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.
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…
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…
My newly drawn map of Aman, as complete as I could make it.
Current Challenge
Bollywood
Prompts this month are films, songs, and tropes from India's dazzling film industry, Bollywood. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Holiday Party
No matter if you're in the Northern or Southern hemisphere, it's a time of year to think about holidays. Whether you're bundling up in blankets or slipping a swimsuit into your suitcase, we invite you to an SWG holiday party! Read more ...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
Rover is a great name, thank you very much! ;) I really like Salmë; she sounds wonderful. A former spy-master, and now second-in-command - and a potter (or painter)? Sign me up! Good advice from her, too.
I do hope Maglor will be able to patch things up with Mithrandir. Somehow I don't think the old wizard was as hostile towards Maglor as Maglor seemed to think...
Indeed! I'm kinda poking fun at myself with that, actually; Narya dared me to name him Rover and he will be. If I can find a variant that isn't "Randir."
I knew Salmë was a potter (and very firm on her nickname being Sal)-- this scene has been in my head nearly since I began the 'verse-- but the spy-master bit was a surprise.
Mithrandir was absolutely not as hostile as Maglor assumed, but it's difficult to show that from a limited POV. The next fic will have to be from a different perspective, I think.
You roped me in as soon as I saw the summary -- puppies and Maglor? A must read and two of my favorite things. I really like how you depict Maglor in your stories. Quite realistic in my mind.
I really enjoyed the meeting with the puppies and with Salme. They have personality, Salme, and also Maglor's new dog! I hope to see more of both.
I suspect Gandalf intentionally saved Maglor from an unpleasant scene, there, in the Hall of Fire. Maybe the two will understand each other better in time.
Maglor's too stuck in his "everyone hates me" mindset to be willing to give people he doesn't know a chance. The situation will be addressed (somewhat) in the next fic.
Concerning the name: Well, instead of Sindarin, you could go for Quenya! The Quenya equivalent of randír appears to be rána - wayward, wanderer - which also happens to be a by-name of the moon. So if you're inclined to pun, Maglor could name the dog Isil (or Ithil in Sindarin), Moon, with the connotation of erratic wandering. (Although I am now tempted to make Moon Moon jokes!) -- You could also tack -rain "erratic wandering" to a Sindarin word of your choice, such as hû "dog"?
I think the limitations of the perspective are fine - Maglor can't know everything, and he's doubtlessly unused to understanding people's motives after such a long time on his own - but of course I can't help speculating about the motivations of the other characters. ^^ Though a chapter from Elrond's, Gandalf's or Salmë's perspective would doubtlessly be cool!
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.