Where do you hail from and what do you love most about your hometown?
I’m from Victoria, BC. I haven’t lived there for almost 20 years, but it’s still dear to me. What I love most about my hometown is how pretty it is. There is never a season without greenery and there are flowers everywhere. I love how the ocean is at your doorstep, the scent of it in the air and when you look across the water there are always mountains on the horizon.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
An actress. I got bitten by the acting bug when I was 9 and the feeling never went away. As a teenager, my main motivation for wanting a life in film or on stage was because I really wanted to meet Michael J. Fox. I still love acting and when the opportunities present themselves, I act in my community.
Tell us about your latest book.
My latest release is from Breathless Press and is called The Fifth Story. It’s a paranormal erotic adventure about a girl named Bryn who gets lured into the world of her own stories. The creature Darkness, gives her a mission to carry out and this mission takes her through four stories she’s written. She does what she is told because if she doesn’t she’ll never get home and she’ll be trapped with her stories forever. Her presence in her stories changes the original plots and she is forced to change her own “character” in order to survive.
Do you have anything new in the works and can you tell us a bit about it?
Yes…well, it’s been written, and it will soon be in the editing phase. A Christmas novella I submitted a couple weeks ago was accepted by Breathless Press. It’s called Baby, You’re Cold Inside and it’s sort of a take on the classic A Christmas Carol, but there are a lot of differences. The sex for instance; my version is a lot spicier. I’m not sure if Mr. Dickens would approve, but it sure was fun to write!
Is there anything you find particularly challenging about writing?
I find fighting the demons of negativity back to be very challenging. Whenever I start a piece of writing, whether it is a short story, a novella or a novel, I often feel very negative or sad. I wonder whether I really have anything to say, whether what I have to say it really worth reading and I wonder if, in a sea of millions of writers, if I will ever find my audience. I have to push all that aside and think about how much I love writing and just get on with it.
What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers?
I believe must-haves for any writer are support and confidence in their own words. If I didn’t have the support of my friends and family, beating back the negative demons and finding the confidence in my writing skills would be harder to do.
Where do you as an author draw the line on gory descriptions and/or erotic content?
For me, when it comes to writing erotic content, I draw the line at tone. If I’m writing an erotic scene and the tone requires really graphic descriptions, I’ll go for it, but if a really graphic depiction seems out of place or gratuitous, I’ll hold back. As for gore, I’m an extremely squeamish person. I don’t like watching gore, if it’s in a book I’m reading, I’ll breeze over it and so when it comes to writing, I only write as much as I can stomach. That being said there are quite a few scenes in The Fifth Story that contain a bit of violence and were hard to write, but I managed because I felt they were needed. However, if this was ever turned into a movie (how wonderful that would be) I don’t think I could watch the violence I put on paper.
Thanks very much for having me on You Gotta Read! I’ll now hand this interview over to my blurb and an excerpt!
Ivy Bateman
Blurb for The Fifth Story By Ivy Bateman
Every day we encounter doors. Some of these doors are open to us and some of them are closed, but when we pass through any door, a different truth or mystery lies beyond the threshold.
The night Bryn is pulled into a world of her own stories by a shadowy being, her reality is changed forever. Souls and danger, hauntingly beautiful witches, sexy and dangerous vampires, a soldier with a dying wish; she knows that each door leads to a story and to outcomes she can’t control, but in order to return home, Bryn must complete a set of tasks for the enigmatic and strangely sensual Darkness.
With four stories to enter, four items to retrieve, Bryn takes part in plot points so out of character that she almost loses herself in the tales she’s written. More than once she questions her sanity and curses herself for creating such perilous realities, but she always remains focused on her goal; the creation of the fifth story.
Ivy Bateman, The Fifth Story, Excerpt
She walked quickly around the counter and headed to where the sign indicated where the washrooms were, but she couldn’t find the women’s room. Then she almost slapped herself with ridiculousness. Who cared if she went into the men’s room? She marched over the door and pushed on it. Immediately she fell back. The door was stuck. She pushed on it harder, but could only open it about a foot. Something, or someone, was lying in front of the door. Bryn squeezed her head through the narrow space and looked down at the floor. Coran was lying passed out on the cold tile.
Bryn thought maybe something strange had happened in her story, and Coran was already dead. How lucky would that be? However, she realized that the story hadn’t changed that drastically when Coran groaned, revealing that he was very much alive. He rolled over, away from the door.
With his weight suddenly off the door, and Bryn’s weight still being pushed against it, the door went flying open. Bryn stumbled and fell into the washroom. None too gracefully, she hit the floor with a satisfying smack, and knocked her head against the tile floor with a hard clunk.
“Ow,” she said, as she rolled on her back and pressed her hands against a rapidly rising goose egg on the right side of her head. “Ah” she yelped as the door closed on her foot.
“Are you okay?” asked a voice with a gentle Scottish brogue.
Bryn turned her head and opened her eyes. Coran, who looked like he’d been through a rough time, was leaning over her. His blond hair was a mess and it fell into his gray eyes. He had soot on his face and he smelled, not unpleasantly, of smoke. He gave her a little smile. “My dear, are you all right?” he asked her again.
She smiled in return. She was touched by his concern. The ash on his face and the apparent absence of anyone else in the castle told her she had come into the story not long after the first time she’d entered with Darkness. Coran had every right to ignore her and he really had no time to get involved with a stranger and yet, he didn’t seem to be in any rush at all. Instead, he helped Bryn sit up.
As soon as his hands touched her skin, Bryn gasped and felt her heart beat quicken. Coran looked embarrassed and quickly, on unsteady legs, he stood up and got a paper towel. He wet it with warm water and kneeled down a couple feet away from Bryn. He handed her the paper towel. “Your face, it’s quite dirty.”
“Oh, thanks.” Bryn said, trying to avoid looking at him too much. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Why had she written Coran to have this effect on women? “It looks like I’m not the only one that’s recently been in a bit of a scrap,” he said with a chuckle. Bryn couldn’t help beaming at him with amazement. He was just as kind as she’d written him to be. However, if she was correct, this man should be putting all chivalry aside and be searching the castle for Melusine. He should be calling upon the ancient gods to help him in battle with the sea witch, but instead, here he was, watching Bryn wash her face and being concerned about her well-being.
“Is your head very sore? Can you stand?” he asked as he gently touched the bump on her head, but quickly pulled hand back when Bryn sucked in her breath at the feel of his hand on her hair
“Yes, I mean—no, it’s fine, and yes, I can stand,” she stammered as she pushed herself off the floor. She again tried to avoid eye contact with him, but it wasn’t helping. Coran was having a profound effect on her senses—something which she should have remembered could happen, but had completely forgotten about. In her story, Coran had a powerful effect on women and it was something he could do nothing about. Whether it was his aura or his pheromones, no one could tell, but women, upon meeting Coran, not only couldn’t control themselves around him but didn’t want to. Their thoughts would travel immediately down a sexual path as soon as they stood close to him and they would offer themselves to his every whim. Even the most reserved women would find their bodies pulsing immediately with desire for the tall blond stranger. Only those who knew how to, could control their passions for Coran. Katie, his assistant, was usually one of them, but sometimes, her guard would slip and she would be overcome with sexual longing for her handsome boss.
Bryn was finding her own guard was slipping rapidly and started thinking about very naughty things and wishing that she had time to explore her hidden bad girl side. Was this happening because she’d written him this way or was it because he looked so much like Tyler?
Ivy Bateman’s Links.
http://ivybmisbehavin.blogspot.ca/
https://twitter.com/IvyBateman
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ivy-Bateman/110679869080563
The Fifth Story By Ivy Bateman Book Trailer
The Fifth Story is available at Breathless Press
http://www.breathlesspress.com/index.php?main_page=product_free_shipping_info&cPath=13&products_id=340&zenid=kvbb4b1in687pj5crrr1k3s510
Dear Ivy,
Wow, young lady, what a good writer you are. To start with, you make me want to visit BC–way too cold for my taste! Second, you draw me in to a paranormal story. Definitely not my cuppa. But your premise is very tantalizing, and the story promises a lot of depth. And a sexual thrill or two along the way.
Good work! I think you will go far. Yours is the kind of imagination that rises like a peak above the flatness of the humdrum I’m used to. I wish you all the very best of success in your writing career, and happiness in your life.