The queen of detective stories, Anna Jansson, has written around 80 books, which have sold many millions of copies worldwide.
She is driven by passion, has a great love for quirks and her best advice to anyone who wants to write a book is not to be too hard on yourself.
– Be in the mood, she says.
Anna Jansson is current with a new book, which this time is inspired by folk beliefs and stories from Hällefors. The book May eternity forgive has elements of UFOs and the myth of the mine lady.
– What you write as a detective story writer doesn’t have to be true, but it has to be interesting, she says.
She is fascinated by stories and often looks for stories that can form the basis of the plot interwoven with a contemporary plot. With the help of her characters, she makes the mythology feel believable, in this case Kristoffer Bark.
– You have to believe in what he experiences and he must be quite ordinary. So he has to do things that you think are perfectly normal. He drinks his coffee and watches TV and goes to work.
Can’t drive when she’s thinking
She has several popular characters, such as Maria Wern, who she wrote about for 20 years. And she has written over 80 books and built several different universes that readers can enter.
– There is great happiness in the moment when you: aha, this is how it should be, this is what I do. My partner has forbidden me to drive when I think about these things, because I won’t get where we’re going. I am completely fulfilled by it. I have never experienced writing cramp but this is pure desire.
How to write a bestseller
For those who want to write a book themselves, she has some advice.
– Above all: be in the mood. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
She says that she always starts the day by reading through and rewriting what she wrote yesterday.
– This means that what I write today does not have to be perfect, because I will write it through tomorrow anyway. It’s like a valve like this.
Another tip is to trust your feelings.
– Everything that moves and touches you, what comes to the heart. I think that’s what gives others something. What gets me going and inspires me, I actually trust that it’s universal.
She never writes a synopsis or draws the dramatic curve before she starts writing.
– That is probably what should have been done. But I don’t stick to it so I don’t. I start, I know where the story is going.