Signe ([info]oxoniensis) wrote in [info]spnroundtable,
@ 2008-03-07 00:57:00
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Entry tags:rec: other

Supernatural Resources for Writers
A few links from my bookmarks that I find particularly useful. A couple of general sites first of all, which are handy for show specific information. Then some sites that are handy when researching casefile type stories, and finally some useful articles and posts on specific areas of the show - travels, timeline, weapons etc.

General Supernatural Resource Sites

Supernatural Wiki
My starting point for all episode/character/creature related research. A great resource.

The Winchester Journals
Characters, episodes, equipment, lore etc.

Demons, Monsters, Angels and Spells etc.

Monstropedia
A monster/demon/angel wikipedia. A large and reliable site (as far as I've seen), full of detail.

List of Demons on Wikipedia
The mythology behind the demon and links to more details on each one.

God and Festivals
A huge list of mythological gods.

Demon's A to Z
Not a lot of detail, but can be a useful starting point.

Demon Dictionary
Again, not much detail, but useful to trawl for ideas.

Angels
Recommending this with caveats - it's messy to navigate, and details aren't always accurate, but there is a lot of information there on angels, fallen angels and related creatures.

Mythical Monsters
Assorted monsters, their culture of origin and a description.

Dave's Mythical Creatures
Pictures, descriptions, features and historical notes.

The Medieval Bestiary
A lovely site, full of medieval paintings and all sorts of historical references.

Fantastic Zoology
A great resource for getting case file ideas. Beautifully illustrated too.

American Folklore
Includes ghost stories, tricksters, urban legends and supernatural tales.

Spells and Magic
This covers all sorts, from grimoires to blood sacrifices and conjuring spirits.

Lucky Mojo Spell Archive
Covers selling yourself to the crossroads demon among many other things.

Miscellaneous Articles and Research

Supernatural Locations by episode (seasons 1 - 3) by [info]simplybeing
A Supernatural Map - season 1 by [info]muccamukk
Complete List of Supernatural Season 2 Story Location Links by [info]jenshih_blue
Interactive Supernatural Roadmap (seasons 1 and 2) by [info]alcorandmizar
The Winchesters' travels across the states, by map, links, and interactive google map.

The Laundry List (Dean and Sam's clothing) Season 1 by [info]clex_monkie89
The Sam Winchester Clothing Catalogue by [info]bellanut
The Dean Winchester Clothing Catalogue by [info]bellanut
These three all tie in nicely together, and are all very detailed and well illustrated.

Timeline for Season 1 on Super-wiki
Supernatural Season 2 and 3 Timeline by [info]killabeez

The Weapons Box by [info]erinrua
Dean, Sam and John's guns, crossbows, tasers and knives etc. with details on each one. Excellent if you're as clueless about weapons as I am.

Greatest Hits of Mullet Rock
List of all the music played, episode by episode. Sort of a random link, but I thought I'd throw it in.

A Newbie Guide to Supernatural by [info]scribewraith
And finally, a ginormous list of communities, fansites, art resources and fanfic archives. The Super Wiki is also a good place to check for links.

A huge thank you to [info]dotfic for many of the bestiary/monster links.

ETA: Many more useful links in the comments.


(46 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]buffyspazz
2008-03-07 01:15 am UTC (link)
Yay! This is AWESOMELY useful...thank you for posting! :)

I would also recommend [info]spn_heavymeta...their episode "Bibles" are particularly useful for a quick overview of the eps...locations, characters, etc.

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 01:27 am UTC (link)
Was it you who suggested something of this sort on the poll? I looked back to see who had asked for it, but I couldn't find the suggestion - though it's ridiculously late, so I'm probably just too bleary-eyed to see it. I only hope I haven't messed up any links!

And yes, that's a great community - I keep meaning to spend some time over there, reading.

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[info]buffyspazz
2008-03-07 02:15 am UTC (link)
It was me...thank you for using the suggestion. I already added this to my del.icio.us account! :)

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[info]timian
2008-03-07 01:15 am UTC (link)
Oh wow! What an incredibly helpful (and timely!) post! Thanks so much! :)


P.S. Gorgeous icon.

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 01:29 am UTC (link)
You're welcome - I'm been collecting handy links for ages, so it seemed sensible to share. I just wish I had more magic and spell links.

That's probably my favourite Sam icon - I adored that image of him.

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[info]timian
2008-03-07 02:23 am UTC (link)
Pfft. I wouldn't worry about it. That's a superb collection of links nonetheless. :)

And dude, AWESOME cropping. I love how you get just a peek of his beautiful eye there. It's so arresting. And if you don't mind me being forward, did you ever put that one up for sharing or is that one yours exclusively?

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 08:10 am UTC (link)
There are more links in the comments now too.

Eeek, sorry, I never did put that one up for sharing. I kind of love it so much, I'm going to be selfish with it, and still keep it all for me. But I did make a couple of others - the first one is from the same cap, and has never been posted, the second one is from the next image in that scene and was posted.

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[info]timian
2008-03-07 11:19 am UTC (link)
More links1! I frolic in them!

Also, no eeek! It's so lovely I can see why you'd keep it just for you. :) That said, wow, thanks so much for putting these two up! You totally didn't have to, but I will snag them both. :)



1 If Kripke really does have an LJ, want to bet he starts using this post as a resource? HI KRIPKE! I ADORE YOUR SHOW! CONGRATULATIONS ON SEASON FOUR! NOW GIVE SAM AND DEAN A PUPPY! AND NAME HIM AFTER ME!!!! (Just kidding. I'm not really that big an egoist.)

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 10:32 pm UTC (link)
Dear Kripke, A puppy would be fun, but BODY SWAP is what we want!!!! PURLEASE!!!!!!!!111!!!!

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[info]timian
2008-03-07 11:27 pm UTC (link)
Oh dear god, yes! You're right! That would ROCK. And I suppose he could always name the sorcerer who performed the spell after me or something. I'm flexible! :P

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[info]romelwen
2008-03-07 01:43 am UTC (link)
oh, wow! Thank you for this amazing post!

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 02:14 am UTC (link)
I'm glad it's useful!

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[info]slytherinblack
2008-03-07 02:11 am UTC (link)
If you don't mind my throwing out one of my resources, I often go to snopes.com when I'm in the need for urban legends to write about. The horrors section especially is useful, but don't read it late at night.

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 02:14 am UTC (link)
I nearly added that one as it happens - I use it for just the same reason.

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[info]roguebitch
2008-03-07 03:07 am UTC (link)

Would the exorcism ritual the Winchesters use be in the "Spells and Magic" area or somewhere else? Because I've been trying to find it to no avail, not being of any sort of Judeo-Christian persuasion.

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[info]missyjack
2008-03-07 03:11 am UTC (link)
There's a pretty good coverage of the exorcism rituals used on the show here at the Supernatural Wiki.

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[info]roguebitch
2008-03-07 03:26 am UTC (link)

Cool. Thanks!

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 07:59 am UTC (link)
I was going to suggest the super-wiki, but I see you've already got the link - it's very good for things like that.

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[info]missyjack
2008-03-07 03:11 am UTC (link)
Thanks for these - esp all the demon references.

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 08:11 am UTC (link)
It's not easy to find good sites on demons, so glad I could share.

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[info]that_september
2008-03-07 03:52 am UTC (link)
Ooh, this should prove very useful in the future. I've bookmarked it just in case. :D

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 08:12 am UTC (link)
There are more handy links in the comments too now.

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[info]iamstealthyone
2008-03-07 04:30 am UTC (link)
Awesome! Thanks. *hugs*

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 08:13 am UTC (link)
You're welcome! :-)

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[info]kitsune13
2008-03-07 05:26 am UTC (link)
Great resource! I strongly recommend Lucky Mojo; I'm taking the hoodoo course there, and it's fantastic. Here's a few other folklore links that might be handy.

Folktexts
A great resource for folk narrative, especially for fairy tales (Zaubermaerchen) and legends.

Trickster: Lord of the Roads
Excellent scholarly site on trickster figures from around the world.

UCLA Online Archive of American Folk Medicine
If you want to know folk remedies for *anything* -- from headaches to warts to knife wounds to demonic possession -- this is the site for you. Some intrepid souls finally organized folklorist Wayland Hand's MASSIVE index card collection and stuck it online for everyone to use. It's brilliant, and considering the kinds of injuries (mundane and otherwise) the Winchesters sustain, an incredibly valuable resource.

Sacred Texts
This is seriously the best site on the web to find older folklore collections -- many of the important folklore collections published in English before the early 20th century are archived here. And it's all free! If you're using the older collections, it's best to concentrate on the actual *data*, and ignore their interpretations; 19th c. folklorists had some really ugly and problematic theories about folklore.

Southern Spirits: African-American Spirituality and Magic
Archive of 19th-21st century writings about hoodoo and African-American folk beliefs, set up by cat yronwode of Lucky Mojo. As she says on the front page, with many of these texts, it's imperative to ignore the collectors' theories and attitudes -- they were usually white people who were at best, condescending, and often actively hostile to African-Americans and their folklore.

For print resources on American folklore in general, Jan Harald Brunvand's many books on urban legends are standard within the field; he also edited the very useful American Folklore: An Encyclopedia. The encyclopedia is great for pointing you towards further resources on specific issues, such as various ethnic and regional folklores, magical creatures, etc. Zora Neale Hurston wrote extensively on hoodoo; Mules and Men is a classic.


Edited at 2008-03-07 05:36 am UTC

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 08:04 am UTC (link)
These look fantastic - thanks for sharing them all!

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[info]kitsune13
2008-03-07 05:44 am UTC (link)
Also, the Monstropedia site, from a quick look-over, seems pretty accurate; however, they make some mistakes when talking about fairies and fairy tales, so keep an eye out.

(FTR, "fairy tales" are magical narratives told as fiction; most folklorists prefer "wonder tale" or the German term "Zaubermaerchen" for these types of stories. Most narratives about actual *fairies*, as a species, are legends -- basically, folk history, that take place in real time and space, and that are meant to be believed, at least a little bit.)

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 08:06 am UTC (link)
Thanks for the heads up - I'm good on the religion aspects of things, and able to spot good or inaccurate sites, but I don't know anything much about fairy tales, so that's handy to know.

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[info]pheebs1
2008-03-07 08:04 am UTC (link)
Thank you for an incredibly helpful post!

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 08:13 am UTC (link)
You're welcome! [info]buffyspazz said it was something she'd like to see, and it seemed like a good idea.

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[info]pheebs1
2008-03-07 08:17 am UTC (link)
Gosh absolutely, esp. the links to demon research etc, case fics are the ones I need most help on!

Been quickly catching up on roundtable - always an interesting comm! I love the addition of workshops :)

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 08:21 am UTC (link)
Yay, I'm so glad you're finding the community interesting - it's really happy-making to hear that, because we put so much work into it. That first workshop is great, and we've got another really useful one lined up for this month (about using outlines and writing novel length fics - should be handy for big bang people).

And we might have another new thing coming too... *mysterious*

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[info]pheebs1
2008-03-07 08:26 am UTC (link)
I was just seeing you pencilling people in to run workshops and I thought GOODNESS the organization this must take. You deserve thanks and appreciation for it!

If you ever need a hand with anything and I'm around, I am happy to help, btw. (I am not too confident about going, yes I will run workshop/rec stuff/etc just 'cause, well, I'm not confident, LOL,) but if, you know, you need anything organising/doing/whatever I will help.

*OOH EXCITING!!! Is this the book club thing I saw ref'd? Something else?? *is excited*

Happy Friday!!

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[info]pheebs1
2008-03-07 08:47 am UTC (link)
Patient? PATIENT?!

Okay I will try! :)

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 10:30 pm UTC (link)
It's good for the soul, or something... ;-)

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 08:32 am UTC (link)
Thankfully I keep everything written down, and send everyone involved monthly schedules, otherwise I'd get in a total mess with the organisation. We've got a good team now, and lots of people have volunteered for things like the workshops (though, like you, I'm hesitant about doing one of those - I'm dithering about offering a subject, because there's nothing writing-wise I'm an actual expert on).

Thanks for the offer of help - I'll keep that in mind, and may well call on you!

I'm staying mysterious until I've chatted with the other mods. You'll have to be patient and wait and see! Hee!!!

Must dash, or I'll be late to work - have a great day too!

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[info]zooey_glass04
2008-03-07 08:53 am UTC (link)
Wow, this is an AWESOME resource! Thank you so much. I am ridiculously unsystematic about holding onto useful sites, I shall definitely bookmark this!

*loves on you*

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 10:27 pm UTC (link)
My bookmarks are a sorry mess, though at least now I have a little gadget that tells me when I'm trying to add something I already have bookmarked - saves me so many duplicates.

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[info]smilla02
2008-03-07 10:12 am UTC (link)
Great post with a great deal of useful links. I may be a bit in love with you .
Thank you so very much for putting it together, dear.

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 10:28 pm UTC (link)
You mean you weren't in love with me before? That it's just cupboard love, all for my links and not me? *sad face*

;-)

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[info]a_fallen_sister
2008-03-07 01:38 pm UTC (link)
This is a most awesome compilation of references! I'm going to add it to my favorites for future perusing. :o)

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-07 10:29 pm UTC (link)
Now hopefully you'll get all sorts of cool ideas and write them! That was my secret master plan!

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[info]therealw
2008-03-07 11:32 pm UTC (link)
Oh, wow. This is fantastic, thank you so much!

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-08 01:22 pm UTC (link)
I'm glad it's coming in handy for others!

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[info]__tiana__
2008-03-08 02:53 am UTC (link)
Wow, what a wonderful collection of sources. Thanks so much for putting this all together!

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[info]oxoniensis
2008-03-08 01:24 pm UTC (link)
[info]buffyspazz said she'd like to see a post like this, and I realised I had all these links in my bookmarks, so I thought others might find them useful too.

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