Heather James's Blog, page 49

Day Ten: Hello, Chelly

Hello, Chelly is an incredibly cute blog with an awesome colour scheme and some great reviews. Head over there today for a review of Fire and a guest post by me on the five fantasy worlds I would really like to live in. It would be great to see some of you comment with your own choices.

And there's another giveaway for you to enter there too.

Tomorrow, I will be posting the final Q&A - this one's with Brae, so make sure you come back to read it.

Day Nine: Covers

The cover for Fire was made by me and my brother. I am extremely proud of this. My brother did the photography and I did all the editing on Photoshop. Everything on it is ours – we even took our own photos of fire in a chiminea in the back garden (which was more difficult than we had anticipated given it was the middle of winter and very windy).
It wasn't the first idea I had though – quite a few other options were trialed and dismissed before I ended up with the published version.
Idea One
To find a stock image of someone who looked a little bit like Roxy or Jasmine and put my own coloured steaks in their hair using photoshop. Many of my favourite book covers have just one face on them: Extras by Scott Westerfeld; The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson, Firelight by Sophie Jordan. 
The issue with this was that there wasn't any stock images which remotely matched my idea of Jasmine or Roxy. I wasn't expecting to find a perfect match, but the right skin tone and hair colour would have been nice…
I also wasn't sure about using someone else’s image, in case I misunderstood how the copyright worked, or ended up with the same book cover as anyone else.
Idea Two
A jar filled with fire (a little bit like the Beautiful Disaster cover). I thought that this could work quite well across the series, as it would be easy to tie them together.
I did try to do this, but the pictures didn't turn out very well – it was lighting the fire without an obvious source at the bottom of the jar that proved tricky.
Idea Three
I found this image on Pinterest and I really love it. OK, so the girl in the picture looks nothing like Roxy, but it is incredibly striking; I wouldn't think twice about buying a book with this on the front cover. The biggest issue with this idea was that I couldn't find the image source. I searched and searched with no luck. And if I couldn't find who had created it, I couldn't ask them about using it. I have now actually found the source (as you can see from the previous link). I really suggest you check out the artist’s other work; it’s very cool.
Idea Three
Someone cupping flames in their hands. This was obviously the idea I decided to go with. I am hoping to create something similar for Water and Air, so that the series covers ties together. At the moment, I'm thinking of having another girl on the cover for Water and a guy for Air, although I haven't really thought it all through yet (or worked out exactly how I'm planning to show air...)
What do you think of the cover for Fire? Are there any other ideas you think would have worked well?

{On a completely unrelated note - has anyone listened to the new Fall Out Boy album yet? It is beyond amazing! FOB are my favourite band to write to, so I'm so pleased to have something new to listen to.}

Day Eight: The Cellophane Queen

For day eight, head over to author Marva Dasef's blog for a guest post on the four Realms and the inspiration behind each. Marva will be giving away an e-copy of Fire to one commenter, so don't forget to leave your thoughts at the end of the post.
And while you're here, follow and enter for a chance to win one of 10 copies of Fire in my 100 followers giveaway!

Day Seven: Roxy Q&A

Your full name: Princess Roxanne Nora LeMarc
What everyone calls you: Roxy
Describe your appearance: My hair is streaked with red – which marks me as a Helian Protector. I have olive-toned skin and warm brown eyes. And I always dress amazingly.
Sum yourself up in one word: Fearless
Favourite colour: Red
Favourite thing about yourself: My powers – without them, I wouldn't be me.
Why should we like you? You shouldn't. Not if you know what’s good for you.
Best friend: I’m torn on this one. It’s either my cousin, Avery, or my mentor, Vincent. I should say Avery, but it’s probably actually Vincent – he’s like a big brother to me: always there, no matter what I need.
Favourite childhood memory: The day my powers first manifested. That morning, I was ‘training’ with Vincent. I use the term lightly since, before my powers kicked in, there was very little we could do other than fitness. We had run all the way from my parents’ house to the closest shore line, where Vincent finally let me stop for a rest. There was a dull burning sensation in my lungs, but I didn't think about it too much, given the run I had just completed. Instead, I sat down on a rock with my back to the water, breathing deeply.
I ran my hands through my hair, pleased that for once it wasn't damp with sweat – thinking back, perhaps that was another indication of what was about to happen – at the time, I was too relieved to notice.
Vincent reached into the rucksack I had thrown down in the red sand at my feet and pulled out two drinks, handing one to me before downing the other himself. His chest rose and fell evenly; giving no indication of the run he had just completed; a perk of being a Protector and immune to the heat.  
``It’s perfect out here today,” I said, leaning back on the rock and tilting my head to the sky, letting the suns’ rays hit me.
``I didn't notice,” Vincent replied, his voice ever so slightly teasing. I refused to open my eyes to look at him, but I knew that he would be grinning. He was quiet for a moment and I soaked in the heat peacefully, knowing that at any moment Vincent was going to tell me it was time to start back and silently hating him for it. Avery’s tutor never made her run so far, but then Avery was terribly out of shape, so I suppose Vincent’s sadistic streak had some benefits.
``Hey Firefly,” Vincent said after a few minutes. I felt his shadow pass over my face, blocking out the sun. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and blinked up at him.
His eyes were glinting with interest. ``Look what I found.” In his hands he held a vibrant purple flower comprised of three long petals. It was beautiful.
``What is it?” I asked, trying to sound less interested than I was.
He shrugged. ``I've never seen one before. It’s beautiful though.” I shrugged back; a non-committal response. ``Here, take it,” he said, holding it out to me.
I tried not to snatch it out of his hands, flashing him a grin and a ``thanks, Vince” as I cupped my fingers around the delicate petals. Instinctively, I brought it up to my nose and sniffed.
My nose tickled and the sneeze took hold before I could stop it. As my eyes fluttered open again I heard Vincent chuckle.
The beautiful purple flower has turned to ash between my fingers. ``Was that-” I started, wondrous.
Vincent snorted. ``That is the last time I ever give you flowers, Roxanne LeMarc. I can’t believe you just burnt it to a crisp!” When I looked up at his face I could tell that he was trying really hard not to grin at me. ``Come on Firefly,” he said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. ``It’s time we started back.”
As I stood to resume our run, the strand fell down in front of my face again and I blinked in wonder – when I set off this morning, it had been a soft brown. Now, it was red; the shade of fire and blood.  
Worst fear: I’m a Helian Protector. I’m not afraid of anything.
What would we find in your room: Clothes. Lots and lots of them. Otherwise, I’m pretty minimalistic. A huge glass wall so that I can see the sun, a fireplace, a bathroom with a very hot shower, my bed, and vanity table.
What do you always carry in your bag: The only sort of bag I would ever use is my survival kit, which contains rations, water packs, emergency medical supplies and a basic tool kit. 

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What do you think of Roxy's answers? Let me know in the comments.

100 Followers Giveaway!

To celebrate the Fire blog tour, when the blog reaches 100 followers, I will be giving away 10 e-copies of Fire.

Want to be in with a chance to win? Just follow the blog, then enter via the Rafflecopter widget bellow. Then share the link to the blog with as many people as possible, since no one wins until the blog reaches 100 followers!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day Six: YA Book Crazy

There's a second really lovely review for day 6 of the blog tour, which is over at YA Book Crazy. It opens with the following paragraph, which I loved so much that I had to share it here:

In a world where the elements of the Earth battle one another, two girls search to find themselves amidst startlingly circumstances. Roxy, a girl who is as fiery as the flames themselves, has lived her entire life in violence. She'd rather destroy than create, and isn't afraid to let others know that. Jasmine, an unusual girl with an unknown past, has a dark secret. She won't risk letting anyone know what plagues her, even her best friend Brae. Both girls are extraordinarily different, yet one common, unlikely goal brings them together. 

As part of the tour stop, I have also written a character Q&A for Jasmine, where she answers questions on her favourite memory, what you would find in her room and her worst fear. I will follow it with a Q&A on Roxy here tomorrow, and one with Brae later on in the tour. Make sure you check all three out for an insight into the main characters in the series. 
And,of course, there's also another giveaway!

Day Five: Books and Insomnia

This one is nice and early (for me anyway) since the blogger - Julie - is based in the Philippines! Head over to Books and Insomnia for the first review of the tour, as well as another giveaway.
Here are some of my highlights from the review:

"What I liked the most about Fire is that the author wrote the story from two different perspectives. It did not only show the side of the 'good' but it also let me see the story from the view of someone living in the villain realm."
"I admire Ms. James' imagination and world-building."
"The ending is also perfect. It's not a cliffhanger but it still makes you crave for the next book. I sure can't wait for Book 2. And more importantly, we have a new author to watch out for."
Thank you Julie for such a lovely review. Make sure that you head over to Books and Insomnia to read the whole thing (her insights into Roxy and Jasmine felt spot on) and to enter the giveaway. The review does contain spoilers though, just to warn you!

Day Four: Characters Who Didn’t Make it into Fire

For this post I needed to open up my very first draft of Fire, which was last touched in 2009! A couple of paragraphs in, comes this:


“I glanced down briefly at the soft, olive-toned skin of my own hands before running them through my hair, which was now completely red itself thanks to the last three months I’d spent in the Helian Protector Camp, training. I was laid back on the sofa in front of the roaring fire in my lounge waiting, as usual, for the triplets to show.”
Triplets. In my initial draft, Avery was one of three. So what happened to her siblings? I wrote them out over time because they just didn't fit into the plot as it evolved. But sometimes I feel nostalgic about those early characters, so this is a blog post dedicated to the ones who didn't make it:
Disclaimer: All of the quotes in this post were written when I was between the ages of 15 and 17. I’m checking it for errors, but otherwise not changing anything. Please don’t judge me too strongly on the quality of the writing!
Riley (who was later renamed Josh, before I got rid of him completely). My original introduction of him was:
“His hair was almost completely red now; the flecks of onyx were getting fewer and fewer everyday as his powers progressed … He looked almost completely different to the boy that I’d known three months ago; that boy had been slowly erased over weeks and weeks of intensive training: target practice; physical conditioning; fire manipulation; control. The only resemblance the boy sat before me had with my Riley, my cousin, who I’d grown up with, plotted and played pranks with, teased endlessly about his tall but scrawny figure, was his eyes: still the same deep, americano coffee brown as mine and Avery’s and Darcy’s, in fact, pretty much our whole family. They were so dark they were almost black, blurring into his pupils, yet his gaze was still soft, comforting; it said trust me, I won’t hurt you, I want to look after you. That’s why even the non-protectors in the Royal family always got their way: you didn't need to worry about words, or tone of voice, when all you needed to do was look at someone to make them listen to you.”
Riley was a good friend for Roxy and a potential love interest. The latter was what did for him – I needed Roxy to be more isolated. So I introduced a darker, less desirable love interest through Cinaer. Some of Riley’s nicer and more useful traits were given to Vincent and Avery (another reason that he had to go – there were just too many characters fulfilling the same purpose in my original draft).
Darcy I don’t have a lot to say about Darcy, which justifies their removal from the series really. One of my very initial ideas for Fire was to have Brae sent to the Helian Realm to marry one of their Princesses. In a bid to put him off, Darcy was going to act like a psychopath throughout their stay:
“I’m going to spend the month acting like a psychopath – muttering darkly to myself whenever I’m in ear shot and laughing evilly every time I look at him. All you guys have to do is convince him that, if he marries me, there’s a good chance that I might murder him before we've been married a week.”
She had a few fun moments, but when I realised that the arranged marriage plot line didn't make a lot of sense, there’s wasn't space for her in the story – it was rare that she appeared without Avery, so everything she said or did that I wanted to keep was just linked in to Avery’s character instead. Before getting rid of her completely, I did try replacing her with another guy – Nate – but I quickly felt that he didn't work either so he went too.
Boyd Was an Arcan Protector. He lasted the longest and actually made it into my first finished draft. However, the Arcan group just seemed to busy – there was too much going on and not quite enough space to accommodate them, especially after it was suggested to me that Brody and Devon ought to get a little more space in the book. So Cameron and Boyd were merged into one character and Brody went to the Helian Realm with Jasmine.
Elliot sort of made it into the book, but with a dramatically reduced role. He was supposed to befriend Jasmine on her trip to the Helian Realm, but I decided that it was too long a tangent for the plot and also gave me more romantic issues than I was interested in. Once I had decided that Brody was going to the Helian Realm with her, he was also completely unnecessary. However – some of my initial ideas for Elliot can be seen in Kit, one of the new characters from Water. He fits in much better there.
Unfortunately, soon after making these changes I started to read the Game of Thrones series, and wondered if I had got my character strategy completely backwards. But looking back at them now, I can still see why they needed to go and am pleased that they did.

Day Three: Random Smiles

 Head over to Random Smiles for an interview and giveaway for today's blog tour stop. 
The sun is finally shining here in the UK and I am currently hard at work editing Water. I'm really excited about sharing a rough draft of the opening with you all later on in the tour. In fact, I can't wait for everyone to start reading the entire story!

Day Two: The Cult of Me

Day two focuses on self-publishing and my experiences with it. Head over to The Cult of Me to check my guest post.

And don't forget to follow via the Google Friends Connect link at the side of my blog to be in with a chance of winning an e-copy of Fire at the end of the tour.