If it seems like the newsletter is early this week, you are not mistaken. It is and intentionally so.

On Saturday, we are hosting an instadrabbling session on our Discord server, and I wanted to make sure that the newsletter arrived before the first session started. This instadrabbling session is in honor of International Fanworks Day and serves as an opportunity to swap prompts for our new challenge, Meet & Greet Matryoshka.

There was a lot of fandom jargon in that last paragraph. First things first: instadrabbling is a collaborative activity aimed at making flash fanworks together. As far as I know, it was invented by Tolkien fanfiction writers JunoMagic and Aranel Took in the mid-2000s. The way it works: A bunch of creators get together on a chat service. Someone throws out a prompt (traditionally four words chosen at random from the nearest book on hand). Everyone makes a drabble or other flash fanwork, posts the results, and everyone squees over the results.

International Fanworks Day is February 15 and sponsored by the Organization for Transformative Works. Every year, we offer an IFD stamp for challenge participants and sometimes we fly by the seats of our pants in putting something else together at the last minute to make it look like we planned ahead. This year, we remembered about IFD in time to actually plan instadrabbling and have it appear in the OTW's news announcements. (Proof, perhaps, that at age 19, the SWG is indeed entering adulthood?)

Instadrabbling also provides an occasion to gather for our current challenge. Meet & Greet is our annual Matryoshka challenge. As far as I know, we invented this challenge format, something that I'm proud of even as I want to apologize for doing so. Matryoshka challenges are hard. The Matryoshka challenge involves cumulative prompts, like the nesting dolls that it is named after, so you never know how subsequent prompts may ruin the fanwork you so lovingly planned and had half-created in your mind. Typically, the mods send a separate email for each prompt; for this one, we will send your first prompt and then you need to find the rest, either by asking other participants (hence Meet & Greet!) or finding them online. Some participants have posted them publicly, and the mods have hidden a few in plain sight to see who actually reads the stuff we post on the site.

The sum total of all of this: fandom is truly collaborative. We are using a social activity invented two decades ago by a pair of Lord of the Rings authors to celebrate a holiday coined by a huge fanworks nonprofit and to support a challenge that we invented and hope will encourage SWG members to talk to each other and visit each other's socials. It seems fitting that this amalgam will result in a bunch of creators coming together to make and celebrate fanworks together.

If you want to join us for instadrabbling, you can join our Discord server here. Full Meet & Greet challenge guidelines (and the participant list) are here. Instadrabbling will occur on 17 February 2024 at 13:00/1PM until 17:00/5PM UTC (see this in your timezone) and again on 18 February 2024 at midnight until 2:00AM UTC (see this in your timezone). We hope to see you there!

SWG News

New Challenge: Potluck Bingo
Sit down to a delicious selection of prompts served on bingo boards, created by the SWG community.

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.

Mereth Aderthad 2025: Call for Presenters for Meta, Research, and Scholarship Open
We welcome proposals from creators of meta, research, and scholarship about Tolkien for our July 2025 hybrid Mereth Aderthad event!

A Sense of History: Doom and Ascent
In the final essay in the series about the tower allegory in Tolkien's "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics," Simon J. Cook pulls together the series to give the full picture of how not just the allegory but the legendarium can be read.

Themed Collection: Orcs Are People
Cuarthol shares a collection of fiction, art, and essays that challenge the notion of Orcs as an inhuman enemy and instead consider the legendarium from the perspective that Orcs are people.

Themed Collection: Alliterative Verse for Arda
Rhunedhel shares ten alliterative poems about Tolkien's world, which build on Tolkien's own reverence for alliterative verse.

Cultus Dispatches: Why People Don't Comment
Many an author has stared at her clicks and her comment count and wondered: Why don't most readers comment? An update on a 2018 article for Long Live Feedback, this month's column uses Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data to reveal three big factors: skill, confidence, and community connections.

In Memory of Oshun
We are sad to share the news that our long-time member, author, and friend Oshun has passed away. We are raising money to help her family with expenses for those who wish to contribute.

New Fanworks

Getting Dirty by by Elleth [Writing]

A collection of NSFW ficlets for the "Keep It Clean" bingo card of the 2024 Potluck Bingo. 

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Collection of Potluck Drabbles by by Artano [Writing]

This is a collection of true drabbles completed for the 'Four Words' drabble bingo card.

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2024 Potluck Doodles by by silmalope [Artwork]

Assorted prompt fills for the 2024 Potluck bingo boards, to varying degrees of completion! :)

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A Collection of Maps Exhibiting the Changing Political Landscape in Beleriand by by Artano [Artwork]

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 Noldor before they went to Aman up to the distribution of the various kingdoms after the Flight of the Noldor, when they arrived in Middle-earth and settled there.

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On the Nature of the Sindar’s Hunting the Petty-dwarves by by Artano [Writing]

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.

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Indeed the Everlasting Darkness shall be our lot by by Erdariel [Writing]

Maglor sings. He wanders. Slowly, a shadow comes over his sight and mind, deepening little by little

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Valier & colours by by daughterofshadows [Artwork]

Semi-abstract arts representing the queens of the Valar.

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Survivors: A Pair of Drabbles by by Himring [Writing]

Written for an Insta-drabbling challenge for Orctober prompts, but not horror (or fluff either): two drabbles about survivors, Maglor and Haleth.

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Updated Fanworks

One Flesh, One Soul. Part II by by FellFireFan [Writing]

The fates of the lovers have been sealed. After Aegnor makes a promise to Andreth he seeks council one last time from Finrod to reveal the identity of the maiden who had stolen his heart and hopes Finrod will share in his newfound happiness. However, it does not go well between the brothers, and a heated argument unfolds, plunging even Finrods' own safety into uncertainty. Aegnor finds himself faced with an agonising choice, one that will rip his entire being asunder. Yet hope still remains, and it rests in the palm of none other than Erú Illuvatar himself who, through the sheer power of Aegnor's undying love for Andreth, has taken notice. Brace yourself once more for this gripping continuation. Where the power of love truly conquers all.

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Ransom of the Fairy Twins by by Rocky41_7 [Writing]

Maglor and Maedhros trade Elrond and Elros to King Gil-galad in exchange for a Silmaril, but they have miscalculated.

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One Flesh, One Soul. Part I by by FellFireFan [Writing]

Aegnor, Lord of Dorthonion, is an Elven Prince with quite a reputation. Fiery, earthy and sensual with a wrath that no one would knowingly provoke. He is beautiful, wild and playful as he is dangerous, passionate and utterly terrifying. A far cry from the noble decorum expected as an elven prince and a noble lord. Yet, beneath his impenetrable, battle hardened exterior, there lies a deeply lonely and haunted soul who craves companionship and intimacy. Little does he know that a chance encounter with a lost and frightened young mortal girl one freezing morning in Dorthonion will set him on a collision course with destiny and unravel his entire world, igniting an extraordinary love wrought with challenges, sacrifice and intense desire. Brace yourself for part 1 of a captivating tale, woven by the power of passionate love and loss.

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Instadrabbling by by SWG Moderators [Series]

We get together from time to time on the SWG Discord and produce spontaneous fanworks based on randomly chosen prompts. This collection includes drabbles, ficlets, and other flash fanworks produced as part of our instadrabbling sessions.

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Beyond the Silmarillion Fanworks

Long-tressed Wingildi by by Anérea [Artwork]

"... the long-tressed Wingildi ... spirits of the foam and the surf of ocean." 
~ a painted sketch for Scribbles and Drabbles 2024.

 

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Around the World and Web

Teitho November/December Contest: Healing
The theme for Teitho's November/December contest is healing.

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.

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!

November 2024 Call for Papers and Proposals
Calls for papers and proposals for conferences and publications that are open during the month of November 2024.

White Oliphaunt 2024
The White Oliphaunt is a Tolkien fanwork exchange for humorous gifts.

Tolkien Society: Christopher Tolkien Centenary Conference
The Tolkien Society will be hosting the online Christopher Tolkien Centenary Conference on November 23-24, 2024.

Teitho October/November Challenge: Legacy
For October/November, the Teitho contest invites fanfiction and art around the theme of Legacy.

Kiliel Week 2024
Kiliel Week is a Tumblr event for fanworks about the Kili/Tauriel pairing.

Acorns and Oak Leaves: A Year of Bagginshield
Throughout 2024, the Bagginshield community Acorns and Oak Leaves offers monthly prompts to encourage new creations of all kinds.