B2MeM 2009

Often, as creators of Tolkien-based writing and artwork, when we are asked to consider what influences us, we think first of favorite characters, favorite scenes, or the quote that--the first time we read it--made our hearts lurch and imaginations begin to whirl. Each day through the month of March, we will post a prompt on our homepage, LiveJournal community, and Yahoo! group--but we are changing directions a bit from the usual fiction and art challenge. This time, we will start with our lives and experiences as writers or artists and create a Tolkien-themed work based on these.

The goal is not to create full stories or even complete works but rather to explore how our writing and artwork is influenced by the experiences, opinions, and emotions that we bring with us from our non-fannish lives. We encourage all of our fellow Tolkien fans to join us in expanding our creative horizons this month!

Guidelines for the project are as follows:

1. Any response to the prompts is acceptable: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, visual art, or any other creative response that you can dream up! Because it is a daily challenge, most responses will be small: a drabble, haiku, or a quick sketch. Participants may combine multiple prompts into a single longer work, if they would like. For example, each day's response could form part of a character study. Three related prompts might be worked into a short story or a comic strip.
2. Works do not have to be complete.
3. All participants will have their choice of banners to commemorate their efforts, as well as an icon for each day's prompt. Participants who write something for every prompt will receive a banner honoring this achievement as well.
4. Because this is a Back to Middle-earth Month project, for responses to count for credit, they must relate to Tolkien's works in some way. We will take your word that a response is Tolkien-related because ...
5. We are not going to judge, analyze, cross-examine, and interrogate responses. It is up to you to decide what counts for "credit." If the day's prompt inspires a four-line poem, that is just as acceptable as a 4,000-word story. Responses will necessarily be very different. We're not going to decide for you whether your response matches closely enough to the day's prompt to count for credit. We'll trust participants to make that decision for themselves.
6. You do not have to do the prompt on the day that it's posted. Some participants may want to take time to think about a prompt before writing for it. Others may not be able to find time to get online or write each day. We'll allow until 14 April 2010 to get responses completed for the project.
7. Sometimes, the challenges ask you to write briefly about an experience from your own life before creating your story, poem, or artwork. If you choose to share your work, you do not have to share this pre-writing unless your are comfortable and willing to do so.
8. Of course, this means that participants must show us or tell us that they've done the day's prompt. We'll be keeping an eye on the various groups affiliated with the SWG, but if you've posted your work outside of the SWG, please let us know. If you don't want to share your response publicly, simply drop us an email letting us know that you completed the day's prompt (no, you don't even have to show your work!) and we'll see that you get credit.

Now, if you want to share your work, where can you do so?

We will post each days prompt on both our LiveJournal community and our Yahoo! mailing list. We welcome participants to post or link to all Tolkien-based entries as a reply to the original post. (Yes, this means that you can share work based on The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings here as well.) Silmarillion-based work may be posted as a separate entry, if you prefer. See below for a collection of the prompts for B2MeM 2009, archived here for historical purposes and so they can continue to inspire new fanworks. (Note that Mondays were Mercurial Mondays with a choice of two prompts. Participants were permitted to use one, the other, or both.)

Silmarillion-based writing is welcome on our archive. Please add your story to the B2MeM 2009 challenge on the story form. If you need help with this, just let us know!

As always, please direct all questions to us at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org.

Much gratitude to Rhapsody and Oshun for the banners and icons for this event.

This challenge opened in March 2009 .

Prompts

Choose your prompt from the collection below.

View Prompts

	March 1 Margaret Atwood once wrote: "We are learning to make a fire." Create your own story, poem or piece of art around this.
	March 2: Mercurial Monday Think of the most dangerous situation you can face. Have you ever been in such serious danger? What is the greatest danger that you have experienced? Think or write briefly about your experiences (or lack of experiences!) with danger. Write a story, poem or create an artwork where the characters face a great danger or where characters reflect on their reaction to a great danger. OR What is the most tedious, routine work that you have to do? Write down a few tedious or routine tasks that you're sometimes required to perform. How does doing routine work make you feel? Would you like to have somebody do it for you? Now write a story, poem or create an artwork where characters have to deal with tedious jobs.
	March 3 In two or three sentences, write about the happiest moment you've experienced in the past two days. Create a story, poem, or artwork based on the circumstances, experiences, or feelings associated with that moment.
	March 4 What is a role model for you? Do role models require certain qualities for you? How should people relate to their role models? Write a story, poem or create an artwork based on characters who are role models for their people.
	March 5 If your character would have a chance to start anew and with a clean slate, what would he or she do with such a chance? Write a story, poem or create an artwork where this is offered to them or how they execute such a chance.
	March 6 "Music can name the unnamable and communicate the unknowable." -Leonard Bernstein, American composer Write a story, poem or create an artwork where this quote is validated.
	March 7 Imagine this! You are walking in the woods and sudden a tree whispers to you ... What does it say? What is your reaction? Capture this moment in a story, poem or piece of art.
	March 8 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Is it? And ugliness? Is it also relative? Write a story, poem or create an artwork where the contrast beauty/ugliness plays a central role.
	March 9: Mercurial Monday Think of a person that you admire. The person can be someone from history, from fiction, or someone that you know--anyone! Write down three to five adjectives that describe why you find that person admirable. Now write the opposites of those three to five adjectives. Write or draw something from the point-of-view of a character who displays some or all of the "negative" adjectives on your second list. OR In your opinion, what are the qualities that a hero must possess? Write down at least three of these qualities. Now write a story, poem or create an artwork that shows those qualities in action.
	March 10 "Traveling is a fool's paradise. We owe to our first journeys the discovery that place is nothing." -Ralph Waldo Emerson Write a story, poem or create an artwork that proves or disproves this quote.
	March 11 How do you define your sense of humor? Is your sense of humor something can be universally appreciated? Think or write briefly about a time when your attempt at humor was misunderstood, or when you misunderstood another person's attempt at humor. Write a story, poem or create an artwork that shows different views of humor.
	March 12 How would you define innocence? Write down at least three words or phrases that represent innocence for you. Write a story, poem or create an artwork where one observes or realises the innocence of herself or himself, someone else, or a group.
	March 13: Friday the 13th! What makes you the most afraid? How would you react if you had to face this situation? Think or write briefly about your greatest fear and how you would face it. Now write a story, poem or create an artwork where the characters have to confront their greatest fears.
	March 14 What is your favourite season? Why? Create your own story, poem or piece of art which shows what you like the most about your favourite season and how your character would appreciate (or not) the same things.
	March 15 In T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the speaker in the poem poses the following question: "Do I dare disturb the universe?" Over the course of the poem, the speaker answers this question. Show a scene or experience in a character's life where she or he answers this question.
	March 16: Mercurial Monday Are you an adventurous person? Think or write briefly about the greatest adventure in your life. Write a story, poem or create an artwork where the characters share an unexpected adventure. OR What are your limits? What some things that you can't do? Won't do? Write down at least two of each and consider how you discovered these limits. Write a story, poem or create an artwork where a character discovers his or her limits, manages to respect his or her limits, or is pushed over his or her limits.
	March 17 A stereotype is a generalization, usually exaggerated or oversimplified and often offensive, used to describe a group. Think about a group that you identify with, either in your real life or in Tolkien's works, and write down at least three stereotypes that do or might exist about that group. Write a story, poem or create an artwork where characters break stereotypes.
	March 18 Craft a story, poem or artwork where your character is in bed and he or she awakes to a future leader, heir, or current leader standing outside the window, staring into your character's face with a giant smile. What's going on?
	March 19 If you could pass on three pieces of wisdom to future generations, what would they be? Now, from the point of view of a character, what three things would this character want to pass on to his or her children and grandchildren? How similar are they to yours? Write a story, poem or create a piece of art which reflects this.
	March 20 We all have experienced this. Due to illness, a family event, work, you didn't have as much time to study for an important test as you needed or finish a project you promised to do. Think of a specific event that you went through of which you felt unprepared for and write briefly about the preparation that you were able to do, the reasons that you didn't get to prepare as well as you wanted, and of course, the outcome. Write a story, poem or create a piece of art where a character is unprepared.
	March 21 Describe a big storm from your memory and place it in Tolkien's world. Write a story, poem or create a piece of art that reflects this impressive moment.
	March 22 According to the Romans, the basic principle of the law is that agreements should be respected under all circumstances. Do you agree with this? Is there a time in your life when you had to break this principle? When someone broke an agreement with you? Now write a story, poem or create an artwork where characters are forced to break this principle.
	March 23: Mercurial Monday You find an old dusty bottle and, when you pick it up, a genie pops out! What three wishes would you make and why? Now, imagine that your character bumps into a genie (or a Middle-earth variation of it) and she offers to grant your character three wishes. What are the wishes and why would he and she wish for them? Create an artwork, story or poem how your character mulls it over or goes about it. OR What is the greatest sacrifice you can be asked to make? Think or write briefly about this. Write a story, poem or create an artwork where the characters make their greatest sacrifice.
	March 24 Choose your favorite line or quotation from a non-Tolkien source. It can be a book, movie, poem--anything you can think of! Write down that quote. Now create a story, poem, or work of art that relates to it somehow, either the quote itself or the meaning that you take from it.
	March 25 What are your fondest memories of your childhood? And the saddest? Write briefly about a memory that is particularly powerful, whether it is happy or sad. Write a story, poem or create an artwork based on those feelings and experiences or based on a character's memories.
	March 26 Think of a teacher who played a key role in your life. What qualities about this person influenced you? Write briefly about this person: a short character sketch, scene, or conversation involving her or him. Write a story, poem or create an artwork about a character who educated his people in some way.
	March 27 Imagine this, a relative of your chosen characters passes on and lives your character a trunk. He or she opens it when... Capture that moment in a piece of art, be it a drawing, story or poem.
	March 28 What's your favorite month of the year? Consider or write briefly about why this month is special. Picture your character during this month, his or her activities or reflections. Try to cover this in a story, poem or piece of art.
	March 29 What if you have been falsely accused of something? Take that emotion and write a story or poem or create a piece of art what your character would do. What would he or she do: set the record straight or walk away or ...?
	March 30: Mercurial Monday Think of an experience when you realised that you suddenly understood an idea, a skill, or a concept you had been struggling with--it might be something related to a class that you took or a specific skill you were trying to perfect it. Translate this moment to your Middle-earth character and capture this in a story, poem or piece of art. OR Bob Dylan says "Don't criticize what you don't understand." Do you agree with this? Have you ever been criticized by someone who didn't understand you? Think or write briefly about this experience. Now write a story, poem or create an artwork where unfounded criticism plays a central part.
	March 31 As a citizen of Middle-earth, one day you wake up with a choice: yesterday or tomorrow. Which would you pick and why?