Melanie Kilsby asked Melanie Dickerson:

HI Melanie! You know I LOVE your books. This is an author question for you and something I was thinking about after re-reading the Healer's Apprentice. How do you plan the setting of your books? What thoughts go into it? And, what is the biggest thing you consider when putting in a Christian theme for each book? Is it part of the premise, etc? Thanks so much for all that you do. You are SO inspiring <3

Melanie Dickerson Oh, thanks, Melanie! The story and the setting sort of evolve together, usually. I try to think how the setting could work with the story. I chose Medieval Germany for most of my stories because of the way the government and leadership was set up in the Holy Roman Empire at that time. Different towns and regions had their own leaders, as the king/emperor was seldom near and his power was rather tenuous, as he couldn't be everywhere at one time. So the different leaders, whether it was a duke, a bishop, a prince, or someone else, were like kings in their own little area. And that worked well for my fairy-tale-inspired stories. And I set a couple of them in England, because that political situation worked well for that particular story. But honestly, I don't remember which part comes first--the story, the characters, or the setting. They all kind of form together. At least, that's how I remember it, but I don't usually remember much about how the initial idea formed.
As for the Christian theme, I don't normally plan that at all. It just forms organically out of the story, the characters, and the situation the character finds him or herself in. And it's almost always something that I am wrestling with or have wrestled with in the past. I have to be able to empathize with my characters and feel what they are feeling. But I do try to put a lot of thought into that part of the story, although it isn't planned from the beginning.
Thanks, Melanie! You are so kind. :-)

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