Paul Cleave is one of New Zealand’s most successful writers, with his crime novels selling all around the world. Nearly 20 years after it was published, his first book, The Cleaner, has been made into TV series Dark City: The Cleaner. Paul, 49, tells the Weekly about the inspiration behind his novels and how he switches off from the dark stuff he writes.
I started writing when I was 19.
At the time, I was working in retail and would come home at night and write for three or four hours. I initially wrote horror, then started doing crime after reading the book Mindhunter, by retired FBI agent John Douglas, about profiling serial killers and mass murderers.
He said a lot of serial killers like to stay close to police investigating them and I thought about a serial killer who worked as a janitor at a police station. That’s how I came up with Joe Middleton, the killer in The Cleaner.
I began writing The Cleaner when I was 24.
A year later, I quit my job, sold the house I’d bought when I was 22 and moved in with my parents, Ray and Jill, to write full-time. It took me six years to get a publishing contract. When I was 30, I was still living with them.
I hadn’t told most people that I was trying to be a writer but when I did tell one friend, he read the book and said, “Dude, you cannot give up.” I sent it to publishers Random House, who suggested a couple of changes, including a new ending, and a month later I had a contract.
The Cleaner came out when I was 31 and suddenly it sold half a million copies overseas.
I was worried about my parents reading the book.
Partly because of what it’s about, but also because the mother in The Cleaner is partly based on my mum!
In Mindhunter, John Douglas says serial killers often have a domineering female figure in their lives, so I gave Joe a crazy mum. I gave her some of my mother’s quirks and things she did that annoyed me – only much worse. Mum loved it. I don’t think that she recognised herself.
Mum would have got a huge buzz out of the TV show. She died in 2010 and she’d have been so proud, like my dad is. I took him to the set and he was so excited. He’s super-proud to the point where it can be a bit embarrassing! I go into Whitcoulls and they say, “Your dad was in here telling us all about your new TV show.”
I asked the producers if I could write the show.
They gave me one weekend to deliver the first two episodes before they started looking for writers. I worked until 1am and was up again at 6am getting the scripts done. The producers loved them, and said, “Okay, you can carry on.”
I had to quickly learn how to write for TV – it’s different to writing books. A couple of years earlier, I’d read the scripts for the pilots of Breaking Bad and True Detective, so I based a lot of what I did on those. When I didn’t know how to do something, like write a voice over, I had to Google it.
I really want to write more TV shows.
I’ve been working on another show. In the meantime, my book Trust No One has been optioned by a big Hollywood star for a movie. I can’t say who it is, but a script is currently being developed, which is very exciting.
I’m pretty good at switching off from the dark stuff I write.
I go for a run or sit on the couch watching a comedy and cuddling my cats. The best antidote is travel. Attending festivals all over the world is always a highlight. So is visiting places where my books sell well, like France and Denmark. I am going to the Caribbean, so by the end of the year the list of countries I’ve been to will get to about 70.
My frisbee always comes with me, and I’ve got pictures of me throwing it in front of places like the Parthenon in Athens.
I feel very lucky to get to do what I do.
My books are set in Christchurch, where I live.
It does come across as pretty dark. I get emails from people saying, “We’re coming to New Zealand but not to Christchurch. Your books have put us off.” I always say, “Actually, it’s a great place.” I’ve been to so many countries and yet I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
Dark City: The Cleaner is streaming on Neon now.
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