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
Start to Finish
Choose one of the famous first lines from the list below and use it to start your story. If you are creating a fanwork other than writing, you may use one of the first lines to inspire your fanwork. 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.
Oh goodness - with the prevalent discussion in the tumblr-based part of fandom being (once again) Tolkien and sexism, "Annoyed" very much hit a nerve for me - giving the erased women their much-deserved voices. It may be breaking the fourth wall more than I'd be strictly comfortable with in other fic, but in this it serves a great purpose, and it's... a very satisfactory drabble on the whole.
On a lighter note, I'm still laughing about the crossover ficlet. It made me giggle during the bingo challenge, and didn't fail to do so again. :D
(Trying this again… I think I hit the wrong button.) It broke the fourth wall more than *I* normally feel comfortable with. (But the Bingo challenge seemed ripe for that sort of thing.) I'm glad you find it satisfying, especially given the Tumblr discussion. (Which I'm honestly glad to be missing.)
This is an interesting bit of world-building. I like the setting and the village and Maglor setting his routine. There are a lot of nice touches--it actually sounds fairly pleasant to me, although it must lonely and lacking in excitement. I don't really know what it would feel like being a Feanorian after all hope has been lost.I haven't tried to write that yet. (I've stuck to the before and much later!)
Thank you! It's meant to be pleasant, actually. I wanted to write a non-angsty (well, minimally angsty) wandering tale for once! I actually don't think it's lonely: Maglor's an introvert who's spent the paste few centuries alone. And he has relatives and friends who won't let him sink back into his shell. Plus, there is a war brewing. (And after everything that happened in Beleriand, a lack of excitement would be a good thing.)
I also don't think it's "after all hope is lost." He *chose* to give up the Silmaril. Not having it or the Oath hanging over his head gives him a chance to start over (once Lill knocked the idea of "shouldn't be here" out of his head, anyway). But this is me and my perpetual love of Maglor wandering stories talking, so I may have a different perspective on the whole thing. :)
I remember several of these from 2012 (particularly the haiku, which I got a kick out of), but I don't seem to recall the Jedi one.
"...their cover story of a traveling duo of singers/songwriters. And all to infiltrate a crime syndicate based on a backwater planet who used the entertainment industry as their cover."
Haha! cracktastic, yet well considered. Rival Jedi musician Elves would need some reason to be on a ship together.
Thank you about the haiku; I was fairly sure it's forgetable, so I'm glad to know it's not.
You actually reviewed it on LJ! (I'm not surprised you forgot, given how busy the comm was. I honestly can't tell you a single fic I reviewed then, though I know I did.) Cracktastic all the way! :D Thank you!
This sounds like a fairly pleasant interlude in Maglor's life, aside from the possibly ominous hints of skirmishes to come. The dog is a lovely touch. I like the inclusion of Maglor living in a cabin as well--that seems very "relevant to your interests," as they say. =)
Awww! Lalwen, how sneaky - but what a lovely idea, since she knew that both Maglor and Nerdanel happened to be on the island.
Of course, now I really wish I could read what happens next! What are they going to talk about? Will Maglor decide to go home with Nerdanel? Will they part, but stay in touch while they can? Where is he going to go next? And what will Lalwen do? So many questions! :D
My Lalwen is very sneaky! I tend to think of her as a bit of a prankster.
I'm going to disappoint you: I ended the story when I did because I couldn't figure out how to write their conversation (writing is hard!) and also because the ending was them parting with her sailing back to Aman and him back to Endor and I wasn't in the mood to write sad. This was supposed to be a much longer story when I came up with the idea a couple of years ago, but the details kept changing and then they leaked out of my head almost entirely.
I can say that the two of them spend rather a lot of time together over the course of the next couple of weeks, that Maglor gets invited to a private dinner with Tar-Elendil and his family (awkward conversations ensue), that there's a small museum of artifacts from the founding, that Lalwen is also around because she's just as interested in what Maglor's been up and maybe repairing a bit of the family relationship. Maybe even Elrond is there, but I tend to think that the Elves in Lindon didn't sail to Númenor, and I like it better with just the Aman Elves.
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.