Figuring out how to write a book - Part 1- Read other books!

A very cool cover for the book Kallocain, by Karin Boye.

The moment many British academics know, but that as a Brazilian academic, I was not prepared for. I have to turn my PhD thesis into a book. “Ah, c’mon”, the voices in my head will say, “it’s pretty much a book already!”. NO, IT IS NOT. It’s a book-like collection of data, literature review, analyses, and conclusions, some really well-worded and book ready, and some really poorly put together and that I am embarrassed when I see someone has downloaded the thing.

Which is one reason to actually write the thing. There is really good work in there, done by me, who wouldda thunk it, but some really not that impressive, which my 7th grade maths teacher definitely wouldda thunk it. But I can make the not that impressive just as impressive – PhDs are more about time than they are about being able to finish on a high (I will forever tell myself).

So, why not write a string of papers, in the best salami science way? Well, I decided to move to UK post-PhD and here having a book is a really big deal. Interestingly enough, in Brasil, writing a massive PhD is a really big deal, so I can be choosy about how I do this – I could even cut entire sections out. BUT WHY WOULD I?

I travelled to two countries, three capitals, I interviewed people, I coded legislation, I got to take a picture with President Dilma Rousseff (not in any way relevant to the PhD, I just think it’s cool) and I just want to pay tribute to the MASSIVE AMOUNT OF WORK I did.

Doing comparative work though is a funny thing. There are inherent biases in everything we do, whether we like it or not, and while I was very careful in my case selection, I am indeed Brazilian, and due to cultural imperialism and massification, very aware of British culture. Which left me a little lost regarding Swedish cultural practices and history. I did everything I could to try to bridge that gap, but did I mention how little time I had? That, of course, came across in the PhD.

I am now determined not let it affect the book. I’ll be damned if my 7th grade maths teacher EVER gets the best of me. Given the snail speed the actual work is taking and my newfound love for audiobooks (ADHD for the win), I decided to dive into Swedish literature (translated into English), picking books of historical or cultural relevance; that are extremely popular; from marginalised voices (a bit tricky as they are really difficult to find in translation).

Whenever I heard something new about an event Swedish history, I noted it down. I now have several peer reviewed papers to read about these historical events and their impact on Swedish society and politics – maybe not directly relevant to my PhD, but definitely relevant to my understanding of the country and how it works. And whilst I have included television shows and movies, the intricacy of the books, and how characters related to one another has really shed new light for me on a country I thought I had a good grasp on.

Book cover for The Family Clause by Jonas Hassen Khemiri.

The list as of today:

The Red Room (1879) by August Strindberg

The Emperor of Portugallia (1914) by Selma Lagerlöf

Kallocain (1940) by Karin Boye

Let the Right One In (2004) by John Ajvide Lindqvist

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (2009) by Jonas Jonasson

The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man (2018) by Jonas Jonasson

Protected by the Shadows (2012) by Helene Tursten

The Family Clause (2020) by Jonas Hassen Khemiri

Stolen (2023) by Ann-Helén Laestadius

Will there be other parts of this series? Maybe. For now, just don’t let academia take away the things you love. And I love fiction novels - they contain whole worlds.