Here I have collected some of my written works – and works that contain my writing – but beware, this part of the site is under construction and may contain dragons.
In narratives I particularly enjoy stories that tackle the absurd. Watching characters struggle with accepting the inevitable heat death of life as we know it, make futile attempts to control their life and perhaps find solace in others seems to be recurring themes in my stories. As a part of the Fairy Trade Coffee speculative fiction duo with Sandra Waller, I have written fiction, audio drama, comics, and hope to release some interactive fictions and games soon.
My ideal project would be to work on a magical RPG, a quirky dating sim, a story-driven mobile game, or perhaps a children’s book with bright and beautiful illustrations – things that make us enjoy life just a little bit more and create lasting emotional impressions. I have a special affinity for stories set during revolutions, and the genres urban fantasy and steampunk.
Writing for games
I have been writing for games for a few years now, and it is the most fun you can have with the lights on. My main tools of the trade are Ink Engine (by the amazing folks over at Inkle Studios) and Twine (You can try it out on twinery.org – it’s free and very easy to learn), but the process of writing for games usually also involves confusing spreadsheets, sprawling JSON files and indecipherable notes on paper as well. With experience of working with multiple scripting languages and game engines, I am fast to learn new tools.
I would very much like to work with narrative direction and design for games in the future, and I’m always up for new challenges! I hope to have a few projects and samples out soon. Very soon. Until then, please [contact me] for samples of my game writing.
For non-interactive fiction samples, look to [this short story, titled Comet Born] that deals with the aftermath of a breakup in a non-linear way, or, for something more conventional, [this short story, titled Tinker’s Belle], which deals with robotics and AI in relation to humanity.
Comics
Sequential art is, to me, the wonderful marriage of narrative and art, and one I wish to master one day. As part of Fairy Trade Coffee, I have tabled at Zinefest Helsinki 2019 and 2018. My comics works include:
- The Shortcut, 2018
- Playing Running Away, 2016
- Ecce Homo, 2017
- Webcomic: Jump, Jump! – 2014 – 2016 [here]
- Webcomic: His Royal Master’s Loyal Scavengers – 2009 – 2012 [link]
NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month
Every year in November writers from around the world gather on the internet to usher each other into the magnificent abandon of writing a 50 000 word novel in thirty days. I joined the project in 2008 – at the age of 16 – and wrote a novel heavily inspired by Neil Gaiman and other favourite writers of that time. The experience was exhilarating, just the right amount of stressful, and very much driven by caffeine-fueled determination. On the first of December I printed the first draft and promptly found a typo on the first page.
I have so far taken part in NaNoWriMo nine times – in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. The only year I did not finish 50 000 words was 2016, when I decided to work on a comic instead since my story idea was not good enough.
The genres of my novels are a fairly good cross section of modern fantasy and science fiction genres. The novel of 2008, titled Samtal, could be described as magical realism with a mythological time travel twist. My 2009 novel again is a steampunk murder mystery, titled Memento Mori. In 2010 I wrote down the story that made me want to be a writer, a high fantasy story of world-saving adventure and magic. It, perhaps not too surprisingly, turned out to not be a very inventive or very good read.
In 2011, fresh out of high school, I wrote my first novel in English. The Distance Between Stars is, strictly speaking, perhaps not a novel, but a collection of short stories that intertwine in strange ways. It is mostly set in a not-too-distant future of space exploration and colonization, and it deals with themes of loneliness and human hybris, and that big question of and then what?
2012 I decided to try my hand at writing for children. Berättelser om Kärnan is a planetary romance about friendship and growing up, connecting children around their shared experiences of abandonment. You can read a sample here. My 2013 novel The Astronomer’s Apprentice, also in English, again, connects people in time around a strange observatory. In 2014 I chose to write a young adult time travel romance set in Helsinki, called Räls.
My 2015 NaNoWriMo project, Espresso Comfort, was one of short stories, 50 of them. You can find them all online here – in Swedish – [Espresso Comfort].
You can connect with me on NaNoWriMo.org [here].
