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.
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…
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…
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
Turgon's Rock Opera
On the anniversary of the publication of "The Silmarillion," we’re reflecting on the importance of music in Arda with prompts that come from rock songs. Read more ...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
Hi Indy! I confess, I couldn't wait, so I read it myself. :-) I absolutely love this perspective you have taken with this. I wasn't sure how you would go about it, but I really like that you took the perspective of a member of the Faithful right before her wedding day. I loved the conversation bewteen Mestie and her mother. I imagine it must have been very difficult for the Faithful during the rule of Ar-Gimilzor, and I love how you illustrated that struggle throuh Mestie as she prepared for her big day. I do hope she and her husband will exchange the Sindarin vows in private. :-)
I really like Mestie, and I hope you will write her more. I also loved that you picked the family business being a fabric store. I was grinning over that. Yes, I would love to see more of Mestie.
This was wonderful, short, but very potent and raises lots of questions about how fr is too far for a leader to go.
I\'m really glad you like the perspective. It\'s always a risk writing a fic consisting solely of OCs, and even more risky when the point-of-view character is a woman.
I think the only time it was worse was during Pharazôn\'s reign, and that\'s because they had to worry about being sacrificed.
They did. :)
This is the first of a duology, and the second one should be posted tomorrow. *laughs* I picked something that could be easily have been in the family for generations and could be for generations more. Since people will always need fabric, it seemed logical.
Yes, it does indeed raise uncomfortable questions.
This is short, but you've crammed quite a lot into a short piece. You've got the Faithful trying to adjust to the new laws and trying to sort out what's allowed and what's forbidden (is it okay for an elf to be at the wedding or not?), some of them leaving Numenor to seek safer/friendlier homes (Lond Daer), and finally a bride-to-be feeling as if her wedding somehow isn't quite right if the vows aren't spoken in the correct language.
That last point almost calls to mind some of the feelings of long time Catholics after Vatican II, when the altar was suddenly turned around and the Latin Mass went away.
I\'m glad you caught the significance of all the little details. When I saw it posted last night, I nearly panicked, because I\'d forgotten how much I\'d actually put in.
I hadn\'t even thought of the Vatican II parallel! But it fits.
That was a lovely--and fun-- piece. Rebellious young people are awesome! ;-) It must have been so frustratring for the Faithful to see their way of life so altered, and I really eenjoyed this glimpse into how they went about it. Great job!
I\'m glad you enjoyed it! I wrote it focusing on OCs instead of the court because we know why Ar-Gimilzôr did it, and I found it more interesting to see how people reacted to it. Thank you!
That was a lovely--and fun-- piece. Rebellious young people are awesome! ;-) It must have been so frustratring for the Faithful to see their way of life so altered, and I really eenjoyed this glimpse into how they went about it. Great job!
What a wonderful brief glimpse in the life of a 'normal' Numenorean with her hopes, dreams and worries. A new law is in place and yet she tries to see if there is a way around it, it feels as if we'd also do if we can.
This bit:
“With the king acting as he is, I cannot help but fear.” She stood up and kissed my forehead. “If necessary, leave Númenor and move near us. It’s safer there.”
It leaves me wishing for more! Very concisely written with an impact!
The normality of her life is what really makes this story: too many Númenorean fics focus on the court and/or the nobility, and I wanted to do something different. I\'m glad you think it had an impact, because I was worried about that with such a short piece.\r\n\r\nAs for wishing for more, this is the first in a duology. :)
An excellent tidbit, Indy. I love fics with OCs of any sort really and those that take a look at the 'common folk' of Middle-earth cultures are particularly appealing. This certainly fits the bill. I also like the implication that Númenóreans are leaving their homeland and fleeing persecution and an increasingly tumultuous society.
I'm hoping that this little gem might just be the seed crystal for a larger work. :^)
Thank you! I\'m glad you like the \"common folk\" OCs, because I haven\'t seen too many of them, which is a shame. I can\'t imagine that Númenóreans wouldn\'t flee, Faithful and not. Civil unrest has always caused it, for those who can afford to leave.
Not unless you count \"Falling Stars.\" I have no desire to further work with these characters-- I\'ve told their story. :)
Indeed, a very thought-provoking and well written glimpse at the everyday life of young people that were carefree and sometimes rebellious, but most of all they wanted to be happy and live their lives as they wished. Thank you for sharing :)
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.