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Earthling Beta Readers

@earthlingbeta.bsky.social

11K followers 12K following 290 posts

Hello, writing community! We are the beta wing for the Darling Axe. Follow us for graphic writing prompts—all art is by actual humans. Find us here: https://tinyurl.com/earthlingbeta 🪓🪓

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Earthling Beta Readers @earthlingbeta.bsky.social · Jan 30

Are you looking for a beta reader or someone to swap edits with?

Tag me with a quick summary of your manuscript and I'll repost 😁✌️

a cartoon character with a headband that says sundae

ALT: a cartoon character with a headband that says sundae

media.tenor.com

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Art History Animalia @arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social · 2d

#NationalOpossumDay :
Vasily Vatagin (Russian/Soviet wildlife artist, 1883-1969)
#Opossum with Its Babies, 1920
Oil on canvas?
From the collection of the State Darwin Museum, Moscow, Russia.
artsandculture.google.com/asset/opossu...

painting of a mother opossum (Didelphis sp.) with five babies (four on back, one by her tail) on a large tree branch, overall dark tone giving it a crepuscular quality

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Art History Animalia @arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social · 2d

#NationalOpossumDay :
Julia Lucey (CA, USA)
#Opossum in Toyon, 2025
Aquatint etchings collaged on panel
14 × 18 × 2 in | 35.6 × 45.7 × 5.1 cm
www.artsy.net/artwork/juli...
#ContemporaryArt #WomenArtists

depiction of an opossum hiding in the foliage of a fruiting Toyon bush (aka California Holly)

“Sourcing imagery from the flora and fauna of the California coast, Julia Lucey combines printmaking and collage for a medium all her own. Lucey prints her exquisitely detailed aquatint etchings in multiple editions, and uses a deft hand to cut and layer them into complex large-scale collages. The finished pieces are visually dense constructed environments that play on the character of her animal and vegetable subjects. As the artist herself explained, in some of her worlds, she references narratives and folk tales she imagines could happen, but with local animals as the characters. In other collages, she sets the animal’s gaze out toward the viewer in judgement; and others are simply about the magical feeling of being in a wild space.”

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Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · 3d

True story

Writing a book is just like reading a book except the book hates you

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Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · 2d

No Kings #Caturday ❤️

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Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · 5d

"Damn right," he behemothed hoarsely.

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Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · 5d

"I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."

—from The Two Towers
by J. R. R. Tolkien

a man with long hair and a beard is looking at the camera with a serious look on his face .

ALT: a man with long hair and a beard is looking at the camera with a serious look on his face .

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Earthling Beta Readers

Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · 4d

We’ve Come For Your Eggs is a comic fantasy adventure equal parts Dungeons & Dragons romp and razor-sharp satire, lampooning the US-Canada trade war and a few infamous celebrities along the way.

Book launch: Oct 23

Kindle pre-orders are live 🐲
mybook.to/dragoneggs

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Darling Axe Editing @darlingaxe.com · 7d

"Trivial" comes from Latin "trivium," meaning "crossroads." It originally referred to common, everyday matters discussed at crossroads.

#etymology

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Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · 6d

Timeline cleanse!

Here's a waterfall :)

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Darling Axe Editing @darlingaxe.com · 6d

The word "puzzle" comes from the Old French word "pusle," which meant "bewilderment."

#etymology

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TJ Silverlake @tjsilverlake.bsky.social · 7d

Chop it down with the edge of my hand 2, series of 7, 40 x 40”, monoprint, ink on archival paper, 5/25

#ContemporaryArt #ArtCollector #ArtGallery #PortraitArt #DigitalArtist #DigitalArt #Procreate #AffinityPhoto2 #landscape #painting #abstractexpressionism #hyperrealism #art

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Darling Axe Editing @darlingaxe.com · 7d

Tragedy and Comedy: The Two Faces of Story Structure

If the protagonist is going to succeed, then you want to bring them closer and closer to failure. If they are going to fail, you want to bring them closer and closer to victory.

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/t...

#writingcommunity #booksky

Tragedy and Comedy: The Two Faces of Story Structure

If the protagonist is going to succeed, then you want to bring them closer and closer to failure. If they are going to fail, you want to bring them closer and closer to victory.

darlingaxe.com

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Reposted by Earthling Beta Readers

Darling Axe Editing @darlingaxe.com · 11d

Unfiltered Narrative: Strengthen Your Fiction by Minimizing Filter Words

"Filter words are verbs that refer to a character's senses or cognition, such as seeing, hearing, or thinking."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/f...

#writingcommunity

Unfiltered Narrative: Strengthen Your Fiction by Minimizing Filter Words

By reducing unnecessary sensory and cognitive verbs, you allow your audience to slip into the shoes of the protagonist and experience events as they unfold, without redundant reminders that the scene…

darlingaxe.com

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Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · 10d

On Oct 23, a small sassy dragon is coming to brain-theatres everywhere!

Join Glimm as he manages a band of blowhards set on breaking into Frostvale and toppling the government in this satire about the US-Canada trade war.

Kindle pre-orders are live 🐲
mybook.to/dragoneggs

We've Come For Your Eggs book cover (dragon flying across the sun)

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Darling Axe Editing @darlingaxe.com · 10d

Book Broker — An interview with Therese Coen

"Keep writing and keep submitting!"

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/b...

#amquerying #mswl

Book Broker – an interview with Thérèse Coen

So many authors don’t succeed their first time, but they learn from it and grow into better and more resilient writers as a result.

darlingaxe.com

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Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · 10d

True story

Artists all day: depressed, smoking
Artists at 3am: chipper, coffee in hand

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Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · 9d

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Reposted by Earthling Beta Readers

Darling Axe Editing @darlingaxe.com · 12d

Want versus Need: Another Way to Think About Story Structure

"Plot is the transformation of the internal by the external."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/w...

#writingcommunity #booksky

Want versus Need: Another Way to Think About Story Structure

Plot is the transformation of the internal by the external.

darlingaxe.com

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Darling Axe Editing @darlingaxe.com · 14d

Foreshadowing: The Shape of Things to Come

"Planting false clues or intentionally distracting the reader can be a great way to avoid predictability and create a satisfying twist."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/f...

#writingcommunity

Foreshadowing: The Shape of Things to Come

Planting false clues or intentionally distracting the reader from what’s actually happening can be a great way to avoid predictability in a plot and create a satisfying twist. Foreshadowing is the…

darlingaxe.com

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Darling Axe Editing @darlingaxe.com · 13d

Photo by Matt Hard via Pexels

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”
— Robert Frost

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Septimus Brown @septimusbrown.com · 12d

Chilly morning hike
even the forests and fields
dressed for October

#haiku

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Darling Axe Editing @darlingaxe.com · 14d

A great novel is honed, not hatched.

#writingcommunity

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Darling Axe Editing @darlingaxe.com · 14d

Coincidence in Fiction: Unearned Clues and Lightning Strikes

"Coincidence works when it ignites trouble, not when it puts out fires."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/c...

#writingcommunity #booksky

Coincidence in Fiction: Unearned Clues and Lightning Strikes

Coincidence works when it ignites trouble, not when it puts out fires.

darlingaxe.com

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Earthling Beta Readers @earthlingbeta.bsky.social · 17d

🚨 Beta Seeker Alert 🚨
🚨 Beta Seeker Alert 🚨

Carolyn Cee @supermedusa.bsky.social · 17d

@earthlingbeta.bsky.social
dark coming-of-age fantasy (female protag, sad stuff, dark magic)

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Carolyn Cee @supermedusa.bsky.social · 17d

@earthlingbeta.bsky.social
dark coming-of-age fantasy (female protag, sad stuff, dark magic)

1 1