Interview with Author Jess C Scott

I’m sitting here in my virtual living room, talking to indie author Jess C Scott, who wrote EyeLeash: A Blog Novel, which I just reviewed a couple weeks ago.

Hi, Jess.

Hello there!

Now, EyeLeash is your first book.

It’s my first published book. I have another two or three that literally “see the light of day” on an annual basis, on average.

Excellent! I’m looking forward to reading a lot more from you in the future.

What inspired you to write EyeLeash?

A series of weird, synchronized events, combined with my active imagination, inspired the first draft. Which I thought was pretentious and lacked meat once I’d finished it, so I went back and added all the potentially offensive material that I had deliberately excluded.

<chuckles> I’ve heard that the title is a partial anagram of someone’s name. Is that right?

Indeed — though I only figured later that I had accidentally left one letter of the person’s name out. However, I was still really delighted having the word “EyeLeash” staring back at me.

Why did the title “EyeLeash” catch… er… your eye?

“EyeLeash” caught my eye because I’d been fiddling around with elements for the story at the time. (I was 19.) I thought the title was a good metaphor for an obsession where all focus is on the one desired.

Does the title have any additional meaning?

I guess the title refers to an attachment to the value of “external appearance,” like good looks, good packaging, and so forth.

I noticed some themes that I saw in the story, but is there a particular message that you had in mind when you were writing it?

I believe the bottom line might be to leave no stone unturned, as they say — going through the reasons behind one’s thoughts and actions leads to a better understanding of oneself. I believe this creates a greater sense of self-identity. It’s an inner kind of connection which all the money in the world just can’t buy. The theme could be an abstract by-product of my own relation to the rampant consumerism and materialism of contemporary society. One should never sacrifice substance for style, ideally.

Now, your second book, 4Play, you market as “erotica.” Why erotica?

I’ve always had an interest in sexuality. Gender constructs can be incapacitating at times, especially in a societal context. I think it takes a certain level of courage and purity to be really true to oneself sexually, which is what I sought to explore in via 4:Play. To add depth and scope, I crossed multiple genres in the anthology, though I guess I knew the book would thus be “non-commercially categorizable.”

What are you reading now?

I’ve to continue Carrie by Stephen King some time. It’s awesometastic! I recently finished Terrence Dean’s Hiding in Hip Hop, on the rap industry’s persistent “down-low” culture. I’ll be reading Shakespeare and Herman Melville—university coursework—and going through various notes—in four separate notebooks, alas—for my next book.

Sounds like fun.

Thanks so much for talking to us!

My pleasure.

You can find out more about Jess and her work at www.JessCScott.com.