Q&A with Melanie Bateman

I was lucky to get to read The Time Key by Melanie Bateman and to participate in a blog tour. I also got to ask Melanie these questions:

1.Where did the idea for The Time Key come from?

Melanie: A lot of ideas from over the years went into writing The Time Key, but it really all came together just before my daughter turned one. My husband and I were having a discussion and he mentioned that if anything ever happened to our daughter and me he would probably turn into a miserable drunk. That’s when Stanley came to life for me, and the rest of the plot just came along as I wrote.

2. If you could go back in time and talk to your past self, is there a specific time you would go back to? What would you tell yourself? 

Melanie: That’s a hard one. I’d probably go back to when I was a little girl and all I wanted was to be an animator and work for Disney. I used to spend all day drawing horses, but it was a love-hate relationship because they just never seemed to turn out good enough (it still seems that way). I would probably tell myself to never give up on that dream. One day those beautiful drawings will illustrate a story, and you will be so proud.

3. Is there a part of The Time Key that was your favorite to write? Is there a part you are particularly proud of? 

Melanie: I always looked forward to writing scenes where Stanley and Lena interact with each other. I love their relationship.

I worked really hard on the voice of my narrator, and I think I achieved what I was trying to do with it. It all came together nicely at the end, and I’m very proud of it. If you’ve finished the story I think you’ll know what I mean.

4. Were any characters in the book inspired by real people? 

Melanie: Like I mentioned before, the idea of Stanley was inspired by husband, but they are nothing alike. Lena’s fiery personality I borrowed from my daughter, even though I began to write while she was a baby. But it’s been interesting to see how much feistier she is the older she gets. In a lot of ways, Lena is very much like my daughter.

5. What kind of research did you do for the settings in the past? Have you been to London before? 

Melanie: Just a lot of reading. I’ve never been to London, so I had to research a lot about the area to get the details right (memoirs, articles, blogs, etc.). The London part was easy compared to researching Andalucía and the Roma community there, since I wanted to borrow facts about real people to match a fantasy theme, while trying to remain respectful to their culture and traditions. I read a lot of books from the time period as well, and that helped me get the right tone. And because this is a time travel story with different dimensions, I left a few clues here and there to give away that maybe this story is set in a different dimension from the one we know.

6. Do you have any plans for more books? 

Melanie: When I started The Time Key I had an idea for three stories that are linked together. I’m currently researching the second story. I wanted to write them as stand-alone books, however, so you don’t necessarily need to read the first one to understand the next one. Nothing set in stone, though.

Check out my review of The Time Key here.

Want to buy The Time Key? You can do that from Amazon here and from Barnes and Noble here. 

Find out more about Melanie and her book at melaniebateman.com

Follow along with the blog tour and find out what others have been saying about The Time Key: 

“The Time Key” blog tour schedule:
June 16: Community Bookstop
June 17: Jodi Woody
June 18: Making Life a Bliss Complete
June 19: Kaylee Baldwin
June 20: Rockin’ Book Reviews
June 21: 2 Kids and Tired Books
June 22: Choco Meiske | Literature Approved | Fire and Ice
June 23: Bookworm Lisa
June 24: The Reader’s Salon
June 25: Bookworm Nation
June 26: Wishful Endings
June 27: Connie’s Bookmark
June 28: Once Upon a Time
June 29: Storyweaver
June 30: The Unabridged Girl
July 1: Mel’s Shelves
July 2: Blooming with Books
July 3: The Book Addict | Inklings and Notions
July 4: Novel-ties
July 5: Singing Librarian Books
July 6: Reading Lark
July 7: Paranormal & Romantic Suspense Reviews