Interview with Elin Olausson
Interview with Elin Olausson
1. First, congratulations on your book Shadow Paths! For those just discovering this story, can you share with us what it is about?
Shadow Paths is a collection of five short stories, and it’s part of the Tales From Between Presents series where each volume highlights the work of a single author. The book features the stories “The Old Man”, “love”, “Wishes”, “The Lion Game”, and “Scar”. Like the majority of my stories, they all belong to the psychological horror genre, although “Scar” is set in an imaginary world and could also be called dark fantasy.
Author Elin Olausson
2. You’ve had many short stories published in 2023 including Stoker eligible “Daughter” (Saltwater Sorrows), “Eats” (From the Depths), “Little Monster” (34 Orchard), and “Lilies” (Takes From Between: A Strange Literary Journal) just to name a few! Out of all the short stories you published this year, which one do you feel best represents your writing style and point-of-view as an author?
This is such a hard question! I feel that all my stories are representative one way or the other, but my most recently published story “Daughter” has been very close to my heart ever since I wrote it. It’s a dystopic tale set on an island in a world where there are no people left other than the main character Noë and the old woman she lives with. In the sea around them there are strange, mermaid-like creatures, and Noë feels a connection to them that she can’t explain.
My stories are usually female-centered, told from the point of view of a child or adolescent (or, perhaps, an adult stuck in a childish state of mind). I tend to write about dysfunctional families, about books and nature, and I’d describe my writing style as dreamy and lyrical. “Daughter”, I think, is an example of all those things.
3. Writers often tap into their own history to find inspiration. Are any of these stories inspired by real events?
In “Lilies”, which is about a teacher who moves to a remote village for a job, some of the settings were based on real places, such as my old school. My stories often have these small details that are inspired by real life, like the name of a pet or a scary photo that scared me as a child, but I’ve never published a story that was heavily inspired by something I’ve been through. I did have a supernatural experience growing up that I might turn into fiction one day, but so far it hasn’t happened.
4. Have you ever considered expanding any of your short stories into novels? If so, which ones?
Yes, absolutely. I’ve written quite a few dystopic stories, since that is one of my favorite genres, and I’d love to build on some of those ideas and write a dystopic novel. That is one of my greatest dreams.
5. Where can readers find you online?
I’ve got a website, www.elinolausson.com. I’m also on Twitter (@elin_writes), Instagram (@elinolaussonwriter) and Bluesky (@elinolausson.bsky.social).
