• a conversation with Karen Jennings on her story, Crooked Seeds

 

In Africa, the village square is where conversations are held and disputes settled. At The Village Square Journal it is our desire to model conversations around this idea. To summon authors we have published to discuss and dissect the ideas behind their work and writing process.

 

In Summons to the Village Square No. 002 Obinna Udenwe holds conversation with Karen Jennings, the South African author of Finding Soutbek and Travels With My Father whose fiction (an excerpt from a novel in progress) titled Crooked Seeds was published on the Journal on February 2018. Crooked Seeds is a story about Deidre, a handicapped woman living a solitary life in a cramped, cluttered, dirty one room apartment – her character and personality is described thus:

 

“. . . her underwear’s stink strong enough that it reached her even before moving to squat over an old plastic mixing bowl that lived beside the bed. She steadied her weight on the bedstead with one hand . . . as she lowered herself. She didn’t have to put the light on, knew by the burn and smell that the urine was dark, dark as cough syrup, as sickness. There was no toilet paper, so she rose without wiping, pulling the underwear back into place, feeling it dampen a little.. . Inside the fridge was a packet of discoloured Vienna sausages, opened a week since, half a tub of margarine, a jar of gherkins. She unfastened the lid of the jar, drank down the brine, closing her mouth against its solids, though she felt the grit and slime of them on her lips. . . removed a Vienna from its packaging, ate it at the open door, the spoiled parts of the skin like plastic . . . She leaned down, picked up the bra and panty, pushed them into the ice-cream container, splashed dishwashing liquid over them, began to rub them, to dunk, releasing a strangely fishy smell that lingered despite the addition of more soap. After a while she brought the panty up to her nose, sniffed the crotch. The smell was okay. She squeezed out the excess, shook out the suds and hung the bra and panty over the kitchen tap. . . .”

 

In this second Summons, we shall be interacting with the multiple award winning Karen Jennings who has been summoned from her home in Goiania, Brazil.

 

Obinna Udenwe:

Crooked Seeds has been described by our editors in many of our social media posts as the best example of how to use voice in storytelling. You tell the story in a laid-back, relaxed voice that is as endearing as it is lush and this coming from a novel in progress makes you stand out as someone with a control of her narrative style – tell me is this the first draft of Crooked Seeds? If it is, do you fear that some editors would want the subsequent drafts to read different, like most every day story?

 

Karen Jennings:

This is not a hard-and-fast rule with me, but I tend to write the first section of whatever book I am working on as a semi-final draft. That section can be anywhere from 300 to 2000 words. But I make sure those words are ones that I am happy with. Then I start the process of writing the first draft of the novel. It is a very slow process (especially now because I am working full-time on my post-doctoral research and dedicate only an hour a day to my creative writing). I write out a rough idea of what I want to say (by hand), then write it out slightly neater. Then I type it up. I manage between 300 and 700 words. Maybe on a good day I can push it to 800, though that is rare. I do not look back at what I have written. If I forget the names of certain characters, then I give them new names. The point is to get the story down. Only once I have a complete first draft will I look at the manuscript as a whole. Then the rewriting begins, which is the most difficult part. As for any fears I might have about editors’ responses to the story – that is not something that I am even contemplating right now. Right now my focus is on getting the words on the page. If I had to spend my time worrying about what other people will think, then I would never get any work done at all.

 

Obinna Udenwe:

This rule of yours you just described fascinates me. I think I might adopt it. Karen, I can compare the voice in Crooked Seeds with the tone of Midnight Children, carefree, relaxed or Haruki Murakami’s stories, Sheherazade (which is my favourite) comes to mind, the Nigerian author, Abubakar Ibrahim, also won himself some accolades for using such relaxed voice in his novel, Season of Crimson Blossoms, tell me, what importance is voice in storytelling? If you are asked to choose by an editor what she should change in your story between the voice and the structure, which would you prefer?

 

“As for literary prizes. I say, yes to them. I will tell you why. Being a writer is a difficult position to be. One does not get respect. There is very little dignity. People think it is a hobby, a trick, something unimportant. Then, there’s no money in it, which means that dedicating oneself to writing requires sacrifices in various ways, ways that others might not understand or respect”.

 

Karen Jennings:

I am ashamed to say that I haven’t read any of those authors. I know that that may come as quite a shock, as they are very respected writers.

For me, I would say that voice is crucial. Without an authentic voice it can be very difficult to access the story. It feels too staged and unnatural. I think it is vital that a large part of the very lengthy self-editing process is dedicated to ensuring that narrative voice is taut. For this reason, I would prefer an editor to critique my structure, as I would like to think that by the time any editor has an opportunity to read my work that I have done my utmost to ensure an authentic narrative voice – that is not to say that I would not be open to having errors pointed out to me. We are always learning.

 

Obinna Udenwe:

There is no shame in it, reading tastes differ, of course. I would like to point out that the character of Deidre is described from the beginning as extremely dirty and careless. Before the end of the first paragraph we read that she wears a teeth plate, we also get to read in subsequent paragraphs that she goes on crutches as she has a stump. Was Deidre involved in an accident, since we don’t know at this point as this is an excerpt from a much longer version?

 

Karen Jennings:

Yes, you will find out in the novel that Deidre lost her leg in an explosion. It is quite a significant part of the plot, therefore I don’t really want to go into it in any further detail right now.

Obinna Udenwe:

Okay, I can’t wait to read the entire work but then one of the finest things you did with this story is hiding some details from us yet showing them with your descriptive prowess. For example, we don’t learn of Deidre’s age all through the story but guess that she might be elderly as a mention is made of a daughter who had passed through high school. We don’t know at this point how she looks – beautiful or ugly though we find the young twenty-something old guard getting attracted to her, telling her she is sexy. We don’t even get to know her name until much later in the story. Is this done deliberately? Some authors start their stories by giving the reader information about their major character in clear terms – what do you think of this?

 

Karen Jennings:

I, personally, like to learn about a character throughout the work. I don’t enjoy books where we are given every detail about a character’s childhood and life up to this point. It feels too much like a report to me. I prefer to find out information as I go, and I think that I try to work that way in my writing. That way the character also remains interesting to me as I write, and I hope will be interesting to the reader too.

 

“There have been HUGE amounts of pressure for years now, calling for Zuma to step down. Just last year in April I was in Cape Town and took part in a peaceful protest that occurred across the entire country that was calling for Zuma to go.”

Obinna Udenwe:

Well, I must say that you did that so very well. Deidre’s character appears complex yet easy to understand and follow. She appears friendly when she needs favors and bitchy when she wants. When she wanted the cigarette from Winston (whom she had owed cigarettes running back to over a year), when she jumped the queue to get to the tap, she is seen flirting with the young guard. But while crossing the road to a stopped traffic, she deliberately slowed down, stopping to puff at her cigarette, she also didn’t even acknowledge the agitated crowed on the queue when she was at the tap – these personalities compliments each other to build up a complex character; can you throw more light into the personality of Deidre? And I would like to know if there is anyone someplace that influenced your description of Deidre’s character?

 

Karen Jennings:

Deidre is someone who thinks that the world owes her. Because she is cripple, because of circumstances in her life, she feels that she should get everything without caring about others, or about being polite. At this point I have a complex relationship with Deidre. On the one hand I find her absolutely terrifying because she speaks to fears I have about myself. What if I just let go of hygiene and lived in absolute filth? What if I stop caring about others? What will I become? But I also find her to be deeply tragic. She lost her leg at an early age, and then pretty much gave up on life. I would say that I think there are parts of myself in Deidre – the deep, dark parts of myself that I would fear becoming. Someone who stinks, someone selfish, someone who has given up on herself. There are also some other people thrown in there, such as my mother’s hairdresser – who, I must say, is not anything like Deidre at all! – but it is her voice that I hear when Deidre is speaking. And then there are simply people that I might have observed in a pub, or in the shop, or somewhere else.

 

Obinna Udenwe

There is the Cape Town, South Africa water scarcity that has made world news headlines in recent times, and in this story, we find that the tap no longer runs and people queue up early in the morning, dressed in work clothes and school uniforms fighting to fetch from a vehicle-borne water tanker – is this story somewhat influenced by the current situation in Cape Town?

 

Karen Jennings:

Absolutely. The novel is actually set in a Cape Town of the future, ten years from now. This would be a worst-case scenario. I read the news every day, speak to my mom every day, and hear about the fears, the measures people go to in order to save water. I spend some time in Cape Town every year, and so I have experienced the water-saving measures for myself. I also experienced something similar when I first moved to Brazil in October 2015. We were living in Sao Paulo then, and there was a massive water shortage. I got used to going for a 10km run and coming back to wash my entire sweat-drenched body with just a 500ml bottle of water.

 

Obinna Udenwe:

“She put her hand in her pocket, pulling the skirt downwards in order to draw attention to her waist . . . .” Deidre liked showing off her handicap to attract attention and sympathy to herself. Some disadvantaged people do that. And Deidre is a dirty woman – deliberately so – one would expect that if she flirts with men, she would attempt to be neat and good looking, do you not sense some conflict with the character’s personality in this regards?

 

Karen Jennings:

Certainly. She is caught between having given up on herself and using her disability to get what she wants.

Obinna Udenwe:

Do you have any writing rituals? Reading Crooked Seeds what comes to mind is that you would have to imagine your room as dirty and as disorganized as Deidre’s to be able to clearly describe hers. Is this a correct assumption? Would you be tempted to live her life for a few days to understand her? (Laughs!)

 

Karen Jennings:

Haha! No, it is all imagination. My study is a little bit cluttered, but it is not dirty, nor is my apartment. Even if I wanted to try living like her, I couldn’t expect my husband to suffer through that too.

I do tend to have quite a routine to my days. I tend to work 7 days a week and do pretty much the same thing every day. Right now my routine is as follows. Wake up at 4:45 and go to the gym. At 6am I walk the dogs. 7am I shower, have breakfast, talk to my mom. 8am I vacuum. Then I work on my novel for one hour. After that I work on my post-doctoral project until noon. Then I have lunch, read, have a little nap maybe. 2pm I take the dogs for a short walk. Then I work on my post-doc project until 5pm. Then I cook dinner, relax a bit. In the evening I work some more and do some reading.

 

Obinna Udenwe:

That’s an amazing ritual, I must say. You’d laugh if I mentioned mine, but definitely mine is not as well structured as yours. Back to Deidre – she lived alone and so could not do most things for herself or tried evading doing them, basking in her handicap and using it as excuse. And this brings me to African culture of extended family ties. In Nigeria, and indeed most African states, the extended family system is so strong that you don’t get a notice before someone walks in and stays a day or a year. I would have thought that Deidre would have a young niece or cousin or family relative living with her and helping with cleaning, washing and even bathing her. Tell me, does South African culture discourage extended family co-existence?

 

Karen Jennings:

There are many different cultures within South Africa. I would say that traditionally white South Africans tend to be less likely to have many generations and relatives living together under one roof. However, this is also part of Deidre’s choices in life. She chooses to isolate herself. But there are circumstances that have contributed to this isolation as well, relating to her brother and mother. In addition, her daughter lives in the UK – something that is dealt with in more detail in the novel.

 

Obinna Udenwe:

But then a mention is made lightly of a daughter at some point, which brings me back to my question on South African culture and helping elderly relatives. Can we rightly deduce that her personality of being bullish and snobbish caused her daughter and relatives to desert her? Or is South Africa like America and Europe where elderly people and disadvantaged people are put in care-homes and abandoned by their families?

 

Karen Jennings:

I think you have the wrong idea about care homes, though perhaps this is cultural. In South Africa, care homes are certainly not places to dump the elderly. Many places have wonderful facilities and allow the elderly to live fulfilling lives. Both my sets of grandparents were in retirement villages, and both loved living there. They had their own houses, had many friends, various activities, and were never ever made to feel abandoned. We saw them very often and had good, loving relationships. That is not to say that some old people have not been abandoned, but it is certainly not the case in all instances. As for Deidre’s family, I don’t feel that I can discuss this right now as these dynamics form key parts of the plot, which I am not yet ready to reveal.

 

Obinna Udenwe:

Perhaps my idea of care homes emanates out of what we find exists in Nigeria, but it’s cool you pointed out the clarification. I would like to ask if your publishers seen Crooked Seeds and does it have a possible publication date yet?

 

Karen Jennings:

No. I am not even close to thinking about that aspect of things yet. Right now, my focus is on doing my hour a day, and that is it.

 

Obinna Udenwe:

Away from the story now, I would like to know how your writing life has been since you relocated from South Africa to Brazil? I presume that life in Brazil would be more solitary to be compared to Cape Town where you have family and friends of many years? If so, how does this affect your writing life, do you, like myself find that you write more when you are alone and lonely?

 

Karen Jennings:

It is like being on an extended writer’s residency. I have all day, every day to focus on my writing/work. I must admit that some days I do get very lonely, and I miss home a great deal. But I am using the opportunity to work hard.

 

Obinna Udenwe:

Recently in South Africa, Jacob Zuma was forced to step down due to pressure from his party. We observed that while this was going on the citizens did not do much to increase the pressure as would have been during the apartheid era – why is this so? Are we seeing a relapse in consciousness occasioned by better life for all people, better standard of living and how do you compare citizens’ engagement in politics and political discourse in South Africa with that of Brazil?

 

“In South Africa, care homes are certainly not places to dump the elderly”

Karen Jennings:

That is not the case. There have been HUGE amounts of pressure for years now, calling for Zuma to step down. Just last year in April I was in Cape Town and took part in a peaceful protest that occurred across the entire country that was calling for Zuma to go. On the other hand, he also has his supporters, who have fought hard for him to stay. I would say that, in fact, protesting is alive and well in South Africa. It remains a place where people are very strongly politicised.

 

Obinna Udenwe:

What do you think about the growth of the African literary tradition? Do you think it is not moving as fast as it should when compared with others – I am asking this because you now live in another continent, and have been a resident fellow in India and other places. I also read Travels With My Father and found that you have visited many places. What roles do you think prizes like the Caine Prize, 9Mobile Prize, the NLNG sponsored Nigerian Literature Prize plays in building this literary tradition?

 

Karen Jennings:

I will tell you what bugs me about the world’s reaction to African literature. They seem to have space for only one African writer at a time. This year so-and-so will be in fashion. Next year it will be someone else. It almost feels like they are doing Africa this big favour, saying, “Here, we will acknowledge one of you, now say thank you.”

I do live abroad now. And I have wondered what effect that might have on my writing. But for now my imagination, my mind, my heart, all of me, is still very much rooted in South Africa. It is still the place that I will choose to write about. I have only been in Brazil for 2 and a half years. I don’t know how long we will remain here. Perhaps, if we stay long enough, I might write about it. I don’t know.

As for literary prizes. I say, yes to them. I will tell you why. Being a writer is a difficult position to be. One does not get respect. There is very little dignity. People think it is a hobby, a trick, something unimportant. Then, there’s no money in it, which means that dedicating oneself to writing requires sacrifices in various ways, ways that others might not understand or respect. When we win prizes, or are short-listed for prizes, for just a brief moment we are given a little dignity and respect. Now, add to that the fact that we are African – and winning an African literary prize gives us a brief, very brief moment of respect from the rest of the world too.

 

Obinna: Thanks Karen for answering to this summons and for interacting with us. We hope to read the full version of Crooked Seeds and look forward to publishing more excerpts.

 

Karen: Thank you for having me, Obinna.

 

It is our policy at The Village Square to interact with select authors whose fiction we have published. We hope you enjoyed this interaction. Always visit our Summons to the Village Square page for more of this.

 

Obinna Udenwe is the co-founder of The Village Square Journal and the magazine’s Founding Editor for Essays/Opinions/Reviews.