The process by which Fredrik Brounéus gathered pace and inspiration for his novel The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse was not unlike the various reincarnated spirits who populate his existentialist adventure-comedy.
Back and forth he went between English and Swedish until, after many pages written in parallel, he decided his second language was the better vehicle for his quirky tale.
The Swedish author, who moved to Dunedin in 2009 after his wife Karen's appointment at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Research at the University of Otago, believes his book has benefited from its bilingual gestation.
"For some reason, English was the language to write it in," Brounéus explains from his Macandrew Bay home. "I started writing it in English and got 80 pages in and then tried to do it in Swedish. I then got to about 120 pages in Swedish and went back to English.
"I went back and forth until the story became clearer. In the end, the English version of the manuscript was so much stronger and much funnier.
"I love English. It is so rich. It has so many words to choose from. In some ways, it's easier to find the right tone in English than it is in Swedish.
I'm no expert but I recall reading somewhere that there are so many more words in English than in Swedish. When the characters in the book were talking, they did it so much better in English."
Writing is a part-time occupation for Brounéus, who is also a pharmacist and journalist. In Dunedin, he works as a communication researcher for the University of Otago Pharmacovigilance Research Team; it's a part-time job in which he explores ways to communicate with the New Zealand public and healthcare professionals about the side-effects of various medicines.
"We have been here over three years now. We love it here. The nature is spectacular and people are friendly, but we need to get to Sweden this summer to reconnect with friends and family; then we'll come back here and see how it goes.
"Before we came to New Zealand, I was working at the Swedish Medical Products Agency and it was extremely hectic. I received a one-year working grant from the Swedish Writers' Fund and thought I wouldn't get to use it, but suddenly I had time to write again, which was wonderful," Brounéus says.
"I was lucky enough to have my manuscript accepted by the New Zealand Society of Authors' Assessment Programme [funded by Creative New Zealand]. I got a very encouraging and enthusiastic report by Fleur Beale, which was an incredible boost to my confidence."
The author of two previous books (a children's thriller and a young-adult pop novel, both of which were published in Sweden), Brounéus says The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse was inspired by other short stories he'd written.
Initially, he saw it as a horror short story, then a fantasy epic (which was never finished) until it took on a life of its own.
In short, the novel centres around an 18-year-old Dunedin lad, George, who is required to go on a road trip to locate a lighthouse that guides souls on a path to being reborn. Along the way, George converses with some interesting characters, including his undead granddad and a mysterious Tibetan monk.
"The characters tend to start out very flat, as one-dimensional paper people. But gradually they grow and show themselves for whom they really are. At that point I go back and revise the early parts of the book.
"During the beginning of the writing process for The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse, I was reading The Open Road: the Global Journey of the 14th Dalai Lama, by Pico Iyer. It's a great read and it poured into my idea about reincarnation and Buddhism. I did a bit more reading on monasteries as well as stuff by Sir Isaac Newton."
Despite the fantastical storyline, Brounéus says he's no big fan of the genre.
"I love The Lord of the Rings and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the Terry Pratchett books, but I've never really been into hardcore sci-fi or fantasy. For some reason, the term sci-fi makes me associate it with spaceships and things.
"When I write, I never think in terms of target groups. I leave that to the readers themselves. Readers who have enjoyed The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse, have so far ranged from teenagers to 65-year-olds, so hopefully people of all ages will enjoy reading the book and have their own way of relating to the people and issues."
Significantly, this is a story grounded in local places. The Otago backdrop features strongly as Brounéus' characters roam far and wide, their travels including Lake Hawea and Otago Peninsula.
"Originally, I set the story in Sweden because I felt I didn't know New Zealand or New Zealanders well enough to place it here," the father of two explains.
"I'd just arrived here when I started writing the book. So I wrote it about Sweden and that was the version I sent to my publisher, Stephen Minchin [of Wellington's Steam Press]. He said he liked the book but wanted it to be set in New Zealand.
"There were other aspects of the manuscript that needed work; the ending needed a bit more punch. By that time, we'd been in New Zealand a couple of years, had seen the South Island and grown to love the nature here, so I then felt I was ready to rewrite the novel and set it in New Zealand. Everything fell into place."
So, too, are other projects, Brounéus says.
"I have another two manuscripts I'm working on. I thought they were finished but they aren't, so I'm editing and rewriting them.
"I'm at that nice stage where I have ideas lined up in my head."
Fredrik Brounéus' novel The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse (Steam Press, $30) is due out on Wednesday.
