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: Potluck Bingo Sit down to a delicious selection of prompts served on bingo boards, created by the SWG community.
Bingo Cards Wanted for Potluck Bingo Our November-December challenge will be Potluck Bingo, featuring cards created by you! If you'd like to create cards or prompts for cards, we are taking submissions.
Tolkien Meta Week, December 8-14 We will be hosting a Tolkien Meta Week in December, here on the archive and on our Tumblr, for nonfiction fanworks about Tolkien.
New Challenge: Orctober Orcs on a quest for freedom seek a place sheltered and safe from the Dark Lord. Fulfill prompts to gather the clues needed to bring them to freedom.
A series of articles featuring fan-made maps of all the lands of Arda. Part III explores the island of Númenor and mainland Middle-earth during the Second Age.
Created for the 'Geography/Maps/Places' prompt on the "Tolkien meta" bingo board, this is a collection of maps marked with the various people groups showing how they arrived and moved about Beleriand. This collection focuses specifically on the time from the arrival of the Teleri, Vanyar, and…
This is an analysis on whether the Sindar ate the Petty-dwarves during the years they hunted them, completed for the 'Literary Analysis' prompt on the "Tolkien Meta" bingo card.
Current Challenge
Potluck Bingo
Help yourself to a collection of prompts on bingo boards designed by members and friends of the SWG. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Inspiration
Your characters inspire you--but what inspires them? Consider what inspires your characters to act and create. Read more ...
A series of articles featuring fan-made maps of all the lands of Arda. Part III explores the island of Númenor and mainland Middle-earth during the Second Age.
A reworking of the 2018 article for Long Live Feedback that includes data from the 2020 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey, pointing to a lack of comments as related to skill, confidence, and community connection.
Part of our Themed Collection series for our newsletter, this collection features fiction, artwork, and essays that transcend the idea of Orcs as the enemy, instead considering their humanity.
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.
Lord of the Rings Secret Santa 2024
LotR SESA has been ongoing for twenty-one years and is running again this year as a prompt meme hosted on AO3 for all genres of Tolkien-based fanfiction.
Kiliel Week 2024
Kiliel Week is a Tumblr event for fanworks about the Kili/Tauriel pairing.
November challenge at tolkienshortfanworks
The challenge for November has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth. Thematic prompt: refuge. Formal challenge: include imitation of a sound. As always, these can be filled independently and also freely combined with SWG and other challenges. New participants welcome!
The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.
Oh how delightful! I just love what compels him to check out these two Elves!
Your descriptions of the two, Miriel occupied w ith her craft, the primitive crown Finwe wore, were a nice touch. I also love Gandalf being fascinated with the curiosity and compassion he saw in Finwe's mind (the same qualities that would later attract him to hobbits).
Best of all was him playing Cupid! Just such a subtle little nudge, to let them know their feelings were requited. Adorable!
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. :) I realized that the quote could have meant that he traveled among the Elves unseen at many points in their history, but I could not get Cuivienen out of my mind. Which opened the obvious possibility of him advising them about Valinor ... but that seemed too heavy (and I'm not sure that "wisdom" in that case was actually going to Valinor). I like the idea of Gandalf's influence coming through the small and the humble, so this seemed a good instance of first contact.
Eee! I could absolutely picture Olórin doing something like this. And the description of Elven thoughts vs. Ainur thoughts, the similarities and differences, is great.
I love this. It is just so charming and imaginative. I really will be unable to imagine young Miriel and Finwe any other way in the future. Finwe's crown! I adore it and love him in it. Oh, Dawn. This is perfect. I needed this today.
I really love Finwe and Miriel, but Olórin also is one of my all-time favorites!
Aww, thank you! :D I loved Dreamflower's prompt, which was something I'd read a hundred times and never really thought about. I always envision Finwe as a rather playful and childlike character, despite his accomplishments. I suppose the cliche way to say it would be that he "has a big heart"! :) He wants badly to love and be loved.
I haven't written too much Miriel, but all the talk over how fast *I* talk of late makes me feel connected to her, so I kind of wrote self-insert!Miriel, I guess. ;)
Olorin, of course, is the most challenging of all for me, but he's ultimately a fun character, which is nice.
Thank you again for reading and commenting! (Let me know if you want a story. I feel like all you've been through, you deserve one.)
I enjoyed this--the amost inconsequential way it starts and the angle it gives on the characterization of Finwe and Miriel.
I never imagined Olorin doing that sort of thing at Cuivienen, already, or indeed concerning himself with people's love life at all, so that came as a delightful surprise.
Neither did I! :) But when Dreamflower requested a ficlet about that particular line, I couldn't get Cuivienen out of my mind (even though the quote certainly doesn't even *imply* it). And I was thinking, "What kind of wisdom might he have passed on there?" I couldn't see him encouraging the Elves to accept the summons (because I don't find that particularly wise), and there are only a limited number of characters present there at all. So I happened on this idea. :)
I loved this--the characterization and the descriptions--such richly imagined details and such a light touch in hinting at the feelings at the core of it...
I really like this! The characterizations are wonderful. So are the details. (I'm especially fond of the pen borrowing and Maglor's unspoken thought about it not being returned. I'm guilty of keeping track of things like that, too.) And then Fëanor having to practically run out of Maglor's room in order to avoid being caught!
Thank you, Indy! I'm glad you liked it. :) I am guilty of the thing with the pens too: When I was in middle and high school, I hated lending pens to peers because, if they forgot to give them back (which they usually did), I couldn't forget it, yet I was too shy to ask for the pen back, so I'd just watch them using it day in and day out and think, "THAT'S MY PEN YOU" *ahem* Anyway. So yes, that one was true to life, I'm afraid! :)
LOvely- such a visual image, the dye running crimson, her hands lifting the garment, his mind wanting to mend and fix. And I love that you have Olorin's voice tell this- curious and gentle.
Another lovely glimpse into their lives along the lines of AMC-for which I love you deeply. Love the chaos, the absorption of the various sons, the slightly potty way they live and work and are genius!
I'm laughing at the bird brain! :D I honestly hadn't thought much about the Eagles as characters until Baranduin's request. But the usual urge to write unusual perceptions made this an interesting piece to write (even if I was worried enough about it to hold onto it for months ... when I wrote it, there was still snow on the ground! A lot of snow!)
Wow, this is awesome. I suppose I've always presumed the Eagles' consciousness to be as human-like as it is eagle-like; this is a fascinating look at a much more eagle-with-a-lowercase-L consciousness with well-timed infusions of humanity.
I'm glad you thought it was awesome! :) I wrote this piece months ago and could never quite bring myself to post it. Mostly because it's weird. And then a comment from Baranduin over the weekend on something entirely unrelated made me think, "Dawn, you're being pretty silly and pretty rude at this point, to hold a requested story this long without posting it." So I posted it finally. (Now I just need to WRITE the rest of the Mythmoot mathoms!)
I enjoy writing perspectives on the fringes of humanity (or unusual perspectives generally). I hadn't thought much about the Eagles as characters before this piece and could see going just as easily in a more human-like direction in the future, but this particular perspective was too tempting to resist this time.
Comments
The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.