FIRE Blog Tour! (+$50 Amazon GC Giveaway)

Title: Fire

Author: Belle Manuel 

Series: Elemental #1

Pages: 366

Date Published: 2015

Publisher: Amberjack

Format: Kindle

Genre: Fantasy YA 

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours

Synopsis:
Chelsea and Chad are twin elementals; humans born with the power to control and shape the elements. They, and many other elementals, are forced to hide their powers as many non-elementals fear them, especially fire-starters like Chelsea.

The twins are only just learning true command of their powers, and what they can do. At university, Chelsea joins a fire-starter training course and trains hard to control the powerful flames that rage within her, often out of her control. She struggles to prove to herself that she can harness and control both her power and her mind.

Meanwhile, Chad is a water-bringer who is honing his rare and deadly ability, but has placed himself under the authority of dangerous people who aim to use his powers for their own sinister agenda.

When the two reunite, they are forced to choose sides. As tidal waves of power demolish entire cities, and bring the storm clouds of destruction to the Houston skyline, a war is coming . . . And it's time to find out where allegiances lie.

~How to Make Fantasy Believable~

So, we all love fantasy as a genre because anything is possible within those worlds. Dragons, witches, Wizards, you name it and it can be there. But the key element that makes it great is that you can almost believe these places exist. There are a few things, in my opinion, that help to make fantasy or Sci-Fi believable to readers.

Firstly, you need limitations to the world. Not every creature within your created realm can do the exact same things, and this creates a more realistic feel. We can't all do one handed lay ups, design websites or even parallel park. There's something unique to each person, or in a fantasy world 'species' maybe. Then on top of that you need something that only a handful of people can do. Not every wizard in Hogwarts could bring forth a patronus at such a young age like Harry did.

Next you need to set boundaries for the world. Is it an old work like Middle Earth where no one really knows anything outside their own village? Or is it like a traditional globe that people commonly travel across? What kind of world you have for your story will help further the agenda of your characters; it helps to eatables what kind of goals your characters could actually achieve.

Lastly you have to rather quickly determine what kind of fantasy creatures you'll have. Elves? What kind of elves, and now what kind of legends circle around them? How long have they lived, what kind of society do they have? These are things that make a reader delve in and dream about this place as if it is real. If you have a feathered out backstory, it'll show readers everything they'd need to know.

~Try an Excerpt!~

"Chad’s anger was growing as we drove on, forcing the temperature in the car to drop lower and lower. I knew if I tried to heat it up, he’d just get angry, so I forced myself to ignore it as best as I could. If I closed my eyes, I could see all of the events unfold in front of me again. I could see the fire raging through the upstairs hallway, burning every ounce of memories away. I could hear my father’s voice telling us to hurry out of the house, so calm and steady. I could see my father placing his hand to the random outlets in the house as we ran out, setting them ablaze without a thought. I could smell the smoke as it rose throughout the house, making it hard to see as Chad and I ran down the stairs and out the door.
            
I’d gotten out of the house a full two minutes before Chad had. I thought that he’d fallen and I had left him behind. But he had burst through the front door, flames on his heels and plastic bag in his hand. It was a small sandwich sized bag with a big wad of money resting inside of it. Then we’d heard the sirens, and Chad somehow knew what to do. I did what he said and ran to his truck, jumped in and waited. 

We finally pulled off the highway and I realized where we were going: Steve’s house. My heart skipped a beat and I finally relaxed. We were going to our backup home, to safety. I looked at the cookie-cutter houses, towering in their red-bricked glory. Then Steve’s house came into view. This was the home that Chad and I would flock to when our dad would work late. Steve wasn’t like us, but he was a good friend of Chad’s who didn’t judge us for our secrets. His parents liked us enough that we had spent the night over there quite a bit when we were younger. And within the last few months, Steve and I had secretly grown closer. But now, Chad and I were on the run. I had ruined everything.”

~Meet Belle!~ 

Born in Louisiana, Belle Manuel spent her early years learning to be a good Cajun girl before moving to Texas. She visits Louisiana often, enjoying the quiet break from the active Texas life. When not writing, Belle enjoys crochet and crossword puzzles. Her debut novel, Fire, was released July 1st of this year.

Belle first began writing in middle school, where her first writing job was getting paid by other students to write stories for them. She enjoyed turning their random requests into interesting stories, and the money she made helped fund her reading habit.

Fire began with an idea, but quickly took on a life of its own and changed as Belle wrote it. With all the adjustments and improvements, it eventually evolved into The Elemental Series.

Belle will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway