Meet the Author

Do you ever feel broken? Author Melody Dean Dimick sure did during COVID. Her feelings that she and our world were damaged led her to change the title of one of her novels from What Lies Beneath to Broken.

Has the post-COVID world left you trying to cope with fear, sadness, loneliness, parent and relationship issues, or, worse yet, the lack of a relationship? Has bullying online or at school resulted in your hiding a negative body image? Melody once walked on her “spaghetti legs” in her uncool sneakers, so she understands the feelings of being different from classmates. As a teen, she read to get away from work on her family’s poultry farm and to escape the insecurities of feeling not smart, pretty, or coordinated enough to measure up to others’ expectations. Life has taught her that it was her unrealistic goals she had trouble meeting.

Melody writes books with characters she hopes you’ll find believable, relatable, and a bit quirky. Her characters in the Silent series hide in the lives and adventures of manga superheroes that populate the books the friends read, even as they experience the real pain of high school juniors and seniors.

Unlike many contemporary authors, Melody writes about students living in rural America, mainly the Adirondack area of New York and in Central Florida. Melody’s No Parents Allowed—set almost exclusively in a virtual reality chat room—won Gold / First Place in the 2020 Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Literary Awards in the Young Adult genre. She thinks the feelings of isolation created by the quarantine helped readers realize we aren’t alone with our problems. Thus, she updated No Parents Allowed and made it available to you under the title Enter the Virtual World, a setting young adults visit daily.

If you feel clumsy or geeky, you are not the only one. Since she has never been able to live down her reputation as the girl who hit the driver’s education teacher’s car with the drive’s education car while learning how to parallel park, Melody considers herself an authority on klutzy. Riley, the main character in her novel in verse, Broken—set in Central Florida, away from the hustle and bustle of Disney and major cities—is somewhat autobiographical. Melody grew up in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, recognizing and struggling with her inability to stop injustice.

Have you ever let time slip by while lying on your back trying to identify shapes in the clouds? Like Melody, Riley also enjoys evading her problems by watching drifting clouds and finds passing her road test a challenge. You, too, may see a little of yourself in the story or in one of Melody’s other books.

“No one ever really escapes high school” is Melody’s mantra. Writing isn’t her first career. During her years of teaching, she witnessed the alienation and vulnerability of one-sided loves, the dreams crushed, the injustices, and the tragedies her students faced. She gets young adults and writes for them and the people who love them.

If you read Backpack Blues: Ignite the Fire Within, you’ll discover how she gives voice to high school students, allowing them to spill their truths onto the pages. Better yet, ask your local theater to produce her play, Ain’t It a Shame. Do you find yourself, or a younger version of yourself, in one of the play’s characters? Consider playing that role.

Melody describes herself as a pacifist who abhors book banning. What inspires you? Follow the link to contact her.