Kay Jaybee Interview!

Kay Jaybee is on tour to promote her new novel, Digging Deep, and I jumped at the chance to interview her! Here, Kay opens up about the story behind Digging Deep, and her writing process. Hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did!

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Digging Deep's blurb:

As site supervisor on an archaeological dig, in the grounds of the Ancient Roman city of Leptis Minus in Tunisia, Dr Beth Andrew’s hands are well and truly full. Her first foreign excavation, which she co-runs with the American archaeologist Dr Harrison Harris, gets off to a shaky start due to the jealous interference of Harrison’s ex, and an overzealous student… Love and lust really can cloud even the cleverest person’s judgement!

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1.The setting to Digging Deep sounds awesome -- an archaeological dig on the grounds of the ancient Roman city Leptis Minus in Tunisia. How did you discover this place and decide to set a book there?  

Leptis Minus wasn’t so much discovered by me in a whirl of writer like research, but was thrust upon me as a student. Many years ago, when I was in my second year at university, I was sent to Tunisia to take part in the excavation of a Roman city. I was very privileged to be put to work on digging the bath house -- it was an amazing experience.

I have long wanted to set one of my stories on an archaeological excavation. The challenges of that particular excavation, with its additional pressures of extreme heat in the day, extreme cold at night, lack of running water, and limited food, made it the ideal one to play with!


2. It sounds like there's a story behind the dedication to Digging Deep. Care to share? 

There is indeed! Only a handful of students were chosen to go to Africa and represent my university. The remainder of the dig staff came from similarly selected students from a university in America. At first it was all a bit ‘chalk and cheese’ - but soon we were all rubbing along very well indeed! Saying no more!!

3. Your writing covers a range from romantic to hardcore erotic. When you're writing something on the more romantic side, such as Digging Deep, does anything change about your approach? 

I must confess I find writing the more romantic stories much harder than penning the BDSM kink. I’m constantly having to hold myself back from adding in extra sex scenes with ropes and chains!!

With the hardcore erotica I plan my stories less. The scenes seem to naturally flow from one to another, each sexual episode broadening the story, and carrying the plot.

In romantic tales however, the sex is often the ultimate aim -- the goal in the minds of the two lead characters. Keeping the tension going in a way that won’t send my readers to sleep means I have to think around more corners than I do with the more complex BDSM stories!

4. The heroine of Digging Deep is British, and your hero is American. Love across the pond seems to be a subject of endless fascination to people on both sides of the divide. What interests you about it?

I guess there are a lot of ‘love across the pond’ romances. I hadn’t really given that a thought to be honest!  Until Digging Deep, all my stories have been based in the UK.

When I’m writing I have to be able to picture all my stories locations in my head. If I can’t, then I just can’t get across the feel of a place, and consequently the stories don’t work. So when I wrote this novella, it was more to do with basing a story outside the confines of the UK for a change.

As I can still picture the sights, sounds, and aromas of Tunisia so well, it seemed too good a setting to let go to waste. Plus of course, there is nothing like having two characters from different backgrounds having to work together -- who knows what frictions may occur!

5. In an interview you did for Victoria Blisse, you mentioned becoming desensitized to erotica. I've been thinking about that ever since I read it (it struck me because my own relationship with erotica has certainly changed as I've read and written more of it). How do you keep your writing hot when that's the case?

In my early days of writing, I knew my erotica was working because it turned me on as I wrote it. These days they are simply words on a page. I guess after seven years of twisting human beings into sexual knots you are bound to become desensitized to it.

On the plus side, after all those years, I have also picked up an idea of what my readers like and don’t like. I have a bank of ideas that I know work, and another set of plots that simply don’t – and will never be used again!

I keep things fresh (at least I hope I do), by trying to take as many ordinary scenarios as possible, and then making extra ordinary things happen within them. Nothing is sexier than taking an everyday occurrence or place, and allowing fantasy laden things to take them over!


6. I first read your work on Oysters and Chocolate, where you were a frequent contributor. The owners of that wonderful publication recently announced they were shutting down. Would you mind reflecting a bit on your experience with O&C in honour of a site I will definitely miss? 

Oysters and Chocolate have been a major influence in my writing career, and I will certainly miss them.

It was just over seven years ago when they took my very first piece of erotic poetry- Regrets (http://kayjaybee.me.uk/news/oysters-and-chocolate-a-fond-fairwell/).

After that, the editors Jordan and Sam, kindly took over 30 pieces of my work. From short tales to poems, to books reviews, and even a ten part serial, (Going Against Type), they have supported me all along the line.

My serial later became ‘Not Her Type: Erotic Adventures With A Delivery Man’, and was published by Oysters and Chocolate’s sister company, OCPress (which is also sadly no more).

I will particularly miss providing the web site with an annual Christmas story. My first one, Santa’s Little Helper, visited a very select grotto -- while my very last, Candy at Christmas, took the reader into the world of pony play!

So many people use O&C, not only a place where they could read a new piece of fresh kink every day, but as a place to spot new talent. In fact, if it wasn’t for my short story, Punished, (that featured on the site a few years ago), then I would never have been asked by Sweetmeats Press to write The Circus novella for their Immoral Views collection, and consequently, wouldn’t have written my third novel, Making Him Wait. (Sweetmeats Press, 2012)

7. Anything else you'd like to add, about writing in general or Digging Deep specifically? 

Thank you ever so much for such for inviting me over for such a lovely interview!

The last twelve months have been an amazing experience for me in the world of writing. I’ve been lucky enough to have two novels come out (The Voyeur- Xcite, Making Him Wait- Sweetmeats Press), my first anthology re-released with a brand new cover (The Collector- Austin & Macauley), and two Secret Library novellas published (A Sticky Situation and Digging Deep). I’m still in shock to tell you the truth!
2013 is shaping up to be just as hectic. I have just finished my first non-erotic novel (all hush hush for now!), and am about to start writing parts 2 and 3 of The Perfect Submissive! Part two will be entitled The Retreat, and will be out in October. Once that’s written, I’ll be cracking on with part three...

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Digging Deep is published by Xcite Books, and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US, and is coming soon to all other good eBook retailers.

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Bio-

Kay Jaybee wrote the novels Making Him Wait, (Sweetmeats Press, 2012), The Voyeur (Xcite,2012), and The Perfect Submissive (Xcite, 2011), as well as the novella's Digging Deep (Xcite, 2013), A Sticky Situation (Xcite, 2012), and The Circus (Sweetmeats Press, 2011). She has also written the anthologies The Best of Kay Jaybee, (Xcite,2012), Tied to the Kitchen Sink, Equipment, (All Romance, 2012), Yes Ma’am (Xcite e-books, 2011), Quick Kink One and Quick Kink Two (Xcite e-books, 2010), and The Collector (Austin & Macauley, 1st Ed 2008, 2nd Ed 2012).
Kay has had over 60 short stories published by Cleis Press (inc. Best of Best Women’s Erotica 2, Best Women’s Erotica 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012; Best Bondage 2012, 2013, Sweet Love, Gotta Have It, Sweet Confessions), Black Lace (Sexy Little Numbers), Mammoth (The Mammoth Book of Lesbian Erotica), Xcite (inc.Ultimate Sin, Boy Fun, Power Play, Threesomes, Finger Music, Tricks For Kicks), Penguin (Oysters and Chocolate; Erotic Stories of Every Flavor), Seal (Oysters and Chocolate; Nice Girls, Naughty Sex),and Sweetmeats Press (Immoral Views).
Details of all Kay's work can be found at www.kayjaybee.me.uk 


You can follow Kay on Twitter- kay_jaybee

And on Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/KayJaybeeAuthor