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
Heroes
Create a fanwork about a hero, whether the typical saves-the-world type or the unlikely, unsung, and accidental, those who have been forgotten or perhaps were never noticed at all, who made their worlds a better place. 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.
I love this! It is very... atmospheric. It captures the mood and feeling of a place in time in just a few short sentences. It also feels very homey, and sweet too the way Fëanor and Nerdanel kiss.
I forgot to add that I loved the juxtaposition of the solitude of Fëanor reading by candlelight, and the connection of sharing it with Nerdanel. I think it came across very well. It is very much in character, I think.
Maedhros' feeling more tortured by the look in Findekano's eyes and the loss of those he loved than anything Angband can throw at him, shows what type of Elf he was.
Nothing wrong with fried potatoes every now and then! I laughed at Celegorm's friends' jokes. And then the laughter sort of stuck in my throat when Celegorm comes home and knows that his father is going to disapprove of travelling and conversing with animals without the intention of writing about it later! Can't be easy to be a jock-type guy in that brainiac family. I really liked this!
I love the descriptions in this. I love Maglor's sense of disorientation, and Elrond following the stars rather than properly knowing where to find him. Above all, I love the idea that Maglor is going to find a home with Elrond, at least for a while!
Oh, gosh, thank you! I just need them to be happy! I like to imagine Maglor becomes official chief babysitter for his kids and lives happily ever after.
The light of the fire illuminates the soft curve of Haleth’s cheeks, catching the edge of the crinkles in her skin around her eyes and mouth—wrinkles, they are called. They are beautiful, he decides. She is beautiful.
This is adorable! I like to think Celebrimbor had a wonderful upbringing with his father and uncles before everything began to fall apart and the dradle fits perfectly into this as something Curufin would think to design for Celebrimbor to enjoy. Plus, children and candy...no surprises there.
This is rather nostalgic for me. I too was taught about Hanukkah as a child. Apparently I had a Jewish great grandmother on my father's side and my mother wanted to teach me a little about my background, including the dradle. I don't remember a lot of it now, though.
Thank you! I tend to envision Curufin pretty darkly, and I thought it would be a nice challenge to write something happy and loving for him. Like you point out, no one starts out that way, and not everything that happened to him was his fault. I enjoyed writing him this way!
I'm so glad the piece touhed you -- and if you ever want to play a game, just come visit! :)
Aww, it's so nice to see Curufin being a good dad! And if anyone would come up with a toy/gambling game involving letters, it's bound to be this family. Great idea! :D
Poor Amras. Losing a twin must be harrowing. Yearning to have that other piece of yourself there with you but not being able to feel it, or be one with it on a level he was used to, must be a type of torture.
I hope this musing doesn't sound weird in any way. Just trying to understand what being a twin means.
Oh! I love this! The Avari and Atani becoming Amrod's people.
It fits him perfectly.
I don't know why but I've always seen the twins as a bit of an oddity compared to their older brothers. Almost like they don't fit the Feanorion norm. Or don't fit into the mould of a Feanorion. I see them as a wild pair-maybe that's why the Avari and Atani suit them so much.
Thank you! I've always seen the twins that way as well -- they struck me as more independent than any of their older brothers (and far less interested in all the drama). Many peoples passed through or settles in their lands, and I'd like to think they enjoyed a happy relationship with those peoples. I'm American, so I grew up on the very idealized rhetoric of "the great melting pot," and so I saw an outlet for that in the context of fiction. :)
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.