Writers' Bloc

A writing blog for the author Chris Fox who is dedicated to teaching and celebrating elegant, eloquent prose. Who also likes nerdy stuff. Email Me | Watch the videos! | Read my thoughts.

[chrisfox]

What is New Adult? - Writers’ Bloc

New video, finally, after ages! We discuss New Adult, the latest category of fiction to make waves in the literary and publishing world, and tells you why it’s important. 

[i-just-dont-know-what]

[sensualidiot]

[writingquotes-deactivated201509]

There is a rule for fantasy writers: the more truth you mix in with a lie, the stronger it gets.

Diane Duane (via writingquotes)

[theodd1sout-deactivated20210101]

[rozenstarr-deactivated20160901]

I’ve been on both sides of this conversation

[soloontherocks-moving-refol-blog]

Things that are bullshit in Greek mythology-based fiction stories:

TREATING ROMAN AND GREEK GODS AS THE SAME OR EQUIVALENT: fuuuuuck you there were many, many differences between the Greek and Roman Gods, your stupid little middle school class lied. Apollo and Apollon are nigh identical but basically everyone else is very different. Athena is not Minerva, Artemis is not Diana, Ares is not Mars. Haides doesn’t even HAVE a similar Roman deity.

Pluto as a Roman deity: yo Pluto/Plouton wasn’t Roman Pluto was another GREEK name for the GREEK god Haides (who you call Hades) Pluto/Plouton is what you call him when you’re talking about him being the God of riches and treasure like how you sometimes call Apollo Phoebus.

Apollo as the sun/driver of the sun chariot: That’s Helios, Helios and Apollo weren’t syncretized into the same deity until long, long after ancient Greece. As in, hundreds of years after Jesus. Don’t be historically inaccurate. Only assholes are historically inaccurate.  Note: also goes for Artemis as the moon. Selene is the moon.

Kronos as monstrous lava monster demon thing: the Titans were always depicted as beautiful humanoid beings, just as the Gods were.

Ares as villain/asshole/thug/misogynist/shitty parent:being in charge of an unpopular subject matter does not make a God the scum of the earth, or abusive, or neglectful. Ares was particularly notable for being a devoted father to his offspring and is one of the few Gods without a rape story. Longer explanation of this subject here.

Aphrodite as slut: no, really, fuck you. Fuck you and everything you love. Fuck your horse, fuck your family, fuck your ancestors, fuck everything you’ve ever touched. 

Haides as the devil/the Underworld as Hell: the Greek afterlife was for most deceased mortals a relatively peaceful eternity, without fire and torment and misery. Haides was considered a God to be respected for his power and solemnity, but that does not equate to considering him evil or terrible.

Hera as a jealous bitch: yo Hera was one of the most widely worshiped and beloved deities in the pantheon. Stop taking the Iliad as holy writ, Homer had a noted bias atypical to the traditional mythology.

anyone but Bellerophon or Zeus using Pegasus/more than one Pegasus in your story/anyone but Theseus killing the Minotaur/anyone but Perseus killing Medusa/anyone but Hercules killing the Boar, Lion, Hydra, etc/Perseus as son of any god but Zeus: dude read a book some time y’all need to get your stories straight Greek heroes aren’t interchangeable also fuck that Percy Jackson son of Poseidon bullshit you are being a moron. Also, Pegasus, singular. One. Solo. Pegasus is an individual “person.” There are not “pegasi”. That’s like saying Zeuses. Or Athenas. Or Poseidons.

The entire contents of the Clash of the Titans films: just stop. Please. Stop.

other Gods being able to defeat Zeus: yo Zeus once demolished a rebellion by the other Gods and is known to be more powerful than the other Olympians combined.

Stories set in modern times whose plots rely on pretending modern pagans don’t exist: don’t give me this “I HAVE TO CLIMB OLYMPUS TO CONTACT THE GODS” bullshit I have three fucking shrines in my bedroom alone

Hekate with kids or as an old woman: virgin goddess, guys, virgin goddess.

Prometheus as hating humans: listen asshole Prometheus was tortured for millenia for how much he cared about humans don’t be a dick to Prometheus do you hear me I will cut a bitch

Hermes the meanie trickster bully: yo Hermes was called the Friend of Man just because he’s a trickster doesn’t make him malicious

Athena with a ton of kids: VIRGIN. GODDESS. Oh and you want to trot out that “but they’re BRAIN children!” claim? When Athena was born from Zeus’ head, it’s because he ATE her mother. If you’re going to claim Athena’s children were brain babies I want to see your book mention her eating humans. Go on. I dare you.

Artemis the man-hater: yo she’s the goddess of hunting who do you think did the most hunting OH RIGHT MEN

Dionysus as some old fat alcoholic dude: dude this is a sculpture of Dionysus what is wrong with you people

Bonus for the Egyptian pantheon: calling Egyptian gods by Greek names (Thoth instead of Djehuty, Anubis instead of Anpu, etc).

((if you reblog, PLEASE REBLOG AS TEXT, NOT AS LINK. Go to the gear symbol in the upper right when you reblog and click text. That will stop your pesky auto-truncate problem. Sorry, that just drives me nuts))

Very interesting, I’ve never really gotten that much into these mythologies. But this is really interesting and makes me want to study them more. A lot of that stuff really turned me off of them before

[littledallilasbookshelf]

[writers-bloc]

Hello! My name is Maddie, and I’m starting up a Tumblr based literary magazine called Serial Code that will update monthly with chapter fiction and short stories as a way for writers to get their work seen by the rebloggable community. Would you mind terribly giving us a signal boost so we can get your lovely followers to submit their work? All info is over at serial-code tumblr com, & we’d love to get the first issue out on March 15th, so we’re accepting submissions until March 10th. Thank you!

You heard her people! Keep your eyes and ears peeled for the Serial Code. She didn't provide us a link, sadly (psst, send us a link!), so just go holler at http://maddoraptor.com/ for more details.

Also, consider asking Liv over at Yeah Write for a signal boost. She loves posting stuff like this which writers can interact with. Tell her Chris sent you. ;) 

[ebookfriendly]

[writers-bloc]

The benefits of reading books (infographic) ⇢ http://ebks.to/19RIxBV

[writingadvice1]

Finding the information you need as a writer shouldn’t be a chore. Luckily, there are plenty of search engines out there that are designed to help you at any stage of the process, from coming up with great ideas to finding a publisher to get your work into print. Both writers still in college and those on their way to professional success will appreciate this list of useful search applications that are great from making writing a little easier and more efficient.

Professional

Find other writers, publishers and ways to market your work through these searchable databases and search engines.

Litscene: Use this search engine to search through thousands of writers and literary projects, and add your own as well.

Thinkers.net: Get a boost in your creativity with some assistance from this site.

PoeWar: Whether you need help with your career or your writing, this site is full of great searchable articles.

Publisher’s Catalogues: Try out this site to search through the catalogs and names of thousands of publishers.

Edit Red: Through this site you can showcase your own work and search through work by others, as well as find helpful FAQ’s on writing.

Writersdock: Search through this site for help with your writing, find jobs and join other writers in discussions.

PoetrySoup: If you want to find some inspirational poetry, this site is a great resource.

Booksie.com: Here, you can search through a wide range of self-published books.

One Stop Write Shop: Use this tool to search through the writings of hundreds of other amateur writers.

Writer’s Cafe: Check out this online writer’s forum to find and share creative works.

Literary Marketplace: Need to know something about the publishing industry? Use this search tool to find the information you need now.

Writing

These helpful tools will help you along in the writing process.

WriteSearch: This search engine focuses exclusively on sites devoted to reading and writing to deliver its results.

The Burry Man Writers Center: Find a wealth of writing resources on this searchable site.

Writing.com: This fully-featured site makes it possible to find information both fun and serious about the craft of writing.

Purdue OWL: Need a little instruction on your writing? This tool from Purdue University can help.

Writing Forums: Search through these writing forums to find answers to your writing issues.

Research

Try out these tools to get your writing research done in a snap.

Google Scholar: With this specialized search engine from Google, you’ll only get reliable, academic results for your searches.

WorldCat: If you need a book from the library, try out this tool. It’ll search and find the closest location.

Scirus: Find great scientific articles and publications through this search engine.

OpenLibrary: If you don’t have time to run to a brick-and-mortar library, this online tool can still help you find books you can use.

Online Journals Search Engine: Try out this search engine to find free online journal articles.

All Academic: This search engine focuses on returning highly academic, reliable resources.

LOC Ask a Librarian: Search through the questions on this site to find helpful answers about the holdings at the Library of Congress.

Encylcopedia.com: This search engine can help you find basic encyclopedia articles.

Clusty: If you’re searching for a topic to write on, this search engine with clustered results can help get your creative juices flowing.

Intute: Here you’ll find a British search engine that delivers carefully chosen results from academia.

AllExperts: Have a question? Ask the experts on this site or search through the existing answers.

Reference

Need to look up a quote or a fact? These search tools make it simple.

Writer’s Web Search Engine: This search engine is a great place to find reference information on how to write well.

Bloomsbury Magazine Research Centre: You’ll find numerous resources on publications, authors and more through this search engine.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus: Make sure you’re using words correctly and can come up with alternatives with the help of this tool.

References.net: Find all the reference material you could ever need through this search engine.

Quotes.net: If you need a quote, try searching for one by topic or by author on this site.

Literary Encyclopedia: Look up any famous book or author in this search tool.

Acronym Finder: Not sure what a particular acronym means? Look it up here.

Bartleby: Through Bartleby, you can find a wide range of quotes from famous thinkers, writers and celebrities.

Wikipedia.com: Just about anything and everything you could want to look up is found on this site.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Find all the great philosophers you could want to reference in this online tool.

Niche Writers

If you’re focusing on writing in a particular niche, these tools can be a big help.

PubGene: Those working in sci-fi or medical writing will appreciate this database of genes, biological terms and organisms.

GoPubMd: You’ll find all kinds of science and medical search results here.

Jayde: Looking for a business? Try out this search tool.

Zibb: No matter what kind of business you need to find out more about, this tool will find the information.

TechWeb: Do a little tech research using this news site and search engine.

Google Trends: Try out this tool to find out what people are talking about.

Godchecker: Doing a little work on ancient gods and goddesses? This tool can help you make sure you have your information straight.

Healia: Find a wide range of health topics and information by using this site.

Sci-Fi Search: Those working on sci-fi can search through relevant sites to make sure their ideas are original.

Books

Find your own work and inspirational tomes from others by using these search engines.

Literature Classics: This search tool makes it easy to find the free and famous books you want to look through.

InLibris: This search engine provides one of the largest directories of literary resources on the web.

SHARP Web: Using this tool, you can search through the information on the history of reading and publishing.

AllReaders: See what kind of reviews books you admire got with this search engine.

BookFinder: No matter what book you’re looking for you’re bound to find it here.

ReadPrint: Search through this site for access to thousands of free books.

Google Book Search: Search through the content of thousands upon thousands of books here, some of which is free to use.

Indie Store Finder: If you want to support the little guy, this tool makes it simple to find an independent bookseller in your neck of the woods.

Blogging

For web writing, these tools can be a big help.

Technorati: This site makes it possible to search through millions of blogs for both larger topics and individual posts.

Google Blog Search: Using this specialized Google search engine, you can search through the content of blogs all over the web.

Domain Search: Looking for a place to start your own blog? This search tool will let you know what’s out there.

OpinMind: Try out this blog search tool to find opinion focused blogs.

IceRocket: Here you’ll find a real-time blog search engine so you’ll get the latest news and posts out there.

PubSub: This search tool scours sites like Twitter and Friendfeed to find the topics people are talking about most every day.

[luciferadi]

[glasstownentertainment]

Here’s how to help the authors you love make more books!

[laurieannthompson]

Yes!

[bethanyhagen]

I’d like to emphasize the second one—reading a book does not have to cost you money!  And libraries WANT better circ numbers, patron interaction and more people walking through their doors.  Win/win!

[pantone-u]

[onceandonce-again]

[writers-bloc]

Rules of a Creator's Life

[fyeahcracker]

Study shows watching TV boosts self esteem of White male children, decreases self esteem of Black male and all female children.

"I just want to say that this is why minority representation in the media matters. Mae Jemison was inspired to become an astronaut after watching Nichelle Nichols as Uhura on Star Trek.”

Lucy Liu on Importance of Representation

John Cho on Importance of Representation

Don Cheadle on Importance of Representation

"She said, ‘Well when I was nine years old Star Trek came on,’ and she said, ‘I looked at it and I went screaming through the house,“Come here, mum, everybody, come quick, come quick, there’s a black lady on television and she ain’t no maid!”’ And she said, ‘I knew right then and there I could be anything I wanted to be, and I want to be on Star Trek.’ ” — WHOOPI GOLDBERG

Nichelle Nichols on meeting Martin Luther King jr. — "I said"I’m going to leave Star Trek because (I was going to say ‘because  I have an offer to star in) …I never got that far”  He (MARTIN LUTHER KING) said "You cannot - you cannot. For the first time on television we will be seen as we should be seen every day – as intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing, dance, but who can also go into space, who can be lawyers, who can be teachers, who can be professors - who ARE on this day, and yet you don’t see it on television – until now…" (—science-officer-spock)

http://fyeahcracker.tumblr.com/tagged/media/

http://fyeahcracker.tumblr.com/tagged/representation/

http://fyeahcracker.tumblr.com/tagged/tv

If you keep refusing to humanize us (media helps to do this) these things will keep happening

[gowniak2]

[there-is-no-carol-in-hr-deactiv]

Fight Club Trivia: Author Chuck Palahniuk first came up with the idea for the novel after being beaten up on a camping trip when he complained to some nearby campers about the noise of their radio. When he returned to work, he was fascinated to find that nobody would mention or acknowledge his injuries, instead saying such commonplace things as “How was your weekend?” Palahniuk concluded that the reason people reacted this way was because if they asked him what had happened, a degree of personal interaction would be necessary, and his workmates simply didn’t care enough to connect with him on a personal level. It was his fascination with this societal ‘blocking’ which became the foundation for the novel.

[writerswritecompany]

Start Writing Your Novel -  Infographic

[twerks4dean-blog]

[mishasminions]

I SWEAR I LAUGH AT THIS EVERY TWO SECONDS