SWG News

Instadrabbling Session for Maedhros & Maglor Week

Posted by SWG Moderators on 30 January 2025. Last updated on 15 February 2025.

Maedhros & Maglor Week will run on Tumblr from February 16th-22nd. To get in the spirit of the event, 0ur_Oroboros and Idle Leaves will be hosting an instadrabbling session focused on the relationship between Maedhros and Maglor on Saturday, February 15, 18:00/6PM UTC (find this in my timezone).

What is instadrabbling? Instadrabbling is a long-standing community activity in the Tolkien fanfiction fandom. A group of friends gets together on chat, someone throws out a prompt or four, and everyone writes a drabble (or whatever comes to mind). We share our creations in the server and admire each other's work. Instadrabbling is low-pressure and casual, and all are encouraged to participate to whatever degree they are comfortable. This session will be focused on fanworks about the relationship between Maedhros and Maglor.

When we instadrabble, we meet on the #instadrabbling channel on our Discord server. Discord invites can be requested at any time from the moderators. All are welcome to join the Discord, whether you want to instadrabble with us or not!

January Challenge: Jubilee

Posted by SWG Moderators on 17 January 2025. Last updated on 15 February 2025.

We always like to start the new year fresh and with creativity. To that end, we begin the year with an amnesty, allowing you to create a fanwork for any of the previous year’s challenges. To celebrate the SWG’s 20th anniversary year, we’re expanding that in our second ever Jubilee. (Yes, we know Jubilees are traditionally every 25 or 50 years. We’re not that patient, so we’re making our own Jubilee tradition—do one when it feels right.)

Any challenge from January 2017 onward is fair game for the amnesty this January! If there’s a challenge you’ve been eyeing that was before your time, or one you’ve been kicking yourself for missing, this is your moment. If you started a challenge response but never finished it, here’s your chance. Done them all? We are in awe. Also, you can create for any of them—just make sure you post to the Jubilee challenge to get your stamp.

If you’re all worn out from all 2024 threw at you but ready to go on a fanworks binge, the Jubilee includes commenting stamps.

You can find full details on the Jubilee challenge page and can find past challenges to tempt your muses here.

Mereth Aderthad 2025: Call for Fanworks

Posted by SWG Moderators on 13 January 2025. Last updated on 16 February 2025.

Mereth Aderthad 2025 is a hybrid event held in honor of the Silmarillion Writers' Guild's twentieth birthday that seeks to celebrate the creativity and insightfulness of the Tolkien fandom. The event will feature presentations of meta, research, and scholarship. Each presentation will be accompanied by fanworks on the same topic or theme.

We are currently seeking fanworks creators who are interested in creating fanworks to be shared at Mereth Aderthad 2025.

Schedule/Timeline

• If you are interested in creating a fanwork for Mereth Aderthad 2025, you should first complete the interest form. We will be in contact after that with next steps.
• January 12 - February 15: interest sign-ups for fanworks creators open
• January 15: call for meta/research/scholarship closes
• February 7: presentation list sent out to all creators who have submitted an interest form
• February 15: sign-ups for fanworks creators open
• April 15: progress check-in
• Fanwork Due Dates: TBD

Here is a more detailed breakdown of how the process will work:

• Sign up on our interest form if you would like to receive a link to the presentation list once it is available. Signing up on the interest form does not obligate you to sign up or create a fanwork for Mereth Aderthad 2025.
• On February 7, we will email a link to a list of the meta/scholarship presentations and a summary for each.
• On February 15, the sign-up for fanworks will open. We will email you again with a link to sign up. You will choose to create a fanwork in one of the categories below for one of the Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentations. Sign ups are on a first-come basis.
  • Featured Art: a work of visual art related to the presentation it accompanies that will be displayed on the screen at Mereth Aderthad 2025 before the presentation begins and during the fanwork reading afterward.
  • Featured Writing: a written fanwork (ficlet, poem, or excerpt of a longer work) that will be presented at Mereth Aderthad 2025 following the presentation it accompanies. The work should be able to be presented in ten minutes or less.
  • Performing Art: a performing art (music, drama, dance, etc.) that will be performed at Mereth Aderthad 2025 following the presentation it accompanies.
  • Zine Art: a work of visual art in black-and-white/grayscale, created to accompany a presentation, that will be included in a zine available to Mereth Aderthad 2025 participants.
  • Zine Writing: a written fanwork, created to accompany a presentation, that will be included in a zine available to Mereth Aderthad 2025 participants.
• You will hear from an event volunteer after sign-ups close to confirm your assignment. This person will be your contact person as you work on your fanwork. You may also be put in touch with the person who will be doing the presentation your fanwork will accompany. (You will have this information available at sign-ups and should only sign up to create for presentations where you are comfortable with the level of collaboration requested by the presenter.)
• On April 15, your contact person will reach out to check in on the progress of your fanwork.

General Fanworks Creators Guidelines

1. Your fanwork will be created to accompany a presentation at Mereth Aderthad 2025. Presenters will vary in the amount of collaboration they want with you, and this information will be available when you sign up. However, your fanwork is your work in response to the topic or theme of the presentation. Presenters do not approve and cannot require changes to the fanworks that accompany their presentations. If presenters want to collaborate, they may have ideas for fanworks to accompany their presentation, but you are not required to use these. Along those same lines, fanworks creators do not get to approve or require changes in presentations.
2. Mereth Aderthad 2025 is a public event that welcomes everyone, so fanworks shared at the event should be SFW (safe for work), meaning that they should not include graphic sexual content or graphic violence. Check in with an event volunteer if you're not sure if something you're planning is appropriate for the event. Excerpts read at the event may link to Adult-rated content on the SWG archive.
3. Fanworks created for the zine may include any content, including adult content.
4. The SWG does not allow fanworks that are wholly or partially generated by AI. All fanworks created for Mereth Aderthad must adhere to our AI policy.
5. All fanworks should be created for the event in response to the presentation they accompany.
6. We deeply appreciate if fanworks are not shared publicly prior to the event on July 19, 2025. However, after the event, we hope that you will share them widely and on whatever archives and social media you choose!
7. While we hope to see fanworks creators (in-person or online!) at Mereth Aderthad 2025, creating a fanwork for the event does not require you to attend.

Specific Fanworks Creators Guidelines

Featured Artwork

1. Featured artwork will be displayed at the beginning of the presentation it accompanies and during the fanwork reading afterward. All types and formats of artwork are welcome.
2. We may include the title of the presentation and fanwork alongside your artwork. We will not include the title over top of your work or any additional modifications to your artwork without seeking your permission first.
3. Because this work will be displayed on the screen at both the in-person and virtual events, it should have dimensions, coloring, and composition suited to this purpose.

Featured Writing

1. Featured writing will be presented live at Mereth Aderthad 2025. If you sign up to create one of these fanworks, it is up to you what format this uses. You can, of course, read your work live (in-person or online). You can have someone else read your work for you. You can pre-record your work (or have someone else pre-record it) and have it played at the event.
2. Featured writing may be in any format: ficlet, excerpt of a longer story, poetry, dramatic reading, etc.
3. Featured writing should be presented in ten minutes or less. Excerpts of longer works are fine but should be able to stand on their own.
4. You can opt whether or not your written fanwork is also included in the zine. See Zine Writing below for more specifics.

Performing Art

1. Performing arts include forms such as music, drama, and dance and will be presented live at Mereth Aderthad 2025.
2. If you are not planning to attend the event in-person, consider whether the performance will be suitable for a virtual presentation.
3. We will consult with performing artists about the length of the performance given the constraints of our schedule.

Zine Artwork

1. Zine artwork will not be presented on screen but will appear in a zine available to all Mereth Aderthad participants. The zine will be available in a digital format and may be printed as well. Zine artwork will be designed to accompany one of the presentations.
2. Zine artwork should be able to be printed in grayscale.

Zine Writing

1. Zine writing will not be presented live but will appear in a zine available to all Mereth Aderthad participants. The zine will be available in a digital format and may be printed as well. Zine writing will be designed to accompany one of the presentations.
2. Zine writing may be in any format: ficlet, excerpt of a longer story, poetry, etc.
3. There is no word count limit for zine writing; however, we will only print the first 2,000 words in the zine itself. The remainder of the work will be posted on the SWG archive with a link and/or QR code in the zine to continue reading on the archive.

Rights Acquired

The SWG seeks first-time worldwide publication rights for all fanworks created for the Mereth Aderthad 2025 event. All creators retain the copyright to their work. What that means in plain English: We would like to be the first to share your fanwork as part of our event, but it is your fanwork, and you can share it and do with it as you please after that!

First rights includes:

• The fanwork will be posted on the SWG archive (silmarillionwritersguild.org). All creators will be provided with an SWG account, if they do not have one already, and so will maintain full control over their work on the archive. Creators can edit or add to their work on the archive. While we hope that they will not do so, creators can also delete their work from the archive.
• Featured artwork and writing will be displayed or read at the Mereth Aderthad event, which will also be available on a virtual platform. No fanworks will be recorded at the event without prior approval from the creator.
• Zine artwork and writing and featured artwork and writing where the creator chooses to do so will be published in a zine that will be available to Mereth Aderthad attendees. This zine will also be available to download in PDF format on the SWG website (silmarillionwritersguild.org). This zine will not be edited or deleted after publication.

Fanworks Creator Sign-Up

If you are interested in creating a fanwork for Mereth Aderthad, use this form to share an email address where we can reach you. You will hear from us on February 7 with the presentation list and more information on sign-ups, then again on February 15 with a link to the sign-up form. Filling out the interest form does not require you to sign up.

Character of the Month: Vidumavi of the Northmen

Posted by SWG Moderators on 11 January 2025. Last updated on 11 January 2025.

Vidumavi of the Northmen is one of those characters who exists entirely in the margins, her name not mentioned once in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, or The Silmarillion. Yet she is a linchpin in the history of the realms of Mortals in the Third Age and her story captures key themes from across Tolkien's works.

In our newest Character of the Month biography, Secondborn discusses Vidumavi's character and her importance to the legendarium. A Third Age woman from the people who would become the Rohirrim, Vidumavi married the Gondorian prince Valacar, an act that was controversial enough in Gondor to act as the spark that would ignite the Kinstrife after her death due to concerns of her inferior bloodline tainting the line of kings. However, as Secondborn notes, Vidumavi carried herself with honor and courage in what appears to be a true marriage of love. As a character, she stands as a testament against the idea that some people have bloodlines purer or superior to others, an idea that Tolkien addresses throughout his work.

Vidumavi also illustrates important themes that Tolkien frequently explored, such as love, honor, the role of fellowship, and the effects of the fading of "faerie" during the later ages. Vidumavi becomes one of the many woman characters in the legendarium whose importance far exceeds her meager mentions in the text.

You can read Secondborn's biography of Vidumavi here.

Jubilee Instadrabbling, January 18-19, 2025

Posted by SWG Moderators on 28 December 2024. Last updated on 19 January 2025.

This year, in honor of our upcoming twentieth birthday, our annual amnesty challenge will be a Jubilee, meaning that you can receive challenge stamps for any challenge from 2017 onward! As part of the Jubilee, we will be hosting two instadrabbling sessions on Saturday, January 18, and Sunday, January 19. The format will be open but will definitely include challenge prompts to help with stamp-collecting efforts!

Session 1: Saturday, January 18, 15:00/3PM UTC (find this in my timezone)
Session 2: Sunday, January 19, 18:00/6PM UTC (find this in my timezone)

What is instadrabbling? Instadrabbling is a long-standing community activity in the Tolkien fanfiction fandom. A group of friends gets together on chat, someone throws out a prompt or four, and everyone writes a drabble (or whatever comes to mind). All types of fanworks are welcome as long as they are Tolkien-related! (Keep in mind that we give challenge stamps only for Silmarillion fanworks, however.) We share our creations in the server and admire each other's work. Instadrabbling is low-pressure and casual, and all are encouraged to participate to whatever degree they are comfortable.

When we instadrabble, we meet on the #instadrabbling channel on our Discord server. Discord invites will be posted on the dates of instadrabbling to our tumblr or can be requested at any time from the moderators. All are welcome to join the Discord, whether you want to instadrabble with us or not!

So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Writing the Proposal

Posted by SWG Moderators on 22 December 2024. Last updated on 13 January 2025.

Mereth Aderthad 2025 is coming in July, and we are looking for presenter willing to share meta, research, and scholarship about Tolkien. We are specifically welcoming fans—including fans who have never presented anything like this before—to submit proposals for presentations because we believe strongly that fans have a lot to offer as we collectively read and work to better understand and interpret Tolkien's world.

But presenting at a conference feels like a big deal! And even in a field as friendly to fan and independent scholarship as Tolkien studies is, the trappings of academia remain and, unless you have academic training, can be a barrier to participation.

To help demystify conference proposals and presentations, over the next few months, we will be holding sessions aimed at helping fans make the sideways step to Tolkien scholarship by presenting their work at a Tolkien conference. Our first session will be about writing proposals. Join us in a virtual (Zoom) session to learn about how Tolkien conferences work and how to put together a proposal!

Date: Saturday, 4 January 2024 
Time: 1:00 PM Eastern Time (what is this in my timezone?) 
Location: RSVP to have the link emailed to you | join the session

After the session, there will be time for questions, and we will stay online for a proposal writing session for anyone who is interested.

Attending the session does not require you to submit a proposal to Mereth Aderthad or attend the event. All are welcome to attend and participate to whatever extent they feel comfortable! (In other words, you can keep your camera off and there are no breakout rooms.)

Can't make it on January 4? We will record the session so that anyone can view it.

If you need to change your Zoom display name before or while attending, learn how to do that here.

Tolkien Meta Week Starts December 8!

Posted by SWG Moderators on 7 December 2024. Last updated on 14 December 2024.

Tolkien Meta Week starts on Sunday, December the 8, and will run until December 14 as part of our ongoing push that Meta Is for Everyone! Meta is more than full essays and articles (though those are welcome too!), and we hope Tolkien fans of all experience levels will join us in sharing their thoughts, ideas, rants, headcanons, manifestos, and musings about all that is Tolkien related. Tolkien Meta Week will take place on Tumblr and here on the Silmarillion Writers' Guild archive.

FAQs

The SWG is Silmarillion group. Are you only looking for Silmarillion meta?

Tolkien Meta Week is hosted by the Silmarillion Writers' Guild, but we welcome meta about any and all of Tolkien's works. On our archive, the usual rules about "Silmworks" apply, but we will gladly reblog all Tolkien-related content on our tumblr.

If you have posting access to our Beyond the Silmarillion section, of course, non-Silmarillion meta is welcome there!

Do I have to follow the prompts?

Nope. You can use one of our prompts or go rogue and do your own thing! As long as it is a nonfiction work related to Tolkien, it is welcome for this event.

"Meta" doesn't have to be lengthy, finished, or polished. A paragraph describing a wild theory you had suddenly while brushing your teeth is just as welcome as a lengthy, detailed, essay.

There are four prompts available for each day of the week. If you want to use the prompts, you can use one, a few, or all of them—your choice! You don't have use a prompt on the day it is posted. You can also combine prompts from different days.

How do I make sure my work is included?

Here on the archive, choose Tolkien Meta Week from the Challenge dropdown when you post your work. On Tumblr, tag #tolkien meta week so that we can reblog your work!

We will reblog anything tagged on Tumblr for Tolkien Meta Week to the SWG tumblr. A roundup of Tolkien Meta Week contributions will be featured as part of the December 21st newsletter. If you don't want your entry reblogged or included in the newsletter, let us know as soon as possible.

Prompts

Each day of the event will feature four prompts centered on genre, format, source text, and approaches that range beyond Middle-earth. However, these prompts are entirely optional, and any Tolkien-related meta is welcome for the event! Prompt definitions can be found on the Tolkien Meta Week challenge page.

December 8: theory | infographic | The Silmarillion | the Tolkien fandom

December 9: open letter | podcast/audio | The Lord of the Rings | Tolkien's non-Middle-earth writings

December 10: literary analysis | wiki article | The Hobbit | adaptations

December 11: character study | video | Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, The Nature of Middle-earth, and The Fall of Númenor | books, articles, and meta about Tolkien

December 12: headcanon | meme | The Three Great Tales: The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin | compare Tolkien to another text

December 13: ship manifesto |  personal essay | Tolkien's art | apply real-world disciplines to Middle-earth

December 14: research | list (including link collections) | The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien | Tolkien fanworks (with permission!)

Artists Needed to Create 2025 Challenge Stamps

Posted by SWG Moderators on 30 November 2024. Last updated on 13 December 2024.

Note: All challenge stamps have been claimed for 2025! Thank you, artists!

One of our favorite parts of our challenges is the stamps participants receive. For the past two years, we've asked for artists who want to help us create these stamps, so that each month's collection of stamps has its own unique style. It's that time of the year where we solicit help from artists who want to make a set of challenge stamps for the coming year. No matter your level of expertise with traditional or digital art, we welcome all volunteers who'd like to share their work with challenge participants!

If you'd be interested in creating a set of stamps for one (or more) of our 2025 challenges, here is how it will work:

• Comment here (or otherwise contact the mods) and we will grant access to a bare-bones list of the 2025 challenges, the number of stamps needed, and the due date. Please note that if you want to remain absolutely unspoiled as to upcoming challenges, than this is probably not for you! We will send additional details on the challenge and specific stamps needed once you choose the challenge you want to work on.
• Create your set of stamps. You have a lot of creative free rein here. Stamps must
  • include the month number of the challenge. Most of the time, we also include the challenge name (or part of it) too, but this is not required.
  • thematically match the challenge that month.
  • be appropriate for all audiences: no violence, blood/gore, nudity, or sexual content.
  • use our templates or a similar postage stamp template that is not drastically different from ours. (Please check with us first.)
  • use only art and images that you have permission to use, which means that you must own the copyright or have permission from the copyright holder to use the image for this project, or the image is in the public domain.
• Email your completed stamps to the mods before the due date! We will send you a reminder about a month before your stamps are due.

Please note that while we can (and will) credit you as an artist on the challenge page and any announcements about the challenge, we cannot include credit on the stamps themselves or with every appearance of the stamps on our site.

You will also have the option of designing the challenge banner for that month if you wish to do so. (It is not required.) Banners are used on the challenge page, as well as in announcements on our site and social media about the challenge. Requirements for stamps apply to banners as well, with the addition that the banner should include the challenge name, dates, and text "SWG Challenge" or "Silmarillion Writers' Guild Challenge" somewhere on the banner. We prefer that the art used on stamps not be used on the banner as well. Banners should be at least 500px wide.

In participating in this project, you are granting the SWG the right to use your stamps and banner, including any art or photography that the contain, on our website and social media, in accordance with the terms described here. This includes minor modifications, such as resizing graphics to work with the layout of our site.

If you are interested in learning more or gaining access to the sign-up page, please comment here or contact us. The last day to sign up is 31 December 2024.

Tolkien Fanartics: Mapping Arda - The Second Age

Posted by SWG Moderators on 25 November 2024. Last updated on 25 November 2024.

Maps and geography are an essential part of Tolkien's worldbuilding and a major allure for fans of his work. As part of the Tolkien Fanartics column, Anérea has been working on a series, Mapping Arda, that considers not only the maps and geography from the books but how fans represent, reinvent, and fill in the cartographic work that Tolkien did.

The Second Age is the most fragmentary of Tolkien's work on the three ages of Arda, and its maps are no exception. This month, joined by Varda delle Stelle, Anérea takes a look at Tolkien's (incomplete) maps of the Second Age and how fans have explored and answered the questions they present, representing the geography of the Second Age in myriad forms, from traditional paint and ink to embroidery to three-dimensional models. Anérea and Varda have curated a collection of fan-made Second Age maps that show the various ways that fans approach and represent this most mysterious of the ages of Arda.

You can read "Mapping Arda, Part III: The Second Age" here.

New Challenge: Potluck Bingo

Posted by SWG Moderators on 16 November 2024. Last updated on 17 January 2025.

You are invited to a potluck hosted by the SWG community! Just like potluck meals allow participants to bring their favorite recipes cooked up with a personal flair, our new challenge, Potluck Bingo, features prompts served on bingo boards created by—you! the members and friends of the SWG!

You are free to play any board—you are not required to play your own. You may also play as many boards as you want. And of course, you’re free to combine prompts from different boards.

We will not be pulling numbers—there is no daily prompt. Pick your board, and see what prompt(s) on the board spark something.

Commenters, you’re not left out of the bingo fun. There will be a few comment challenge boards to play. (Possibly more than a few if our boardmakers decide to run with it …)

As there will be many different boards in play, both creators and commenters will need to notify the mods when stamps are needed for bingo (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or card blackout). You can reach us on Tumblr, DW, Discord, or using the contact form. We will have a special stamp for anyone who plays multiple boards. There will NOT be a stamp for playing all boards, as past experience suggests there could be quite a few.

As is tradition, the last challenge of the year runs for two months, from November 15 through Janaury 15. If you want to receive a stamp for your fanwork, you should have it posted to the site by January 15, 2025. (However, note that the January challenge, which will begin on January 1, is always an amnesty month, so technically you can receive stamps for this final challenge through February 15, 2025!)

If you want to make a bingo card (or cards) to bring to the party, note that we are accepting new cards throughout the challenge.

Potluck Bingo cards, challenge guidelines (including directions and templates for making bingo cards), and fanworks are here, and guidelines for SWG challenges overall are here.