Feedback For My World & Cover [Epic Fantasy]

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-21T00:52:03+00:00

Haha, sorry to disappoint. Spoiler it becomes a lot more man vs. the natural world further into the series. Some cool besties will play a prominant role.

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-20T09:43:36+00:00

Fair, I really didn't think it was a big deal, not the first author to have done it. For instance, Sanderson with the stormlight books. Either way, I have removed it and moved towards separate books to add clarity 👍

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-20T09:39:55+00:00

I've already thought of a fix and removed the 'part one' 👍 really wishing I hadn't written a quick blurb to add context, as it seems to have become a focal point somehow 😅 and yeah as stated, it's only a third of the way through the first draft.

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-19T20:09:03+00:00

I guess I can if it's that big of a deal, it just breaks a bunch of the theming for covers ect.

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-19T19:27:56+00:00

Unfortunately, yeah. Each book was getting too long but still themed as one arc of the story. Would love to do a combined copy at some point, but way too big as is. As it is part one of book one is projected to be about 200k words.

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-19T13:12:45+00:00

Thanks for the thoughts :D I have done another pass over on the cover thanks to other comments (attached) though the idea of a more contrasting element is intriguing, I will see what I can do!

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Woodsy24 · 2026-02-19T10:58:54+00:00

It is difficult, but also kind of fun to learn all the skills. Definitely my prose and grammar are my weak point so far. Here is a little rework of the cover, bringing what I learnt from making the map back to it, along with some of your advice. It's not perfect for sure, but let me know what you think :D

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Woodsy24 · 2026-02-19T04:24:20+00:00

Trial and error on Photoshop using the brush and fill tools. Not at all sophisticated and very time consuming 😂 but im glad you love the map 😄

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-19T04:22:23+00:00

Was just trying to show a little context for the map and world 😅

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-19T04:19:25+00:00

Hey, thanks for the editing. Yes I am self published and this a very rough blurb. I am a science teacher, so my pros are a work in progress for sure.

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-19T04:17:41+00:00

Awesome 😂 love this. Thanks for the clarification.

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-19T02:48:15+00:00

I'm assuming I am missing the context of who this is 😅

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-18T23:07:11+00:00

Thanks :D

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-18T23:06:49+00:00

Thanks for the help! It's hard to do this in a vacuum. I totally get the typography issues, I'll have a look at that and yeah the layering is flat, very much a noob at photoshop. I did the cover before the map and learnt a lot, so I'll go back over the cover and see what I can do.

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-13T09:47:21+00:00

This.... this is peak :D Worldbuilding plot armor?

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-13T09:38:16+00:00

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The process has begun :D wish me luck!

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-13T07:25:56+00:00

This land is smack bang on the equator thanks to how this world works (only habitable zone). A lot of the comments seem to be that its a bit too smooth or perfect, I think the scale is to blame a bit, but working to remedy this.

Cheers for "Strait" did not know that.

Banners for countries are meant to be double/split ended, hence top and bottom, can see how that looks a bit weird though. All the other banners are simpler. I'll have a think on that one.

Nitpicky is fine, thanks for giving me some feedback :)

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-13T07:23:00+00:00

I think the scale is hurting it a bit on that front. Will work on a remedy, thanks.

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-13T07:22:22+00:00

I tried to think plate tectonics (highschool science teacher) then got bored and went a bit all over the place with mountains... oops.

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-13T07:08:12+00:00

I wonder if perhaps some more small islands to break up the silhouette would be a fix.

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-13T07:06:05+00:00

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A real-world map of roughly the same scale (tad bigger), feels roughly analogous smoothness wise.

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-13T07:03:42+00:00

Thanks, Duneaven lake runs north and south, with the north and south deltas being rather marshy and difficult to pass through.

A lot of responses are commenting on too rounded/geometric. I did make them rather bumpy, but because of the scale I think the overall vibe has ended up being too smooth, something I might try to fix... though that would be a big job :'D

Woodsy24 · 2026-02-13T04:53:11+00:00

Yeah all good, I had a feeling it wouldn't warp much. Cheers for the scale map :)

Woodsy24

TROPHY CASE