Hello, welcome and thank you for checking out "Bear With Me" !

Here you'll find some short, yet fairly important notes,

a general "What To Expect"

aswell as an Appendix

    (because putting that last one at the end of the book where it would ordinarily belong, is a bit difficult here on WP. Well, not difficult maybe, but I feel it would be somewhat mean ;)
You'd all be led to believe there is one more chapter than there actually is, happily clicking the "Next" button, only to end up with the cursed appendix yet again ... )

So, let's start with the notes:

    I wanted very much to offer some sort of variation to the usual "All-White American" - cast of characters you generally encounter on here and, since I'm not yet comfortable writing a character from a culture I'm not personally familiar with, I decided to start with what I know.

    So, in this book you'll not only encounter dragons and fairies, but also Turks and Germans!
(Dun-dun-duunnn)

Bits and pieces will also include languages other than English.

    All will be translated, but, at times, not always straight away, because some parts rely on the fact that our heroine, who narrates most of this story, does not know what is being said, while the dialogue itself is part of the overall plot (or present for comedic purposes).
And of course, what our esteemed narrator doesn't know, you won't know either ;)

    If you happen to speak the language in question (it will mainly be German and Turkish, sometimes Arabic) you will for the most part just get a joke ahead of everyone else and, at worst, be somewhat confused, but there generally won't be any major spoilers, so never fear! ;)

There will be an Audio-Book available.

    You will find the audio in the header of every chapter.
I am not an expert reader, and while my accent is fine when I chat with people, things sometimes get weird when I read stuff out loud. I'll try my best, and make the whole thing as good as I possibly can, so I hope you'll enjoy listening to this story as well as reading it! :)

I'm adding the Appendix as a collection of the odd tidbits of cultural knowledge you will be presented with over the course of the story, as well as a handy pronunciation guide.

    Most of what you'll find in there will be explained when it comes up, and this is where you can go to check anything you might have forgotten, instead of having to look through all of the previous chapters.

    Additionally, our heroine will sometimes learn or talk about real life phenomena and facts. Those will also be listed here, along with further information, sources, and reading recommendations for anyone wanting to know more.

    Now, on to the next part...

What to expect from this

    I generally like to know, what I'm getting into before committing to a book, so here is what you can expect from "Bear With Me" :

➽ This is a Romantic Comedy, with a Fantasy Sub-Plot.
I am very proud to be able to tell you that the sub-plot is a fully developed story in itself that could, in theory, work even without the romance (but that would be boring, wouldn't it ;D ).

➽ The main romance itself is a slow-burning one, that will take time to fully form and develop, but crushes and flirts, that progress a little faster, certainly do happen.

➽ Despite the whole world more or less conspiring to have the two fall in love, our heroine might not actually end up with the male lead. They could very well be together by the end of this book but there is also a chance that they won't be.

    I certainly won't tell you (YET ;D ).

➽ I will try my best to portray the characters, and their emotional journeys as realistically as possible.
Therefore, despite this being essentially a comedy, I will sometimes touch upon somewhat serious topics.
Among others, those will be:

    ◈dealing with the trauma of narrowly escaping assault
    ◈being faced with and overcoming prejudice
    ◈being with someone because of external pressure rather than because of your own free choice
    ◈mental illness
    ◈finding love and acceptance as a transgendered person

and last, but not least

    ◈ Bears!

➽This story is basically pg13, although a bit of adult language might happen. I am however confident, that no innocent teens will be traumatized by this (as if there was such a thing as an innocent teen).

➽I am not a native speaker and have a light case of dyslexia on top of that, so be prepared to encounter the odd spelling mistake or misplaced comma.

    I will correct mistakes over time, and am going to run all of the posted chapters through a spell-checking app, but there are bound to be some that I miss.

    I apologize for that.
(Since the story is still at the 'rough draft'- stage, getting someone to proof-read would be a bit of a waste at this point in time)

APPENDIX:

[1] Crnčević
Pronounced "churn-sher-vitch". A last name of Serbian origin, roughly meaning "of the black". Was originally used to refer to someone from the "Black Mountain"-region or to a Person of Color.
Our heroine's last name. Her Great-Grandfather is from Serbia.

[2] Bears
Mammals belonging to the Ursidae family. They do not inhabit the Black Forest.
Do not kiss them.

[3] Njell
A Nickname.
Uuh, mysterious. I wonder if that will someday come up again.
Nah, probably not important at all.

[4]  B172-ceta-X-PURGER-Ray-Gun
An outdated, but a very potent weapon.
Never sleep without it.

And now... :

Enjoy!