Idiomatic

SWG Idiomatic challenge banner - illustrations of several common English idioms (ducks in a row, needle in a haystaick, raining cats and dogs) with text "SWG Challenge: Idiomatic September 15 - October 15 2024"

Raining cats and dogs. A short fuse. Up a creek without a paddle. A piece of cake. Sometimes colorful, sometimes puzzling without backstory or explanation, these delightful turns of phrase enrich our language—whichever one it happens to be.

This month we celebrate idioms from languages around the world. We will assign you a random idiom. (Some may not be originally English—for the non-English idioms, we will give a translation along with the original.) How you use this idiom to create a fanwork is entirely up to you. You can request your prompt on Dreamwidth, Tumblr, the #monthly-challenges channel on our Discord, or by emailing the mods.

Many thanks to Zdenka for her clever work on this month's banner and stamps!

This challenge opened in .

Fanworks Tagged with Idiomatic

This is a Writing fanwork

A Fresh Wind by Grundy

Along with her newly demonstrated concept for flying, Tindomiel has to explain a few other things from California.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

An lao ite i mbolg na bó by cuarthol

Before Doriath, before Gondolin, others found their way to the mouths of Sirion, fleeing the destruction of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

Little Sparrow by Himring

Life as a thrall of Lorgan is not easy. Tuor's capture complicates things.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

Until the final flicker of life’s embers by Quente

Dior did not see the arrow until it pierced his own flesh, a hard thrust of a point entering his back and blossoming out of his heart. The pain of the wound, and the feeling of his body in uncertain panic around it, was almost secondary to his curiosity.

Now what?

Dior felt strangely detached, as if he had stepped out of his body. He watched himself fall over the body of the Golodh he’d slain. Dior had worn no helm nor armor that day – and he saw his hair fan out to cover them both. They died together in the dark cloak of it.

Dior’s eyes closed, and all was dark.

~

And then Dior opened his eyes.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

A thumbnail image showing the city of Gondolin.

Behind God’s Back by silmalope

A short comic for the Sept-Oct 2024 Idiomatic challenge. The stifling environment of Eöl’s “dim halls, silent and secret” contrasts with young Maeglin’s idealized vision of Gondolin as a divine, sunlit paradise, home to the godlike Noldor. 

Fanwork Information