Q&A: Jess Shannon, Author of ‘Cleaner’

2 hours ago

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Jess Shannon Cleaner Author Interview.jpg

We chat with author Jess Shannon about Cleaner, which sees a disaffected young woman’s work as a cleaner takes her on an increasingly surreal search for a creative fulfillment, gainful employment, and the meaning of life in this sharp, tragicomic debut.

Hi, Jess! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

I’m from Birmingham, England (which makes me a Brummy). I drink a lot of tea. I spend most of my free time at the theatre.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

Always been a big reader. I don’t remember ever not reading. My dad took me to the library on Saturdays after swimming to exchange and restock. It’s only now I realise how lucky I am to have grown up surrounded by books. When I was a bit older my dad bought a kindle and I discovered that if I asked nicely he could magic a book into this device whenever I wanted. A bottomless pit of books! Then he told me I was reading the books too quickly and it was too expensive so I had to slow down.

I read more than I write. Books are aesthetic objects and my bookshelf probably best demarcates my taste more than anything else in my life. I also like that it’s a working visual installation; it’s grown and changed as I have grown and changed. I’ve written sporadically since I was little I think but I wouldn’t call my output consistent. I go months or even years without doing anything and then I have periods of frantic productivity.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

The first book you ever remember reading: I remember the gentle children’s book series Janet and John. They never seemed to get up to much from what I remember. It was all about learning to read. When I was getting into reading seriously, I worshipped Jacqueline Wilson and Cathy Cassidy.
The one that made you want to become an author: I remember being around 12 and finishing Pride and Prejudice on a train and feeling like it was perfect. This didn’t make me want to be an author, necessarily. I don’t remember ever deciding to want to be one, it wasn’t a decision, it just was. Even now, I don’t even know if I want to be an author with a capital A now. Lots of things fill my cup. It’s good to have broad ambitions and I th
The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Twilight. So delightfully bland. She’s in a fantasy world of vampires and werewolves and she’s so benign. The whole novel revolves around the fact Edward can’t read her mind and that’s what makes her intriguing but really she’s just as boring as the rest of us. I love how boring she is. She’s my hero. I love the first one where she makes enchiladas as a strategy to stop overthinking. Or when she takes too much cold medicine and worries she’s a drug addict. So crazy.

**Your debut novel, Cleaner, is out February 17^th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?**

Sorry, but there’s no paragraphs.

What can readers expect?

They can expect to be confused, possibly irritated, possibly amused. It’s about a young artist who drops out of a PhD and returns home and feels useless. When forced to confront the reality that the world sees no use for her academic achievements, she finds a job as a cleaner for a gallery, where she meets another aspiring artist – Isabella – and they begin an affair which sets in motion a whole load of improbable plot points. If you don’t like surreal or stream of consciousness fiction you shouldn’t read my book.

**Where did the inspiration for Cleaner come from?**

CLEANER started life as my ‘long project’ for my MA in Writing. This aspect of the course encouraged students to produce what would hopefully be the start of a novel. Every week I went to my supervisor with something new that just wasn’t working and I got more and more nervous as the deadline approached. Now I understand that I was workshopping a particular kind of narrative voice and this is normal for me. Towards the end of the term, I life modelled on a whim in a local art gallery. I wrote about that and my supervisor said, yeah stick with this one. And I did.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

All of it. I was a hedonist without a book contract or any real obligations (aside from submitting the first 20k words for my MA). If I wasn’t enjoying myself I didn’t write. Naturally, there were long stretches of time where I didn’t produce anything. I just got older. I grew into adulthood. The character’s growth was, in a way, parallel to mine. CLEANER had the luxury of growing incrementally and I enjoyed every sentence really.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

Every time I started a new paragraph I got stuck so I just didn’t use paragraphs. Focused on microstructure: each sentence had to lead onto the next. In terms of general inspiration and a way to just get it done, I discovered the joy of imitating prose and writers I admire: CLEANER is the metaphorical offspring of a Iosi Havillio’s novella Petite Fleur, another single paragraph stream of consciousness narrative that revolves around birth, sex, death and cleaning.

This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?

I was very lucky. Sent the right query email at the right time. I stopped caring about being published and just started having fun and then ironically that’s when I got my agent and things spiraled from there.

What’s next for you?

I’m supposed to be writing another book but I love side-quests. Directed my first play this year and I want to direct another one soon.

Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?

I’m in a book club with my friends so my reading calendar usually revolves around that which is a good thing – I’m exposed to a varied diet. I usually have three books on the go; something from book club, a classic or something dense and something trashy or stupid aka. Protein and carbs, fibre and vegetables, sugar and fats.