Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!
- The hunt BEGINS on 4/10 at noon Mountain with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.
- Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
- There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 4/13 at midnight Mountain)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
- Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!
Hi! I’m Jill Williamson, and I’m a chocolate-loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. I’ve written 30+ books for readers of all ages and am best known for my award-winning Blood of Kings romantasy books. I’m also an indie filmmaker alongside my husband. You can learn more about me and my books here on my website, on Instagram, on Facebook, and on TikTok. If you’re interested in our filmmaking journey, follow us on Instagram or subscribe to our free Substack, “Faith, Love, & Story” where we share our adventures in making our first feature-length film.
My newest release is a romantasy murder mystery—SQUIRE OF TRUTH. Here’s what it’s about:
Cole Tanniyn, a squire haunted by past failures, seeks solace in music and finds himself in the company of Mistel Wepp, a determined songstress struggling to make a name for herself. When Mistel’s roommate is murdered, they team up to uncover the truth, navigating a web of dark secrets and sorcery that threatens the kingdom. As their bond grows through music, they face powerful enemies and must decide if they can survive a deadly game of magic and power.
Writing about two musicians was a new challenge for me. I needed to write a handful of song lyrics, some of which were trickier than others. When one of my audiobook narrators said they were willing to sing the songs I’d written, I decided it would be fun to write music to go with them.
HOW I WROTE MUSIC FOR THE SONGS IN MY NOVEL
I played trumpet in high school and can play chords on the guitar. This gave me enough musical know-how to be dangerous! The first thing I did was listen to lots of music on YouTube that came up under searches with the word “medieval” or “lute” or “minstrel.” This helped me get an idea of how songs from such an era sounded. It also helped me with the timing and feel of that type of music.
Then I opened up a virtual piano and tackled one song at a time. I used the virtual piano to sound out tunes for each song, singing along and trying different things until I found something I liked. There were eleven songs in my book, and it wasn’t long before I got overwhelmed with how to make them sound different enough from each other. One trick I used was to put some in 3/4 time versus 4/4 time. Another was to change the number of measures in each line of lyrics. This helped add variety.
Once I was happy with each song, I used my Voice Record app to record myself singing each clip from the book. I uploaded all the recordings to my YouTube channel as unlisted videos, then I made a list of songs from the book for my audiobook narrators with the title and a link to each of my music samples.
You can hear all the clips on this page. My favorites are “I Don’t Belong Here,” “Nya,” and “The Sparrow That Was a She.” My narrators listened to these clips, learned the songs, and sang them, which gave the audiobook just the right touch of authenticity. Writing music for all these songs was a unique challenge, but it really helped bring the audiobook version of the story to life in a new way. I’m so excited for listeners to hear how the music and narration came together in the audiobook!
Here’s the Stop #19 Basics:
If you’re interested, you can order Squire of Truth on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sunrise Publishing, or Jill’s online bookstore!
Clue to Write Down for Stop #19 is: porch
Link to Stop #20, the Next Stop on the Loop: Pepper Basham‘s site!
Before you go, I’m offering one more giveaway: a print, ebook, or audio version of one of my Blood of Kings books. All you have to do is sign up to get my e-newsletter (top right of this webpage) or note that you’re already a subscriber. Additional points for those who follow me as an author on Goodreads or on my author Instagram or filmmaker Instagram accounts! (International entrants welcome, but any international winner must choose between an ebook or audiobook prize.)
Good luck, everyone!
a Rafflecopter giveaway