Please welcome
Jill Williamson
Her debut novel
Tell us a little about your book?
What author’s books do you enjoy reading?
What one bit of advice would you give to aspiring writers?
What inspired you to write this particular book?
Tell us what we have to look forward to in the future. What new projects are you working on?
What message do you hope readers gain from your novel?
I grew up in Alaska with no electricity. My biggest dream was to get out of Alaska and experience “real life.” I wanted to be a fashion designer, so I eventually went to New York City for a year to finish that degree. We moved to Los Angeles because my husband wanted to work in the movie industry. It didn’t take long for our hearts to change. Those industries just didn’t fit our personalities. Plus we wanted to start a family and both Hollywood and the fashion industries like to own their employees.
So my husband went back to school to become a youth pastor. I stayed home with the kids and started writing books. I got hooked on writing my little young adult novel. So hooked that it was driving me crazy, so I put it aside and wrote another story, then another.
I had a really weird dream. Have you ever woke up from a bizarre dream and thought, “Wow! That would make a great story?” This happened to me once in the middle of the night. So I wrote down the dream and went back to sleep. When morning came, my notes made very little sense. It was a science fiction premise, but there was one aspect to it that I couldn’t stop thinking about. Over time I brainstormed. The premise switched from science fiction to medieval fantasy. I started researching that time period. The more I learned, I couldn’t wait to get started. The final story turned out nothing like that dream.
Researching sword fighting was really fun. I found a great book on it and devoured it. The training and fighting scenes in my book improved greatly as a result of that research.
Researching the medieval medicine was the hardest. I had a really tough time finding books on that subject.
Make yourself write until you finish a book. Then write another one. The more you write, the more you learn. Then you can go back and see what needs rewriting. Most writers never even finish that first book. Or they start lots of books and never finish one. You can’t be an author if you never finish one. Set a goal and don’t give up.
In no particular order, I love Jane Austen, Ted Dekker, Lisa Samson, Caroline Keene, C.S. Lewis, Frank Peretti, Jenny B. Jones, Brandilyn Collins, J.R.R Tolkien, Michael Crichton, Cathy Gohlke, Anthony Horowitz, Caroline Cooney, John Grisham, Megan Whalen Turner, Nicolas Sparks, Francine Rivers, Randy Ingermanson. The list goes on and on.
That God is the desire of our hearts. No matter what we face, knowing him will make life more worthwhile. He created us for a purpose. If we want to know our purpose, we must discover him. Also that the Bible is God breathed and gives us all the answers we need for life. A lot of people just don’t know that..
I’m polishing up the sequel to By Darkness Hid. Then I’m going to start writing the third and final book in the Blood of Kings series. I also have a few other projects that my agent is shopping around. The New Recruit is about a Christian spy organization. Jason Farms is about a girl who discovers that her dad is working at a cloning lab.
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Jill, thanks for sharing with us!
Many blessings on your writing.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book? Least?
Tell us a little about yourself?
Achan has been a slave all his life. He is consigned to the kitchens of a lord and forced to swallow a foul potion every day. When an enigmatic knight offers to train Achan for the Kingsguard, he readily accepts. But his new skills with the sword do not prepare him for the battle raging between the voices in his head.
Vrell Sparrow is not who she seems. She masquerades as a boy to avoid capture by the powerful forces that seek to exploit her. But Vrell feels called to help a young squire who recently discovered his bloodvoicing gift, even if doing so requires her to work with those who could destroy her.
While Achan learns to use his new ability, Vrell struggles to shut hers down. All the voices strive to learn Achan and Vrell's true identities—and a different kind of voice is calling them both.
You can read a sample chapter, comments from readers, and endorsements on my website.
Trying to find time to work on the sequel. All this online marketing and publicity takes a lot of time and energy. I’m amazed how many hours I’ve spent on the computer without having written a word on my next book
What has been the most unexpected challenge you've had with becoming a published author?
Tell us a little about your main character and how you developed him/her?
Achan started out as a victim, but as I was working on the story, the changes his character was undergoing didn’t seem realistic to someone so weak. So I went back and made him a fighter. But I also made him very skeptical to matters of faith. That way his noble character fought against his rational character. I think that internal conflict helps make his character more interesting.
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