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.
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.
[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.
Bollywood
Prompts this month are films, songs, and tropes from India's dazzling film industry, Bollywood. Read more ...
Naturalist's Guide to Middle-earth
Sneak a peek into notebooks of the scholars and explorers of Middle-earth, with prompts that are images from historical naturalist publication. Read more ...
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.
[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.
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.
I loved this one! I don't normally read Erestor since he's not canon enough for my stingy rules. But you have me convinced!
With a few changes it fits in with our own lives. That's what I liked the best about this. Museums, Fingon and Earwen were all very convincing.
Sorry that I did not thank you for reading and reviewing earlier. Due to moving I have been offline most of the last month and a half.
I am thrilled that you enjoyed it. Erestor is not exactly a Silm character in a strict view of canon, but his lack of origins open him up to fanficcers giving him one. I've always liked imagining him as a Noldor with a history in Aman personally. Glad I suspending your disbelief here.
Hi Oshun,
I decided to post my MEFA review here for this great story.
I simply adore Oshun's ability to depict nuanced, in-depth, living, breathing characters. This story is a brilliant portrait of Erestor returning to Valinor and finding himself caught up in unfinished business from his youth, his infatuation with the handsome Finarfin. When the [very married] King unexpectedly returns his affection, Erestor becomes involved in an affair that cannot possibly end well. This was a swap fic request and I appreciate how completely the story fit all the particulars of Darth's request, down to the fact that Eärwen is most emphatically not "soppily happy for them."
There is so much to admire in this story. First of all, Oshun did a great job with the setting. I can visualize the pageantry of the party in the beautiful palace with all its grandeur and history, the costumes, the musicians sawing away in the corner, the mouth-watering menu. All of it seen through Erestor's eyes as he tries to reconcile his memories of the place and the person he was then with who he is now. The history of the Noldor is deftly woven into this story, and it's gratifying to know that much of the painful wounds have been successfully healed. Fingon makes an appearance, remarking about the portrait of his grisly death in the new Museum of Rebellion, Flight, and Reconciliation. (I love that.) But of course you can't completely go home again, as Erestor discovers.
Oshun depicts the characters beautifully, including a fully healed, playful, and pregnant Celebrian who warns Erestor to ["guard your heart well, Erestor. My grandfather is still a gorgeous man. And still very married."] and a tiny but powerful Eärwen who does not hesitate to confront Erestor in order to protect her marriage and the kingdom. We can feel Erestor's loneliness after his failed relationships and his yearning for that love of his youth, all of which makes him vulnerable to Finarfin's advances. I love his self-awareness of his state, and yet inability to stop himself, which is so true to life. [Erestor recognized the exquisite pain of letting down the last self-protective barriers around his heart. ‘I'm a menace to myself,' he thought.]
With Finarfin, we get the impression of a good man, who has a certain amount of ennui in his marriage (it is forever after all) and is now indulging his own need for romance and for new experiences since he's never had a relationship with a man before, as well as working out his past attraction for Erestor. The love scene is so well done, with its sometimes less than romantic details, such as that wonderfully awkward first kiss and Erestor's numb leg. Their attraction feels very genuine. [It was on those occasions that Erestor realized Finarfin appeared protective of their time together as if uncertain of how long it could last. But the quiet kisses or fierce lovemaking, the talks, the stillness in each other's arms, were not something Erestor could sacrifice simply because it would be sensible for him to end it before Finarfin did.] The fact that the story ends with uncertainty as to what will happen (although we can guess that Erestor will end the affair) works beautifully. Life is messy like this. I'm left with an aching in my heart for all of them. A story that will join my list of favorites.
Cheers,
~elfscribe
It's so nice of you to do this. Those MEFA reviews are a lot of work. Good idea to share. Think I will do the same.
Copy of my MEFA review:
This is certainly not a pairing I’d think of looking for and, in fact, it seems Oshun didn’t think of pairing Finarfin and Erestor originally herself, but accepted a challenge. However, she’s made an amazing success of it. The setting in fourth-age Tirion is sketched in with just the right amount of detail, the premise that things did not quite work out again between Finarfin and Earwen after his return to Tirion is a likely one, and Erestor is given a detailed enough history to make him interact interestingly not only with Elrond and Finarfin, but with others as well.
In a way, this could be read as a sad story. In spite of the relatively open ending, it seems quite possible, perhaps even likely, that Erestor is heading for yet another fall, the sort of emotional entanglement he was desperately trying to avoid from the start. Fingon, in the sub-plot, seems to be embarked on a somewhat hopeless, perhaps even slightly delusional, enterprise.
However, there is plenty here to counteract any possible gloom. There is, for a start, the delightfully recovered Celebrian—she and Elrond are clearly ready to function as an effective support network in case of need. There are the affectionate touches, the humorous touches, the slightly naughty ones (Erestor’s propensity for swearing, that unbelievable museum) and the telling ones. These characters are a pleasure to meet (or meet again). And I’m happy to note that Oshun herself seems to be pleased enough with her version of Erestor to introduce him again, briefly, in her more recent fiction Ulmo’s Palace.
I somehow inexcusably missed thanking you for posting this lovely review here! Thank you!
Wow... what a fiction!
I loved it!
Thank you so much. I put a lot of my heart into this one. I am so thrilled that you liked it. It encompasses a lot of backstory in my head for all of the involved characters and although I never would have thought to write it without the prompts.
You are so kind to me.
I loved the truth expressed in this. Erestor's self-deprecating reaction to being approached by Finarfin and getting involved with him rings very true to how life actually is: complex, messy and uneasily resolved in the best of cases. And the added bits of architecture and tapestries, the larger history of the Noldor comes through nicely. I almost would have liked a bit more about Erestor's history as a Feanorian and how the relationship might end. I was looking for a chapter two before I realized it was a one-shot. I do love the fact that Earwen was not "soppy" in any way, shape or form. Thanks for an engaging read!
I am thrilled that you found this story and read it. I am fond of it and it is not well read. And thank you so much for the lovely comments. Well, the bad news is I haven't written more about Erestor since I wrote this; the good news, I suppose, is that if one sticks around and has the patience to read my work, that I do tend to write all my stories in the same universe. So I do know both the outcome of this affair and more about Erestor as a young man watching his dreams shattered as the Noldorin exiles fail to accomplish their goals. He had enough courage and persistence to build a new life for himself first with Gil-galad and later with Elrond. Thanks again for reading! I am so excited that you enjoyed it.
I was impressed by your depiction of Finarfin.
You managed to portray the highest king of the Noldor, who appears so faraway in the reception, as less then sure of himself, and maybe even a little manipulative at the end with a lover he wants to keep.
I'm impressed, although ofcourse, this makes me like Finarfin less then I usually do.
But Erestor, I love your Erestor. So observant and self aware, and yet besotted, like a teenager again...
The story left me with a feeling of "c'est la vie". Life is never easy.
Thank you for a good read.
Oh, wow, I wasn't expecting this outcome! What a brilliant story you've written, Oshun! Your characters shine through the pages so vividly, and there are so many incredible details in here! I loved how you've woven the history of the Noldor into Celebrían's new home but, more than that, this had elements of comedy, drama, romance... perfectly balanced. Of course, I loved seeing this Finarfin - different from the majority of portrayals - but your Erestor... ah, there's nothing like a well-written Erestor (I love him!) and yours was exceptional. This was truly brilliant!
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