I feel more related to some American crime writers than I do to Stieg Larsson.

Normally I start with a plot, and write a synopsis, and the ideas come from the construction.

For many years, it seemed as if nothing changed in Norway. You could leave the country for three months, travel the world, through coups d'etat, assassinations, famines, massacres and tsunamis, and come home to find that the only new thing in the newspapers was the crossword puzzle.

Those golden minutes before you are completely awake, when your mind is just drifting, you have no censorship; you are ready to develop any kind of idea. That's when I come up with the best and worst ideas. That is the privilege of being a writer - that you can stay in bed for an hour in the morning and it's work time.

I was sleeping in a water bed for a couple of years, recommended by my doctor. I was never comfortable in that water bed. In the middle of the night you would hear something happening - water and bubbles. I would always think there was some intelligent life in the water bed.

There’s only one thing worse than not satisfying a desire. And that is not to feel any desire.

I wasn't that into crime novels at all, but a friend introduced me to the work of Jim Thompson - I loved all his books.