 percent more scripts in 2020, compared to a normal year.
The Babel program has started a writing school where the authors in the first round share mistakes they themselves made as beginners.
Tone Schunnesson shares a challenge she was faced with when she wrote her debut novel Tripprapporter:
- I think it's so boring to explain things when I write, it's hard with prose.
I remember my publisher saying I had to say something about the room, the book had to start somewhere.
“Do not play smart”
Karl Ove Knausgård believes that many who write give up too easily.
He urges not to throw away the script but to continue working on the text, no matter how bad it is.
- If you can handle it, it will go well.
Right now I'm in something bad myself, but I know the only way is to just stay there.
Then something will happen.
Schunnesson also advises daring to be embarrassing and banal in writing.
- When I am not going to play smart, then something that feels true, relevant and burning can come, says the author Tone Schunnesson.
Start the clip above to hear the conversation about what pitfalls an aspiring writer should avoid. You can watch the whole of Babel on SVT Play or on Sunday 7 March on SVT2 at 20.00.