Crystal Jeans
Emanating from the rawness and grit of Cardiff at its best, Crystal Jeans has just won Literature Wales’ Book Of The Year Award for second novel Light Switches Are My Kryptonite. She speaks to Fedor Tot.
Congratulations! How does it feel to be rewarded for your work?
I feel validated.
How long have you been writing?
Since I was about 20, off and on. But I didn’t start writing seriously until I was 27, roughly. It’s been a long slonk of lots of rejection, and lots of hard work.
Tell us a little bit about the book, Light Switches Are My Kryptonite.
It’s a novel, totally fictional, about a character called Sylvester who has quite chronic OCD, anxiety, a lot of intrusive thoughts and compulsions. It’s about a week in his life where he’s navigating his way through this really horrible time.
How much autobiography, if at all, is in Light Switches?
Not much. There are some superficial elements – you’ve got the character of the dad who’s a drug dealer, and my dad used to grow weed. But the dad is a very different character, my dad was stoned all the time and submissive and this character is quite scary and manly. The protagonist himself has OCD and all these intrusive thoughts, and I don’t have that. But I’ve used the seeds of a few incidents that I’ve had. At various points in the book he gets paranoid that people can read his mind and then as a result he will think of these horrible, pornographic things, which used to happen to me in high school. It never got any worse than that, it didn’t turn into a big thing, it just happened a few times and I got over it. With him, it becomes a big thing. So, I’ve used all my neurotic little seeds and watered them, nourished them and they have grown.
You’ve mentioned Charles Bukowski previously, a notoriously warts-and-all writer, and you’re often like that in your own writing – what attracts you to that style?
I do really love Bukowski and I rate him. I think he’s a horrible person, a massive arsehole, but I love his writing. I kind of relate to him, he wants to see the truth and wants to cut through all the bullshit and be as honest and gross as possible. Also, just away from writing, in my friendship groups we do kind of operate in that really overly honest, possibly embarrassingly way. We think it’s funny, so there’s a part of that as well. I do like to cut through the bullshit a bit. Everything is so precious and you read these books and none of the characters go to the toilet! People pick their nose, and they drink tea all day and nobody writes about this! Why? You don’t want to read a whole book full of that, but a little bit, for realism’s sake.
Do you have a third novel on the way or any other interesting work?
I’ve got a collection of short stories coming out next year, although it’s going to be a linked collection of short stories. So, we’re going to try and sell it as a novel. It’s going to be called Homeless Hearthrob, and that’s going to be out next year, spring or summer. I’m currently working on a book about a sham marriage based in the 1920s, between a lesbian and a gay man. That’s been fun to write. I’ve finished it, I’m just editing it.
Where do you see your writing going next? Or are you shooting from the hip and seeing what comes out of it?
I think I am shooting from the hip, like a cowboy. My style has changed so much in the last couple of years, the themes have changed, I’ve gotten all of the autobiographical stuff out of myself so now I’m using my imagination. I don’t really know where it’s going to go.
I’d like to do something epic though. I would like, one day, to write a story in a really straightforward way, without any fancy style. Just very plain English, like George Orwell writes. No tricks, with a good story and good characters. I want to write that one day.
What’s stopping you from doing that right now?
My ego.
How come?
I just can’t help myself. If I can get a really cool simile in there, I’ll do it. I’m getting better now I’m restraining myself. One day, when I’m about 50 maybe. One day.
Light Switches Are My Kryptonite by Crystal Jeans is out now on Honno Press. Price: £8.99. Info: www.honno.co.uk