We were lucky to catch up with Melodi Bac recently and have shared our conversation below.

Melodi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we talk about all of your success, let’s start with a story of failure. Can you open up about a time when you’ve failed?

Being a writer requires a few steps. Most people think the act of writing is what makes a writer, a writer. But it is so much more than that. If you don’t have a medium to publish your work to reach the right audience, you won’t succeed. Often, it is difficult to find the right publisher or to find a publisher at all. When I finished my first book, I had a hard time publishing it. Each publisher door I stepped into, shut the door to my face. I had so many rejections that I had a rejection file on my computer. But this was not enough for me to give up on my dreams. After countless rejections, I found a publisher who believed in me and my stories. Shortly after they published my book, the literary critics declared me as Turkey’s JK. Rowling. Now I work with the best publishers in the industry and proudly present my books to my readers.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started writing fantasy genre stories when I was 13. My young age brought advantages and disadvantages to my career. While some people didn’t take me seriously, some were amazed by the stories I wrote at such a young age. As I grew older, people started to take me seriously. That is when I decided to be a world-renowned writer. I began to work with the best publishers in the industry. At the age of 27, I had already published 6 books and won 3 awards. Since I started writing at an early age, I had to improve myself significantly. At university, I picked a major which would be beneficial for my career. Thus, I graduated from Cinema and Television. This major gave me a chance to really comprehend the modern story-telling techniques. Additionally, I took fantasy literature classes. But I didn’t stop there; I moved to America and studied Screenwriting at UCLA. During my studies, I worked as a story analyst and dedicated my talents to helping writers, directors, and producers to create compelling stories. My passion for storytelling also encouraged me to pursue a career in editing as well. Nowadays, besides writing my books, I work as a story analyst, editor, and translator. Currently, all of my 6 books are in Turkish. However, recently I signed with an amazing publisher to publish my books in English all around the world. While it might take about a year, when my book is published in English, I will take a huge step towards my lifetime goal to be a world-renowned writer. I am extremely excited about taking this step.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I was the youngest fantasy novelist in Turkey. I never had someone correcting my writing style or changing the stories I wrote. My editors never felt the need to change anything in my story’s structure, up until the first script I wrote. My instructor wanted me to change a major thing in the plot. This threw me off-guard. I always assumed I would know what my story needs better than anyone. I resisted the change, I couldn’t let go of the story. Then I fell behind my peers. While they were going somewhere with their stories, I was stuck. That’s when I realized being flexible is not the enemy but the only way to survive in this industry. I must say, I struggled with this change for a while. I had to unlearn that I know what my stories need. I accepted the fact that someone might spot the problem in my story so much more clearly. Then I let it go. I gave into change and the story picked up from there. That is how I became a quarterfinalist at an International screenplay competition.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

“The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell significantly helped me understand the fundamentals of storytelling. The book doesn’t actually tell you how to write a story. It simply explains why we write what we write from the very beginning of human history. Campbell points out the obvious patterns in stories from all different parts of the world. He tells the story of how even the first people were telling the same story. It was an amazing book that opened my eyes to many things. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to be a writer or loves to read. Other than this book, reading a lot in general has significantly impacted my writing abilities. When you understand the fundamentals of storytelling and see how other writers have created compelling books, then it is so much easier to bend the rules of storytelling and create something unique and unexpected.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://melodibac.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melodibac/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melodibackitaplari/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melodibac95/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/melodibac

Image Credits
Most of the pictures are by Rossana Carozzo