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
Start to Finish
Choose one of the famous first lines from the list below and use it to start your story. If you are creating a fanwork other than writing, you may use one of the first lines to inspire your fanwork. 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.
Of course he overthinks it--how could he not?! But I love how he reaches out to Elrond--not wanting Elrond to feel slighted or lesser. Takes a brother to know that. And what a lovely letter, so tender, funny and self-deprecating. Vintage Maedhros.
brilliant epilogue to the story but I'm still hoping for more.
Wow, thank you so much for your lovely comment! I'm so glad the decisions Maedhros made felt realistic and true to form. And yes, grumpy Erestor is best Erestor. He's such a mom friend.
I hope you like the new chapter, and thanks again!
Oh dear nostalgic Gil! We all have those favorites from our youth--sometimes they taste the same and sometimes the wish remains unfulfilled.
I like the idea of challah and matzah. And yes matzah would have been the bread of the journey.
poor Erestor! I torture him with Fëanorian issues in my fics too.
Dear distractable Maglor. His idea to bake together is lovely--he might even have a clue how to do it, since I assume chores were shared in Fëanor and Nerdanel'a household!
but I have a feeling Cook would have preferred to make it rather than have this lot mess up the royal kitchens!
Aww, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun with these characters. Maglor, when left to his own devices, I always imagine as rather daydreamy - althogh he's certainly clever and cunning when he needs to be. After all, we saw how he charmed Erestor, even if it was just for some bread! And yes, I think the cook will only allow them in the kitchens on the condition that they clean up after themselves! But I think Gil is relatively informal with his household, and they know him well enough to know he'd clean up after himself anyways.
THEY TOOK BETS!! I'm dying. I love Maedhros deliberating over what to say and Fingon just diving in! So in character. But Maedhros actually divulged more than I expected. He's mellowing amd Fingon is rubbing off on him.
Erestor is SO DONE with this family--pretty much every generation of it and I love that. I feel a great amount of affection for this story. Really love it.
Oh my gosh, thank you! It means so much to me to hear that. I am a big fan of angst with happy endings - and I figure the whole of the Silm is the angst part, so it's up to me to come up with the happy ending. I'm always nervous about my characters feeling like themselves, so I'm glad that came across - thank you for your lovely comment!
I like how much you get out of the epistolary form: you keep finding telling descriptions of the ways in which the letters are written and read, as well as of course the text of the letters themselves.
Thank you! I was never entirely satisfied with the novels I've read that were entirely epistolary, so I wanted to have a sense of what was going on in the background. (And as someone who teaches writing, I couldn't resist showing the process of actually composing the letters!) So glad you liked it!
Thank you! I've always found it very powerful when I go to museums and remember that real people made and used the things I was seeing. (My favorite is a tablet from several thousand years ago complaining about a shady copper merchant. That one really resonated, haha.) And in a similar vein, it's fun to explore the more personal moments with these characters. Sometimes it's so awkward you've just gotta laugh! Thank you again!
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.