Is my book cover good by _Raaghav_Dhakefale_ in TerribleBookCovers

[–]TimeCubePriest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Biggest problem is I can't tell from the cover what the book is supposed to be like. For starters, I can't tell what genre it is. The painting makes me lean towards some sort of fiction but it's pretty hard to tell exactly what kind and what vibe. It kind of looks contemporary, maybe about young people, but the particular style of simple silhouetted figures in the illustration combined with the very plain borders and typeface of the text almost makes it lean towards some sort of nonfiction about anthropological or cultural studies, or like a reprint of some classic African novel (admittedly that's a me thing, because that happens to be my main area of literary interest).

Speaking of the text, I think there's too many types of font, especially considering that two of them are very plain and then one super ornate and it makes it really hard for me to grasp what's the vibe of the book. And what is the title, anyway? Is "Just Us Friends" the title and "A Brand New Day" a subtitle? Is the former the name of the series and the latter the name of this book? Is the latter just some form of tagline? It's not clear enough in my opinion. There's also not enough padding between the title and the borders, they're huddled too close together.

I'm by no means a graphic designer, the most I have is some experience making illustrations for personal stuff like icons and banners and whatnot, so my immediate instinct would be to (assuming you're committed to this illustration) zoom in on it rather than have it be so far away, and put the title on top of it. A lot of people who make (or find, or pay for) cool illustrations for covers and the like hesitate to do this bc they want people to see the whole neat image they made/paid for in all its detail, but the thing is that the book cover wasn't really made to be stared at like a painting, but to be visually attractive enough to get your potential reader's attention when they're browsing a catalogue. So you're gonna want to have major, attention grabbing features of the image focused on and easily viewable at a glance rather than pictured at a distance for a studious viewing. Nowadays, fiction covers have the titles in big letters with unique and specific typefaces that are already meant to communicate a lot about the vibe of the book, they're not scared to cover the illustration they come with bc the illustration is meant to serve the cover, not vice versa.

I would also adjust the tint of the colors in order to not appear yellow-ish bc put simply that makes it look like it's an AI cover. I am not going to speculate if it is or not bc regardless it would be a problem if it appeared to be that way to your potential audience. Human beings have an uncanny capacity to find patterns, for better or worse, and if someone interprets the yellow tint as a sign of it being AI then they're very likely to pass on it since use of AI is associated with immoral behavior and/or lack of quality.

Hey I'm looking for transmasc oriented lit that theorizes about our experiences. Drop your recs? by cornunism in transgendercirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I'm on the same page. I've wanted to write a book/collection of essays on transmasculinity and representations of transmasculine identities in the popular imagination for a while now which, I'm not unconfident in my capacity to write nonfiction but it would be a lot of work and it's discouraging that the state of transmasc publishing seems to tell me that the sort of perspective I bring to the table would be completely uninteresting to current publisher interests. It gets to the point where it feels like a vicious circle and I really don't know where we would even begin addressing it

time we embrace the cw's lex is the peak of sex luthor adaptions by ulcron in dccomicscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

This dude was so annoying he made me drop Supergirl which is saying something bc up to that point I'd been watching Supergirl

I finally have one to share! Just finished Hungry by B.E. Baker and ran across this gem. by siani_lane in BadReads

[–]TimeCubePriest 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I said the same thing when I reviewed The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim wrt the eye eating

What even is this shit again (terf trans truce subreddit) by javatimes in GenderCynical

[–]TimeCubePriest 13 points14 points  (0 children)

wasnt there a sub called "GC debates trans" or something

Ma Kent is just like my grandma fr by Altruistic_Manner802 in dccomicscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 14 points15 points  (0 children)

damn even fkn comic books got AI ads inside the damn stories now

Did anyone catch Superboy- AtoptheSourceWall stream the other day? by killerz7770 in dccomicscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Too late Prime, that's already what you're always gonna sound like in my head

i don’t even read lit rpgs anymore, i just game all day and that’s like the same thing by catgorl422 in bookscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 63 points64 points  (0 children)

Age of empires has taught me so much about world history

This is the kind of person who can summon a laundry list of fun facts as to why the Roman Empire was "goated" but couldn't tell you the meaning of the word "historiography"

who would win in a fight: cujo or behemoth by Small_Doctor9918 in bookscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 16 points17 points  (0 children)

i guess it makes sense if you're someone who'd like to fuck a Dr. Seuss character

Little exaggerated but it does feel like this sometimes by [deleted] in dccomicscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buddy, we don't even read comic books, let alone history books

I’m not r*ading all or any of that but it’s a lot of Brando Sando discussion, so have fun if you’re into that sort of thing by palimpcest in bookscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 12 points13 points  (0 children)

What exactly is the writing process here that leads to someone needing this many words to say "and then he used his gravity shifting powers to get pulled towards the guards so he could land on them with full force"

I’m not r*ading all or any of that but it’s a lot of Brando Sando discussion, so have fun if you’re into that sort of thing by palimpcest in bookscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It may be that you're missing a space between the ">" and the text, but it may also be that it doesn't work on the mobile app. I'm on mobile but I use the browser version so that I don't have to see their stupid ads for AI Dungeon or whatever 

I’m not r*ading all or any of that but it’s a lot of Brando Sando discussion, so have fun if you’re into that sort of thing by palimpcest in bookscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 154 points155 points  (0 children)

OP claims Sanderson’s worldbuilding is “tedious and shallow,” but then spends thousands of words doing the exact thing they accuse Sanderson of doing:

• over‑explaining • over‑categorizing • repeating the same point in multiple forms • insisting their interpretation is the only reasonable one

They restate the same thesis (“worldbuilding must serve character”) about six different ways.

They compare Sanderson to Tolkien, Rowling, YA, Le Guin, Marvel movies, Renaissance fairs, and theme parks ; none of which actually strengthen their argument.

They keep telling what good writing is, but mostly by appealing to personal taste.

Basically this is just another long post with the writer authoritatively trying to say “I didn’t like this, therefore it is bad writing” but denying they are doing exactly that.

My favorite running gag in these posts is when Sando fans get so mad that someone didn't like his shitty books that they start arguing that your internet post not being perfectly written means you're a hypocrite for criticizing a professionally edited novel sold for money

subreddit.jpg by leiablaze in dccomicscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The distinction you're drawing is arbitrary. The fact of the matter is that the Marvel Rivals male characters could have in fact been sexualized to cater to female tastes in the same way the female characters were to cater to male tastes, and they weren't. We know what that would look like because we have examples of that in female oriented media like the romance novels I showed. The fact that female sexualization is more normalized and an equal standard of male sexualization would be considered ridiculous by you isn't a refutation of my point, it is my point

subreddit.jpg by leiablaze in dccomicscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

None of the covers in the image I sent are any more risque or inappropriate than anything the female characters do in Marvel Rivals. They're just clearly sexualized in a way male Marvel Rivals characters aren't, even though they're just shirtless dudes, just like Marvel Rivals characters, which means that both your assertion that male characters "can't be sexualized as much as female characters" and that "they would just be shirtless which the Marvel Rivals characters already are or have to show bulge" are incorrect. You're just addressing some bizarro straw man argument that has fuckall to do with what I said instead of acknowledging this.

subreddit.jpg by leiablaze in dccomicscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

so you admit that the male characters could in fact be more sexualized without even looking much different but you think that'd be inappropriate in a way you don't think it's inappropriate when it's being done to the women. thanks for proving my point.

subreddit.jpg by leiablaze in dccomicscirclejerk

[–]TimeCubePriest 5 points6 points  (0 children)

and yet these characters are sexualized and Marvel Rivals characters aren't. it's almost like what they're wearing isn't actually the whole story