SWG News

Playlists and Link Collections Are Coming!

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 23 April 2022. Last updated on 14 May 2022.

This year, we hope to significantly expand what fanworks we are able to host on our site. We are preparing to build the next two fanwork types: playlists and link collections, and we'd love to hear from you about what features you'd like to see our site offer for these fanworks!

Playlists are collections of songs selected around a fannish theme. Currently, we are planning to offer the following fields when you post a playlist fanwork:

• Link(s) to a completed playlist (i.e., set up on Spotify or YouTube)
• Links to individual songs with a notes field for each song. The notes field allows unlimited text with formatting.
• Audio genre selection; if you choose "Music" as your genre, you will be able to select a music genre as well.
• Album cover art.

Links collections are exactly what they sound like! They can be used for myriad purposes—rec lists, collections of resources and references, collections of images and music for mood or inspiration—and will allow links within and outside the SWG. Currently, we are planning to offer the following fields when you post a link collection:

• Link, link title, and link description fields. The link description field allows unlimited text with formatting.
• Link collection genre selection (e.g., rec list, research, inspiration).

Both the playlists and link collections will have access to the fields available to all fanworks: title, co-creator, language, summary, fanwork notes, character, relationship, rating, warnings, challenge, and completion status.

Is there something you'd like to see offered for playlists and link collections that we don't have on our list yet? Comment below or leave a comment on our Dreamwidth. If you're on our Discord, the #town-hall channel is currently discussing playlists and link collections and welcomes feedback there as well.

Lead Writer Needed for Newsletter

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 22 April 2022. Last updated on 15 July 2022.

We are working to expand our newsletter to offer more original content, and we are looking for a lead writer for the column A Sense of History. This column was started many years ago by our moderator Angelica and offers short articles connecting real-world history to Tolkien's legendarium.

What does a lead writer do? You'd ensure that there is a monthly article for this column. You can write the article yourself or work with other writers. (Ideally, the column would involve a bit of both.)

What content would you be writing or seeking to have written? Articles for A Sense of History should be short—no more than 1,500 words—and written for a general audience. They have a specific focus on a historical topic; examples might include trolls in folklore, weregild, or historical archery. This is not a column that requires highly detailed and technical historical information but aims to provide a broad overview of a historical topic and identify points of connection with Tolkien. Note that academic sources are not required for this column, and popular history sources are acceptable. The complete call for contributors has the requirements of the column, as well as a list of ideas for columns.

What would qualify a person for this job? You should have a solid foundation and interest in history so that you can identify possible topics for the column and produce accurate, engaging articles. You would be able to meet deadlines and have good communication skills, both with writers you are working with and SWG editors and moderators. Ideally, you'd have a basic understanding of how to select good sources and attribute those sources in writing; however, the SWG editors and moderators can also offer training and coaching in this area.

What specific tasks would I have to do?

• Maintain a schedule of articles at least three months in advance using a shared Google Document. The schedule should include diverse topics (e.g., not solely focused on military history or taking only Eurocentric approaches) and ideally involve multiple contributors.
• Collaborate with contributors to meet the expectations of the column and deliver an article on time. Editors and moderators will be available to help you here if the support a writer requires is more than you are able to provide.
• Research and write articles on historical connections to Tolkien that meet expectations of the column.
• Meet a monthly deadline for a completed article, either written by you or another author.
• Communicate with editors and moderators as needed to prepare an article for publication, which will include working with our art editor to select art for the article and responding to questions during the copyediting process.
• Be willing to be listed as the contact person for this column and answer inquiries about the column via email when they come in.

What does this job not require? You would receive assistance from the SWG moderators in recruiting contributors to the column (although you are certainly encouraged to use your networks and contacts to accomplish this as well). The final articles will be copyedited and posted to the site in accordance with SWG Reference guidelines by an editor or moderator.

Conflicts occasionally arise in fannish contexts. We never expect our volunteers to handle conflicts or tolerate disrespectful communications from anyone. SWG moderators will be available to take over such communications immediately in the unlikely event that they occur.

What supports are available? At the SWG, we believe in encouraging fans and non-academics to contribute to the field of Tolkien Studies. As such, we are willing to train, coach, and support contributors at various levels to see their work published. If you do not have all of the skills required for this position but think it sounds like something you'd be interested in, we encourage you to contact us. We will likely be able to help you gain the skills needed for the job.

Furthermore, the SWG editors and moderators will be available to you to offer any supports and answer any questions that you have. We aim for a 24-hour turnaround time but more often respond much faster.

Does this role sound interesting to you? Contact us if you'd like to be considered or if you have any questions!

Banner image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

"Durin" Character Tag Updated

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 21 April 2022. Last updated on 21 April 2022.

For almost fifteen years now, a single Durin character tag has served our site. Yes, he is the Deathless, but he is getting tired of doing the work of all of the Durins—after all, there are seven of them! As a favor to our wearied Father of Dwarves, we have broken out his tag into seven distinct Durin tags.

The moderators have gone through all of the Durin fanworks and attempted to make sure that each is assigned the correct iteration of the deathless Dwarf dad. If you've authored a fanwork and have tagged Durin in it, please check to make sure that we've assigned the correct one. If we've changed your fanwork (and you have your contact form enabled), we've contacted you to let you know. If you didn't hear from us, we assumed (correctly or not) that your fanwork involves Durin I.

If we got it wrong, you can select the correct Durin by clicking the Edit tab at the top of your fanwork, or comment here, letting us know the title and which Durin you desire, and we will fix it for you.

New Challenge: On a Different Page

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 14 April 2022. Last updated on 15 May 2022.

Tolkien may have been the maker of Middle-earth, but that wasn’t all he wrote. This month we encourage everyone to explore Tolkien’s other works—prompts for this challenge will come from Tolkien's non-Middle-earth works.

Please remember that we are a Silmarillion archive, and fanworks for the challenge must have a significant basis in The Silmarillion. The challenge is to create a Silmarillion fanwork using prompts from Tolkien's non-Middle-earth texts; it is not a challenge for fanworks about those texts, although crossovers remain welcome on our archive. See our FAQ on "Silmfic" for more information on how we define Silmarillion-based fanworks.

To receive a prompt for this challenge, comment on our Dreamwidth, send us an ask on Tumblr, post to the #monthly-challenges channel on our Discord, or message us through the SWG site.

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 May 2022. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

Character of the Month: Maedhros

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 8 April 2022. Last updated on 6 May 2022.

Maedhros is the most popular character on the SWG archive. As of this writing, there are 774 fanworks about Maedhros, a number that grows by the day. More than fourteen years after we began our Character of the Month column, Maedhros finally gets his own biography as part of the collection.

This month's article is the first of a two-part biography by Oshun and considers Maedhros's early life: his time in Aman, his father's rebellion and disastrous oath, and his short stint in Beleriand before his captivity by Melkor. Even in these early years, we see Maedhros making the kinds of choices that make him so complex, enigmatic, and popular with fans.

You can read Part One of Oshuns' two-part biography on Maedhros here.

Banner image credit to Siggy Nowak.

Cultus Dispatches: Becoming Bookverse

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 2 April 2022. Last updated on 14 May 2022.

The new Amazon Rings of Power series is on many of our minds. With the Super Bowl trailer drop, releases of a series of posters, and articles and teasers cropping up across the Tolkien fandom like mushrooms after a rain, the new series has become impossible to ignore. And for many existing Tolkien fans, they wonder: How will this new show shape the fandom communities that I love?

Over the next few months, Cultus Dispatches will look at this question by analyzing the impact of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies on the fandom. "Becoming Bookverse" is the first article in this series, in which Dawn uses Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data to make the case that, in the fic fandom, the films brought in fans in droves—and then they became fans and authors of fic based on the books.

You can read April's column here: Becoming Bookverse: Jackson's Films as an Initiation Point for Tolkien's Book Fandom.

As part of this series, we are seeking to hear from fans who were part of the Tolkien fandom before one or both of the film trilogies. How do you think the fandom changed (or did it)? If you'd like to contribute a fandom memory, you can do so here.

Cultus Dispatches is always looking for contributors to our column about Tolkien fandom history and culture. Find out more about writing for this column here.

Were You a Part of the Tolkien Fandom Before the Films?

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 23 March 2022. Last updated on 23 April 2022.

As the debut of the Amazon Rings of Power series approaches, many Tolkien fans are left wondering how the new show will impact the fandom they love. Over the next few months, our fandom history column Cultus Dispatches will tackle this question from various perspectives.

For one of our upcoming columns, we'd love to hear from you! Were you participating in the Tolkien fandom before either (or both) of the film trilogies took the world by storm? We're looking for fans willing to share what this experience was like and how they saw the fandom change (or not!) at these pivotal moments in its history.

You can write as little or as much as you'd like. Responses will be published in an upcoming Cultus Dispatches column. You are of course welcome to remain anonymous if you prefer.

If you'd like to share your fandom experiences around the films, click here to access the response form.

Newsletter Subscriptions Now Work for Everyone

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 13 March 2022. Last updated on 13 March 2022.

When we reintroduced our newsletter a little over a week ago, we unfortunately hadn't gotten subscriptions up and running yet for nonmembers. We're excited to announce that absolutely anyone can now subscribe to the SWG newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here or use the subscription box at the bottom of the sidebar on our website.

What wonderful and fabulous things can you expect with your subscription? Every Saturday, you will have the latest news and updates from the SWG and other fandom groups and events delivered right to your email inbox. You will receive a list of all of the fanworks added or update that week on our archive. And you will be the first to get to read that week's article or column!

Remember, too, that we are looking for contributors to our newsletter. Whether you want to write a column, an article, or collaborate with our newsletter team, check out our contributors' page for more information.

Current Challenge: Arda on Ice!

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 12 March 2022. Last updated on 14 April 2022.

As the Northern Hemisphere bids farewell to winter, we pay homage to a sport that, just like writing and art, involves both technical skill and artistry: figure skating. For this challenge, you will design a skating program using the prompts below. Before you begin, select the prompts you want to incorporate into your program. You can complete a program at four different levels:

• Novice: 3 prompts
• Junior: 5 prompts
• Senior: 7 prompts
• Pair/Team: 8 prompts shared between two or more creators

Prompts can be used in any order that you want and are intentionally broad, inviting a variety of different interpretations. You can find the prompts for the Arda on Ice challenge here.

You can also collaborate with one or more other creators for the pair and team events! You can collaborate on a single fanwork, or you can collaborate to create multiple fanworks using a set of prompts. For example, one person might create a work of art, another might write a story about it, and a third creator could make a playlist, compose a poem to introduce the story, or conduct research to produce a comprehensive set of notes.

Thanks to Wanyin for suggesting this month's challenge and thanks to Lyra for the artwork used in the banner and stamps!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 April 2022. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

Cultus Dispatches: The Tolkien Estate and Fanworks

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 12 March 2022. Last updated on 1 April 2022.

Within the past week, there has been an explosion of commentary on the recent update to the Tolkien Estate's website, which included changes to their FAQ on fanworks. Does this spell the end of fanworks?

The short answer is no. In a collaborative article written by our newsletter staff, we look at the history of the Estate's stance on fanworks, which has always been bad and never acted on, and the new FAQ on fanworks, which changes in style but not substance. We include a primer on copyright, a frequently misunderstood concept, and discuss why the Estate has chosen this moment in time to spring this upon fans.

You can read the full article "A Sudden Outcry: The Tolkien Estate and Fanworks" here.

This article is the first of our new column, Cultus Dispatches, which explores the history and culture of Tolkien fandom. Cultus Dispatches is looking for contributors interested in sharing more about their fandom communities.