thebibliosphere:

jackironsides:

copperbadge:

Prologues

I was having dinner with a good friend last night, who is currently working on a redraft of her novel; she’s taking a workshop that sounds awesome, but she was nervous about having added a prologue, because she’d heard from the other participants that prologues can be offputting. Apparently one person said that if there’s a prologue to a novel they just don’t read the novel, which absolutely floored me. (It turned out that people liked her prologue, which is just more proof that once you know the rules and reach a certain level of skill, you can break them with impunity.)

I don’t read prefaces to books anymore, because usually they contain brutally detailed spoilers, but I still read the actual book. I doubt I even notice a prologue normally. But I know that a book having a particular element that’s offputting to a group of readers also isn’t confined to commercial fiction – a lot of fandom won’t read fic in the second person or the present tense, for example.

So I told her I’d put up a poll and report back on the results! Tell me all your thoughts on prologues!

A prologue in a novel is

Fine, I doubt I’d notice

Not my favorite but doesn’t prevent me from reading it

Downright irritating, and if it’s bad I won’t read the book

A real turn-off, and if I don’t love the author I won’t read

An absolute dealbreaker, an immediate no-read

Other, which I will share in notes/tags

Irrelevant, just show me the answers please

See Results

I’m setting it to one day because I’m going to be seeing her tomorrow and I figure I can report back then. :D

I grew up reading Clive Cussler books, so I was trained from a young age to eat up prologues with a spoon.

Prologues are not currently “popular” in the mainstream and you’re often encouraged to skip them. (They’re still considered okay for the high fantasy genre but even there you’ll notice a distinct lack of them in more recent publications.) The thought is, if it can’t be said succinctly in chapter one, it’s unnecessary exposition.

Honestly idgaf. The mainstream opinion will change again in a few years. I’m just going to tell my stories how I want.

thebibliosphere:

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites

ALT

In a world of dwindling hope, love has never mattered more…

Captain Nathan J. Northland had no idea what to expect when he returned home to Lorehaven injured from war, but it certainly wasn’t to find himself posted on an island full of vampires. An island whose local vampire dandy lord causes Nathan to feel strange things he’d never felt before.

Particularly about fangs.

When Vlad Blutstein agreed to hire Nathan as Captain of the Eyrie Guard, he hadn’t been sure what to expect either, but it certainly hadn’t been to fall in love with a disabled werewolf. However Vlad has fallen and fallen hard, and that’s the problem.

Torn by their allegiances–to family, to duty, and the age-old enmity between vampires and werewolves–the pair find themselves in a difficult situation: to love where the heart wants or to follow where expectation demands.

The situation is complicated further when a mysterious and beguiling figure known only as Lady Ursula crashes into their lives, bringing with her dark omens of death, doom, and destruction in her wake.

And a desperate plea for help neither of them can ignore.

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites by Joy Demorra is a queer, paranormal, gaslamp fantasy romance novel featuring enchanted forests, gothic castles, and just a smidge of industrial coal dust, and is the first book of the Hunger Pangs slow-burn polyamorous romance series.

Join Vlad, Nathan, and Ursula as they navigate a magical world torn asunder war and politics as they work to restore balance to the world and find love along the way. Book one is available now in ebook, paperback, and audio.

• Buy the (high heat) Flirting With Fangs Edition Here.
  
• Buy the (medium heat) Fluff and Fangs Edition Here.

Why are there two versions, and what’s the difference between them? Glad you asked! You can also check out individual content tags and heat ratings on my website at www.joydemorra.com

(via thebibliosphere)

taranhunt:

BUY MY BOOK AT A CHEAPER PRICE AND FOR LESS SHELF SPACE STARTING TODAY

(via laireshi)

omeprazela:

thatjayjustice:

Day one of @GeekGirlCon is underway! Find me at my booth 346! Today I’m hosting the cosplay contest at 2pm! Today’s cosplay is inspired by @moog_art’s original astronomy mage design! I loved the little stars peeking from the cape lining SO much, I just had to make it real ♥️

ALT

thirddeadlysin:

imanutcase-10:

tattooedzombigirl:

theman:

beardedmrbean:

I GOT A FUCKING RAISE THE POTATO WORKED WTF

This potato works. Every. Fucking. Time.

Then bring me luck

the day after I posted this last time I was notified that I was selected for a really cool mentorship gig and got an unrelated glowing review at work

(via spongebobssquarepants)

maikaartwork:

Artists, let’s talk about Instagram commission scammers

There’s been a huge rise in commission scammers recently, mostly on Instagram. A lot of new artists don’t know what to look out for, so I figured this might help people.

How they begin

Usually the scammer will write to you asking about a commission. Something deceptively cute - mostly I encounter asks about pet portraits, with one or two photos sent. They’ll probably try to sell you a sweet little story, like “It’s for my son’s birthday”. They will insist that they love your artwork and style, even though they don’t follow you or never liked a single piece of your art.

What to look out for:

1. Their profiles will either be private, empty, or filled with very generic stuff, dating at most a few years back.
2. Their language will be very simple, rushed or downright bad. They might use weird emojis that nobody ever uses. They will probably send impatient “??” when you don’t answer immediately. They’re in a crunch - lots of people to scam, you know. 
3. They’ll give you absolutely no guidelines. No hints on style, contents aside from (usually) the pet and often a name written on the artwork, no theme. Anything you draw will be perfect. Full artistic freedom. In reality they don’t really care for this part.
4. They’ll offer you a ridiculous amount of money. Usually 100 or 300 USD. They’ll often put in a phrase like “I am willing to compensate you financially” and “I want the best you can draw”, peppered with vague praise. It will most likely sound way too good to be true. That’s because it is.

Where the scam actually happens

If you agree, they will ask you for a payment method. They’ll try to get to this part as soon as possible. 

Usually, they’ll insist on PayPal. And not just any PayPal. They’ll always insist on sending you a transfer immediately. None of that PayPal Invoice stuff (although some do have methods for that, too). They’ll really, REALLY want to get your PayPal email address and name for the transfer - that’s what they’re after. If you insist on any other method, they’ll just circle back to the transfer “for easiest method”. If you do provide them with the info, most likely you’ll soon get a scam email. It most likely be a message with a link that will ultimately lead to bleeding you dry. Never, and I mean NEVER click on any emails or links you get from them. It’s like with any other scam emails you can ever get.

A few things can happen here:

• They overpay you and ask for the difference to be wired back. Usually it will go to a different account and you’ll never see that money again. 
• They’ll overpay you “for shipping costs” and ask you to forward the difference to their shipping company. Just like before, you’ll never see that money again.
• The actual owner of the account (yes, they most likely use stolen accounts to wire from) will realize there’s been something sketchy going on and request a refund via official channels. Your account will be charged with fees and/or you get in trouble for fraudulent transactions. 
• You will transfer the money from your PayPal credit to your bank account and they will make a shitstorm when they want their money back, making your life a living hell. They will call you a scammer, a thief, make wild claims, wearing you down and forcing you into wiring money “back” - aka to their final destination account. 

Never, EVER wire money to anyone. This is not how it’s supposed to go. Use PayPal Invoice for secure exchanges where the client needs to provide you with their email, not the other way around.

You can find more info on that method HERE.

What to do when you encounter a scammer:

• Ask the right questions: inquire about the style, which artwork of yours they like, as much details as you can. They won’t supply you with any good answers.
• Don’t let the rush of the exchange, their praise and the promise of insanely good money to get to you. That’s how they operate, that’s how they make you lose vigilance. 
• Don’t engage them. As soon as you realize it might be a scam, block them. The sense of urgency they create with their rushed exchange, and pressure they put on you will sooner or later get to you and you might do something that you’ll regret later.
• Never wire money to anyone. Never give out your personal data. Never provide your email, name, address or credit card info. 
• Don’t be deceived by receiving a payment, if you somehow agree to go along with it. Just because it’s there now doesn’t mean it can’t be withdrawn. 

Here is a very standard example of such an exchange. I realized it’s a scam pretty fast and went along with it, because I wanted good screenshots for you guys, so I tried going very “by the book” with it. 

Please share this post, make it reach as many artists as possible. Let young or inexperienced artists know that this is going on. So many people have no idea that this is a thing. Let’s help each other out. If you think I missed any relevant info, do add it as an rb!

Also, if you know other scam methods that you think should be shared, consider rb-ing this post with them below. Having a master post of scam protection would AWESOME to have in the art community.

(via vaspider)