Dolores Batten (D.M. Batten), a Professor/English Lecturer at Keiser University, currently serves as the senior essay editor for Plath Profiles Academic Journal. With an M.A. in literature and language from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX and currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Central Florida in the texts and technology program, Dolores’s passion for writing has earned her recognition in numerous academic publications and conferences.
This captivating narrative non-fiction work is the result of years of dedicated experience. It chronicles the journey of a young lesbian across the highs and lows of navigating the world as an emerging member of the LGBT community in the United States during the less accepting 1990s.
The story is a heartfelt autobiography that delves into the depths of personal growth and relationships. It provokes important considerations and discussions on religion, philosophy, social culture, and the psychoanalytical perspective, all from the unique position of her own personal account.
As both an academic and a writer, Batten has skillfully intertwined critical analysis and personal recollections in an ethnography of the first 40 years of her life. This novel offers a universal glimpse into the human condition, exploring emotions that resonate within both the homosexual community and the wider social world.
The Heart Wants What It Wants plot synopsis
The Heart Wants What It Wants: A Destined Twin Flame Journey is an edge of your seat, 65,000 word memoir and autobiography, reflecting my own broken beginnings, yearnings for female companionship, experiences through spiritual awakening and the 1990’s rave scene and the perils of finding ‘the one’ along the way. It will definitely appeal to a wide audience looking for an authentic voice of lesbian liberation through the almost-too-honest account of love, loss, and rekindling.
The story is told at times with an experimental style, working with cutting edge nonlinear patterns and flashbacks, and thus breaking from the mold (and breaking the fourth wall in the process). This text encompasses many themes, including LGBT issues, religion, philosophy, the 1990s coming out experience, the Rave Movement, death and loss, and of course, love. It is the highest goal after all that we can attain.
Growing up as a lesbian in the early 90’s was a harrowing and life-defining experience. As the self-proclaimed protagonist in this nonfiction memoir, I can attest to the trials and tribulations of the coming out experience, as I was kicked from the closet by everyone nearest and dearest to me.
Throughout a series of misadventures, I found forbidden love in the eyes of my lifelong soulmate and this autobiography chronicles our misadventures through deeply confessional prose which teeters on the edge of possibility, pain, madness, wonder, and awe. My biggest goal for this manuscript is to express the LGBT voice and to provide a painfully honest and confessional account of my life to bring authenticity of the experience of marginalized individuals into the world and have a voice of representation for both lesbians and lovers alike.
An interview with D.M. Batten
Why do you write in the genre(s) that you do?
When I started out writing my debut memoir The Heart Wants What It Wants: A Destined Twin Flame Journey over two decades ago, I did it because it allowed me to get my thoughts and feelings out. I only realized years later that I wrote this memoir because I’m not actually writing for me. I’m writing for the younger version of myself who needed these words.
But I didn’t realize that, at the time, it was not me really writing at all. Rather, the book was writing me.
I also write for me after the fact in that writing is cathartic. I think the most important thing we can do in life is to help each other, and writing is the place where I can make the most impact on the world, and difference in it, by writing about my own personal life experiences.
As a child, I had a very traumatic beginning and overcame numerous obstacles to be the College Professor and PhD student that I am today. Writing about these things may help people at some of the worst times of their lives. But that is not to say that I am writing about negative things, only that I avoid toxic positivity in my writing, which makes it more authentic. I think that telling the truth, both stars and scars, in your writing is important.
My writing is vulnerable because, I think, if it’s going to be art, if it’s going to be real, it has to bleed.
Do you have a muse?
Yes I do! I talk about her throughout my memoir writing. She is also my twin flame, which basically means a spiritual counterpart to myself. She’s a creative type as well.
How do you name your characters? If you write nonfiction, do you ever change the names of your characters, and if so, how do you decide what names to change them to?
I try to use names that are real whenever I can. Part of the job of a non-fiction writer is to get permission to use names and likenesses before you publish.
My memoir includes about 25% of the real names of the people who are in it, as I received their permission beforehand. However, when that is not possible, how I come up with an alias or alternative name for the person is very random and typically has to do with what I think their physical features remind me of. Like, “she looks like a Brenda” or “they look like a Toni”.
I’m not sure what the features are that make them look like a name, but it’s how I process that type of name generation. I think it comes from prior associations with people sharing that name.
If Hollywood bought the rights to your book, would you want it to be turned into a movie or series?
This is actually a really a great question because I am currently looking into movie adaptation opportunities. When I was writing this, I wrote from the memories I had of the experiences in my life, and I verified their accuracy with the people who experienced these parts of my life with me.
So, when I replay it back in my mind, it comes out like a movie, and there are even actually chapters in the book which showcase certain moments as scenes from a movie, complete with stage directions, props, and character emotions. I think my tagline says it best:
“If Dawson’s Creek and Perks of Being a Wallflower had a lovechild, with a smidgeon of Shameless and a hint of Party Monsters, that would be this book!”
What are your passions/obsessions outside of writing?
I have many! I love playing piano, reading, playing videogames, riding rollercoasters, and eating sushi! I think everyone should be passionate about life and what they do in it, and so I make sure to get in as many life experiences as I can that bring me joy.
I am also passionate about teaching, and this is how I share my joy and love of reading and writing with the world! As a college professor, I have the opportunity to educate, to mentor, to inspire, and to coach others into becoming the best professional and personal versions of themselves, and I am truly grateful to God and the universe for giving me such an awesome calling!
Who would you most want to read your book?
I think my book is really for a large audience because it deals with so many themes and different topics that people from all walks of life can relate to. However, if I had to pick four groups that I really want to read my book, it would be:
- People struggling with their sexual orientation or trying to rectify religion, spirituality, social interaction, etc. with their sexuality.
- People who are going through a hard time in life, who need to see that you can get past the big things and do the hard things: If you can go through it, you can get through it.
- People who are lovers and dreamers who want relationships with depth and meaning and are not just looking for the superficial. My story explains many of these types of relationships throughout my lifetime and how special some soul connections can be, as I found both my twin flame and a soulmate in this lifetime.
- People who need to know that your past doesn’t define you. I have been a raver, promiscuous, a partier, an unhealed soul, who was abandoned as a child, spent time being homeless, and went through severe life traumas, but walked out of all of these obstacles and overcame darkness, to find light on the other side. Now I would love to shine this light on the souls that still need healing, and the romantics who still need love.
Who is on your Mt. Rushmore of greatest/inspirational authors (choose four authors)?
Maya Angelou–poetry
Malcolm Gladwell—inspirational and educational books
Jack Kerouac—personal memoir and creative nonfiction
Sylvia Plath—poetry and novel
Have you ever mentored another writer with their writing?
Absolutely! As the senior essay editor for Plath Profiles, an academic journal dedicated to the scholarship of Sylvia Plath, I had the pleasure of working with many different authors of varied genre.
For me, part of the enjoyment of being a writer and an educator is that I get to help people fulfill their potential. When it comes to mentoring, I am a copyeditor, a friend, a muse, a fellow poet and writer, and sometimes, a counselor.
I help people get their best writing by encouraging them to write from the heart, write often, and always be revising. I tell my students “Writing is a process, not a product.”
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Just curious, as I have never been lucky in love.