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.
Founded in 2005, the Silmarillion Writers' Guild exists for discussions of and creative fanworks based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion and related texts. We are a positive-focused and open-minded space that welcomes fans from all over the world and with all levels of experience with Tolkien's works. Whether you are picking up Tolkien's books for the first time or have been a fan for decades, we welcome you to join us!
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.
Cultus Dispatches: Fandom Chocolate … or Authors Love Comments
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data provides insight into how comments benefit authors and which authors are most impacted by a lack of comments, with a digression on authors' perspectives one-click feedback like kudos.
A Sense of History: Passing Ships
As Tolkien's characters in various texts gaze out to the sea, what do they see? What is brought by the ships coming out of the West?
Beta-Reader List Now Available
The beta-reader list and profiles have been moved into our new system and are available again.
[Writing] An exercise in music... And patience by Aprilertuile
Makalaurë was sitting at the harp in his music room. He was holding a dark blindfold in his hands and was looking at it with much scepticism.
[Writing] No Time Have I by Flora-lass
A Silmarillion acrostic.
[Writing] I called it Fate that I should fail by AdmirableMonster
Nimruzimir, a natural philosopher recently out of his apprenticeship, hardly considers himself very important to anyone, least of all his colleagues. When his strange, prophetic fits bring him to the attention of the High Priest, however, he may find that his existence is less superfluous than…
[Writing] All of you by chrissystriped
Elrond and Celebrían celebrate their anniversary with their family.
[Writing] Lament for the Singer by daughterofshadows
A short thing about Maglor, death and grieving.
[Writing] Cosmological Poems of Arda by AaronAzrael
I would like to share my revelations of Tolkien's Universe in the form of narrative and emotional poems.
[Writing] Eä's Redemption by AaronAzrael
This is my new poetical attempt to add my own interpretation to Tolkien's Cosmology as to Eru's Creation and the Valar's minds and behind-the-scene providence reasons and mechanisms.. I often review Eä as part of our own world, just in another dimension, this is why I have always seriously…
Bollywood
Prompts this month are films, songs, and tropes from India's dazzling film industry, Bollywood. Read more ...
Arda Underground
Take the dark back streets of one of Arda's cities, explore an unsigned tavern or hovel, and meet the people too insignificant or unsavory to make it into the history books. Read more ...
Fandom Chocolate … or Authors Love Comments by Dawn Walls-Thumma
[]Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data shows that authors view comments as driving their motivation to create fanfiction. However, perception of comments by authors is part of a larger shift in fandom around how and how often fans interact with each other.
Passing Ships by Simon J. Cook
[]The arrival and departure of ships across the Great Sea carries mythic significance for the peoples of Middle-earth. The image of ships crossing out of and back into a mysterious West appears as well in Beowulf and is alluded to in Tolkien's tower analogy in his lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics," where the tower allows those who climb it to observe the passage of the ships.
Fanfiction and the Serious Business of Writer's Craft by Dawn Walls-Thumma
[]Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data shows that while most authors self-identify as taking their craft seriously, a growing subset of authors may be pushing that norm.
[Writing] Staging a Battle by StarSpray
[]He and Diamond were visiting, though Pippin had been disappearing every afternoon, and taking Frodo and Elanor and most other lads and lasses in the neighborhood with him—though why they couldn’t use Pippin’s own pony, Sam couldn’t imagine.
[Writing] From whose bourn no traveller returns by losselen
[]So gathered they were to Bree, what lieutenants who could be spared, from their scattered watches west and east, for their chieftain had returned from his long sojourn in lands godless and mountains strange.
Aragorn returns from the South to tells his tales. Halbarad listens.
[Writing] Sand Sorcery by StarSpray
[]It is well known that Psamathos does not leave his cove. He does not like to get his feet wet, and prefers to spend his days dozing under the sun.
Fellowship of the Fics: Summer Stories 2024
Fellowship of the Fics offers four weeks of summer-themed prompts during the month of July.
Elrond Week 2024
Elrond Week is a fandom event dedicated to Elrond Peredhel that will run from July 10th to July 16th on Tumblr.
July challenge at tolkienshortfanworks posted
The tolkienshortfanworks challenge for July has been posted to the Dreamwidth community. The thematic challenge is: original character or unnamed canon character; the formal challenge: fixed length of multiple of 50 words. New participants welcome.
July 2024 Call for Papers and Proposals
Conferences and publications that have open calls for papers and proposals in July 2024.
Teitho June/July Challenge: Mentor
The June/July prompt for the Teitho challenge is "mentor" and invites fanworks about this relationship in Tolkien's works.
Hi,
me again. If you are thinking that I'm reading only you for the past couple of days, you are very right. All your stories are very good, but I must admitt that this one (along with the Melkian dialogues and the Sundry) has impressed me greatly.
The cruelty of this is genuine, especially of the conversation between Sauron and Gelmir after they had blinded him (but probably the effect of this would not be so strong if there hadn't been any preparations for it (I mean, there is a harmony of tone over the whole story - the torch, Varda's light, his eyes, Sauron's bet - very nice)). Sauron in this story has one of the best portraits I have ever come across to. Gelmir's fate is one of the rare really disturbing accounts of what is men reduced to when he abandons his highest hope. To cite Nietzsche: 'Please, don't kill the hero inside yourself. Regard your highest hope to be holy.' I think this quotation relates quite well with your story.
When I was reading this (your story) for the first time, I haven't noticed that you have mentioned a story of Camus as the 'template'. I'm a great admirerer of Camus, but I haven't read 'The Renegade'. However, I recognize some elements in your story that certainly have something of his greatness, especially the indifference of things ('the gentle indifference' as Camus would put it - the torch), the whole account of Gelmir's thoughts before his execution, the theme of execution (Camus obssesion, certainly), and the cruelty that actually gets a 'thank you' after her dirty work has been done. Of course, I don't think that the understanding and use of these were the right of Camus alone - out of the idea of incorporation of these in your story lurks also a greatness that is your own.
Easily the best story on this site.
Hi Belegur,
Thanks very much. I'm glad you enjoyed the story so much! I would heartily recommend Camus' short story 'The Renegade,' as I was definitely going for a similar style and theme with this piece (and rereading it now, I find it almost too blatant an homage in some ways).
I'm pleased you liked Sauron's portrayal here. I enjoy writing him a bit too much, I think. He likes to try and steal any story I place him in. Re: Nietzsche quote, that's an interpretation I would not have thought of. To my mind, Gelmir's highest hope is what lands him in so much trouble to begin with, but I'm rather a cynic. In your third paragraph, you do pick up on a lot of the things I was trying to accomplish with this story, and I'm delighted you got so much out of it.
And that is a most flattering closing remark, but have you read every single story on this site before making it? ;) There is a plethora of impressive work by many authors here on the SWG; that's why I like to archive here! =D
Eeps! How can do that to me? (I am quite surprised I had not reviewed this before. Scanned the archive and saw it again and saw I had not--probably hurt too much.)
Devastating story. Painful and heartbreaking and all too believable. Masterful. You're such a good writer.
Oh hey, thanks so much, Oshun! Coincidentally, I recently reread this one after not looking at it in a long time. I'm glad to hear (if glad is the right word) that it evokes the sentiments its subject matter ought.
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