Linn Ullmann / Features / Untitled Books

Times have changed for artists at work.

Linn Ullmann

Linn Ullmann's fourth book, A Blessed Child is a raw and blackly humorous portrait of three Scandinavian half-sisters set on the island of Hammarsö. The Norwegian native tells us how she writes.

I think it was Gertrude Stein who said: 'The stories you tell, you never write'.

Where are you right now?

I am in front of my computer, in the upstairs guestroom in my very old house on Malmøya, an island in Oslo.

Where do you write?

I write in the upstairs guestroom. If we have guests, I have to move out and then I write where ever there is room. I'd love to be like Woody Allen, who supposedly writes his scripts in bed. It sounds comfortable. Or it would be nice to sit in the garden with a big straw hat, a white dress and a laptop. But comfortable and romantic settings don't work for me. I need a desk and a good chair and light. I don't mind noise when I work, I have a big family. Kids. Dogs. Kid's friends. I also work as a journalist. There will be interruptions. Times have changed for artists at work: When my father, who was a filmmaker, wrote his scripts, there had to be silence. Kids were sent outside. The wives cooked lunch. Nobody argued. Women artists (especially women with families or jobs beside being an artist) may never have had this kind of privilege (although, I don't know if it really is a privilege) and today's men, especially if they have wives, lovers, kids, pets, a job, are not really at liberty to require that kind of sacrifice from others. I mean the kind of sacrifice that entails that everyone in the family agrees that You are the writer, You are the most important person in the world, Your art is of greater relevance than everyday realities like paying bills, buying and making dinner, walking the dog, listening to a child's complicated and never-ending story about a new freckle.

How do you write?

On a computer. Most often the computer works. Sometimes it doesn't and then I have to call a guy named Ali who fixes it.

What keeps you writing?

Sometimes a wonderful feeling of fun and necessity. Sometimes sheer discipline. Deadlines are a must. Someone has to be waiting for your stuff. I've read that writers write because they know they will die, but they probably also write because they know they have a deadline.

Who do you write for?

I don't know who my readers are. She or he is a big mystery. Once I sat at a café, I was alone. At another table, there was this woman, also alone. She was reading a book I had written. She sat there quietly with her coffee, reading my book. She didn't notice me, but I watched her eagerly. Did she smile, did she look sad, bored, intrigued, scared? What page was she on? What paragraph was she reading right now and now and now? After a while the woman finished her coffee, put the book in her purse and left.

Do you discuss your work with anyone?

I discuss my work with my husband, who is also a writer, and with my Norwegian editor. If I find myself discussing a book idea with lots of people, I usually end up trashing the project. I think it was Gertrude Stein who said: "The stories you tell, you never write". But then, again, I ascribe all intelligent quotes to Gertrude Stein.

How do you know if your work is good?

There are a few good moments in the writing process when you know. Everything falls into place. A good sentence. A good paragraph. It is very simple: You write exactly what you wanted to write. Or you surprise yourself and write something you hadn't thought about before, but you know it is exactly right. Usually you don't know if your writing is good. When people tell you your writing is good, you say thank you, you are flattered, it is nice, but ultimately not very convincing. And like most writers, I don't remember good reviews for very long (although I can quote a few bad ones word for word, while planning a horrible revenge for that particular critic).

Do you have any unwritten characters in mind?

About twelve right now - among them a fifteen year old girl, a 29 year old man, a 35 year old woman, a very lonely, very old man, a five year old girl, an ugly dog and a deeply troubled young boy. They are all in the process of being written into my new novel.

Which book do you wish you'd written?

I could list a number of my favourite books and writers, but for me it is more that I wish I had written this or that opening sentence, invented this or that character, understood structure in the way Don DeLillo does.

What is your literary guilty pleasure?

I have a lot of guilty pleasures, but none that involves reading. I occasionally enjoy watching trashy television, I find trashy television quite stimulating, but have no patience or time for trashy literature.

Which writer made you want to write?

I would say that I am indebted to my grandmother, Janna Ullmann, a book seller. Not because she made me want to write, but because she made me want to read.

Who's the most exciting author writing today?

There are many. I've stopped doing lists. I always regret them later.

If you weren't writing you'd be...?

I'd love to say prima ballerina. But the Norwegian Opera kicked me out when I was fifteen and I never danced again. And anyway, I'd be retired by now, with feet that hurt. So maybe it was for the best.

What next?

Lunch!

Friday, 1 August, 2008