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.
The majority of the Silmarillion was penned by a single Elf--an Elf who was so thoroughly written out as to appear only through the ways in which their perspective shaped the stories we see. This is their story, the historian's history, the Pennas Pengolodh.
The Exiles of Gondolin come to Sirion. The residents of Sirion welcome them, and friendship blossoms between the last remaining loremaster of Gondolin and a young poet of Sirion.
Fingon returns to Barad Eithel after a late-autumn hunt, finding someone unexpected with his wife. The night takes an even more unexpected turn for all three of them.
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 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.
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.
I really enjoyed reading this story! It was well written and humorous - you did a very good job. I especially like the fact that you took into consideration the lasting effects that being captured in Angband would have had on Maedhros. Well executed indeed! Thanks for sharing!
I enjoyed this story tremendously. You manage to write your characters very sympathetically without turning the story into long introspective emo-fests. I really like your concise writing style and your skill for formulating things so that I find myself going "Yes! Exactly! You nailed it!" Thank you very much for a great (if that can be said, considering the subject matter ;)) read!
Thank you very much! I'm happy to be praised for conciseness! I think there might be bits of the series where I indulge in emotional introspection at a little greater length than here, but hope not to have overdone it...
From poignant to chilling to funny and beautiful writing all way through. Numerous perfect lines stick in my memory: Maeglor's thoughts on orcs; Maedhros' on the lack of appropriate swearwords, on poor perceptive Carnistir's needs, on his own 'general derangement and insanity'...
There are so many gems in this short story that all I can think to do is go look for more from the same hand.
Thank you very much! I am happy that you think I got the emotional range right here! I've posted some more stories now, although I'm afraid they aren't written from Maedhros's own point of view. He does get to have his say quite a lot, though...
Still working my way through your stories. Love this one as well. I see you credit Dawn with influencing your characterization. No wonder I find it so convincing and sympathetic. She also greatly influenced my own Maitimo and Findekano stories--in fact I often joke that I write fanfic of her canon. I do depart as well.
I love that you use humor. I can't explain why the First Age is my choice of subject matter--anguish and high heroism really doesn't suit either my personal taste in either reading or writing. But when I fell in love with these characters (pretty much the whole House of Finwe, although I have my favorites!) I fell hard. You hold my attention and keep me with you by your use of human psychology and like I mentioned before humor. I am enjoying this series so much.
Thank you very much for taking the trouble to engage with the series!
I think Dawn is just the most glaringly obvious of my influences. However, since I spent the months before I wrote the first of these stories voraciously reading Maedhros stories on the internet, I would find it pretty hard to compile a comprehensive list of everyone who influenced me...
I'm sure there is a quotation from the Sage himself about why humour is important - although he is more likely to have written it with the Lord of the Rings in mind than the Silmarillion, I guess: something about the necessity of hobbits. But Third Age elves have a sense of humour, so surely elves of the First Age did, too!
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.