Monday, January 4, 2016

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.

45 comments:

  1. What an exciting sounding book. I loved the excerpt. Thank you!

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  2. I like fantasy to take me places, but yes, a touch of believability is essential.

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    1. Yes ma'am. I've always felt believability is important

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  3. Really enjoyed reading the Excerpt, thank you!

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  4. Replies
    1. Ooh that's a tough question! Maybe Ellen Hopkins, or Steohen King.

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  5. How did you come up with the concept for your book?

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    1. I use to get paid to write, and this concept was loosely based on a story I was paid to write. Thank that girl!

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    2. Brilliant, so your job led to your book. That's so cool!

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    3. Yeah. It all started in middle school was started doing people's homework for them. For profit of course. Then I found out was one of the creative writing or the essays. And my friends started paying me to write their own personal story

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    4. That's amazing! It's like you were meant to become an author. Can't wait to read it tonight (have just downloaded it!).

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    5. I look forward to your feedback!

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  6. Great post! Thanks for the excerpt :) Happy New Year!

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  7. I enjoyed the post, thank you for sharing!

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  8. Replies
    1. What books do you enjoy reading?

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    2. Dystopian is my favourite all out. I love SciFi fantasy, fantasy, YA, vampire/supernatural. Anything not normal ha

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  9. Sounds like a great book! Thanks for the spotlight!

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  10. Sounds like the start of a great series! Thanks for sharing :)

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  11. I love how your one book turned into a series. Well done and congratulations!

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    1. Well, thank you! I'm kind of happy about it too. I've always heard that when your job is your hobby, or something you love, then you'll never truly worker than your life.

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  12. Replies
    1. Pretty well. I've got most of the important things fleshed out and am just working on the flavoured that makes it real.

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    2. Thanks! Do you know roughly when it's supposed to be out? Am thoroughly enjoying Fire!

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    3. Unfortunately I do not have a release date. My publisher and I haven't worked out the date just yet. But when we do, I'll post it on all of my social media accounts!
      Facebook.com/bellemanuel10
      Instagram: @belle_manuel
      Email: manuel_belle@yahoo.com

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    4. Thanks for the details of the accounts. I'll keep an eye out for it!

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  13. I really love this amazing book cover!!

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    1. Thank you! I'm so happy with how it turned out as well :)

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  14. If you could be any character in a book, who would it be?

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  15. How did your first break as an author come about?

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    1. After many months of rejection and heartache, I found an agency that saw my work as a potential best seller :) I submitted it as my last submission, was gonna give up on this story. And amberjack said yes :)

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  16. Very glad they did. I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

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  17. If you weren't an author, what would you be?

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    1. A lawyer with a focus on children's advocacy. I've always felt, due to personal reasons, that children need people to stand up for them when horrible things happen to them. They need someone who isn't afraid to fight the person/people who harm them.

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    2. That's a great profession, and so worthwhile.

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  18. Replies
    1. That's a hard one! I have several faves: Pride and Prejudice (the one with Kiera Knightly), Atonement, The Jacket, Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, just to name a few.

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    2. I love the Pride and Prejudice with Kiera Knightly too. Great choices. I've still yet to see Atonement though!

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  19. Do you come up with the title for your book first, or afterwards once you've written it?

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