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‘Go for your passion and see where it takes you’

Stockholm-based British novellist Simon Linter talks to The Local about writing and why he thinks authors should not be afraid of exposing their flaws.

Published: 4 April 2016 06:59 CEST
'Go for your passion and see where it takes you'
Simon Linter on a visit to Hungary. Photo: Private

The story of how Simon Linter ended up in Sweden sounds a bit like a novel in its own right.

“I'm what they call a love refugee. There was this band, Puressence, which I was really into. I needed help downloading some of their files on Napster and got chatting to a girl who lived in Amsterdam. After a while she said 'hey, you should really meet this Swedish friend of mine'.”

“That friend is now my wife,” he smiles.

After this unusual twist on internet dating, the Northampton-born Briton packed his bags and headed for Gothenburg in 2003. Today, he and his wife live in Stockholm, where he has just released his novel, 'Let Go', which he is presenting at the English Bookshop on the Södermalm island on April 10th.

“I don't want to give too much away, but it's about a CEO telling his story of how he rose to the top. He wants to write a tale of inspiration, but starts to remember things he probably shouldn't remember. I've worked for a lot of corporations. The bigger they get the more egotistical they get and the less they care about their employees,” says Linter.

He got into writing an an early age, describing how his first attempt at writing a novel came when he was 17 years old, on an old metal typewriter he had bought from his neighbour for £20.

“I then tried to turn it into a screenplay. I thought, if Tarantino could do it, so can I. You have to realize that all these celebrities started somewhere – Quentin Tarantino started out working in a video store – and if you've got a passion for something, go for it and see where it takes you.”

It did not lead anywhere at first for Linter, despite a couple of contacts with filmmakers. But when he moved to Stockholm he joined a creative writing course at adult education centre Folkuniversitetet, where he decided to dust off his work and turn the screenplay back into a novel.

“We had been told to write a chapter for the course. But then my classmates liked it and kept asking me 'what's going to happen next?' and I thought 'well, I guess I'm just going to have to finish the damn thing'.”

It became 'Making Headlines', Linter's first self-published work of fiction. He is refreshingly self-critical for an author, saying there are plenty of words he would change and sentences he would write in a different way today. But to him, the learning process is in many ways part of the creative work.

“There's a fine line there. There's a certain level of quality a story has to have. But there's a lot of self-published stuff that's not great but gets a lot of readers – take '50 Shades of Grey',” he says.

“Even the first Harry Potter book is not very good in terms of grammar, but JK Rowling was a single mum writing in cafes and struggling with money at the time. And again, if JK Rowling could do it, anyone can.”

However, in his role as a freelance editor and English proofreader, Linter admits he sometimes has to read and correct texts of “varying” quality, as he diplomatically puts it.

“I got sent one by a Russian author that was so bad, the grammar, spelling, everything. I couldn't even understand what it meant, so I sent it back to the publishers and said there was nothing I could do.”

Again, he does not want to discourage anyone from trying and emphasizes that flaws are not inherently bad. To prove his point, readers who buy his newest novel from the English Bookshop also get a copy of 'Think Inside The Box', a collection of short stories that were all written as part of creative writing classes.

“Hey, I took my driving test five times, it's an achievement in itself. (…) I want to put stuff out there, the stories might not be perfect, but it's more of an author in progress. I want people to pick it up and maybe find faults with it.”


Simon Linter's novels and other projects. Photo: The Local

Linter, who has also written 'How I learnt to stop missing England and love the herring, or, a decade in Sweden' about his time in Sweden, usually finds his creative material in the surreal aspects of daily life.

He says he still often turns to his childhood hero, British-Norwegian children's author Roald Dahl, known for his dark humour and unexpected twists, for inspiration.

“I like to blow things out of proportion, but within social realism. Stories that could happen, but may not happen exactly that way. You know, I actually saw Dahl once, when I was eight years old, in Boots – the UK chemist. I was too shy to go up and say hello. Do I still regret that? Damn right!”

But if there is one area Linter refuses to stray into, it's Sweden's beloved Nordic Noir.

“Camilla Läckberg seems nice enough, I've met her and I tried to read 'Olycksfågeln' ['The Gallows Bird'] while I was learning Swedish,” he says about one of Sweden's most famous crime writers.

“But why bother, there are already so many detective novels out there, I don't want to be another one.”

His next plan is to do a masters degree in creative writing at Stockholm University, while working on a range of writing and musical projects on the side. But he has no intention of leaving Sweden any time soon.

“I don't like UK politics at the moment, there are too many negatives, and I'm worried about what would happen if it left the EU. And I honestly think I would miss Sweden too much if I left. There's less of a 'the winner takes it all' mentality here, I like that.”

For members

READER INSIGHTS

How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who’ve been there, done that

The Swedish job market poses unique challenges for newcomers. The Local's readers share their best tips for cracking the career code.

Published: 10 April 2024 11:32 CEST
Updated: 13 April 2024 15:50 CEST
How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who've been there, done that

Network, network, network!

A statistic that often gets tossed around is that seven out of ten jobs in Sweden are obtained through personal connections, and there’s no doubt that a good network is crucial to your job hunt, making the labour market extra challenging for newcomers to the country.

In fact, networking was the main tip mentioned by The Local’s readers.

“The job market is quite hot in Sweden, and talent is in short supply. People hiring do not have a lot of time to find the right talent, and tips from friends, colleagues and former colleagues are the way to first, find out organisations are hiring, and secondly, get your CV on the short list,” said Kyle, a Canadian reader who works in innovation management in Gothenburg.

“If you are going for a major employer like Volvo, network gets you in the door, as HR does not have much to do with hiring… the hiring managers do all of it and have no time, due to the insane number of consensus meetings. If you are looking for smaller organisations, they have even less time to find people, and networking is their primary way to find talent,” he added.

NETWORKING IN SWEDEN:

Some of the networking tips readers mentioned were going to job fairs, getting an internship to help you establish connections in your preferred field, joining clubs (this could be anything from your local gardening association to meetups for coders, but focus on clubs that may be popular among people working in your chosen field), and drawing on your organic network of friends, neighbours and others.

Don’t neglect the groundwork

The saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” is getting worn out (and people may look at you funny if you turn up to interviews in a Batman suit), but there’s truth to the notion of making sure you know what you want – and preparing for it.

In other words, don’t wait for a job ad to appear before you start to customise your CV and figure out what skill set you need. Create your CV now so that you’re ready to tweak it to your dream job – you could even have a general look at job ads in your field to see what requirements are needed. And don’t forget to spruce up your LinkedIn profile so that it fits with your career goals.

“I believe that several factors contribute to successfully landing a desirable job in Sweden. It’s essential to prepare to meet the requirements beyond just having a university degree. Many individuals realise these requirements only after completing their studies when they start searching for a job, which can be too late,” said Adnan Aslam from Pakistan, who works as a food inspector.

“I recommend identifying the job advertisements for positions you aspire to hold in the future and then preparing for those requirements during your studies. For me, acquiring a basic level of proficiency in the Swedish language and obtaining a Swedish driving licence were crucial. I pursued these goals during my studies and was able to secure a desirable job before graduating,” he added.

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Felipe Cabral even has a GPT assistant trained on his own CVs and old cover letters, and said the set-up only takes ten minutes if you already have your documents. “With that in place, you can give instructions like: Read this job description and create a tailored version of my CV and letter for it. (…) Remember to always review and ask it not to create data aside from your documents.”

Be flexible and ready to adapt

Moving to a new place inevitably means having to learn not just the practicalities such as how to write a CV or which websites to use to look for job openings, but also learning how to navigate a new culture with all its unspoken expectations.

Swedish workplaces are generally less hierarchical than many other countries, but that doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want without anyone raising an eyebrow. Swedes are usually direct, but be careful of being too abrasive or boastful: raising your voice, even during a spirited argument, or banging your own drum to show off your skills may not go down well.

“Talk, deliberate, complain like a Swede and you’ll come across like you know what the job entails, so your trustworthiness increases,” said an Indian data analyst who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Office politics are just as strong in Sweden as anywhere else. The flat hierarchy is deceiving as social hierarchy is enforced quite a bit in that lack of formal hierarchy. Take your time in learning these dynamics wherever you work before revealing your talent and capabilities. Expect those internal politics to happen, and they won’t hurt so much when they do,” said Kyle, the Canadian reader in Gothenburg.

This article about Swedish office politics may be useful.

Stay true to yourself

Adapting to your surroundings is one thing. Completely changing who you are is another.

For one thing, your happiness is as important as your career progression, and for another, your foreignness need not be an impediment: it’s also a skill that sets you apart from the rest. It means you have unique experience, and also, in the right setting, provides an opportunity to sometimes violate those social rules we mentioned above, because people assume you will, anyway.

“Trust is key. Build trust in your network, work with integrity. It’s OK to violate jantelagen if you are maintaining integrity. Sometimes your outsider and more honest/open opinion will burn bridges, especially those that may feel threatened by talent. But it will build trust with other colleagues who see it as brave and more trustworthy to work with,” said Kyle from Canada.

Hunker down for the long haul

We don’t want to scare you, because there are plenty of examples of people who quickly find their dream job in Sweden and settle into their new workplace, enjoying perks such as long summer holidays, generous parental leave and the famous work-life balance.

But if you do find it tougher than you expected: know that you’re not alone.

Several readers who responded to the survey said they were still trying to find a job in Sweden.

“I found jobs all over Europe but not here. They say they have a lack of experienced senior engineers but the don’t seem to be doing much to solve this,” said a Brazilian in Gothenburg.

A reader from Bangladesh said she was “at a loss” as to how to make a career change from her current AI role in Stockholm, despite many years of experience as an IT project manager.

“Over the past 18 months, I’ve submitted over 600 applications to various organisations. Unfortunately, despite being overqualified for some positions, I’ve faced rejections at every turn, from both large and small companies. The job market here, especially for foreign-born women, feels overwhelmingly challenging,” she said, adding that the struggle had impacted her mental health.

The Local has on several occasions reported on foreign residents’ struggle to get a foot on the Swedish job ladder, with many facing hurdles such as employers’ unfamiliarity with international degrees, discrimination, or a lack of network that can provide paths into a company.

So during the job hunt, don’t forget to care for yourself. Share your concerns with fellow job-seekers, ask for help and join networking groups – this is good not just for creating new contacts, but also in terms of your social well-being and meeting people who are in a similar situation.

And finally, as one British reader in Stockholm advised, keep looking: “Be open-minded with the opportunities that present themselves. It isn’t an easy market to enter and doesn’t feel inclusive.” But he added, “don’t give up”.

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