Tanya Sweeney’s debut novel, Esther Is Now Following You has just hit the shelves, and to mark the occasion we caught up with the author to discuss literary inspiration, writing process, and the cult of the celebrity superfan.
A funny, fresh and deeply affecting story about celebrity fandom and what happens when it all becomes a bit too real, Tanya Sweeney’s debut novel Esther is Now Following You is the newly released Irish title for your to-be-read list.
Esther falls hard for Ted, a celebrity she is convinced is meant for her. When obsession takes over, she leaves everything behind and heads to Canada to get him, whatever it takes.
You have one new follower. Esther first sees Ted walking in a park in London. They lock eyes and for a fraction of a second, she feels something she’s never felt before. She starts by reading up about his life in Canada and his work as an actor. Then she watches every interview with him online. It isn’t long before she’s joined Ted’s fan site online where her and the ‘Tedettes’ stalk his every move.
When Ted gets a new celebrity girlfriend, Esther decides that things have gone far enough. She leaves her husband, takes all their savings, and buys a one-way ticket to Canada. After all, Ted might not know it yet, but they are meant to be together – he just needs a little bit of persuading.
Read on for our interview with Tanya Sweeney.
Did you always want to be a writer? Tell us about your journey to becoming a published author.
I think I knew from about the age of seven—when I realised that other people could write books—that I wanted to write a novel. I started plenty in my copybooks, getting about a page and a half done before I fantasised about my life as a millionaire author, complete with pool and mansion. It’s a cycle I kept up for decades!
I was incredibly lucky in that when I finally finished a first draft, I sent a picture of my word count to my friend, the author Edel Coffey. She let her agent, the amazing Marianne Gunn O’Connor know about it, and Marianne read the first draft. I was a bit mortified by it, but figured if you’re going to get editorial feedback from anyone, it would be her! Luckily, she was really excited by it, and she offered to represent me – a dream come true. She’s a woman who makes things happen, and the Transworld deal wasn’t too far behind. Pinch me moments for days.
What inspired you to start writing?
In the very beginning? I had a tiny, arrogant hunch that it was something I was kind of good at. I loved putting words together and making up worlds and people, the way little kids often do. I was useless at number and retaining any kind of information, but words and people were my thing. So I stuck close to it.
Tell us about your new book, Esther Is Now Following You. Where did the idea come from?
In the earliest part of my career, I interned at MTV in London and my job was to look after the ‘viewer enquiry’ line, which was a mood back in those pre-Google days. I got every type of crazy phonecall. One afternoon a woman rang up asking for backstage passes to the Europe Music Awards, which my department was involved in organising. She told me she was the secret girlfriend of a famous popstar, and she couldn’t ask his team. I was fascinated by her cunning, and her ingenuity. Later, when I became a journalist, I encountered so many celebrities’ superfans – just a fascinating breed of people.
So in Esther Is Now Following You, Esther is a woman who is sort of sleepwalking through her life in London. So-so marriage, a job she doesn’t understand, friends that are there mainly out of circumstance. She experiences a devastating loss in her life and things start to slowly unravel for her. She develops a harmless, distracting crush on a D-list Canadian actor, Ted. She retreats further and further into this imaginary relationship until she can’t pick apart reality from fantasy. It being 2011, and the ‘Wild West’ years of social media, Esther finagles her way into Ted’s orbit with terrifying efficiency.
What do you hope this book instils in the reader?
I’ve had the absolute best reactions from readers so far. One memorably said, ‘this is like being strapped into Thelma and Louise’s car as it’s going towards the cliff’. So many people want to give Esther’s head a wobble, but they feel so strongly for her too. What a privilege to be able to provide that experience for readers.
What did you learn when writing this book?
Mainly, that I can get to the end of a first draft! A true revelation for me. I did do a lot of research on stalkers, superfans and parasocial relationships too, and inhabited a few online spaces where superfans of famous people like to congregate. I found that trauma did often feature in the life of people who resorted to stalking – I can understand why, given that it’s a sort of escape, or a diversion. In superfan communities, I realised that there was almost always a ‘Queen Bee’, or the fan that has been there since the start. These people get so much out of being part of these communities.
Tell us about your writing process?
Being a journalist is a great way to think up ideas for stories. Initially, I tend to do a bit of worldbuilding, and fill out lots of questionnaires about the characters, the world they’re in, the journey. What were they like as kids? What’s their biggest fear? What’s the most exciting thing to happen in their local area? What does the sitting room look like? None of this makes it as far as the book itself, but it’s so useful. Next, I create a ‘step outline’, writing each scene in a line, eg ‘Esther realises she is pregnant. She tells her husband’. And then, the hard part. I aim for 1,000 words a day, often before I start my day job as a features writer for the Irish Independent. Some days I only make it as far as 450; other days I’ve been known to belt out 3,500.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
I am fascinated by people’s often outrageous stories so I get inspiration from reading the papers, Reddit threads, various Facebook groups. People are at their most oversharing and telling online in many spaces, and it works out as great story material.
What are your top three favourite books of all time, and why?
I adored Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, about a young girl coming of age in an elite boarding school in the US. Worth it for the outrageous pupils’ names alone – plus, I love a socially awkward, cynical heroine. Lori Lansen’s The Girls is a little gem, about a pair of conjoined twins, living in rural Ontario, facing a terminal illness together. It sounds bleak but it’s very beautiful. I do remember reading Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity in the summer it came out, when I was an insufferable music snob. I related very hard with the character of Rob, and Nick had a fantastic writing style that was natural and conversational.
Who are some of your favourite authors, Irish or otherwise?
Marian Keyes is pretty much our goddess here in Ireland, right? I adored the Oh My God, What A Complete Aisling books by Sarah Breen and Emer McLysaght. I have a soft spot for Dolly Alderton, Monica Heisey, Madeleine Grey. I love people who create shambolic, morally grey women.
What are some upcoming book releases we should have on our radar?
Katriona O’Sullivan’s Hunger will resonate hugely with every woman in the land, and probably quite a few men. It just floored me. Edel Coffey is such a slick and elegant writer who is really taking flight with her next book In Glass Houses, and I don’t say this just because she is a friend! I adored Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino – like Esther, it’s a fast-paced story about a woman on a mission, who gets in way over her head. Brilliant stuff.
What book made you want to become a writer?
Truly, I think it might have been Judy Blume’s Deenie. I inhaled those Judy Blume books when I discovered them as a kid, and I remember even back then being struck by how she approached challenging issues with a lightness of touch, and a real sense of empathy. On a line-by-line level they were fun books to read, but with some resonance and grit in behind all of that.
What’s one book you would add to the school curriculum?
Without a doubt, Poor by Katriona O’Sullivan. I do think every young person in the country should read about her extraordinary journey. Katriona overcame poverty, abuse, neglect and addiction to live a fulfilling, peaceful and accomplished life. Not only is it entirely inspirational; it beseeches those with privilege to be a bit more empathetic about others who aren’t so lucky.
What’s the best book you’ve read so far this year?
I’ve just finished Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis, about a woman who flees heartbreak to take a UN job in Iraq, where she leads a deradicalisation programme for ISIS brides. It is darkly funny in ways I am simply in awe of.
What’s your favourite bookshop in Ireland?
Barker & Jonas in Naas is my closest one, and a browse there never fails to bring me to a book I’ve never even heard of, but will absolutely devour. Recently I picked up Joyride by the New Yorker writer Susan Orlean, which was such a pleasant surprise of a book.
What’s some advice you’ve got for other aspiring writers?
It’s really simple. Stop talking about writing a book, the way I did for close to 20 years. I used to coyly reveal to other authors that I was ‘in the middle’ of writing something (yeah, 350 words in), hoping they would coax something out of me, or encourage me to write something. It never worked. I only managed to write Esther when I told no-one it was happening, and it was my own tiny, private universe for a while. Consistency is so important. It really is a case of just getting on with it, putting your bum on a chair and writing until you’re at the end. Once you’ve started, the only way out is through.
Lastly, what do the acts of reading and writing mean to you?
I love this question. To be able to tell stories, whether in fiction or in my journalism, is such a privilege, and I never take that lightly. The icing on the cake is when readers respond strongly to it, taking characters like Esther into their hearts. When I hear people say that they were transported somewhere else for a while because of me, I feel like a superhero. And I love how reading does this for me, too. It takes me places and makes me confront the craziest, darkest parts of the human condition. If you can make me laugh at the same time, you’ve got a fan for life.
Esther Is Now Following You by Tanya Sweeney (Bantam Press, €14.99) is on sale now.
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