Beauty Within by Jae El Foster - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hey lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Jae El Foster and his new book, “Beauty Within”!  For other stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Jae El and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

Beauty Within

by Jae El Foster

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Fairy Tales

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

An enchanted mask. A harrowing castle. A reclusive dark lord. With the helping hand of the village witch, these three ingredients form a spell that will warm your heart as much as it chills it. Madame Howell makes her second appearance in Jae El Foster’s literary universe in this fairy tale that puts a new twist on an old classic. When a village maiden finds herself in a forbidden castle, she discovers that its sole occupant might be less of a monster than he has been made out to be. However, dark secrets and black magic are afoot, and a ‘happily ever after’ could turn disastrous. Will true love conquer all, or will a dark power make their world come crumbling down?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT TWO:

Hanging his head low, he sighed with a deep sadness, and in a bout of self-anger, he jerked his head up to the ceiling and cried out with an agony and a rage that he had never expressed with such intenseness. His scream ran long, and it echoed loudly throughout every hall and chamber of the castle and even into the blackened air outside. When this scream fell silent, he cried out once again, this time falling down to his knees in bitter self-loathing. His hands fell across his face, touching upon the scars that had sealed his doom. Running his fingers from his face to his hair, he grabbed two fistfuls of the golden locks and pulled hard, adding pain to his already crippling misery.

“Lest he who hath created his hell perish in his hell…” he whispered as the tears began to dry from his eyes. Then, with a leap, he rose to his feet and crossed the foyer to the staircase. With slow, steady movements, he began up the stairs, formulating in his thoughts what his next actions would be. His mind was hazy and in a fog, and thinking made his head only hurt more.

The stairs seemed to continue up for an eternity, but he was used to the climb and he made it to the belfry of his castle with practiced ease. There, he rushed past the old brass bell that had not rang in many, many years, and he forced his hands to brace him as he stopped abruptly at the stone encasing that prevented him from falling to his death below.

With tear-stained cheeks, he stared down at the foggy ground, barely able to see the dirt of the hill. He looked over just slightly and gazed at the village of Foliage, which was completely lost in the night and the thick of the fog surrounding it. The wind still blew with massive force, rocking against his chilled body but never once ringing the bell behind him. Had the bell decided to ring, it would have rocked up against him with enough strength that he would have been pushed from the belfry and down to the ground below, shattering every bone in his body.

This thought chilled him more than the powerful wind, and he held himself in his arms as he tried to find the cottage of the mistress with the mask. Even though he could see none of the buildings contained within Foliage, he knew now the exact location of the fair maiden’s home, and he stared in that direction for the longest of time.

“What I would give,” he whispered, releasing fog with his breath, “just to touch you… to hold you… to share but one dance with you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GUEST POST:

Dealing with Creative Convulsions

Every writer struggles from time to time. Sometimes, they face something called writer’s block – more accurately known as my muse has abandoned me. Other times, authors find themselves saddened over a negative comment or review, and it builds intimidation within the author, preventing them from moving on with their next project.

Once upon a time, when I had more energy and hair, I taught a little writer’s course that I called Creative Convulsions. The purpose of CC was to help authors and people wanting to become authors get beyond the writing stumps that slow us down. There are some things that writers can only learn with experience, whether that experience is gained through their personal touch or through someone else’s.

A book, within its creation process, evolves just as the author does through every word that he or she writes. Think of all of the components included in a freshman release. There is a plot, sure… in fact, there might be many plots – setting the reader off course and into a world of confusion. There is a protagonist. Do we follow the protagonist’s thoughts, or do we head jump? Likely in that first book, we’re head jumping from one character’s thoughts to another character’s thoughts in the same chapter, and while we – the authors – know what is going on, the reader doesn’t. The reader wants to know what is happening with the supporting characters but in the form of each chapter’s leading character’s view point. Otherwise, we slow the reader, and when we slow the reader, we confuse the story.

Your first book will be what it will be. You’ll have that plot (or those plots), you’ll have your protagonist, and your antagonist. That will feel fine, and whether your book is fifty pages or a thousand, you’re going to be proud of it. And no matter what, you should be proud of it.

Yet, there are reviews and critiques to worry about. What have the readers found or thought about your book that you might have missed? Are you using your punctuation incorrectly in quotes and compound sentences? Are your compound sentences leading to run-on sentences? Are your paragraphs jumbled with scattered thoughts that could have been better sorted out into individual paragraphs for each? Did you drop a plot in the story to focus on other ones and leave a reader hanging somewhere? Are there inconsistencies in the behaviors of your characters?

Perhaps none of those issues arrives with the readers, and that is the best case scenario. Congrats on that! Yet, you may have questions of your own. This is called second guessing yourself. Are you thinking about your characters and wondering if you’d developed them enough? Do you wish you had broken down something differently but settled for a different result instead? Are you happy with your cover and your font? Does it look professional enough to compete with the millions of other authors out there? If you are faced with these questions or others, utilize the ones you wish to tackle in your next book and grow from the experience.

This is all a part of the evolution of writing, of becoming a greater author, and of utilizing anything and everything said – positive words or negative words – to benefit you and your next work. Do not let a bad review or an internet troll – or even helpful creative criticism – keep you down. It is up to you to be hurt by what you read, or to be inspired by it. I know it is hard to find that inspiration sometimes, but it is in there. You have to grab it and carry on because your second book is going to be better than your first. Your third will be better than your second, and if you keep finding motivation and inspiration in everything around you, you and your writing will continue to improve every time your fingers strike the keys.

A wonderful teacher once told me to remember that nothing is ever finished. Every painting could have another stroke of paint. Every story could have another paragraph or chapter… You can spend your time working on one thing forever if you allow yourself to. You must, at some point, be able to say this is done and move on to the project’s next stages. You must realize that everything will be okay. It is up to the reader now, and not even the greatest authors in history have managed to please everybody all at once. Do your best, please yourself, and have the respect for your next project to allow your current one to fly out and discover the world.

My thanks to Fabulous and Brunette. I always love spending time here! Thanks also to Goddess Fish Promotions and DCL Publications for this terrific opportunity. To those stopping by, I hope you’ve enjoyed what I’ve shared. If you have any questions or comments, I’m all ears.

If you would like a broad taste of my writing style, please consider checking out my free flash fiction at www.jaeelbooks.com/free-flash-fiction. New installments are added weekly, and genres have thus far included horror, sci-fi and thriller. Don’t forget to ‘like’ me on Facebook and ‘follow’ me on Twitter for current events, updates, freebies, and releases. Thanks for stopping by, everyone!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR BIO:

Jae El Foster is an author with whom you question going to bed with at night, but you dare to venture beneath the sheets with him anyway. As the venture concludes, you are perhaps romanced by it, or perhaps you are frightened by it. Don’t worry, because you are always satisfied by it. Despite the title or genre of the book, Jae El sets out to please you with climatic and unexpected conclusions that will make you tremble with emotion. Hop aboard the Jae El train and give it a good ride.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONNECT WITH JAE EL:

Jae El’s super adorable kitty, Damien

Website:

https://www.jaeelbooks.com

Blog #1:

https://www.jaeelbooks.com/blog

Blog #2:

https://thoughtsbyjaeelfoster.wordpress.com

Newsletter:

https://www.jaeelbooks.com/newsletter

Email:

jaeelbooks@gmail.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/authorjaeelfoster

Twitter:

https://www.twitter.com/jaeelbooks

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/jaeelfoster

Google+:

https://plus.google.com/communities/105715668467648152419

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4540432.Jae_El_Foster

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42096901-beauty-within

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2r3KcAf

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle:

https://amzn.to/2DKBEWp

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2SdweHA

Barnes and Noble:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beauty-within-jae-el-foster/1129622213

The Book Depository:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Beauty-Within-Jae-El-Foster/9781732374270

BAM! Books-A-Million:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Beauty-Within/Jae-El-Foster/9781732374270

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFO:

Jae El will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.