Playlists are collections of songs or other audio with a fannish focus. For example, a playlist might include a soundtrack for a chapter, a collection of favorite podcast episodes, or the songs you listen to most when creating fanworks. The Add New Playlist form will lead you through getting your playlist posted to the SWG archive.
Much of the Add New Playlist form will include optional fields. The only required fields are the title, summary, rating, and a link to at least one song/audio. Optional fields include Character, Genre, and Relationship. We recommend filling in all of the fields as accurately as possible, as this will help readers to find your writing when they search for specific fanworks.
The directions below will lead you through each field on the form and how to fill it out. You'll notice that most fields also have help text on the form itself.
Creating a New Playlist
Title. Type in or paste the title of your playlist here.
Beyond the Silmarillion Fanwork. If you meet the membership criteria for our Beyond the Silmarillion section, you will see a checkbox here to mark if you playlist is a Beyond the Silmarillion fanwork.
Source Text(s). Checking the Beyond the Silmarillion Fanwork checkbox above will allow you to choose the Tolkien text(s) or adaptation(s) that your playlist is based on. If you used an adaptation (film, game, etc) that is missing from the list, use the Moderator Request field below to request to have it added. Hold down CTRL (PC) or Command (Mac) to select more than one source. This field is not available for playlists intended for the main SWG archive.
Co-Creator. If another creator contributed to this playlist, you can add them here. Note that only co-creators who are also SWG members can be added. Begin typing their SWG username and choose it from the dropdown.
If you have multiple co-creators on this fanwork, you can click the Add Another Item button to add additional co-creators.
Important Note: Adding a co-creator does not automatically give them edit access to your fanwork. If you want to grant edit access, you'll do that after saving your fanwork, on the Access Control tab on the next screen. See the access control FAQ for more information.
Language. This field will default to English, so unless you are posting a playlist in a language other than English, you can skip this field. To change the language, begin typing the name of the language (in the language itself, not in English) and choose it from the dropdown. If the language has not been added yet, you can type it in now to add it. If your playlist includes songs in multiple languages, select Multiple.
Please note that only real world languages should be added to this field, not imaginary languages like Quenya and Sindarin.
Summary. The summary is a required field. Provide a brief summary of what the playlist contains or its focus. Information unrelated to the summary, such as challenge prompts, can go in one of the notes fields below.
Major Characters. Major characters are those who are a focus of your playlist. Characters whom you select here will appear in listings of fanworks, in the fanwork information section at the top of the fanwork itself, and in search results for the character.
If you want to select more than one character in this field, hold down CTRL (PC) or Command (Mac) on your keyboard as you select characters. If you need a character who is not included on the list, you can use the Moderator Request field, discussed below. Please note that there are several broader labels to apply to non-Tolkien characters or characters who are unnamed in the texts:
- Agender Unnamed Canon Character
- Unnamed Canon Character
- Female Unnamed Canon Character
- Historical Character(s)
- Legendary/Mythical Character(s)
- Male Unnamed Canon Character
- Nonbinary Unnamed Canon Character
- Original Agender Character(s)
- Original Character(s)
- Original Female Character(s)
- Original Male Character(s)
- Original Nonbinary Character(s)
- Other Fictional Character(s)
- Real Person(s)
Major Relationship. Similar to major characters, a major relationship is the focus of your playlist. Relationships included in this field may be romantic/sexual or platonic. We follow the wider fandom convention of using a slash (/) to denote romantic/sexual relationships, an ampersand (&) to denote friendships, and a plus sign (+) to denote queer platonic and other relationships, where the line between friendship and romance may be blurred. If a relationship in your playlist includes both romantic and another relationship between two characters, please use the slash designation. For example, if your playlist focuses on how the friendship between Fëanor and Nerdanel evolved into a romance, label this playlist "Fëanor/Nerdanel."
To add a Major Relationship, begin typing the name of one of the characters in the relationship and select the relationship you want from the dropdown. Note that, within a relationship, characters are listed alphabetically. For example, if your playlist explores the four-way friendship between Celegorm, Curufin, Angrod, and Aegnor, the relationship is listed on the site as "Aegnor & Angrod & Celegorm & Curufin."
Information entered in the Major Relationship field will appear in listings of fanworks, in the fanwork information section at the top of the fanwork itself, and in search results for the relationship.
If you want to add more than one Major Relationship, use the Add Another Item button. If you need a relationship that is not included on the list, you can use the Moderator Request field, discussed below.
Moderator Request. If a character or relationship in your playlist is not on the list, you can use this field to request that the moderators add them. Note that we only add canon characters from Tolkien's works, and we use the names listed in the "Index of Names" in The Silmarillion. If you do not need a character or relationship, leave this field blank. If you would like us to add the character or relationship as a minor character or minor relationship, indicate this in your request; otherwise, all characters and relationships will be added in the major character and relationship fields.
Genre. Select one or more genres that describe your playlist. If you want to select more than one genre in this field, hold down CTRL (PC) or Command (Mac) on your keyboard as you select genres. If you choose "Music" as a genre, you will have the option to add musical genre(s) as well in the next field.
Musical Genre. If you selected "Music" above, you have the option to add one or more musical genres here. If you want to select more than one genre in this field, hold down CTRL (PC) or Command (Mac) on your keyboard as you select genres.
Rating. This is a required field. Note that "Creator Chooses Not to Rate" is an option if you prefer not to rate your playlist. More on ratings can be found on our Ratings and Warnings policy.
Warnings. This field lets you choose warnings to apply to your playlist. This helps visitors who wish to avoid certain types of content to do so (and can also serve as an endorsement for those who enjoy certain content!) If you rated your playlist Teens or Adult, you must choose at least one warning. Note that the option "Creator Chooses Not to Warn" is an option if you would prefer not to use warnings. You can also choose "Check Notes for Warnings" if the warning you need is not on the list or if you want to provide additional detail or clarification in the notes.
Challenge. If you created your playlist as a response to one of our site challenges, you can include it here. Doing so will list your playlist among the responses to the challenge. If you are completing a challenge to receive a stamp, you must label your playlist correctly here in order for the moderators to give you the stamp you've earned. If you want to select more than one challenge in this field, hold down CTRL (PC) or Command (Mac) on your keyboard as you select challenges. This field is not available for Beyond the Silmarillion fanworks.
Playlist Notes. Use the Playlist Notes field to hold notes that apply to the entirety of your playlist. Playlist notes will appear at the top of the playlist. This field is a good place to include information that you want to be sure your audience sees before proceeding with your playlist, such as additional warnings, translations, or challenge prompts.
Playlist Link. If you've also set up this playlist on a site like Spotify or YouTube, you can link to the entire playlist here. If you have multiple playlists you want to link, you can click the Add Another Item button to add additional links. Note that, even if you link to the entire playlist here, you will still be required to add links to individual songs below.
Album Art. If you've created an album cover or covers for you playlist, you can add those images here. Click the Media Add Page link; it will open in a new tab. Click the "Choose File" button to select the image from your computer or device. Make a note of the file name of your image, as you will add it to your fanwork by file name, not its title. Once your image uploads, you will be required to add alt text that can be read by blind and vision-impaired visitors using screen readers. Don't forget to click the blue "Save" button at the bottom of the page once you're finished.
Once you've saved your image, you can close the Media Add Page tab and return to the Playlist submission form. In the field titled "Use existing media," begin typing the file name of the image you just uploaded. Once you see it on the dropdown list, select it. Adding album art will open the Album Art Credit field below.
If you have multiple album covers (such as front and back artwork), you can click the Add Another Item button to add additional images.
Remember that album art must adhere to the guidelines for using images on the SWG. See the FAQ on using images for more information.
Album Art Credit. You can use this field to provide credit to any artists whose work you used for your album cover(s).
Song. Now that you've added information about your playlist, you will begin adding your songs. The Song section of the form includes several fields as well that you will fill out for each individual song.
- Song Title. This is a required field. Type the title of the song here.
- Artist Name. If you wish to list an artist for the song, you can do so here.
- Song Link. Paste in the link to the song here.
- Song Notes. Content entered into the Song Notes field will appear underneath the link to the song. You can use this field to provide insight into why you chose the song, additional information about the artist or recording, snippets of lyrics (please do not copy and paste the full lyrics here, as this is a copyright violation), or any other information you want to share with your listener.
If you need to add more than one chapter, use the Add Playlist Item button to add another set of song fields. To reorder the songs, drag and drop them in the order you wish to see them presented.
Complete. If your playlist is finished, check this box.
Authoring Information. If you want to backdate your playlist, you can do so here. This will prevent a playlist from showing up at the top of the All Fanworks page and New & Updated Fanworks block in the sidebar and can be useful if you are archiving multiple older fanworks. Note that dating a fanwork in the future does not schedule it to post; please use this field only for backdating.
Exclude from Most Recent. If you do not want your playlist to show up on the Most Recent blocks on the front page and sidebar or included in that week's email newsletter, check this box. For example, you might use this field if you are archiving a lot of older fanworks at one time, or if the edit/change you are making to your fanwork is minor.
Multimedia Only. The SWG archive includes a fanwork type called Multimedia that allows creators to combine multiple types of fanworks (e.g., a story with a playlist to act as the soundtrack) into a single fanwork. If you are adding components to add to a multimedia fanwork and you do not want those components listed on the archive as independent fanworks, check this box. See the multimedia fanwork FAQ for more information on this fanwork type.
Editing a Playlist
Once you've saved your playlist, if you want to make changes to the content you've already entered or add additional chapters, you will need to edit the playlist. To edit a playlist, you can use the My Fanworks page and click the pencil icon next to the playlist you want to edit, or you can view the playlist and use the Edit tab at the top of the playlist.
