“Litany In Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out” - Richard Siken The Lament For Icarus - Herbert

Idk how you could stan Dorian, he gives 0 fucks about anyone unless it directly benefits him 🤮

black academia

the joy of discovering a new secondhand bookstore and then bringing far too many books home

Okay but like, just imagine you’re majoring in History, your unrequited lover in STEM.

The heated debates because you are both far too passionate about your major. But the giggly and soft atmosphere numbs the seriousness.

The shitty puns and jokes. However you both have to explain them, and that’s fine because anything to hear them talk about something they love. Eyes twinkling, wide smile, the lot.

And you both take a vow to use science as well as history to discover if Napoleon was actually short.

Then you both fall in love. Even more.

And. Yeh. Just a thought.

hi,

*deep breath*

my name is nyx and i’m (re)entering the writeblr community. i’m into anime (haikyuu/atla/cowboy bebop), good music, computer science, space things, and creative writing. i specifically write/read ya, urban fantasy, poetry, mythology, fantasy/sci-fi or anything good.

this blog is mainly to get me to fall in love with my writing again and to push myself to write again and better. i’m probably going to be posting poems and parts of current works on here and reblogging other cool things.

please like/reblog/follow if you’re a writeblr and i’ll do the same for you.

p.s. the lowercase is on purpose

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Writing x Characters When You Aren’t x, A Masterlist

x: a variable used to represent something unknown.

We’ve seen an influx of questions about how to write stories based around characters of color, disability, non-binary, etc. when the author does not fall into these categories. Rather than have these posts take over the site, we’ve decided to compile a list of resources to help our fellow writers become more educated about writing what they do not immediately know. However, this list is not the end-all-be-all of knowledge; one should always try to learn from someone with first hand experience in any topic. The world is constantly growing and changing, and because of that, there will always be more to learn. The admins at Plotline Hotline want to help writers form respectful, informed, and realistic characters that broaden the narrow range we see in literature today. 

*Be wary that some of the topics listed below contain sensitive material. Reader discretion is advised.* 

As always, the links I found to be especially apt will be in bold. Topics are listed alphabetically, excepting the “other” section.

Culture

Appropriate Cultural Appropriation

What is Cultural Appropriation? [1,2,3]

Cultural Appropriation Is, In Fact, Indefensible

Voice Appropriation & Writing About Other Cultures

Diversity, Appropriation, and Writing the Other [List]

Disability

Writing Disibilities [1,2,3,4,5]

Guides to Writing Deaf or Hard of Hearding People

National Association of the Deaf - Resources [List]

World Federation of the Deaf

Using a Prosthetic Device

Prostehtic Limbs (Character Guide)

How NOT to Write Disabled Characters

A Guide to Disibility Rights Law (United States)

Timeline of Disibility Rights in the United States

Social Security Disability: List of Impairments, Medical Conditions, and Problems [List] (United States)

How to Write Disabled Characters: An Opinion Piece

Artificial Eye Resources [List][Various]

Adapting to the Loss of an Eye

Misconceptions and Myths About Blindness

Blind Characters: A Process of Awareness

Writing Blind Characters [List]

Types of Learning Disabilities [List]

Diversity

A Guide to Spotting and Growing Past Stereotypes

How to Prepare to Write a Diverse Book

The Diversity of Writing

Why Diversity Matters for Everyone

Writing a Driverse Book [1,2,3,4,5]

Diversity, Political Correctness and The Power of Language

Diversity Book List [List][Books]

Basic Tips To Write Subcultures & Minority Religions Better 

Basic Tips to Avoid Tokenism

Gender

GLAAD Media Reference Guide - Transgender

Creating Well-Written Trans Characters

A Few Things Writers Need To Know About Sexuality & Gender Expression

Trans (Character Guide & Bio Building)

A Non-Binary Person’s Guide to Invented Pronouns

Gender Neutral Writing [List]

Keeping a Trans* Person a Person  

Suggestions for Reducing Gendered Terms in Language [Photo]

How to Review a Trans Book as a Cis Person

Writing Characters of Different Genders [List]

Understanding Gender

Gender Spectrum Resources [List]

Gender History

Illness 

Writing Chronic Illness [1,2]

The Spoon Theory - Also pertains to disibility

About HIV/AIDS

Sexually Transmitted Diseases [List]

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Sex and Gender Differences in Health [Study]

All Chronic Illness Topics [List]

Coping with Chronic Illness

All Cancer Types

A Day in the Life of a Home Health Aide/Health Coach

Fiction Books With Chronically Ill Main Characters- Not Cancer [List][Books]

Neurotype (Including Mental Health)

Writing an Autistic Character When You Don’t Have Autism

Depression Resources [List]

What to Consider When Writing Mental Illness

Stanford Psychiatric Patient Care

Inpatient Psychiatric Questions and Tips

Don’t Call Me Crazy [Documentary]

(Avoid) Romanticizing Mental Illness [1,2]

A Day in the Life of a Mental Hospital Patient

State-run vs. Private Mental Hospitals

Mental Disorders

Mental Hospital Non-Fiction [List][Books]

National Institute of Mental Health - Mental Health Information [List]

Writing Autistic

What Causes PTSD?

Remember, Remember: The Basics of Writing Amnesia

ADHD Basic Information

What is a Learning Disability?

What is Neurotypical?

Race

Writing Race: A Checklist for Authors

Transracial Writing for the Sincere

Is my character “black enough”

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

Challenge, Counter, Controvert: Subverting Expectations

Writing With Color: Blogs - Recs - Resources [List]

Writing People of Color (If you happen to be a person of another color)

7 Offensive Mistakes Well-Intentioned Writers Make

Description Guide - Words for Skin Tone

Religion

Religion in Novels: Terrific or Taboo?

How to Write a Fantasy Novel that Sells: The Religion

Writing About Faith And Religion

From Aladdin to Homeland: How Hollywood Can Reinforce Racial and Religious Stereotypes 

Sexuality

Understanding Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity [List]

Writing Gay Characters [1,2,3]

American Civil Liberties Union - LGBT+ Rights

LGBT+ Rights by Country or Territory

History of Gay Rights

Gay Rights Movement

LGBT+ Culture

Gay Myths and Stereotypes

LGBT+ Studies Web Sites [List]

LGBTQ Youth Issues

LGBTData.com

Overview of Gay and Lesbian Parenting, Adoption and Foster Care (United States)

Other

How Doctors’ Offices—and Queer Culture—Are Failing Autistic LGBTQ People

Five Traps and Tips for Character Development

Developing Realistic Characters

I hope that this list will provide topics a writer may not initially think to research when writing. If there are any resources that you think would be fitting for this list, please let us know! We want to have as many helpful sources as possible to maximize learning opportunities. 

Stay educated,

xx Sarah

I want to be politically informed and educated but I also wanna have a good day and be in a good mood. Do you see my problem?

The Secret Book Club, where we read a monthly classic, discuss, and try to summon Dionysus! Okay, maybe no Dionysus but the book part is still a go. 

How does it work?

We will meet and discuss on a Discord server. Every month I will make a poll for the book we read, three to five options that members may vote on! Members are welcome to make suggestions to add to the poll but only things in the vain of classic and academic literature will be added. We also do biweekly discussions for short stories and poems, along with a monthly dark academia inspired movie night!

How do I join?

There are only three things you need to do in order to join The Secret Book Club:

Make sure you’re following me @dcrkacademia​!

Reblog this post to spread the word (we don’t want a dead club, do we?)

Message me after you’ve done so for the link!

Anything else?

Please only join if you plan to be active and to participate! Otherwise, what’s the point? This isn’t a chat room, although we do chat, it is a book club. Don’t join if you don’t plan to read with us! The only compulsory activity in TSBC is the monthly classic. Lastly, and hopefully obviously, drama will not be tolerated. A good rule of thumb: don’t be an asshole.

Next book: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

cultural academia pt. 2

here’s pt. 1

This is a continuation of spreading cultural books to end eurocentrism in academia. There’s definitely more “dark academia” books that fit the aesthetic this time around! Thank you to everyone who added books in the notes of the first post- I just put all those suggestions together in this list so complete credit to everyone who made these suggestions <3

Chinese: 

Shen Congwen

Geling Yan

From Emperor to Citizen 

Life and Death in Shanghai by Niem Cheng

Jin Ping Mei by Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng

Japanese:

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

Sonezaki Shinju by Chikamatsu Monzaemon

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami

Works of Oe

Tosa Nikki by Ki no Tsurayuki

Torikaebaya Monogatari 

Ise Monogatari by Ariwara  no Narihira

A Fool’s Love by Tanizaki Jun’ichiro

The Golden Death by  Tanizaki Jun’ichiro

Hell Scene

I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki

The Strange Tale of Panorama Island by Edogawa Ranpo

The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai

The Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

Flower Tales by Yoshiya Nobuko

Books of Hayashi Fumiko

Books of Enchi Fumiko

The Demon’s Sermon on the Marrial Arts by Issao Chozanshi

Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo

Kokoro by Natsume Soseki

Fool’s Life by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Rashomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Thai:

Garin’s Uncanny Files

Irani/Persian:

Disoriental by Negar Djavadi

Mesopotamia:

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Pakistani:

Poetry of Allama Iqbal

Works of Saadat Hassan Manto

My Feudal Lordand Blasphemy by Tehmina Durrani

The Reluctant Fundmamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Raja Gidh by Bano Qudsia

Four Tragic Romances of Punjab (Heer Ranjha, Mirza Sahiba, Sassi Punnun, and Sohni Mahiwal)

The Crow Eaters by Bapsi Sidhwa

Indian:

Ramayana by Valmiki

Nonviolent Soldier of Islam by Eknath Easwaran

The Wildlings by Nilanjana Roy

Sivagamiyin Sapatham by Kalki Krishnamurthy

Chitralekha

Chandralekha

Rabindranath Tagore’s short stories

Works of Satyajit Rai

Byomkesh Bakshi

Munshi Premchand (Godan, Gaban, Nirmala)

The River Sutra

Mehlua

(comics)

Nagraj

Chacha Choudhary

Lotpot

Champak

Nandan

Vikram Betal

(poets)

The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu

Gitanjali

Works of Ruskin Bond

Mahadevi Verma

Hajari Prasad Divedi

Arabian:

Hayy Ibn Yaqzan by Ibn Tufail (he lived in Al-Andalus but was Arab I believe)

Filipino:

Works of Nick Joaquin

Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan

The Eight Muses of the Fall By Edgar Calabia Samar

Isabelo’s Archive by Resil B. Mojares

Noli Me Tangere by Dr. Jose Rizal 

El Filibusterismo by Dr. Jose Rizal

Indonesian:

Buru Quartet by Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Saman by Ayu Utami

The Years of the Voiceless 

Beauty is Wound by Eka Kurniawan

Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan

(poets)

Sapardi Djoko Darmono

Chairil Anwar

Sustardji Calzoum Bachri

W.S. Rendra

Taufik Ismail 

Wiji Thukul

NH Dini 

Dee Lestari

Mira W.

Malaysian:

Garden of Evening Mists

Brazilian:

O Ateneu by Raul Pompeia

Ursula by Maria Firmino

The Hidden Cause; The Alienist by Machado de Assis (short stories)

The Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma by Lima Barreto

Barren Lives by Graciliano Ramos

Child of the Dark by Carolina Maria de Jesus

Rebellion in the Backlands by Euclides da Cunha

Macunaima by Mario de Andrade

Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon by Jorge Amado

Captain of the Sands by Jorge Amado

Auto da Compadecida by Ariano Suassuna 

City of God by Paulo Lins

Budapest by Chico Buarque

The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis

Poems by Vinicius de Moraes

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector

Antologia Poetica by Carlos Drummond de Andrade

Senhora by Jose de Alencar

Colombian:

Works of William Ospina

Chilean:

Works of Isabelle Allende

Mexican: 

Poems by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

Laura Esquivel

El Vampiro de la Colonia Roma by Luis Zapata Quiroz

(authors)

Gerardo Murillo

Ruben M Campos

Maria Enriqueta Camarillo de Pereya

Aura by Carlos Fuentes

El Llano by Juan Rulfo

La Casa Junto Al Rio by Elena Garro

Amparo Davila

Guadalipe Duenas

Ines Arredondo

Fransisco Tario

Max Aub

Bernado Couto Castillo

Amado Nervo

Adriana Diaz Enciso

Emiliano Gonzalez

H. Pascal (poetry of vampires and ghosts)

Tequila Gotico: Literatura Gotica en Mexico (published in magazine/good intro to gothic lit in Mexico)

Argentinian:

The Invention  of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares

The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato

Short Stories of Jorge Luis Borges

Nigerian:

Americanah by Chimamanda Adiche

Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo 

Malian:

Fatoumata Keita

Senegalese:

Amadou Kane 

Cheik Anta Diop

Sudanese:

Season of Migration to the North

Native American:

Works of Leslie Marmon Silko

Canadian:

Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (Ghanan-Canadian)

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese (Indigenous Canadian-Ojibwe)

Birdie by Tracie Lindberg (Indigenous Canadian-Cree)

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican-Canadian)

British:

White Teeth by Zadie Smith (Jamaican-British)

American:

Works of Gwendolyn Brooks

Works of Langston Hughes

A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava (Colombian-American)

Once again, if your country wasn’t included, that doesn’t mean it’s not important!! Please continue to add more books with their countries in the notes and correct me if I’ve made a mistake!!

Cultural Dark Academia

here’s pt. 2

After my last post about the lack of representation in academia, I felt it neccessary to provide some examples of what I’m talking about. Obviously there are more countries in the world than I can list and provide books for, so for a quick list this is what I got. !! Keep researching !! If you have any more books by POC please reply them !! If a country isn’t listed, that doesn’t mean it’s not important, this is just what I could get together real quick. If I made any mistakes, please let me know, we’re all learning. We need to help each other end eurocentrism in academia, so value representation and educate yourselves 💓💓💓

Chinese:

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Dream of the Red Chamber

The Water Margin

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The Journey to the West

The Scholars

The Peony Pavilion

Border Town by Congwen Shen

Half of Man is Woman by Zhang Xianliang

To Live by Yu Hua

Ten Years of Madness by agent Jicai

The Field of Life and Death & Tales of Hulan River by Xiao Hong

Japanese:

A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oë

Haruki Murakami

Pakistani:

Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid

Ghulam Bagh by Mirza Athar Baig

Masterpieces of Urdu Nazm by K. C. Kanda

Irani/Persian:

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji

Savushun by Simin Daneshvar

Anything by Rumi

The Book of Kings by Ferdowsi

The Rubiyat by Omar Khayyam

Shahnameh (translation by Dick Davis)

Afghan:

Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Indian:

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Aithihyamala, Garland of Legends by Kottarathil Sankunni

The Gameworld Trilogy by Samir Basu

Filipino:

Twice Blessed by Ninotchka Rosca

The Last Time I Saw Mother by Arlene J. Chai

Brazilian:

The Patriot and The Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma by Lima Barreto

Broquéis by Cruz e Sousa

Don Casmurro by Machado de Assis

Colombian:

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Delirio by Laura Restrepo

¡Que viva la música! by Andrés Caicedo

The Sound of Things Falling by Jim Gabriel Vásquez

Mexican:

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolf Anaya

Adonis Garcia/El Vampiro de la Colonia Roma by Luis Zapata

El Complot Mongol by Rafael Bernal

Egyptian:

The Cairo Trilogy by Nahuib Mahfouz

The Book of the Dead

Nigerian:

Rosewater by Tade Thompson

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Malian:

The Epic of Sundiata

Senegalese:

Poetry of Senghor

Native American:

The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King

Starlight by Richard Wagamese

Almanac of the Dead by L. Silko

Fools Crow by James Welch

Indigenous Australian:

Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe

First Footprints by Scott Cane

My Place by Sally Morgan

American//Modern:

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Internment by Samir’s Ahmed

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurtson

Rivers of London Series by Ben Aaronovitch