Soul Inspirationz // The Christian Fiction Site Blog: Featured Author Interview: Melanie Dickerson

Monday, February 11, 2013

Featured Author Interview: Melanie Dickerson

Melanie Dickerson

Melanie Dickerson is a two-time Christy Award finalist and her book, The Healer's Apprentice, won the National Readers Choice Award for Best First Book.

She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA).

Melanie's books include The Healer's Apprentice, The Merchant's Daughter, and The Fairest Beauty, all fairy tale re-tellings set in Medieval Europe, popular with adult and young adult readers alike.

The following is a February 2013 interview with Melanie.

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

Hi, Ellie! I am a wife and mom of two daughters living in north Alabama, and I love to write. I have a degree in special education of the hearing impaired from The University of Alabama, and I've been a teacher and a missionary. But now I mostly just write and take care of my family.

2. How did you become a novelist, and did you always want to write?

I wanted to be a writer when I was in high school, but I gave up writing when I started college. I picked it back up again about ten years ago and fell in love with writing all over again. I think it was a God thing that I started writing again. I had a baby and a toddler at the time and I started thinking about what I would want to do as an occupation once my children started school, and the only thing that appealed to me was writing.

3. What do you think is significant about Christian fiction?

Christian fiction would be significant if only as an alternative to the kind of novels the secular world offers. But Christian fiction is significant for a much better reason than that. Christian stories help people to see God's truths in a clearer way, in a way that they can apply to themselves that is much more meaningful, sometimes, than just reading it in a nonfiction book. Christian novels are capable of impacting people's hearts and touching them with God's love.

4. How do you hope your readers react to the stories you write?

I hope my readers will see God's love for them more clearly, and I hope they will see themselves in my characters, that they will question and examine their own hearts to see if they would react the way they did if they were in a similar situation. I hope they will truly realize, maybe for the first time, maybe for the hundredth time, that God has a plan them and that it is a good plan.

5. What responses to your novels have affected you the most and why?

A reader once wrote to me and said that she intended to make reading her Bible her New Year's resolution after reading The Merchant's Daughter. That really touched my heart, because she was a teenager who had not grown up in church. Other readers told me they began to realize how blessed they were to own a Bible and said they planned to read theirs more. Others have said my books gave them hope that God has a plan for them. They couldn't have given a better gift than those reactions!

6. How has being a novelist impacted your relationship with Christ?

Being a novelist has helped me draw closer to God. Just as Eric Liddel said, "When I run, I feel God's pleasure," I feel the same way when I write.

7. Other than writing great novels, what other goals do you have for your life?

I hope to be there for my daughters as long as they need me, to encourage them and be the mom they need. I would also like to be more involved in the future in missionary work, as I've been completely out of it for several years and hope some day to be involved, possibly in orphanages for teen girls in Romania, Ukraine, and Moldova.

8. What do you like to do in your spare time?

Sleep! Haha, but I also like to try new recipes, make necklaces out of paper beads, and read. I used to scrapbook. Maybe some day I'll get back to that!

9. What can you tell us about your latest novels?

My newest release is The Fairest Beauty, which is a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

It is about a girl, Sophie, who grows up dealing with a lot of abuse from the duchess she serves under. She plans to run away and escape the abuse, but a young "prince," Gabe, comes to tell her that he has come to save her and take her to her betrothed, who happens to be his brother. And the story takes off from there. They end up traveling to the Cottage of the Seven, where they meet seven rather unusual men. But I can't say more or I might spoil it!

[Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon Kindle]

10. What stories can your fans expect from you in the days ahead?

I have a Cinderella retelling, The Captive Maiden, coming out in October. That story is a sequel to The Fairest Beauty, with Gabe's brother as the hero. It also was influenced by the story of Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, one of my favorite novels as a teen.

11. What would you like to say to your fans in New Zealand, and others worldwide?

Thanks so much for reading my books! Writing would be a lot less fun without you!!! And please feel free to write to me through my website, www.MelanieDickerson.com, which is also where you can watch the video trailers of all three of my books, and you can keep up with all the latest news about my books on my Facebook page.

12. Do you have any parting words?

Thanks so much for helping me get the word out about my books, Ellie! I greatly appreciate all you do for Christian fiction readers and authors! God bless you!

Visit the Melanie Dickerson Author Portfolio Page