Melanie Benjamin – Best Selling Historicals

Melanie Benjamin’s historic fiction successfully combines romance with thriller plots and famous real life heroines, so its perhaps not surprising her books regularly grace the New York Times and USA Today best seller lists. Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Melanie talks about her latest book Mistress of the Ritz, a World War II story based in the landmark Paris hotel taken over by the Nazis. It’s a love story and a suspense thriller all in one. Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode: Melanie's vital "second start" as a novelistOn being brutally honest about your workThe change from modern to historical fictionHollywood's "golden years" for womenHer podcast with fellow authorThe little know Brit she binge reads Where to find Melanie Benjamin:  Website:  https://melaniebenjamin.com/ Facebook:  Melaniebenjamin.author  Twitter:  @MelanieBen Goodreads: Melanie Benjamin What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions. Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Melanie. Hello there Melanie, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us. Melanie Benjamin: Well, thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for thinking of me, Jenny. Bestselling historical fiction author Melanie Benjamin Jenny Wheeler: Melanie, you're a New York Times and USA Today best selling historical fiction author. You've got foreign rights sold in a dozen countries. You sound as if you're really at the top of your game, but was there a Once Upon a Time moment when you just knew you had to write fiction? How did it all start? Never like 'in the movies' Melanie Benjamin: Yes. It's never quite like it is in a book or a movie.  Just one moment. No, it's never quite like that.  You know, I came to this fairly late in my life. I didn't even consider being a writer until I was nearing 40. It's a long time ago.  My first love was theater and I really wanted to pursue an acting career, which was not supported by my family. So that led to a lot of anxiety about dropping out of college and running out, wanting to go off and do my theater and pursue my acting. And it was just kind of a muddle. And then I get married. And then I had children very young and I did a stay at home mom thing and the - what we call the PTA up here - the Parent Teacher Association president thing.  But I wasn't very happy. However, I was always a reader, although I had never considered writing as a career. It was just something that came very naturally to me and helped me through all my years in college and high school.  Writing was always an easy thing for me. A dear friend of mine said. -  I was coming up on my 40th birthday - and she said,” you know, I always thought you'd be a writer.” And to this day, she doesn't know why she said that. A light bulb moment But when she did say it was like a little light bulb went off over my head. Certainly I was a very articulate, highly verbal person. I lived in my head a lot. I pretended a lot. I was a huge reader. And so I set out to start to write, and I wrote a couple of little essays that got me a column in a parenting magazine. And then I wrote a short story that went to contest. That was just a dangerous enough amount of success to keep me...