Scarlet Phoenix Tour Giveaway and Guest Post by Author Bella Harte

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Title: Scarlett Phoenix
Author: Bella Harte

Synopsis:

Scarlett Paige is just a regular teenager until her parents suddenly decide move to back to America after living in England for the last 17 ½ years. Thrust into a new school, a new town and a whole new way of life, things can't seem to get any worse until her 18th birthday arrives.

Her world as she knows it is irrevocably changed by a set of life threatening complications when she discovers her true identity. That she is The Phoenix the only one of her kind, a hybrid human being with supernatural powers beyond mortal imagination. But she is untrained, and unable to use her mystical powers without guidance and training from The Seraphoenix Angels.

Worse still, two mysterious and powerful Angel brothers are looking for her. One to save her and one to kill her, who will win?

Scarlett finds herself amidst a battle that’s been waged since the beginning of time, as she discovers the disturbing truth that Angels aren't always good! One brother has a terrible plan to rid the world of humanity, while the other strives to save it and Scarlett is caught smack in the middle as both the Angels need her Phoenix powers to accomplish their goals.

Will she become a pawn in their schemes, as she is thrown into total chaos and plunged into an entirely different future and one that is utterly unexpected?

There are fatal consequences she never saw coming. Beings she never knew existed, and homicidal demon creatures that she wished never existed at all, are conspiring to change her life forever!



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Writing Tips... Part II

A Brief Guide to Beginnings - Middles - Endings

At this point in your writing journey, you should have concocted your characters and a realistic realm, world or whatever dominion you have chosen to place your ‘players’ in to begin their expedition.  Next, you will need to work on the action and plot, enticing your reader further into your story. Every novel should have a beginning, middle and an end. Short of these important things, your novel will be a lemon, a no-hoper, a non-starter and an utter washout - that is according to the general consensus in the Literary Agent & Publishing World respectively.

If you aren’t sure what each of these things should be, take a look at the layout below, you will be able to determine what origins of your novel fit into each division.

Beginning:-      Birth/Current Situation/Basics/Setting the Scene
Middle:-           Life/Conflict and Stressors/Confrontation/Relationships/Hardships
End:-               Death/Loss/Resolution/New Order/Finality  
  
At the ‘beginning’ of your manuscript, it’s best to introduce your main character as soon as possible or as soon as you can. The beginning of your novel could be anywhere from 1 to 15 pages, if you go much further than that, you will more than likely lose your reader, due to lack of direction and the fact that nothing much is happening.  Your reader will be thinking ‘What is going off, who is this about?’
You need to firmly establish who your main character is, plus other important details such as:- when it is set, where they live, and what they’re doing etc…
The easiest way to remember this is:- who, when, where and what. For example, your main character, let’s call him Sam, is taking a gap year from Uni and is planning to travel around Peru, perhaps he is planning to meet up with a couple of friends at some point in Lima, but for the start he is travelling alone.

Now we come to the ‘middle’ of your manuscript, and to some extent this can be quite deceiving, since it actually takes up the majority of your novel. The start of the middle is the first and most crucial turning point at this stage of your writing, the precise moment at which your main character’s life changes for better or worse. 
For instance, the bus Sam was travelling on through over dangerous winding mountainous passes, is washed over the edge by a freak mud slide, leaving him the only survivor stuck at the bottom of a ravine surrounded by jungle and mountains with no hope of rescue in the immediate future. Here the key plot is revealed. As in the preceding paragraph, this should happen around page 15 (ish) (according to certain schools of writing methodology - if you want to keep your reader attentive and hungry for more).
From this point on, there should be character development and growth with several subplots unravelling and shortly after the first turning point is ‘the point of no return.’  What happens to your character that means they can’t change their mind/situation? (The bus crash) Why do they have to go on the journey? (He has no choice if he wants to survive) This is the precise point of no return, where your story starts to surge forward.

Obviously, you will need to introduce subplots to keep things interesting and to keep the pace.
For instance:  Sam actually got on the wrong bus and was heading away from Lima deeper into the jungle, he could also run across some rebels in the jungle and a game of cat and mouse ensues as he tries to evade his pursuers – there are many permutations or deep doodoo for you to drop your main character in, to keep the pressure cooking boiling. 
Keep doing this for the majority of the manuscript, rev that engine, maintain full speed, foot to the floor.  Your main character needs to be in the thick of things with the pressure on.  Then you come to the second turning point - the thing or the big surprise that shocks the reader and your character, this is usually something that no-one saw coming and usually happens just before the big climax. This is the thing that puts your reader on the edge of their seat, gripping the book so tightly; their knuckles are white as they frantically read on to discover what is going to happen next.

The big climax should really be in the last few pages of your manuscript. If you have your climax closer to the middle of the middle, then your reader will be bored beyond imagination reading the rest of the book because there’s nothing to look forward to, resolution has met its maker and there’s no point going on. But, you already know this! 

Finally, as soon as you’ve dispensed with the climax and all the emotions/trauma/relief - i.e.: Sam, after being captured by the rebels, tortured and beaten, escapes and makes it out of the jungle alive, just.  You have the desired conclusion and you move on to the ‘end’ of your manuscript post haste, wrap it up and tie a nice neat bow around it.  This segment of the story should be very short and whatever you do, don’t be tempted to drag out the ending with long explanations as this will culminate in your big climax becoming an anti-climax faster than you can say: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog,  and you leave your reader feeling robbed, annoyed and cheated. So, as I said a few lines previously, tie up all the loose ends swiftly in a nice neat bow and type ‘The End.’  
Thanks for reading!

Bella Harte


The Seraphoenix Saga
Bella Harte
Scarlett Phoenix Blog Tour November 2012
Tour Dates:
1st November ~ www.selfpublishordie.com
3rd November ~ www.filingwords.blogspot.co.uk
5th November ~ www.aobibliosphere.blogspot.com
7th November ~ www.alittlebitofrnrreviews.com
9th November ~ www.thoughtsonhigh.com
11th November ~ www.sweetesttaboobook.com
13th November ~  www.rachel-m-hunter.blogspot.com
15th November ~  www.abluemillionbooks.blogspot.com             
17th November ~ www.curseofthebibliophile.blogspot.com
19th November ~ www.cassiesreviewsde-la-mazing.blogspot.co.uk
21st November ~ www.louisewise.com
23rd November ~ www.sarazaske.wordpress.com



Author Bio:
Bella Harte has been writing for well over a decade, and completed several novels before deciding to go in a whole new direction and write for the Young Adult genre. More specifically the YA PNR – Young Adult Paranormal Romance category.
Her first published YA Novel is ‘Scarlett Phoenix’ - Book I in The Seraphoenix Saga, with Book II:- ‘Crimson Fire’ being schedule for release in early 2013 and Book III:- ‘Red Ashes’ for later in the year.
She has also been working on two other YA PNR series:

The Angel of Death Series
 Book I – Reaper     Book II – Touched     Book III – Afterlife

Nine Lives Series
Book I – The Glaring    Book II – Midnight Calling     Book III - Hunters Moon  
Aside from writing, Bella has been worked as a fashion designer, interior designer, artist and currently she is figuring out ways to best market her novels. She attended Business College after leaving school, followed by Art College, where she studied ceramics, fashion design, pattern cutting, textiles and art. 
She has a solid business background and has worked for a World-Wide Export Company which enabled her to travel to far off places around the globe and enjoy a wide and varied cross section of cultures.   
Bella says of the future: No one can predict what’s around the corner, but the journey will be a fascinating one to say the least and I always expect the unexpected!
_______________________________________________
My Links:
www.bellaharte.blogspot.co.uk
www.bellaharte.wix.com/books
www.facebook.com/BellaHarteBooks
www.twitter.com/BellaHarteBooks
www.plus.google.com/117410548908762069370
www.bookblogs.ning.com/profile/BellaHarte

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