10 August 2015

10 Day Virtual Book Blog Tour for Adventures of Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu by Sherel Ott!!


Today Celticlady's Reviews is pleased to present the Adventures of Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu: The Cities of Tonga and Tongia, explore with me what the book is about and how author Sherel Ott comes up with the characters! Plus enter the three prize giveaway! Entry form is at the end of the post. Thank you!

About Adventures of Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu: The Cities of Tonga and Tongia

All Janai wants is to be just like everyone else. Being the Princess and having to try out for the Warrior Maidens is just part of her problems. She has the present Warrior leader unhappy with the fact that she is trying out, because that means her time is almost up and she enjoys her “status” too much to give it up without a fight. Not to mention someone just froze two of her guards into living statues with the fabled Mist Flowers of Tonga. Now she and a small group of warriors must travel to a forbidden city and obtain the antidote before the two guards are lost forever…all in 24 hours. Is she capable? Will she make it in time?

How Sherel Creates The Characters


Once I formulate a storyline, the next item for me to do is to determine how many characters are to be developed and which ones will be returning. For those that are returning, I either leave them as is or develop/evolve them more based on how I want the story to go. For the new characters, first thing I do is formulate their general physical characteristics to get them to become real in my mind. Once I have their general characteristics; hair color, skin color, body shape and height, I start to develop their personalities.

I then move on to their personalities and formulate how do they perceive themselves; not necessarily good or bad, but what do they feel about themselves. Then I develop a small biography for each of the characters, in order to give them depth and believability for me; then they begin to come alive in my mind. I start to hear their voices and see how their bodies’ move with different emotions. This also gives me a chance to get a sense of how their mind and thought processes work. As each new character develops, I see how they might interact with each other; whether they will get along, become good friends, dislike one another or just tolerate one another. To form a type of tentative relationship that will either grow or dissolve as the story goes on. As the story unfolds, their characters and behaviors flush out and develop even more. As they interact with each other, their personality comes out making you want to like them, hate them and/or love hating them. Sometimes, to get the reader to become a little more invested in the characters, I will add a little side story of their background so the readers can get a better sense of who they are and where they are coming from. Sometimes a person who comes across as bad may not really be bad but, acting on issues that had occurred to them or emotions that had been drilled into them helping to form who they have become.

In book 1, The Adventures of Princess Janai and the Warrior Maiden of Quinu: The Cities of Tonga and Tongia, I developed a background story of the Goddess and the High Priestess to allow the readers to see that even the Gods have emotions and problems that sometimes they are helpless to change or alter. That they too have to learn lessons and perseverance in order to live and grow into better and stronger people. Before The Goddess Ariana and High Priestess Jinjura became who they are, they were one of many Minor Deities in their own home world. They had siblings who were jealous of them and wanted to do them harm, but know that they couldn’t outright harm them, they did the next best thing. They separated them. Ariana and Jinjura were twin goddesses that alone could do some good, but together they were phenomenal. Their powers feed each other and made them stronger physically but if one were to die, the other would soon die as well. They had a symbiotic relationship even though Ariana’s was more powerful. She was such a person that she made her sister feel equally powerful, and when Jinjura was taken away, they both realized how powerless they were without the other. Jinjura had to realize that her powers and abilities were nothing compared and without her sisters and that to survive, she was going to have to learn to do things differently. She had to learn to stand on her own two feet and make a way for herself without her sister’s assistance. Ariana learned that even though she was the most powerful between them, she needed her sister’s constant flow of love (which was a powerful energy force) and positivity to sustain her; without them she became very weak, depressed and apathetic. When they reunited, you could see through Parrchina’s eyes how much Jinjura’s features changed when the sister’s souls joined once more and marveled at how their own siblings would want to cause these two so much harm.


In Book 2, “Spider, Spiders! Does Size Matter?!?” you will meet Amanthia, who is being teased by the other warriors in Princess Janai’s group about her size. Even though she seems to be handling it in stride, The Goddess let’s Janai see just how much she really is affected by it and what she has gone through; even from her own family. She allows Janai to be inside Amanthia’s mind as she goes through the teasing and ridicule from her family and how she felt when they didn’t bother to look for her or come to her induction ceremony. You will also meet The Queenling Denahi, and see how she feels about her size in comparison to her people. Each has the same problem but in opposite direction…Amanthia wishes she could be more diminutive like her family and Denahi wishes she was bigger as all the ruling Queens have been. Each having similar problems but in the end, help each other out.

Social Links:

Webpage: http://www.sherelott.com/                
Facebook:  Sherel Ott Author    
Twitter:  @SherelOttAuthor
Where to Purchase:
Amazon.com: 


About Sherel Ott:
An eclectic collector of animation movies, Sherel Ott is a writer of fantasy and romance stories. One day while watching an animated movie, she noticed that there weren’t a lot of movies or books with girls of color in leading roles…as heroines, adventurers or with strong moral characters and wondered… Where were the influential leaders, doctors, lawyers or royalty of color? Why weren’t there any strong black female characters where a girl of color could be proud of her skin color and the type of person representing and say … “I want to be like her!” Wanting something more for her own nieces to look up to and strive to emulate, other than what girls of color were currently being portrayed as or should settle for is how her book initially took form. She wanted to show that there are black princesses, warriors, adventurers of all walks of life. That she should be and can be recognized for what she does and who her true self is, not be prejudged by what color her skin was.
As a fan of all fantasy, magical, mystical, celestial and other worldly creatures, Sherel began reading sci-fi/fantasy stories at a young age.
"I have always been a sci-fi and fantasy type of person. I always felt as a child that I belonged in those types of worlds rather than here. Reading them had always been my way of escaping from my shyness as a child." Sherel Ott. She had started collecting fairies of all types and now has a mini collection of collectible faery ornament to decorate her Christmas tree every year.
Sherel creates her stories first by writing them out and then typing them on the computer. She feels she gets her inspiration greatest when she writes and from nature itself. She strives to present her stories in a way that anyone can relate and identify with no matter how old or young...with a little fun, a little action/adventure, yet with a hidden message. Writing since the age of 14, her first published book--Adventures of Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu: The Cities of Tonga and Tongia -- brings a story of strong African American females. It's an adventure series particularly geared towards girls, although boys will also find it an enjoyable read.

When Sherel is not writing, she is working as a full-time Family Nurse Practitioner and has been so for the past 17 years. She presently resides in Felton, DE.
Giveaway:

1st Prize: $50 Amazon.com gift certificate and signed copy of About Adventures of Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu: The Cities of Tonga and Tongia

2nd Prize$25 Amazon.com gift certificate and signed copy of About Adventures of Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu: The Cities of Tonga and Tongia

3rd Prize: $10 Amazon.com gift certificate and signed copy of About Adventures of Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu: The Cities of Tonga and Tongia


a Rafflecopter giveaway

4 comments:

  1. Hello Kathleen,
    On behalf of Sherel Ott and Book Marketing Services, I would like to thank you for hosting Sherel today on Celtic Lady’s Reviews. She is glad to be here and if any of your readers have any questions and/or comments for Sherel, please leave them in the comment box. She will be by later in the day to respond.
    Sherel is having a giveaway throughout her Virtual Book Blog Tour. You can participate on Facebook by clicking here: http://gvwy.io/om690v2 or on the link Kathleen has provided for the Giveaway.
    Please join us tomorrow for a review of Adventures of Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu on Team Author, http://teamauthor.com/. Check where Sherel is each day on her ten day tour by clicking here: http://www.sherelott.com/virtual-book-blog-tour-schedule/

    ReplyDelete
  2. It has been my pleasure to host Sherel!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Kathleen,
    I want to thank You for hosting me today!. I look forward to hearing any comments or questions that you or your readers might have on this present book or on future books.

    ReplyDelete

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