Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #28
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Congratulations on reaching next to last stop of 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!
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Stop #28: Chawna Schroeder
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My name is Chawna Schroeder, and I am a book addict. Seriously. I LOVE books. I read them. I write them. I sell them. In fact, books give me an adrenaline high. Which is lovely, until it’s time to go to sleep. Then it’s annoying. No books before bed, which greatly frustrated my mom when I was little. Now, if you like books too, you might enjoy exploring my website, subscribing to my newsletter, or hanging with me on Facebook.
Meanwhile, the book I’m most excited about this month is my own, a new fantasy novel entitled, Illuminary. The first of a new trilogy (The Sceptre & the Stylus), Illuminary is loosely inspired by A Little Princess, offering a world with Victorian and Indian vibes: Determined to live up to her mother's artistic legacy, Yosarai Patican dreams of becoming an illuminator in a country that values art above all else. That lofty goal finally seems within reach when she earns a position at the prestigious Academy of the Seven Arts. But when she crosses paths with a foreign prince in hiding, secrets are exposed, and entering a competition reputed as cutthroat may be the only way for them to protect everything they hold dear. Now that is not exactly your traditional fantasy with medieval castles and swords, and such an unusual setting often provokes the question, “Where do your get your ideas from?” In a nutshell, I borrow from the real world. |
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Real Life Stowaways in Illuminary's Fantastical World
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Sometimes I borrow directly from reality. Many things in our world already sound, look, and read fantastical, no change necessary. So, those strange-looking words in Illuminary may be real things. The anarkali and pavadai sattai are real garments traditional to India. A shama thrush is a real bird, and kerala can refer to a curried fish dish, just as it does in the book.
In other cases, reality doesn’t quite fit the world I’ve created or needs to have a slightly more fantastical bent. So, other elements in Illuminary are real-life augmented. My sunfire shikra and starfire sapphires are examples of this. Shikras are real birds, but I need a different colored plumage than the real ones have. And while sapphires are beautiful, I needed a gem that was exceptionally rare and beautiful, with an almost magnetic pull. The additional of the adjectives tell readers these are similar to objects they may be familiar with but aren’t quite real-world. |
Anarkali
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Shikra
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Finally, I delight in mashing up reality—taking two familiar items and joining them to make something new. Many of the foods in Illuminary result of this. Carsnips are a yellow root vegetable which was inspired by carrots and parsnips. Garsala mixes garlic with marsala for a unique spice. Or perhaps one of my favorites that I wish was a real food, spretzeletti—a salty soft pretzel that comes in long, thin strings like spaghetti.
So, yes, I have fantastical, imaginary things in my story. But if something seems so real it could belong to real world, you just might find it does! |
More on the Scavenger Hunt |
+ Another Giveaway |
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Here’s the Stop #28 Basics:
If you’re interested, you can order Illuminary on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Enclave Publishing, or at your local bookstore! Your Final Clue to Write Down: pages! Link to Stop #29, the Next Stop on the Loop: Grand Prize! 
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Now I’m sure you’re in a hurry to get to the grand prize, but before you go, I’m offering a little prize package of my own
This will include a beautiful glass stylus, an illuminated poster of Psalm 46, a choice of one of my novels (Illuminary or Vault Between Spaces or Beast), and some bookish stickers. All you have to do is sign up for my newsletter under my contact page (or note you’re already a subscriber). Then enter my drawing. Winner will be announced April 22nd, 2025. (US mailing addresses only) |