SWG News

Holiday Party Instadrabbling

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 19 December 2021. Last updated on 10 January 2022.

One of the best parts about the holiday season is gathering with friends, sharing laughter, and raising a glass to the New Year. As part of our Holiday Party challenge, we will do just that by hosting an instadrabbling session using prompts from the Holiday Party challenge. Want to get together with other fanworks creators, make small fanworks, and celebrate each other's work? Join us!

On Sunday, 2 January 2022, we will instadrabble on our Discord server at the following times:

Never instadrabbled before? We gather on the #instadrabbling channel and create and share flash fanworks in response to prompts. You can learn more about how instadrabbling works here.

To join our Discord server: If you are a logged-in member, you will see an invite link in the footer of all pages on the site. If you're not an archive member, you can contact the moderators for an invite link.

Comfort Fanfiction Book Club

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 18 December 2021. Last updated on 1 January 2022.

Fans of comfort, fluff, fix-its, eucatastrophes, hurt-comfort, and happily-ever-afters (I see you, Sam Gamgee), your moment has arrived. The Comfort Fanfiction Book Club is here! After the last couple of years, who couldn’t do with a little comfort, a fix-it or ten, eucatastrophe (Turin is definitely in for that one), and a happily-ever-after?

The Comfort Fanfiction Book Club will be held on Sunday, 26 December 2021 on our Discord server. Your hosts for this event are Lilith and Aipilosse.

Submissions must meet the SWG criteria for a Silmarillion fanwork. Stories, dribbles, standalone excerpts, and poetry are all eligible for this book club, though we suggest an upper limit of around 5,000 words. Please sign up only your own work. We will close the sign-up at midnight UTC on the 22nd and post the schedule by the 23rd.

You can sign up for the Comfort Fanfiction Book Club here.

We’ll start by limiting sign-ups to one work per person, but depending on demand, we may open it up to additional submissions at a later date. There are no restrictions on rating, but NSFW fanworks will be discussed in a separate channel.

If you sign up, please plan on attending to discuss the work of a couple other authors. If you’d like to participate without submitting your own work, we’d love to have you!

To learn more about participating in, attending, or hosting a fanfiction book club, see our book club FAQ.

To join our Discord server: If you are a logged-in member, you will see an invite link in the footer of all pages on the site. If you're not an archive member, you can contact the moderators for an invite link.

Pick Your Present!

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 5 December 2021. Last updated on 17 December 2021.

Our rebuilt archive has been up and running for about nine months now--uneventfully for the most part!--and we are looking to what features we would like to add next. One reason we switched software was so that we could more easily expand the kinds of fanworks we accept and other features our members might find useful.

If you are a member of the SWG archive, please let us know what new features you would like to see us focus on first by taking our brief survey.

The survey is open for one week, so please respond no later than Sunday, 12 December 2021.

Image by Sven Lachmann from Pixabay. Image is in the public domain.

Site Updates and Fixes

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 1 December 2021. Last updated on 3 December 2021.

We have a few small site updates and fixes to share:

- We received multiple requests to define the warning tags we use on the site, and we've finally done it! You can find them here. Thanks to the inclusivity committee for their input here.

- I've written an FAQ on notifications for comments and comment replies.

- The broken links in the Comments column on the My Fanworks page is finally fixed! I thought it'd be easy! It was not ... but at last I got it figured out.

A few reminders:

- We're still looking for volunteers to help with several areas of managing the site and producing content for the site.

- If you are a creator on our archive and want to receive comment notifications, please check your comment settings under My Account, then click the Edit tab. (There's a handy FAQ on how to do this!) A recent bug in one of our modules may have caused your notifications to switch off. If you want to check to see if you've missed comments, you can find all of your comments on the My Comments page.

Update! I've also fixed the issue where, if you saved a draft fanwork by unchecking the Published tickbox at the bottom of the submission form, that draft was not listed anywhere on the site. If you didn't save a link, you were out of luck. Now, if you go to you My Fanworks page and scroll to the bottom, you should see your draft fanworks listed there.

Make a Wishlist!

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 17 November 2021. Last updated on 10 January 2022.

Holiday traditions around the world involve the giving of gifts, and no challenge worthy of the name Holiday Party would be complete without the chance to shower your fellow fans with acts of kindness. We first debuted wishlists during our Block Party challenge, held during the covid lockdowns of April 2020, and we're bringing them back for this holiday season.

Wishlists are simple: You can ask for up to three things related to Tolkien fandom and fanworks. And you can grant as many wishes as you want. What can you ask for? Fanworks, comments, playlists, recommendations, art--if it's related to Tolkien and Tolkien fanworks, you can ask for it!

Please note that wishlists are not a swap or exchange. We ask that people who make a wishlist do their best to fill at least one wish for another person, but this certainly isn't required. And while we hope that everyone that grants a wish also has one of their wishes granted, we can't guarantee that.

What do you need to get started? You can get started granting wishes here. And don't forget to create a wishlist for yourself.

Banner image created by Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan (public domain).

New Challenge: Holiday Party

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 14 November 2021. Last updated on 10 January 2022.

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!

Don't be overwhelmed - this challenge can be as low key as you choose to make it. You only need to complete one of the many prompts to collect your stamp. Prompts may also be completed at any time during the challenge, not just the day it is assigned.

See our Holiday Party challenge for the complete list of prompts and events!

We Are Looking for Volunteers

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 31 October 2021. Last updated on 10 January 2022.

Do you value the SWG and want to get involved at a level beyond sharing fanworks, reading fanworks, and leaving comments! Volunteer!

We are currently seeking volunteers for the following jobs on our site.

Around the World and Web Scout

Around the World and Web is a long-running section of our site that aims to signal-boost events, resources, and content of interest to visitors to our site. Scouts are volunteers who find content that might be of interest to SWG members and guests and post it to our site.

We are specifically looking for scouts for the following sites. If you are a part of the Tolkien fandom on these sites, why not consider sharing what you find with the SWG?

  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • the #signal-boosts channel on the SWG Discord server

How much time should I expect to spend as a scout?

The scout position is highly flexible in the amount of time required. You should expect to spend a few hours each month at a minimum, though you can of course spend more time if you want.

What are the requirements for a scout?

  • Familiarize yourself with the requirements for posting to Around the World and Web.
  • Use the form we provide on the site to share events, resources, and content that might interest visitors to our site.
  • Communicate with the site moderators if you are unable to complete your responsibilities or have questions about your job. Elleth is the moderator who runs the Around the World and Web section.

I'm interested! What next?

Contact the site moderators and let us know if you want to focus on scouting for a particular site. We'll get you set up with the permissions you need to start posting right away!

Note that we will also assign the Scout role to event organizers who wish to post announcements about their event on our site. You will also need to be familiar with the guidelines for Around the World and Web, but we will only expect to see new announcements from you about your event. Again, contact the mods to have this permission added.

Art Editor

The art editor will work with contributors to our newsletter and Reference Library to find artwork for their articles and essays.

How much time should I expect to spend as an art editor?

The art editor position varies based on upcoming publications in the newsletter and References. You should expect to spend one to three hours per week as an art editor.

What are the requirements for an art editor?

  • Familiarity with sites where Tolkien-based fanart is frequently posted (e.g., DeviantArt, Tumblr), including how to use them to contact artists.
  • Communication with newsletter and reference writers to discuss the direction of their work and preferences for art that will accompany it.
  • Communication with artists whose work is selected to obtain permission and discuss requirements for using the artist's work, such as how the artist would like to be credited.
  • The ability to complete the above steps within a week under most circumstances, or communicate with the Reference editors if you are unavailable or cannot meet a deadline.
  • The ideal art editor will have a high level of familiarity with the Tolkien fanart community and existing positive relationships with artists; however, all experience levels are encouraged to apply for this job.

I'm interested! What next?

Contact the site moderators and tell us a little bit about yourself! What is your experience with the Tolkien fanart and fanfiction communities? If you have prior experience leading projects, collaborating with others, or communicating with others, tell us about it!

New Challenge: Gnome Tome

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 16 October 2021. Last updated on 14 November 2021.

September's release of The Nature of Middle-earth, edited by Carl Hostetter, has generated a lot of discussion in the Tolkien fandom, to say the least. There are delightful details that expand on the legendarium we already know and love. There are some brief meanders down canonical roads swiftly abandoned. There is a shocking amount of math. Reactions to the NoMe (or, as we have come to lovingly know it, the Gnome Tome) have run the gamut from amusement to outrage.

In honor of more than four hundred new pages of Tolkien content, October's Gnome Tome challenge features a random prompt generator stocked with 170 quotes, concepts, and potential storylines from the Gnome Tome. Don't have the book? No problem! It is not required to connect your response to the new book. As always, you are welcome to use the prompts however you want, and we've intentionally included a lot that are open-ended and will hopefully generate thoughts and fanworks that can range well beyond this one book. Additionally, you are welcome to roll the prompt generator as many times as it takes to get a prompt you are excited to work with.

The Gnome Tome prompt generator can be found here. Full challenge guidelines can be found in the Challenges section of our site. To receive a stamp for the challenge, Gnome Tome responses should be posted no later than 10 November 2021.

Character of the Month: Uinen

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 22 September 2021. Last updated on 5 March 2022.

The Ainur were among the first characters to take their places in Tolkien's legendarium and some of the most unchanged as the tales evolved. Yet there were subtle changes in how Tolkien wrote his pantheon of demiurgic deities that reflect ethical and stylistic shifts in how Tolkien depicted Arda. The sea deity Uinen is one such case study. Initially a primal nature goddess associated with mermaids, Uinen would evolve into one of the chief protectors of seafaring peoples in the legendarium. This month's Character of the Month biography by Dawn Felagund traces how Uinen's characterization unfolded across decades of writing and revision.

You can read Uinen's biography here.

New Challenge: Dear Irmo

Posted by Dawn Felagund on 14 September 2021. Last updated on 16 October 2021.

What is at least 330 years old and deliciously salacious? A young Glorfindel? A Númenórean king having a midlife crisis? That wheel of cheese lost in the darkest corner of the Bag End larder? All of the above, right?? (Well, maybe not the cheese …) And also …

... advice columns! 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.

Prompts for this month's challenge will be an actual advice column, tweaked just slightly to make it more relevant for Middle-earth. You can use your prompt however you want. Answer the question with a fanwork! Create a fanwork about the dilemma described! Take a passage, phrase, or even just a single word to inspire your fanwork! We encourage you to be creative in how you use your prompts. (And remember that names and other details about the identities of "LWs" are changed to protect the guilty, so swap out characters as you please!) You can choose your own prompt from our collection of letters.

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 10 October 2021. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page.