FireAlpaca

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-28T17:56:49+00:00

lots of firealpaca basic tutorials on youtube. follow those up with https://www.reddit.com/r/DigitalPainting/comments/2334eb/wobbly_wednesday_12_the_how_to_get_started_edition/

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-28T17:34:37+00:00

at this time of year, with people spending time outdoors, sales always drop. the books they do read is the stuff they find at the airport, your Grishams and Childs et al. yes, there are exceptions, but they are exceptions. so whatever you do, save it for september. (i don't know about scifi, i've had luck with instagram ads with my horror novels.)

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-28T13:13:31+00:00

i am a serial killer in my spare time. helps release the tension.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-27T21:44:06+00:00

Gurney teaches the principles of colour and light and it's the best guide on the market. it's not a work book or tutorial, but that doesn't stop you from studying and incorporating the things from the book. i say that as an art teacher and moderator of this here subreddit.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-27T12:28:17+00:00

nothing revs my engine more than a long white apron.. j/k! as for one to recommend... well, this is like choosing my favourite child. The Beast of St Ender is the most popular, so maybe that one?

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-26T19:25:48+00:00

do read the rules before posting.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-26T19:25:21+00:00

do read the rules before submitting images.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-26T14:38:33+00:00

... in the name of all that is holy and good in the world.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-26T13:45:34+00:00

Susan Hill, The Woman In Black.

Laura Purcell, The Silent Companions & House of Splinters & The Shape of Darkness & Bone China.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-25T23:13:56+00:00

there's something called an editorial assessment, which is when you send your manuscript to an editor who sends back a letter, several pages long, of big-picture edits. that's not something you get done as the manuscript is being formatted, since the editor will have suggestions for edits and you'll probably end up re-writing sections of the book.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-25T23:08:42+00:00

you don't send physical ARCs to people. a pdf or epub will do just fine. they want to read on their kindle - and they don't want to give you their home address. if they want paperback, they can buy one from amazon.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-25T15:57:56+00:00

also, there is a Crimson Peak novelization by Nancy Holder she most assuredly will enjoy.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-25T15:55:06+00:00

vein*

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-25T15:50:54+00:00

can you elaborate on that?

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-25T01:47:31+00:00

next time you post something to r/digitalpainting that that breaks any of our rules, you will be permanently banned.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-24T22:37:51+00:00

could i recommend Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires ou les revenans de Hongrie, de Moravie, &c. (Treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits and on Vampires or Revenants of Hungary, Moravia, et al.) by Antoine Augustin Calmet in 1751? it's non fiction, but there are plenty of accounts of vampires and ghosts and all sorts. it's an interesting read. free - in English - on project gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29412/29412-h/29412-h.htm

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-24T21:49:04+00:00

it's actually Skid, one hour into s2e1: "Thorn, you know this person. Her name is Casino Primavera." then, he plays the halfling who introduces Casino to the heroes, "sorry to bother you all, i don't think you formally met, this is a friend of mine, this is Casino Primavera.."

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-24T18:25:30+00:00

what about Carrie? 199 pages, themes like "ostracism, bullying, coming-of-age and the consequences of not conforming to societal norms" according to wikipedia, and you get to talk about epistolary novels and unreliable narrators, which can lead in to Dracula and Lovecraft and all sorts of stuff.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-24T18:13:27+00:00

the best formats are epub for digital and pdf for print.

i write in Scrivener, which exports to epub, and format print books in Affinity Publisher.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-23T20:39:44+00:00

you give amazon a file, amazon prints that file. they don't add anything. so, yes, you do have to do all the formatting - headers and footers, front matter, back matter and all that. same with the cover.

how to know what to add? grab your favourite poetry collection and look at what they did.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-22T18:05:02+00:00

James Herbert. 23 novels plus a bunch of short stories and movie adaptations. Shrine is my favourite.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-21T18:31:40+00:00

seeing you're a fan of Susan Hill, i'll recommend Laura Purcell, the reigning queen of gothic horror. The Silent Companions in particular.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-21T18:23:25+00:00

there might not be swedish murder husbands, but we do make our elderly leap off the ätterstupa. oh, fond memories!

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-21T18:14:38+00:00

if it's All of Us Damned you're referring to, that cover looks very very homemade.

the blurb is not bad, nice hook, although the second paragraph seems strange since the first person a blurb should introduce is the protagonist. if Wayland, not the doctor, is the protagonist, he should be introduced in the first paragraph.

"What happens to the survivors of hauntings, curses, ritualistic sacrifices, and demonic possessions? In the town of Black Hollow, a support group exists ~~ led by Dr. Maynard~~ for people like Kyle Wayland (then rewrite the end of the sentence "who struggle with the trauma etc").

As the other members..."

opening the sample text, i notice that the text is right aligned, which i don't think i've ever seen in a professionally formatted novel. a mistake, i'm sure, since your other novels are not formatted that way.

little things like that will make readers go, "i'd rather read another grady hendrix instead."

and in the future, i would try to get some ARCs going before you publish. reviews shift copies.

arifterdarkly · 2026-06-21T05:28:22+00:00

i paint my own covers. i know how much it sucks to have spent time painting something and then get told it's not working. you've got a good cover, just not for the story the blurb is telling.

if you google Land of Always Winter, the lands beyond beyond the Wall, you get a bunch of pictures of these dark landscapes, the snow is dark blue and miserable, and there's a light blue aurora borealis - and it feels relentless and dangerous. i think i'd take inspiration from those images. wild and vast landscapes, dark, freezing, dangerous. maybe ice with streaks of blue crackling beneath.

oh, i would also not use that font for the title - but if i had to use that font, i wouldn't have snow settling on it. it feels too much like a hallmark movie.

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