Melanie Hill is an author, poet, Story Nerd podcaster, Certified Story Grid Editor, and Associate member of the Institute of Professional Editors. Born in Launceston, Tasmania, she manages four teenage children, a husband and two cats in Brisbane, Queensland.

She has finished a middle-grade performance story and writes a poem daily to sharpen her word choice precision. Melanie is also writing the second draft of a spy thriller novel and the first draft of a fairy tale that’s been dropping hints for a while.

Melanie’s passions span middle-grade and young adult stories, spy stories, and fairy tales. She is also rapidly developing an interest in master detective novels. Her previous career as a logistics planner has honed my expertise in plotting and solving complex story problems.

Living by the motto “feel the fear and do it anyway,” Melanie confronts her fears daily and she’s dedicated to helping others overcome their plotting challenges.

In this session, Melanie Hill will present a session on The Hero’s Journey and use Neil Gaiman’s ‘Coraline’ as an example. Please pre-read if you’d like to get a little more out of the workshop, and there will be spoilers.