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.
SWG News
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.
New & Updated Fanworks
[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…
[Artwork] Map of Valinor by Aprilertuile
My newly drawn map of Aman, as complete as I could make it.
Current Challenge
Bollywood
Prompts this month are films, songs, and tropes from India's dazzling film industry, Bollywood. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Season's Greetings
Create a fanwork in which one (or several) of the holidays of Middle-earth plays a role. Read more ...
New in References
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.
Beyond the Silmarillion
[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.
Around the World and Web
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.
Streams of Time by Leithriel
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A Friend's Resolve (Prologue)
Namo sighed in exasperation once more. It was bad enough that he had a determined elf on his hands, but the fact that said elf was backed up by his own brother made it ten times worse.
"Can't it be done?" Beleg insisted
"C'mon brother. You bent the rules for Beren and Luthien, why can't you do it now too?" Irmo pouted
"That was a one time exception." Namo insisted "I've made my decision."
"Have you?" a feminine voice cut in "If you don't let us do this, I will tell Feanor the real reason you doomed him and his house."
Namo stared at Nellas.......then stared at her some more.
"That won't work on me, o mighty Doomsman of the Valar." Nellas stated smugly
"May I propose another idea?" Irmo interjected "If you or Eru won't release Hurin and his family from the Void so they can re-join Beleg and Nellas in life, then maybe you could send Beleg and Nellas back in time, so that they can save them."
"That's.....actually not a bad suggestion, little bro." Namo hummed thoughtfully "Let's see if Eru agrees."
At his declaration, a cloud of shining white light appeared, pulsating. It and Namo engaged in a silent conversation with one another, before the cloud disappeared as abruptly as it had appeared.
"Eru says yes." Namo confirmed "It shall be done."
With that, he snapped his fingers. Beleg and Nellas disappeared from the Halls abruptly.
"Just wait till others hear of this." Irmo teased "You'll never live it down."
Both brothers looked up as they heard stomping. The source of it was someone they knew very well.
"How typical." Irmo said, dryly
"Why did you bend the rules for the sake of those filthy mortals, but not for us?!" Feanor demanded
" 'I'd bend the rules for you any time, Feanaro'." Irmo sang " 'As long as I have you to keep my nights warm'."
"That's not what I said!" Namo jumped up from his throne
"Then why did you make it so that he and his people would be able to die?" Irmo asked slyly "Or manipulated the events so that he'd be the first to kick the bucket, thus ensuring his body and mind would be unbroken by Melkor? And making sure he never left your Halls?"
Namo said nothing to that.
"It's because you wanted him in your Halls, unharmed." Irmo continued triumphantly
