Hello and welcome. I am an indie author of my debut fantasy series, and I'm here to have fun, showing off my terrible drawings (mostly of OCs from my book series) :) DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/homelyintervert101 Insta: https://www.instagram.com/mimii.drawz?igsh=MWFmY2N5dWxkNDF6
The Prophecy Of Arethos, The Gathering Storm is here guys!
✨ The journey continues… ✨
I'm so excited for this! Mila and Nymera are back!!! 😆😆😆
This time, Mila returns to Arethos carrying the weight of grief, trauma, and the memories of everything she lost. The world she loves is still beautiful, but she isn't the same girl who first arrived there.
You can grab a copy on Amazon here: ^^
The Prophecy of Arethos: The Gathering Storm: King, Beatrice: 9781919059495: Amazon.com: Books
Don't forget!!! If you haven't read book 1, The Awakening, I HIGHLY suggest you do otherwise lot's of content in this book won't make any sense to you at all:
The Prophecy of Arethos: The Awakening: King, Beatrice: 9781918475722: Amazon.com: Books
Art for book 3 is probably gonna come in September since it's taking way longer than I thought to draw them! I'll make some more art for different characters in book 2 tho! ^^ (hopefully!)
Wow lol this was the first thing I ever drew on my tablet 😂. It was right after I finished reading Bluestar's Prophecy from Warrior Cats which is what led me to draw this.
I just wanted to make this post to remind people that everyone is at a different stage in their art journey and that your art never needs to be perfect ^^
Keep drawing guys! Keep making mistakes and keep learning! 😊
I'll be completely honest, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing 99% of the time.
Writing a book is already different enough, but then you realise you also have to somehow become your own marketer, promoter, social media manager, editor... and about 10 other things i wasn't prepared for 🥲
I have NO idea what I'm doing when it comes ro promoting my books or getting people to notice them.
Honestly, the best thing i can do is draw my characters and hope people like them. 😂
And writing books themselves isn't exactly easy either. There are days when I stare at my manscript wondering how I'm supposed to finish the next chapter, let alone an entire 6 book series.
But despite all of that...
I'm not giving up!!! 😤
I don't know what I'm doing.
I'm terrible at marketing.
I'm still figuring everything out as I go.
But I'm going to keep writing 💙
So here's to all the indie authors who are figuring it out as they go! We're doing our best! 🤧📚✨️
There's something that I've been slowly coming to realize about indie writers compared to traditional. It's more than the bravery, the originality, or the raw humanity in having everything rest on you. It's in the rough edges that traditional media seems to dampen to appeal to a wider audience. Even when well-written, and not all of them are, many publishers follow the formula of heroes with superficial faults and amazing love lives. They might come from nothing, they might have to sacrifice, but the evil is conquered. 'Normality' perseveres.
But indies wreck that.
A teenager's panic about being alone. No one to worry. No friends. No community. Just... a chance to reach out once a hand is extended. To become a hero, knowing you're nothing special. And failure. So much failure- but also hope.
Others wish for safety. For an end to violence. For no one to die, not even the villain. Peace that didn't need a martyr. Let intelligence win the fight. Let no one be the chosen one. Get help and win together. No drive for romance. No forced interest to increase the market. Just... survive the trauma.
Others yearn for acceptance, and a stable community. Even when put on a pedestal, they need support to function, to not lose themselves. Mothers, fathers, extended family, even just neighbors. Without the collective, there isn't survival, and every death counts. No one escapes without scars.
Many endeavor to not have to conform to a heteronormative way of life, or a scripted relationship, or even to the formulaic way of thinking. Those voices are growing stronger. They are centre stage instead of the background, stated instead of implied. Neurodivergence and ace rep is on the rise and I love it.
So sometimes, when you look at a OC, don't forget to wave at the hint of the writer's soul. And if our villains are a little too convincing? It's because we've had experiences with darkness; not that we endorse it in reality.
Making art for book 3 might take longer than I thought. Im so burnt out by the amount of art I have been making lately I need to take a break for my eyes and my sanity 🤣
This will probably be the last drawing I make for book 2 and the last piece of writing I will reveal from it. It's time to start making art for book 3! (also, below is a snippet of the scene where Mila enters the underwater cave with Nymera, Neriah and Kaelen ^^)
He pointed towards a large, dark opening in the cliff face, slightly submerged below the waterline. It looked like the entrance to a sea cave.
“We’re going in there?” I asked, looking closer. The churning currents around the entrance looked intimidating.
“It’s fine,” Neriah assured me. “The current looks rough from up here, but you’ll notice it’s really predictable once you’re inside. That’s the first step of training: stop fighting the water.”
Before I could voice any more questions, Kaelen fluidly sank beneath the waves. Neriah followed, giving me a wide smile before she disappeared.
I exchanged a look with Nymera. “They’re really determined to treat this like some kind of casual paddling lesson, aren’t they?”
“These are people of the sea, Mila. This is casual paddling for them. Come on, let’s go explore,” Nymera urged, already letting herself sink gracefully into the depths.
I nodded nervously to myself. Trust the mentors. I took a normal breath, then allowed myself to sink.
The moment the water closed over my head, the real training began.
The world transformed once more. The sound of the surface waves vanished entirely. Up here, near the light, the silence was only punctuated by the high-pitched clicking and chirping of unseen aquatic life.
I followed Nymera and the twins towards the dark opening. As we approached, I realised the current wasn’t chaos; it was a powerful river within the sea. It pulled at me, demanding that I turn myself sideways to resist being slammed against the rocks.
Kaelen was waiting just inside the entryway, holding onto a thick strand of purple kelp. He motioned for me to grab on.
I reached out, my fingers brushing the slick, cool surface of the plant. The moment I held fast, the aggressive pull of the current lessened dramatically.
Neriah swam past the entrance into the cave proper, where the water suddenly became incredibly still.
“This whole place is magnificent, Mila. Look at the colours,” Nymera marvelled, her eyes wide with curiosity as she observed the cave walls.
The cave was vast and cavernous, illuminated not by the external sunlight but by thousands of tiny, glowing organisms embedded in the walls and ceiling. These bioluminescent spots pulsed with a soft blue-green light, making the water itself feel like liquid starlight. The rough rock surfaces were covered in strange, velvety mosses and formations of pale, crystalline coral.
Kaelen released the kelp and swam towards the centre of the cave, where the sandy floor was littered with smooth, heavy stones. He turned back to me, floating effortlessly in the dim, beautiful light.
