List Of Interesting Ressources Pertaining To Norse Paganism, Scandinavian Folklore And History, And Nordic

Dark Academia Books for Students of Politics and International Relations:

I mean, heck, I am no expert but my need to see this niche ass post is a lot so here goes.

The Prince: Machiavelli- do I NEED to explain this one. Its a seminal text in politics and political philosophy and when you listen to the ideas described in it they can sound a little crazy but once you read it you realise they are still crazy but grounded in something very real. Also its short as heck and an easy read.

Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace- Hans J Morgenthau. I had to pick this one up for my coursework last semester and I thought it would be a snooze fest but no. I was drawn in and I haven’t finished it since but I do plan to get back to it at my leisure.

The End of History and the Last Man: Francis Fukuyama- YES, I fundamentally disagree with Fukuyama on so many points. YES, it is still one of my favourite books of all time. it is a very riveting discussion of political philosophy, history and international relations. If you are interested in any of those topics, pick it up. You won’t regret it.

How Democracy Ends: David Runciman- captivatingly written, great arguments, and a very unique voice. Super relevant in today’s international political atmosphere and if you are interested in studying the rise of right wing authoritarian governments across the globe, this is a great place to start.

Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan- another one that I just feel like i don’t need to explain. Again haven’t read it fully yet, but its quite chill inducing and the basis for most of the contemporary discussion on state, liberalism, authoritarianism, rights and so forth. 

These were just my recommendations, and I by no means claim that they cover the entire gamut of the field. In fact, I would consider myself a noob still where texts relating to politics or IR are concerned, so feel free to give your recommendations and opinions as well!  

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Classical Language Learning Masterpost

I’m not studying any Greek or Roman this coming year (I sacrificed intro classical languages for gender & history), but I will be doing a Roman history module and engaging with the language is always useful. I know a few people who have been looking for Greek/Latin learning resources, which is how this list came about. It includes MOOCs, youtube videos and websites. Not really knowing much Latin or Greek I can’t vouch for them 100% but my googling skills are pretty on point, so they should be okay. Feel free to correct me or add to this.

Latin

Getting started on classical Latin

Duration 10 hours

Introductory level

This free course, Getting started on classical Latin, has been developed in response to requests from learners who had had no contact with Latin before and who felt they would like to spend a little time preparing for the kind of learning that studying a classical language involves. The course will give you a taster of what is involved in the very early stages of learning Latin and will offer you the opportunity to put in some early practice.

Continuing classical Latin

Duration 4 hours

Intermediate level

This free course, Continuing classical Latin, gives you the opportunity to hear a discussion of the development of the Latin language.

FLVS Latin

As we build our Via Latina, we will travel back to ancient Rome. On our travels we learn about their culture, history and literature.

National Archives: Beginner’s Latin

Welcome to the beginners’ Latin tutorials. These lessons cover the type of Latin used in official documents written in England between 1086 and 1733. This can be quite different from classical Latin, as used by the Ancient Romans.

Learn Latin

Here are two dozen short lessons on learning Latin designed for “mountain men” (and women: montani montanaeque), engineers, philosophers, and anyone else looking for entertainment and with lots of free time by the campfire. My course is quite different from Peter Jones’ Learn Latin (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1997), but it is just as devoted to interesting you in Latin.

Learn Latin (Learn101)

I would like to welcome you to the Latin lessons. I’m here to help you learn Latin, by going step by step. All the lessons contain audio and are all offered for free.

The London Latin Course

170 videos

Learn Latin from the ground up. This is a serial course, structured to bring you to a high level of Latin fluency. The pace is slow and unhurried. This course is suitable for all ability levels. Restored Classical Pronunciation.

Latin Online

Latin is probably the easiest of the older languages for speakers of English to learn, both because of their earlier relationship and because of the long use of Latin as the language of educational, ecclesiastical, legal and political affairs in western culture.

Latin Excercises

Welcome to UVic’s practice exercises for Wheelock’s Latin (6th edition). There are 40 units comprising many hundreds of exercises to help you consolidate your progress in the classroom and with the textbook.

Ancient Greek

Introducing Ancient Greek

If you are starting to learn Ancient Greek, this site is for you! This site will help you prepare for a Beginner’s Ancient Greek course.

Classical Greek Online

Greek has been important in the intellectual life of western civilization, but not to the extent of Latin except for ecclesiastical matters. In years past, Latin was introduced in the first year of High School, followed by Greek in the third year.

Ancient Greek Online

This site was designed to be a learning environment for students as well as a reading room for scholars. The large print Greek is easy on the eyes. The Internet has returned us to the scrolling method of reading texts, which lends itself particularly well to the project at hand.

Teach Yourself Ancient Greek

The material presented here will be of use to anyone beginning ancient Greek, but is specifically designed to accompany our book.

Ancient Greek Grammar

103 videos

Including pronunciation tips. I haven’t personally watched this and there’s no real description, but it looks pretty comprehensive from what I can see.

Greek & Latin

Introducing the Classical world

Duration 20 hours

Intermediate level

How do we learn about the world of the ancient Romans and Greeks? This free course, Introducing the Classical world, will provide you with an insight into the Classical world by introducing you to the various sources of information used by scholars to draw together an image of this fascinating period of history.

Discovering Ancient Greek and Latin

Duration 12 hours

Intermediate level

The free course, Discovering Ancient Greek and Latin, gives a taste of what it is like to learn two ancient languages. It is for those who have encountered the classical world through translations of Greek and Latin texts and wish to know more about the languages in which these works were composed.

Textkit

Textkit began in late 2001 as a project to develop free of charge downloads of Greek and Latin grammars, readers and answer keys. We offer a large library of over 180 of the very best Greek and Latin textbooks.

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general language learning resources

dictionaries:

wordreference - has spanish, french, italian, portuguese, catalan, german, swedish, dutch, russian, polish, romanian, czech, greek, turkish, chinese, japanese, korean, & arabic

reverso translation - has arabic, chinese, dutch, french, german, hebrew, italian, japanese, polish, portuguese, romanian, russian, spanish & turkish

bab.la - has spanish, arabic, chinese, czech, danish, dutch, finnish, french, german, greek, hindi, hungarian, indonesian, italian, japanese, korean, norwegian, polish, portuguese, romanian, russian, swedish, swahili, thai, turkish, vietnamese, & esperanto

digital dictionaries of south asia - has dictionaries for assamese, baluchi, bengali, divehi, hindi, kashmiri, khowar, lushai, malayalam, marathi, nepali, oriya, pali, panjabi, pashto, persian, prakrit, rajasthani, sanskrit, sindhi, sinhala, tamil, telugu & urdu

resources for learning words in context:

reverso context  - has arabic, chinese (in beta), dutch, french, german, hebrew, italian, japanese, polish, portuguese, romanian, russian, spanish & turkish (in beta)

linguee - has german, spanish, portuguese, french, italian, russian, japanese, chinese, polish, dutch, swedish, danish, finnish, greek, czech, romanian, hungarian, slovak, bulgarian, slovene, lithuanian, latvian, maltese, & estonian

for learning different writing systems

omniglot - an encyclopedia with literally any language you could think of including ancient languages

scripts - an app for learning other writing systems with a limited amount for free (you can do 5 minutes a day for free) - has the ASL alphabet, Russian cyrillic, devanagari, Japanese kana, Chinese hanzi, & Korean hangul

Wikipedia is also helpful for learning different writing systems honestly!

pronunciation

forvo - a pronunciation dictionary with MANY languages (literally an underrated resource i use it all the time)

a really helpful video by luca lampariello with tips on how to get better pronunciation in any language

ipachart.com - an interactive chart with almost every sound!! literally such an amazing resource for learning the IPA (however does not include tones)

another interactive IPA chart (this one does have tones) 

language tutoring

italki - there’s many websites for language tutoring but i think italki has the most languages (i have a referral link & if you use it we can both get $10 toward tutoring lol) - they say they support 130 languages!

there’s also preply and verbling which are also good but there aren’t as many options for languages - preply has 27 and verbling has 43

(obviously these are not free but if you have the money i think tutoring is a great way to learn a language!)

getting corrections/input from native speakers

hellotalk - an app for language exchanges with native speakers & they also have functions where you can put up a piece of writing and ask for corrections - honestly this app is great

tandem - language exchange app but unlike hellotalk you can choose multiple languages (although i think hellotalk is a little bit better)

LangCorrect - supports 170 languages!

HiNative - supports 113 languages!

Lang-8 - supports 90 languages!

verb conjugation

verbix - supports a ton of languages

Reverso conjugation - only has english, french, spanish, german, italian, portuguese, hebrew russian, arabic, & japanese

apps

duolingo - obviously everybody knows about duolingo but i’m still going to put it here - i will say i think duolingo is a lot more useful for languages that use the latin alphabet than languages with another writing system however they do have a lot of languages and add more all the time - currently they have 19 languages but you can see what languages they’re going to add on the incubator

memrise - great for vocab! personally i prefer the app to the desktop website

drops - you can only do 5 minutes a day for free but i still recommend it because it’s fun and has 42 languages! 

LingoDeer - specifically geared towards asian languages - includes korean, japanese, chinese & vietnamese (as well as spanish, french, german, portuguese and russian), however only a limited amount is available for free

busuu - has arabic, chinese, french, german, italian, japanese, polish, portuguese, spanish, russian, spanish, & turkish, 

Mondly - has 33 languages including spanish, french, german, italian, russian, japanese, korean, chinese, turkish, arabic, persian, hebrew, portuguese (both brazilian & european), catalan, latin, dutch, swedish, norwegian, danish, finnish, latvian, lithuanian, greek, romanian, afrikaans, croatian, polish, bulgarian, czech, slovak, hungarian, ukrainian, vietnamese, hindi, bengali, urdu, indonesian, tagalog & thai

misc

a video by the polyglot Lýdia Machová about how different polyglots learn languages - this video is great especially if you don’t know where to start in terms of self study

LangFocus - a youtube channel of this guy who talks about different languages which is always a good place to start to understand how a specific language works also his videos are fun

Polyglot: How I Learn Languages by Kató Lomb - this book is great and available online completely for free! 

Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner (on pdfdrive) - another great book about language learning

Anki - a flashcard app (free on desktop for any system & free on android mobile - not free on ios mobile) that specifically uses spaced repetition to help you learn vocabulary, it’s got a slightly ugly design but it’s beloved by many language learners & is honestly so helpful

YouTube - literally utilize youtube it is so good.

Easy Languages - a youtube channel with several languages (basically they go around asking people on the street stuff so the language in the videos is really natural) & they also have breakaway channels for german, french, spanish, polish, italian, greek, turkish, russian, catalan & english

there’s also the LanguagePod101 youtube channels (e.g. FrenchPod101, JapanesePod101, HebrewPod101) which are super great for listening practice & language lessons as well as learning writing systems!

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Greek Gods 101: A Masterlist

This is a masterlist of the “Greek Gods 101” series. This series aims to provide basic information and worship ideas for both major and minor deities. This masterlist also involves heroes, deified mortals, spirits, and other figures of Greek mythology.

Aceso

Acheron

Acratos

Aedos

Aegle

Aeolus

Aglaea

Ampelus

Amphitrite

Ananke

Anemoi

Angelia

Anteros

Antheia

Aphrodite

Apollon

Aporia

Ares

Arete

Ariadne

Aristaeus

Artemis

Asklepios

Asteria

Astraeus

Astrape

Athena

Atlas

Bia

Britomartis

Calliope

Carpi

Cassandra

Ceraon

Cerberus

Ceto

Chaos

Charon

Chione

Chiron

Chloris

Chrysos

Circe

Clio

Clymene

Comus

Cratus

Cronos

Daphne

Deimus

Deipneus

Demeter

Dicaeosyne

Dike

Dionysus

Dysnomia

Ececheria

Eileithyia

Eirene

Electryone

Eleos

Elpis

Endymion

Enyo

Eos

Epiales

Epione

Epiphron

Erato

Erebus

Eris

Eros

Ersa

Eucleia

Eudaemonia

Eunomia

Eupheme

Euphrosyne

Euporia

Eupraxia

Eurybia

Eusebia

Euterpe

Euthenia

Eutychia

Fates

Furies

Gaea

Ganymedes

Gelus

Hades

Harmonia

Harpocrates

Hebe

Hecate

Hedone

Hedylogus

Helius

Hemera

Hephaestus

Hera

Heracles

Hermaphroditus

Hermes

Hestia

Hesychia

Himeros

Homonoia

Horae (Seasons)

Horae (Time)

Hormes

Hybris

Hydros

Hygeia

Hymenaeus

Hypnus

Iaso

Iris

Lelantus

Leto

Macaria

Matton

Medusa

Melinoe

Melpomene

Methe

Mnemosyne

Morpheus

Nemesis

Nike

Nyx

Oizys

Orthannes

Ossa

Ourania

Ouranos

Ourea

Paeon

Paidia

Palaemon

Pallas

Pan

Panacea

Pandaisia

Pandora

Pannychis

Panopia

Paregoros

Pasithea

Pegasus

Peitho

Penia

Penthus

Persephone

Perses

Perseus

Phales

Phanes

Phaunus

Pheme

Philophrosyne

Philotes

Phobus

Phoebe

Phorcys

Phthonus

Phusis

Pistis

Plutus

Poena

Polemus

Polymnia

Pompe

Pontus

Ponus

Porus

Poseidon

Pothus

Priapus

Prometheus

Pronoea

Prophesis

Psamathe

Pseudologoi

Psyche

Ptocheia

Rhea

Selene

Silenos

Sophrosyne

Soter

Soteria

Styx

Tartarus

Telesphorus

Terpsichore

Tethys

Thalassa

Thalia

Thalia

Thallo

Thanatus

Thaumas

Thea

Themis

Theseus

Thesis

Thrasus

Thyone

Tithonus

Triptolemus

Triton

Tritopatores

Tyche

Tychon

Urania

Uranus

Zelus

Zeus

What is a “Universal Offering/Devotional Act?”

Feel free to request or suggest deities! This list will be done in order but you can ask for me to complete one that’s further down the list.

This list is subject to change. There are probably repeat deities (deities who go by multiple names, parts of groups like the Horae or Charities who are mostly grouped together, etc.) on this list. Some deities are not on here. Some names are spelt wrong or different.

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THE ILIAD: FOR DUMMIES ☀️ MASTERPOST

just kidding you're not a dummy, you're some hot stuff right there! i will be going through the entire iliad and giving you a general overview, some interesting plot points, additional context, and some other analysis tools to better help you understand the epic!

This post will serve as a table of contents (at the end) to my Iliad posts and a general overview that I will be constantly updating! I am using the Richmond Lattimore translation of the Iliad, alongside my companion book by Malcom M. Wilcock

Before we get into analyzing the actual Iliad, we need to get into some essential questions and context about the book

WHAT IS THE ILIAD:

The Iliad was written by Homer (this is actually debated but we can get into that later) around 750 and 550 B.C.E.

At its core, the story is about heros and humans. It's an Iron Age poem about an event, the Trojan War, that was supposed to have taken place in the Bronze age. The Iliad is considered to be a poem comprised of multiple books, 24 to be exact

This story is only a few days of the tenth and final year of the Greek siege against the city of Troy- this means it relies on the audience already knowing most of the basic details about the Trojan war and the gods themselves (don't sorry, I will provide this for you as we go along)

WHO IS HOMER:

The age old question: who the fuck is Homer?

Literally nothing is known about this dude except that he wrote (or was credited with writing) the Odyssey and the Iliad

People have referenced his writings for EONS. Archilochus, Alcman, Tyrtaeus, Callinus, and even Sappho have referenced the poems of Homer in their own works. These also were popular in fine art in the late 7th century B.C.E.

There is a general consensus that Homer was from Ionia- a territory in western Anatolia or modern day Turkey that was populated by Greeks who spoke the Ionian dialect, aka the birthplace of Greek philosophy. Want more info on Ionia? Click Here!

His descendants were called the Homerids/Homeridae

There is scholarly debate on if he even wrote both the Iliad and the Odyssey, or if he only wrote one, etc etc etc. This is due to some very specific differences in the structure of the words used (like the use of short vowels, and the seemingly unimportant semivowel of the digamma being missing from the epics...yeah it's a lot)

The poems were reproduced ORALLY. This means that the poems were passed down by word of mouth, which if I were to sit and listen to this entire book via a guy singing at me...idk man I think I would leave

All of this to say, we really don't know who Homer is. There's a lot more information about what he could have looked like, if he really did write the Iliad, and a million other things, but I've already talked your ear off and we haven't even gotten into the book yet. If you want more information about Homer, check out my sources at the end of the post!

WAS THE CITY OF TROY REAL:

Yeah. There were nine layers exposed at the site of where Troy was expected to be, and nearly fifty sublayers at the mound of Hisarlik

Troy was a vassal state: meaning it had an obligation to a superior state, which happened to be the Hittite Empire

Troy had a lot more allies than original fighters in the city, meaning they had many language barriers- making the army harder to control than the unified Greek enemy.

THE STYLE OF THE ILIAD:

Cause - Effect - Solution

The poem is concluded with a mirror image of its beginning: an old man ventures to the camp of his enemy in order to ransom his child

The poem foreshadows the death of Achilles in MULTIPLE passages! He knows he is destined to die young if he fights at Troy, and the demise of his lover (don't fight me on this) Patroclus gives us an even more extended foreshadowing of the grief that is to come

When Achilles dies, Thetis (his mom) takes his body from the pyre and takes him to a place called the White Island. It's not clear whether he is immortalized BUT the reference to Achilles funeral in the Odyssey states that Achilles is cremated and his bones are placed in a golden urn along those of Patroclus, and the urn is entombed under a prominent mound (tsoa fans...you're welcome)

This isn't really necessary knowledge but moreso something I think is cool: the backstory from the Iliad of an abducted bride also appears in the Sanskirt epic Ramayana (circa 4th century B.C.E.)

okay now here is the ACTUAL important stuff

Humanity is the center of the universe in the Iliad. Humans motivations and concerns generate action in the poem, while the gods are often reduced to the role of enablers or spectators

The style of the poem collaborates with the vision that the speciousness of this epic means that every thought and gesture, spear cast and threat, intimate conversation and lament CAN be recorded. It gives a consciousness behind the demands of the iliad that these interactions MUST be recorded, this attention to detail is another way of showing centrality and the worth of the human experience (Greek OR Trojan)

The Iliad is ultimately a poem about death, the chief elements that distinguish the mortals from gods are: Death shadows every action, and death is neither abhorred nor celebrated. Instead it crystalizes by means of this one theme, death in battle, the essence of what it means to be human (Life is a struggle each person will always lose, the question is how one acts with that knowledge)

Modern readers and analysis blogs will state that one's inner spirit is somehow the "real" self, however the Iliad assumes the opposite: The psykhai (soul, spirits) of dying heroes fly off to Hades while their autous ("selves") are left behind in the form of dead bodies

Glory is INCREDIBLY important in the iliad, why? If mortals could live forever (like gods) then glory would be useless. It's a commodity to be exchanged, and because of this it has an economic and symbolic reality

Companionship is incredibly important

Pity is also very important, it's the concluding note of the poem. Even the gods feel pity

THE GODS AND THE ILIAD:

The Iliad gains depth by the divine dimension shedding glory on the humans at Troy. The gods are so intensely concerned with warriors and their fates which elevates the mortals to a special plane

Mortals are only separated from gods because they grow old and die

The symbiotic bond of gods and mortals is always see-sawing between adoration and antagonism

Humans who get too close to the gods risk being struck down, case in point, Achilles. He's young, well-made, he's a warrior but also a singer/musician (the only hero to be seen doing such a thing), he looks and acts like Apollo. THEREFORE...it's no coincidence that Apollo is ultimately the god who slays Achilles, just as he did Patroclus

Poetry supplemented or even guided ancient Greek religious interpretation much more than the activity of priests due to the lack of any official religious text. This gave ancient Hellenism a very fluid nature

This was a long post, and it's only the first of many! I will continuously update this with more sources about the Iliad and answer any FAQs that come up! I love classic literature, and as a STEM student I need to entertain my passion somehow lol. There is a table of contents at the top of the post, as well as right here. This will be updated for each book of the Iliad I write about, as well as any supplemental posts I make about certain topics and themes as I go along. I am putting a LOT of work into this series of posts, so let me know your thoughts or anything you'd like me to change/add/etc! Happy reading!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

(This is empty because this is the only post...more posts coming soon)

Sources/Citations/Additional Material

Homer- Britannica

Homerids- Britannica

Who Is Homer- The British Museum (fuck the British Museum)

Ionia Information- World Encyclopedia

The Hittites- Britannica

Ramayana Overview- British Library

Overview of Greek Mythology- Theoi

The Iliad- Overview via Britannica

Thetis- World Encyclopedia

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in which i recommend books like the netflix algorithm

you wanted it, you got it, babes! caveat: this list is long (seriously, sorry about the length) and i can’t write blurbs for everything, but i highly recommend going and looking at anything that sounds interesting. some books will fall under multiple headings, so i’m listing them twice. i am linking to their purchase pages on bookshop.org, because amazon sucks and bookshop helps support indie booksellers, but if your local indie bookstore offers delivery or curbside pickup, buy it there. and i’m trying to keep this list confined to pretty recent titles, so even though a few older ones might slip in there, it’s definitely centered on releases from the past few years. okay let’s do this.

if you want a book that feels like a primal scream:

godshot by chelsea bieker

the book of joan by lidia yuknavitch

girl, woman, other by bernadine evaristo

her body and other parties by carmen maria machado (short stories)

trust exercise by susan choi

my dark vanessa by kate elizabeth russell

the rehearsal by eleanor catton

indelicacy by amina cain

the answers by catherine lacey

the mars room by rachel kushner

the love affairs of nathaniel p. by adelle waldman

if you want clever social commentary and/or hilarious female protagonists:

you too can have a body like mine by alexandra kleeman

the new me by halle butler

queenie by candice carty-williams

prep by curtis sittenfeld

the idiot by elif batumen

my year of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh

oksana, behave! by maria kuznetsova

where’d you go, bernadette by maria semple

convenience store woman by sayaka murata

nothing to see here by kevin wilson

made for love by alissa nutting

the pisces by melissa broder

the herd by andrea bartz

if you want to start reading the unhinged women canon (not all recent):

mrs. dalloway by virginia woolf

the awakening by kate chopin

we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson

gone girl by gillian flynn

rebecca by daphne du maurier

white oleander by janet fitch

cousin bette by honore de balzac

wide sargasso sea by jean rhys

play it as it lays by joan didion

the piano teacher by elfriede jelinek

valley of the dolls by jacqueline susann

postcards from the edge by carrie fisher

if you liked the secret history:

if we were villains by m.l. rio

social creature by tara isabelle burton

the basic eight by daniel handler

the incendiaries by r.o. kwon

bunny by mona awad

hex by rebecca dinerstein knight

if you like speculative/dystopian fiction:

the dreamers by karen thompson walker

the book of joan by lidia yuknavitch

severance by lin ma

gold fame citrus by claire vaye watkins

the farm by joanne ramos

followers by megan angelo

the power by naomi alderman

the glass hotel by emily st. john mandel

if you want a book that reads like a good fanfic:

normal people by sally rooney

fame adjacent by sarah skilton

stay up with hugo best by erin somers

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid

circe by madeline miller

the nobodies by liza palmer

evvie drake starts over by linda holmes

if you like dark stories about complex relationships between women:

my sister, the serial killer by oyinkan braithwaite

baby teeth by zoje stage

dare me by megan abbott

eileen by ottessa moshfegh

social creature by tara isabelle burton

the worst kind of want by liska jacobs

the girls by emma cline

oligarchy by scarlett thomas

devotion by madeline stevens

baby by annaleese jochems

marlena by julie buntin

bunny by mona awad

necessary people by anna pitoniak

if you like stories about complicated families:

red at the bone by jacqueline woodson

the care and feeding of ravenously hungry girls by anissa grey

mostly dead things by kristen arnett

bee season by myla goldberg

bowlaway by elizabeth mccracken

everything i never told you by celeste ng

the nest by cynthia d’aprix sweeney

the grammarians by cathleen schine

ask again, yes by mary beth keane

if you like smart and thoughtful books about relationships between women:

my brilliant friend and the neapolitan novels by elena ferrante

such a fun age by kiley reid

gingerbread by helen oyeyimi

the female persuasion by meg wolitzer

the burning girl by claire messud

expectation by anna hope

the animators by kayla rae whitaker

if you want something queer that isn’t YA:

my education by susan choi

permission by saskia vogel

mostly dead things by kristen arnett

real life by brandon taylor

after dolores by sarah schulman

patsy by nicole dennis-benn

wilder girls by rory power

enter the aardvark by jessica anthony

less by andrew sean greer

exciting times by naiose dolan

you just want something good and are willing to take a chance on one of these books i love (these are not all recent, i just like them a lot):

dept. of speculation by jenny offill

the interestings by meg wolitzer

godshot by chelsea bieker

play it as it lays by joan didion

the bonfire of the vanities by tom wolfe

wolf in white van by john darnielle

things you would know if you grew up around here by nancy wayson dinan

sex and rage by eve babitz

wise blood by flannery o’connor

leading men by christopher castellani

saint x by alexis schaitkin

the cosmopolitans by sarah schulman

lake success by gary shteyngart

odds against tomorrow by nathaniel rich

the great believers by rebecca makkai

good citizens need not fear by maria reva (short stories)

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Zebra Mildliner Hex Codes

Fluorescent #FEB5D8 | #FFDEB5 | #FFFEAD | #92D4E9 | #ACECE6 Cool & Refined #B5DA9A | #93B0D8 | #BAC7C5 | #BEB1D7 | #EA889E Warm #ABD5DB | #FEA389 | #FFD561 | #E17FD1 | #C1917F Bright #EFB9E0 | #F36B52 | #E0E666 | #64C5B4 | #696CB2 Friendly #FBF485 | #FCB675 | #FEB1B8 | #7AD0E2 | #8E8B87 Neutral #DDA36D | #DBC293 | #FCE9C3 | #D9DBDA | #DAD49A Gentle #FAD0AA | #F2F190 | #A1DCEE | #E2C6DF | #F9C6D4

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(mostly) non-language decor/symbol masterpost

I'd like to preface this by letting y'all know that these have not been checked for languages! Personally, I use few of these, and the ones I use are 100% not languages! I suggest you check out some carrds on non-lang symbs!

﹒ʬʬ﹒⪩⪨﹒⟡﹒ᐢ..ᐢ﹒◖﹒⇅﹒○﹒✿﹒⊹﹒∇﹒✸﹒⟢﹒❀﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒♡﹒〇﹒ıllı﹒ᶻz﹒⊂⊃﹒␥﹒⿸﹒ꔠ﹒✶﹒◍﹒▿﹒⤸﹒⬚﹒៶៸﹒△﹒→﹒✶﹒（）﹒▥﹒▤﹒▦﹒▧﹒▨﹒▩﹒░﹒▒﹒▓﹒⿴﹒◫﹒⬚﹒▣﹒≧≦﹒ㄑ﹒⎙﹒➜﹒★﹒⨳﹒✿﹒❀﹒✶﹒✸﹕☆﹒◐﹒◉ ﹒◖◗﹒▽﹒ᶻz﹒‹𝟹﹒♡﹒ᐢ..ᐢ﹒﹫﹒⿴﹒→﹒☓﹕ᵔᴗᵔ﹒⺌﹒⪩⪨﹒◎﹒⊹﹒ᶻ﹕→ ．(＞。☆)﹔⇆﹒ꜛ﹒░﹒❥﹒？﹒！﹒◍﹒﹏﹒✦﹒⟡﹒＞＜﹒◌﹒⿴﹒✧﹒𖥔﹒%﹒﹙﹚﹒◜◡◝﹒ꜝꜝ﹒⟡﹒⪩⪨﹒☓﹒⬦﹒✦﹒◈﹒✶﹒⬙﹒⟡﹒⇆﹒♡﹒﹢﹒ᶻ﹒✹﹒﹢﹒✶﹑〇﹐罒﹢♡﹒⇆﹑⬚﹐ᶻ﹒❀﹐✶﹒▹﹒◖﹒✩﹒∇﹒▨﹐◌﹐❀﹒⿴﹒✿﹢﹐░﹒ᶻz﹐☆﹒⊂⊃﹑ⵌ﹒▦﹒✿﹒⺌﹒◂﹒⿴﹒❰❰﹒♡﹒ᶻz﹒❥﹒⩇﹒⊞﹐ʬʬ﹒♢﹐ᐢ..ᐢ﹐✩﹒ᶻz﹒❥﹒⟡﹒✷﹒✕﹐〇﹐✿﹒Ꜣ﹒⟡﹒˃̵ᴗ˂̵﹒♡﹐≋﹒⊂⊃﹒ᐢᗜᐢ﹒❀﹒﹢﹒⇵﹒⪨﹕↺﹐✿﹒Ꜣ﹒✶﹐≋﹒⇆﹐ʬʬ﹒﹗﹐➜﹒⬦﹕ᶻz﹒✦﹒﹢﹒▢﹒░﹒⭔﹒ʬʬ﹒✿﹒☰﹐◖◗﹒？﹒✶﹒﹏﹒ꕀ﹑ᵔᴗᵔ﹒ᗢ﹒✿﹐⊂⊃﹒ᐢᗜᐢ﹒ꕀ﹐リ﹐口﹐ꕀ﹒（｀δ´）﹒口，✿﹐⊂⊃﹒ᐢᗜᐢ﹒░﹒𖦹﹐゛✿﹑（｀δ´）﹒イ。ꕀ﹑リ﹐⊂⊃﹒ꔠ﹒口﹐･ᴗ･﹒░﹑リ﹒◐﹐、﹕✧﹒✶﹔？﹐ʬʬ﹒▹﹒❀﹒⭔﹒▿﹒⺡﹒✿﹒﹢﹒░﹑⬦﹒૪ ﹒〹﹒罒﹒ᶻz﹒◎﹐ꕀ﹒◖◗﹒⺌﹒〣﹒ᗢ﹒⺌﹒⿸﹑ꔠ﹒❀﹒➜﹒▦﹒◐﹒✷﹒◉﹒⿴﹒⿻﹒✦﹒★﹒☆﹒ıllı﹢☆﹒❀﹕▧﹒⟡﹒★﹕ıllı﹒▒﹒◎﹐☆﹒ꕀ﹐➜﹒⪩﹒〇﹐➜﹒★﹕◐﹒％﹕▧﹒⊂⊃﹒♡﹒ꕀ﹒ᶻz﹒₊ˎ✧﹒⪩﹒˃ᴗ˂﹕˃ᗜ˂﹕⿴﹒ᶻz﹒☆﹔⿴﹒✶﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒➜﹒⭔﹕⪩⪨﹢◒﹒◎﹒✿﹒⊂⊃﹔♡﹒◍﹒✦﹒⪩⪨﹒▧﹒⟡﹕➜﹐▦﹐✦﹒✶﹐﹢﹒ㄑ﹕ꕀ﹒＞＜﹐ꔠ﹐✿﹐×﹐丶﹐＞︿﹒リ﹕﹢﹐﹔★﹒ᶻz﹒⿴﹒⭔﹒✿﹒⊹﹒⭔﹒⨯﹒➜﹒★﹒◞﹒◟◝﹒◜﹒﹪﹒→﹐ıllı﹒★﹒✦﹒⌕﹒⌗﹒✿﹒⊹﹒✸﹒❍﹒⭓﹒◒﹒﹏﹒₊﹒▹﹒ᶻz﹒％﹒◖﹒░﹒ʬʬ﹒⿴﹒⫘﹒◎﹒⨳﹒⌕﹕★﹒☆﹒⌗﹐﹪﹐⌯﹐﹟﹐◐﹒▒﹒◎﹒⇆﹒☆﹒❀﹒☆﹒ıllı﹒↺﹒◍﹒✶﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒░﹒⇵﹒▧﹒◍﹒♡﹕❀﹑⿸﹕▞﹒✿﹒╰﹒░﹐◎﹒♡﹒◜ᴗ◝﹒˃ᴗ˂ ♡﹐﹅﹒✿﹒⊞﹒ıllı﹒♡﹒⊞﹕▞﹒✿﹒❀﹒⌕﹒⿸﹒✶﹒❀﹒✷﹒✸﹒▒﹒ᶻz﹒✿﹐♡﹐❀﹒░﹒⇵﹒▨﹕◍﹒♡﹒⌕﹒˃̵ᴗ˂̵﹑♡﹒✿﹒◍﹒⊞﹒∇﹒✶﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒◎﹒⇆﹒☆﹒@﹒˘ᗜ˘﹒☆﹔⿴﹒⪩﹐ᶻz﹒➜﹒⪩﹔◖﹐❀﹕⿸﹔﹢﹑ᐢᗜᐢ﹒⊂⊃﹑✿﹒◎﹒イ﹐ꕀ﹒˃̵ᴗ˂̵﹒✶﹒ꕀ﹒▦﹐⊂⊃﹒⇆﹒☆﹒⬚﹒❀﹕➜﹒⪩﹒ᗢ﹒◍﹒⊞﹒∇﹒✶﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒◎﹒ᶻz﹒⪨﹒✶﹑✹﹒⪩。ꕀ﹒✿﹒リ﹒⊞﹒⟡﹒⿴﹒☓﹐⊂⊃﹒➜﹒⟡﹒⪩⪨﹒･ᴗ･﹒ꕀ﹒ᶻz﹒✿﹒◎﹒☓﹒☆﹔リ﹒˃̵ᴗ˂̵﹒✶﹑ꕀ﹒▦﹒リ﹐⇆﹒☆﹒⬚﹒❀﹕➜﹒⪩﹒〇﹒◍﹒⊞﹒∇﹒✶﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒◎﹒ᶻz﹒⪨﹒✶﹑✹﹒⪩﹒ꕀ﹒✿﹔➜﹐﹏﹐★☆﹒┆︎﹒⩇﹒✿﹔✸﹕♡﹐◌﹒❥﹐％﹑〹．ʬʬ﹕੭﹐♢﹒口﹒⇣⇡﹒☆﹔⌗﹒⪩﹐ᶻ﹒➜﹒⪩﹔◖﹐❀﹕⿸﹑ᐢᗜᐢ﹒⊂⊃﹑✿﹒！﹒◎﹒リ﹐ꔠ﹐✿﹑∇﹒イ﹐ꕀ﹒˃̵ᴗ˂̵﹒✶﹑﹒ꕀ﹒▦﹒⊂⊃﹒⇆﹒☆﹒⬚﹒❀﹕➜﹒⪩﹒⩇﹕✿﹒ʬʬ﹕口﹐〇﹒◍﹒⊞﹒∇﹒✶﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒◎﹒ᶻz﹒⪨﹒✶﹑✹﹒⪩﹐ꕀ﹒✿﹒⊞﹒⟡﹒⿸﹑␥﹒♡﹕リ﹒☓﹐⊂⊃﹒➜﹒⟡﹒⪩⪨﹒･ᴗ･﹒ꕀ﹒ᶻz﹒✿﹒☓﹒✩﹒⊞﹕❀﹑◌﹒⊞﹒✸﹕⌗﹕★﹒ᶻz﹒✦﹒★☆﹒ıllı﹢☆﹕❀﹒▧﹒⟡﹒★﹕ıllı﹐▒﹒◎﹐☆﹒ꕀ﹔➜﹒⪩﹒〇﹐➜﹒★﹕◐﹒％﹐⊂⊃﹒♡﹒ꕀ﹒ᶻz﹒✧﹒˃̵ᴗ˂̵﹕˃ᗜ˂﹒ꕀ﹒ᶻz﹒☆﹔⿴﹒✶﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒➜﹒⭔﹕⪩⪨﹐﹢﹐◒﹒⊂⊃﹔♡﹒◍﹒✦﹒⪩⪨﹒▧﹒⟡﹕➜﹐▦﹒✦﹒✶﹐ㄑ﹕ꕀ﹒＞＜﹐ꔠ﹑ꕤ﹒░﹒◖﹒⟡﹒❀﹒→﹒⿴﹒⿻﹒⊞﹒♡﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒︴﹒✶﹒⭔﹐𓆩♡𓆪﹒リ﹒Ꮺ﹒キ﹒ꗃ﹒⿶﹒⌓﹒〹﹒⧅﹒◆﹒▽﹒ᐢ..ᐢ﹒⬙﹒⎙﹒◈﹒▣﹒ᶻz﹒⟢﹒ʬʬ﹒⊹﹒✷﹒◉﹒⿸﹒✶﹒❀﹒✷﹒⿻﹒⌇﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒◍﹒▿﹒⤸﹒○﹒░﹒⇵﹒☆﹒@﹒˘ᗜ˘﹒⬚﹒✸﹒▧﹒◎﹒♡﹒◜ᴗ◝﹒✸﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒✿﹑⟡﹒❀﹒★﹒➔﹒％﹒ᗜ﹔﹒⌗﹒﹪﹒﹒⟢﹒ᵔᴗᵔ﹒✮﹒^..^﹒✵﹒

hello, i don't really know how to describe these, but i was wondering if you knew any poems with slightly specific and 'homey' lines that make you feel warm inside like the line "we're eating pasta (with pesto plus garlic)" from june jordan's poem. it's totally fine if you don't, sorry for being so specific !! :)

do you know, these are my favourite kind of poems and I love that you thought of this line it’s probably one of my favourites lines ever written. these are poems who give me a similar warm feeling:

“West Coast Episode” by June Jordan (“the color of the rug was green / and out beyond the one room / of our love / the world was mostly / dry”)

“In Time” and “Wish” by W. S. Merwin (“and we stood up / and started to dance without music / slowly we danced around and around / in circles and after a while we hummed / when the world was about to end / all those years all those nights ago”)

“Snow and Dirty Rain” by Richard Siken (I'm thinking My plant, his chair, / the ashtray that we bought together. I'm thinking This is where / we live. When we were little we made houses out of / cardboard boxes. We can do anything. It's not because / our hearts are large, they're not, it's what we / struggle with. The attempt to say Come over. Bring / your friends. It's a potluck, I'm making pork chops, I'm making / those long noodles you love so much.”)

“Aubade” by Yanyi

“For Grace, After a Party” by Frank O’Hara (And someone you love enters the room / and says wouldn't / you like the eggs a little / different today? / And when they arrive they are / just plain scrambled eggs and the warm weather / is holding.”)

“On the Back Porch” by Dorianne Laux (“I want to stay on the back porch / while the world tilts / toward sleep, until what I love / misses me, and calls me in.”)

“You made crusty bread rolls” by Gary Johnson (“How simple life is. We buy a fish. We are fed. / We sit close to each other, we talk and then we go to bed.”)

“During the Impossible Age of Everyone” by Ada Limón (“Your shoes are piled up with mine, and the heat / comes on, makes a simple noise, a dog-yawn. / People have done this before, but not us.”)

“when you have forgotten Sunday: the love story” by Gwendolyn Brooks

“Red Brocade” by Naomi Shihab Nye (“Your plate is waiting.” !!!)

“Perhaps the Worlds Ends Here” by Joy Harjo (“The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live. (...) Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.”)

“This Hour” by Sharon Olds (“Even if we wanted to / we could not describe it, / the end of the second glass when I begin to / weep and you start to get sleepy—I love to / drink and weep with you”)

“Onions” by William Matthews

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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

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