Tolkien Meta Week Starts December 8!
Tolkien Meta Week starts on Sunday, December the 8, and will run until December 14 as part of our ongoing push that Meta Is for Everyone! Meta is more than full essays and articles (though those are welcome too!), and we hope Tolkien fans of all experience levels will join us in sharing their thoughts, ideas, rants, headcanons, manifestos, and musings about all that is Tolkien related. Tolkien Meta Week will take place on Tumblr and here on the Silmarillion Writers' Guild archive.
FAQs
The SWG is Silmarillion group. Are you only looking for Silmarillion meta?
Tolkien Meta Week is hosted by the Silmarillion Writers' Guild, but we welcome meta about any and all of Tolkien's works. On our archive, the usual rules about "Silmworks" apply, but we will gladly reblog all Tolkien-related content on our tumblr.
If you have posting access to our Beyond the Silmarillion section, of course, non-Silmarillion meta is welcome there!
Do I have to follow the prompts?
Nope. You can use one of our prompts or go rogue and do your own thing! As long as it is a nonfiction work related to Tolkien, it is welcome for this event.
"Meta" doesn't have to be lengthy, finished, or polished. A paragraph describing a wild theory you had suddenly while brushing your teeth is just as welcome as a lengthy, detailed, essay.
There are four prompts available for each day of the week. If you want to use the prompts, you can use one, a few, or all of them—your choice! You don't have use a prompt on the day it is posted. You can also combine prompts from different days.
How do I make sure my work is included?
Here on the archive, choose Tolkien Meta Week from the Challenge dropdown when you post your work. On Tumblr, tag #tolkien meta week so that we can reblog your work!
We will reblog anything tagged on Tumblr for Tolkien Meta Week to the SWG tumblr. A roundup of Tolkien Meta Week contributions will be featured as part of the December 21st newsletter. If you don't want your entry reblogged or included in the newsletter, let us know as soon as possible.
Prompts
Each day of the event will feature four prompts centered on genre, format, source text, and approaches that range beyond Middle-earth. However, these prompts are entirely optional, and any Tolkien-related meta is welcome for the event! Prompt definitions can be found on the Tolkien Meta Week challenge page.
December 8: theory | infographic | The Silmarillion | the Tolkien fandom
December 9: open letter | podcast/audio | The Lord of the Rings | Tolkien's non-Middle-earth writings
December 10: literary analysis | wiki article | The Hobbit | adaptations
December 11: character study | video | Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, The Nature of Middle-earth, and The Fall of Númenor | books, articles, and meta about Tolkien
December 12: headcanon | meme | The Three Great Tales: The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin | compare Tolkien to another text
December 13: ship manifesto | personal essay | Tolkien's art | apply real-world disciplines to Middle-earth
December 14: research | list (including link collections) | The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien | Tolkien fanworks (with permission!)
Posted on 7 December 2024 (updated 7 December 2024) by SWG Moderators
