There was one other thing I had in the works. I briefly alluded to this back in the author's note from when we got to 500 readers, and said that when it was ready I would go ahead and release it right away. If you opened the spoilers in my most recent two author's comments, than you may already know what this is, since those had the WIP versions.
I found an artist that had quality I was satisfied with and a price point I could afford, and commissioned a cover for the series from them.
Cover character is an Adult Stahlia, about what she would have looked like in the 1-2 character creator window, only clothed. Going forward, I plan on getting a series of character arts made, and some line art inserts. Writing is my only hobby, and I am blessed with a job that covers my bills and a little extra, so I can afford to direct a bit of my disposable income into stuff like this.
In the comments, if you could put any specific scenes you think would make for a good insert, it would be much appreciated. There is also a poll with a bunch of characters on it. This is for me to gauge which characters people would most like to see the character arts of.
Lastly, with future commissions, I will not be making full chapter announcements like this. I just figured that the first one, and the fact that its a cover, warranted something special. Going forward, new art will be stuck in an authors note at the end of the next chapter to come out after I receive it, while inserts will additionally be placed in the relevant chapter and section.
Art was commissioned from Udaraindunil, through their Fiverr gig. https://www.fiverr.com/udaraindunil
-
Jacqueline Votes: 70 79.5%
-
Dominic Votes: 7 8.0%
-
Elienor Votes: 7 8.0%
-
Edith Votes: 4 4.5%
-
Sarala Votes: 26 29.5%
-
Sana Votes: 25 28.4%
-
Stil Votes: 32 36.4%
-
Giogi Votes: 3 3.4%
If you could properly capture the scene of Jacqueline betraying her country for Stalia, that would probably be the most bang for your buck in terms of illustrations you could commission.
Also, even if you want to keep patreon out of this so it never ruins your motivation by making it feel like a job to you, it might still be good to open up a [temporary] donation link specifically for paying for artists to do art for Tricked. If you get too many donations, just close it.
Yea, that scene would be really important to make sure it's done properly... it's too major to go "eh, good enough."
I'll have to think about the donation link. As a clarification, I'm not worried about losing motivation from people giving me money. When I say "psychologically treat writing like a job", I mean that I would possibly start trying to please donors; adapting the story, or making changes if they aren't pleased to avoid offending them... a customer service mentality I guess. Even though I know that keeping everyone happy is a futile quest.
Essentially, I worry that I might start treating readers like customers, not just people I'm sharing a thing with.
@Psycholor That's a good point. I would just point out to remember that even if you get some very vocal and upset commenters they're a minority. Most people just enjoy reading and skip commenting. Just something to remember if people get upset about a decision. You're doing a great job with the story*(typo) in my view, pretty unique take on the Isekai genre so I'd prefer if you keep laying out your vision.
@Cypresslb In fact, I would lose respect for an author for straying away from their vision because of the influence of others. This is coming from someone who loves coming up with ideas and doing bits of theorycrafting and sharing them in the comments section as I come up with them, and would be absolutely giddy seeing my idea I offered show up in the story later on. This applies to authors on all scales from web novels to the greatest in our culture. For example, I view Episode 2 and 3 of Star Wars to basically be fanfiction written by the film critics of Episode 1. Lucas cucked himself by not going with a Darth Darth Binks plotline just because people hated Jar Jar. A Harlequin Big Bad would've been absolutely amazing. Lucas doesn't deserve respect, and that's even before selling his 'child''s soul to Disney.
@0xFFF1 100% on Darth Darth Binks! Now I'm no author but I do think an author can improve themselves and their story from criticism but I wouldn't want to see a story deviate from the original spirit of the story. An example would be people saying they would like to see more intermission/side character stories thrown in so an author adds an extra here or there. The general story is the same and he is appeasing his fans but the heart of the story stays the same. Just my thoughts.
@Psycholor It's your story we've come to really enjoy. For me personally I wouldn't want it to change unless you were really struck by something said that picqued your interest AND that you would then want to write about or incorporate. Can't speak for others for certain, but i think most want to hear your tale. We came because of your writing in the first place.
The theorising/comments are also fun to read for me though and hope you like hearing them, even if im always afraid of saying something stupid that might lower motivation.(hoping this came on the encouraging side and not just babbling)