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Author Interview - Mats Vederhus


This week's guest is Author Mats Verderhus.


Mats' writes crime and mystery novels though his current WIP is a sci-fi noir story.


To learn more about Mats, check out our interview below.






About Writing/Books/Being an Author


1. Do you remember the first book you read that had an impact on you - in what way and what was the name of that book?


This is such a clichéd answer, but like many kids of my generation the books that really got me hooked on reading were the Harry Potter-series. They had an impact on me simply because they were wonderfully written and made me read.


2. When did you first realize you wanted to write?


This is a difficult question for me. I started writing short stories in school as a very young kid, and continued doing that until I was in secondary school. But then I stopped, and I didn’t return to writing until I had started university, many years later. But I guess you could say that it is/was something that was always close to my heart, even though I had to find my way back to it.


3. Who is/are your favourite author(s)?


Obviously JK Rowling. Harry Potter when I was a kid, and Cormoran Strike as an adult. Then there’s the Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgård, whose prose is unlike any I’ve ever read. Agatha Christie probably shares first place as my favorite crime writer with JK Rowling, and I also love Philip Pullman’s fantasy. My favorite guilty pleasure is Dan Brown!


4. What is your favourite thing about writing? What is your least favourite thing about writing?


My favorite thing about writing is the unlimited expressiveness, the ability to conjure up worlds, universes and characters simply by setting a pen to paper. Paradoxically, that is also my least favorite thing about writing. Because it strains my fantasy to such a degree that… my favorite quote about writing is American journalist and dramatist Gene Fowler: “Writing is easy. All you do is sit staring at a blank piece of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”


5. Where do your ideas come from?


Kind of sad, but as I’ve grown older, most of my ideas seem to stem in whole or in part from my own life. The protagonist in my two books, Kurt Hammer, is from Trondheim where I lived for many years. He works as a journalist, and I also have an education in that field. His relationship with alcohol is mine, just pushed to an extreme degree. Writing about that has been like therapy for me, and I think has been an important part in keeping me from addiction. Right now, I’m working on a science fiction noir story, set in Moscow which is a city I also lived in for a year.


6. I’ve often found that creative people have more than one talent, what is yours?


I program computers – a hobby, I play bass and take concert photographs.


7. If you could jump inside a book for one day (as an observer) what book would it be?

Really difficult question!!


Off the top of my head I would say Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, or The Northern Lights by Philip Pullman.


8. When you create characters, are they completely made up or do they resemble or remind you of people you know?


Most of them are made up, but they share names and sometimes physical traits with people I know or people I’ve met. You shouldn’t befriend me unless you can deal with potentially becoming a character in my books.


9. Have you ever created a character “out of thin air” only to run into someone in real life that reminds you of that character either in personality or their features?


Sadly, no.


10. How do you come up with titles for your books?


Those are often very difficult. My current project has a working title of Moscow 2486. Murder in Lima, my latest release – I don’t remember how it came about, but it was fairly obvious. I think it was the first title I actually checked online, and I couldn’t find another book with that title. Later I’ve found that there is actually another book by that title, but it is a very old book.


11. What are you working on now and can you tell us about it?


Like I’ve already mentioned, it is a Science fiction noir story set in Moscow in 2184.


12. Have you won any awards for your writing/books and if so what?


Not yet.


A Little More Personal


13. What is one thing you haven’t done but would like to do?


I haven’t yet sailed from Peru to Polynesia. It’s on my bucket list. So is climbing Mount Everest.


14. Can you tell us about an embarrassing/funny moment?


Not that I can recall! There’s this moment in Murder in Lima when Kurt Hammer woke up in a bed by an unknown woman, unable to recall any pretext. There’s been a few of those in my own life, but I didn’t base that situation on anything specific.


15. Have you ever experienced something weird you could not explain?


Not off the top of my head. Actually, at one point my dog figured out that he could use his body weight to free some ice from a frozen lake, so he started jumping on it. Border Collies are incredibly smart!


16. Are you superstitious? Do you have any rituals for good luck?


No.


17. What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?


Raw meat, Steak Tartare, in Russia. It’s really good!


18. Do you have a favourite vacation spot? Where?


Right now it’s probably between St. Petersburg, Russia, and Lima, Peru.


19. Can you tell us about one of your favourite childhood memories?


My favorite childhood memories seem to be connected to meeting my cousins during the summer at my grandparent’s house. They lived at the other side of the country so we typically only met once a year.


20. What makes you happy?


I’m happy when I’m reading a really good book, playing a really good game, watching a really good painting or completely drunk (I.E don’t have to think about anything).


21. If you aren’t writing (or doing anything associated with writing), what are you doing?


I study Russian and Italian at the university of Bergen.


22. Have you ever met anyone famous – who?


Yeah, loads. Most of them Norwegian stars whom I’ve interviewed. The most famous one I’ve ever met is probably Rob Trujillo, Metallica’s bassist. That’s a memory I will treasure for the rest of my life.


Mats' Links


 

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