JAMES & OLIVER X THE STORY

The Ultimate Dark Academia Book Recommendation Guide Ever

The title of this post is clickbait. I, unfortunately, have not read every book ever. Not all of these books are particularly “dark” either. However, these are my recommendations for your dark academia fix. The quality of each of these books varies. I have limited this list to books that are directly linked to the world of academia and/or which have a vaguely academic setting.

Dark Academia staples:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

Dead Poets Society by Nancy H. Kleinbaum

Vita Nostra by Maryna Dyachenko

Dark academia litfic or contemporary:

Bunny by Mona Awad

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

White Ivy by Susie Yang

The Cloisters by Katy Hays

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Black Chalk by Christopher J. Yates

Attribution by Linda Moore

Dark academia thrillers or horror:

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian

Dark academia fantasy/sci-fi:

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

Dark academia romance:

Gothikana by RuNyx

Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

Dark academia YA or MG:

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Crave by Tracy Wolff

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Dark academia miscellaneous:

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip

I legit gave up on trying to ban the bots, they’re just sitting there and inflating my followers 💀

gothic fiction delicacies 

𝖔𝖓𝖊. decaying setting 

haunted houses, castles with secret passages/rooms, trapdoors, mazes, labyrinths, closed doors, trick panels with hidden levers, dark or hidden staircases, added flavor with darkness, uneven floors, branchings, claustrophobia, echoes of unusual sounds.

𝖙𝖜𝖔. supernatural beings or monsters

time of great discovery and exploration in the fields of science, religion, and industry; revere and question the existence of a higher power; ghosts, death and decay, deviant forms of humans: vampires, zombies, wolfmen

𝖙𝖍𝖗𝖊𝖊. curses or prophecies

obscure, partial, confusing prophecies and curses, undecipherable maps and house plans

𝖋𝖔𝖚𝖗. omens or portents

disturbing dreams, phenomenons, imitation thoughts, foreshadowing, statues falling, paintings ripped and staring back, windows tapping at night, dark curtains caught in the wind

𝖋𝖎𝖛𝖊. a suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere

fear enhanced by the unknown, inexplicable murders, mutilated bodies, mounted corpses, raised suspense, mysterious invitations, surreal appearances, blend between imagination and reality

𝖘𝖎𝖝. heroes in distress

appeal to the pathos and sympathy of the reader, events that leave one fainting, terrified, screaming, and/or sobbing; lonely, pensive, oppressed hero/heroine; pronounced sufferings, abandoned with no protection, “stay here, I’ll be right back.”

𝖘𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓. tyrannical antagonist

power as king or queen, lord or mistress of the manor, forcing the intolerable, supernatural/paranormal strength, poisonous seduction, irresistable charm

𝖊𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙. light and dark interplay

shades of grey or blood-red colors, blood as visual spectacle, blood stains, red roses, candle-light, violet night, silver moon, household silver

𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖊. intense emotions

madness - strange or troubling events that, while logical, seem to originate from unexpected forces; repressed fears & desires, memory of past sin, terror, sorrow, anger, feeling of impending doom

𝖙𝖊𝖓. metonymy of gloom and horror

suggesting mystery, danger, supernatural; howling wind, blowing rain, doors grating on rusty hinges, sighs, moans, howls, eerie sounds, footsteps approaching, clanking chains, lights in abandoned rooms, gusts of wind blowing out lights, characters trapped in a room, doors suddenly slamming shut, ruins of buildings, baying of distant dogs or wolves, thunder and lightning, crazed laughter

· Soldier

· Poet

· King

I’m completely obsessed with a certain niche of webcomics, and honestly it’s gotten to the point where it should be boring by now, but it’s not.

There’s also the writer part of me that begs me to write one of my own (hell, I even have an idea that semi-original comparatively.)

LIGHTFOOT, a google docs template.

hi, everyone! so, this template started off as a place to keep track of my d&d character’s spells, but i got a little excited and it really just turned into… a whole d&d character sheet, really. d&d sheets are very practical, but they’re not quite ✨ aesthetically pleasing ✨ and also don’t have any space to describe your spells. however, be mindful that this template was made with a first level character in mind, so it’s gonna get waaaay longer the more your character levels up.

this is a SINGLE-MUSE template, including pretty much every section in the original d&d 5e character sheet, but you can adapt and remove whatever you want!

also, a little sidenote for the magic section: all of these have a drawing element underneath normal text, but this can get a little tricky or messing while editing, so if it’s easier for you, you can also replace them for drawing elements with textboxes. the text won’t look as good tbh, but it’s way more practical to work with it that way.

GUIDELINES ―

this is a FREE template. do not use it for paid content.

you can edit it however you want, just DON’T delete my credit.

to save it, go to “FILE” and then “MAKE A COPY”.

likes and reblogs are SUPER appreciated!

if you need any help editing it, just message me anytime! you can find LIGHTFOOT in the SOURCE LINK.

January 2, 2023 - Two fascists set themselves on fire trying to burn down a Servicio de Inmigracion building in Bakersfield, California.

The business helps immigrants work with the immigration process and pay their income taxes. The fire didn’t spread and was quickly put out by the fire department. [video]

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

(Also, check my blog if you want to!)

Joy Harjo, from An American Sunrise: Poems; “Becoming Seventy”

Had to do it to em