New Challenge: Bollywood
This month's challenge offers songs, films, and tropes from Bollywood, the world's largest film industry based out of India, as prompts for fanworks.
Challenges have been a part of the SWG since our group was formed in 2005. Before the archive, there were challenges. Before References or any special projects or B2MeM or any of the myriad things we've done over the last decade-plus, there were challenges. Challenges end and a new challenges is posted on the 15th of the month. (Yes, that means there is one thrilling day each month when there are two active challenges!) Participants—both authors and reviewers—will receive a stamp in their challenge stamp collection for their participation. Deadlines apply only if you want your fanwork to receive a stamp.
Every challenge that has ever been offered by the SWG is available for use by creators of fanworks who are looking for inspiration. Even if the deadline for stamps is passed, you are welcome to use the challenges listed on our site. And comments on past challenge fanworks are always welcome and always receive a reward for that month. Want to join us? Click to read the guidelines below!
The world's largest film industry isn't Hollywood, with its stars and scandals and endless sequels but Bollywood, the film industry that originated in Bombay in the late 19th century, more than a decade before Hollywood got its start. This month's challenge celebrates the lively dances, glittering costumes, towering emotions, and music you can't get out of your head of Bollywood.
Prompts this month come from Bollywood films and will be assigned by a moderator. You can request your prompt on Dreamwidth, Tumblr, the #monthly-challenges channel on our Discord, or by emailing the mods. You can specify whether you'd like a song, film title, trope, or color palette—or you can let us surprise you! (If you choose a song, let us know if you'd like a song with an English translation available.) As always, you can use any aspect of your prompt to inspire your fanwork.
In some cases, we provide an intentionally brief and vague synopsis of a film or definition of a concept so that creators can get started with a prompt without having to do additional research. However, creators are welcome to dig deeper into a prompt if they want to and use what they learn to inspire a fanwork. For example, you might find that the film in your prompt has a clever subplot you will write a story around, the music video for a song has costumes you will include in a drawing, or a concept has aspects not included in our definition that you wish to use to make a playlist. While this is not required, you should feel free to dig as deeply into the prompts if you want and use anything you find!
Create a fanwork around a prompt focused on the theme of rebuilding and restoration. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
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Tolkien wrote more than just Middle-earth, and this challenge takes its prompts from his non-Ardaverse stories, essays, and poems. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Design your own figure skating program from a collection of prompts. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Prompts for this challenge are a pair of opposites. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
No matter if you're in the Northern or Southern hemisphere, it's a time of year to think about holidays. Whether you're bundling up in blankets or slipping a swimsuit into your suitcase, we invite you to an SWG holiday party! Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Spin our random generator to receive a prompt inspired by "The Nature of Middle-earth." Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Historians trace the first advice column to 1690, and in the three centuries hence, the heartsore, woebegone, and perpetually puzzled have turned to these "agony aunts" (and uncles) to solve their most debilitating dilemmas about family, work, and of course, love. Choose one of our real advice columns, tweaked just slightly, for your prompt. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Throughout history, wherever there is writing, there is erotica. This challenge pulls its prompts from "vintage" works of romance and erotica. (Nonromantic and nonsexual options are also available.) Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Complete Olympic events Middle-earth style! Challenge opened in . Read more ...
This month's challenge asks you to put a character, culture, or place in Arda in the Seventh Age. When the Seventh Age actually is--is it right now? in the future? or was Tolkien totally wrong and it's actually passed?--is completely up to you. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Go ahead and judge a book by its cover! We'll send you a book cover as a prompt to inspire your fanwork. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
In the spirit of poetry month and Legendarium Ladies April, create a fanwork using a poem by a woman poet as your inspiration. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
J.R.R. Tolkien wasn’t just the creator of Middle-earth. He was also a scholar of philology. One of his first jobs was with the Oxford English Dictionary, where he was assigned a welter of words beginning with W. In this month’s challenge, we’re presenting you a bingo card with Prof. Tolkien’s W words we hope will inspire a wealth of wonder, wit, worldbuilding, and general whimsy. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
We honor the theme of hope in Tolkien's work with prompts about joyful or happy times in the text. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Receive a postcard from an unnamed character and create a fanwork using the image, the message, or both. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork using our prompt generator that includes stock characters, common plot scenarios, settings, and episode types that are frequently featured in soap operas. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Sneak a peek into notebooks of the scholars and explorers of Middle-earth, with prompts that are images from historical naturalist publication. Challenge opened in . Read more ...