February 2008 Newsletter

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

February's Challenges

Sea Voyages

The sea is an important part of Tolkien's mythology, and changes are often signaled by sea voyages. For example, the fates of the Eldar changed when they sailed to Aman and again when Fëanor brought them back. Eärendil saved the people of Middle-earth from Morgoth, and it began with a sea journey; the defeat of Sauron began with the escape of Elendil and his sons by sea. Numerous also are the people who lived by the sea and, presumably, made sea journeys a part of their daily lives: the Teleri of Aman, the Elves of the Havens, and the Númenoreans name just three.
This month's challenge asks authors to create stories centered on or including sea voyages, whether one of the important journeys that shaped the fate of Arda or an everyday foray along the coast.

Quote of the Month

It is said that Amandil set sail in a small ship at night, and steered first eastward, and then went about and passed into the west. And he took with him three servants, dear to his heart, and never again were they heard of by word or sign in this world, nor is there any tale or guess of their fate.
-The Silmarillion, Akallabêth

Character of the Month: Haleth

Our Character of the Month biography for Haleth will be coming soon! Watch this space!
Character profiles by Oshun.

View past character profiles.
Read archived stories about Haleth.

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Want more challenges? Check out our complete challenge listing for more than two years' worth of challenges to inspire your writing!
Have an idea for a challenge? Some of our most popular challenges have been created by you, the members of SWG! If you have a plotbunny gnawing at your ankle, a favorite quote, or a favorite character that you think might inspire others as well, please send an email to moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org and we'll try to include your challenge in our next newsletter!

February's News

Back to Middle-earth Month: The Circles of the World

Why did you fall in love with Middle-earth?
Every March, we seek to answer that very question. March is Back to Middle-earth Month (B2MeM), a chance to remember what inspired us to become involved in this fandom in the first place. Whether a recent addition to our online community, one of the many who were compelled by Jackson's movies, or a fan of multiple decades, B2MeM gives fans a chance to rekindle those first heady months of fandom participation. At SWG, we have observed B2MeM for three years now as a testament for our enduring passion for creativity and scholarship inspired by the stories of J.R.R. Tolkien, particularly The Silmarillion and its related works.
So why did you fall in love with Tolkien's stories? Ask one thousand fans and you will get one thousand different answers. This year for B2MeM, we seek just a few of those answers, presented alongside the creative achievements that define our love for Tolkien's works.
This year's theme is The Circles of the World, and we look at our creative endeavors that explore beginnings and relationships, conflicts and endings, and, of course, fate. We need your help! We are seeking ficlets, poetry, artwork, and excerpts of longer stories that fit this year's themes. Submissions will be compiled into a project illustrating how these important themes in Tolkien's work have inspired us across the years.
For more information on the project, what we're looking for, and where to send your work, please check out our B2MeM page!

Yahoo! Group Going Public?

Last month, we introduced the idea of changing our message archives on the Yahoo! group to being publicly viewable. In order to allow both members and non-members to express their views on this change, we set up a poll on our website. The results indicate that most people are in favor of making the message archives public. We thank everyone who contributed to the discussion on the Yahoo! list and voted in the poll!
This is not a change that is going to happen instantaneously. Our moderators' time and attention is currently devoted to Back to Middle-earth Month, as well as the daily management of the site, and so we will not be making this change at least until B2MeM settles down a bit for us. We will alert people on the Yahoo! group as well as the website about when we expect to make the change to public archives. In the meantime, if you want to learn more about this change and what it will mean for us, please read our FAQ on the subject. If you have any questions or concerns, please direct them to our moderators at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org.

RSS FAQ

Have you always wondered what RSS is? How to use it? Whether it's available on SWG?
These answers (and more!) are available in our new FAQ, all about RSS feeds.

Around the World and Web

One-Shot Review Exchange

Klose is hosting a One-Shot Review Exchange at our LiveJournal community. Do you have a one-shot story you'd like feedback on? Would you like to discover new stories and leave some helpful feedback? Here's a fun way to do so!

MEFA 2007 Results Announced

The results of the 2007 Middle-earth Fanfiction Awards have been announced. You can find them at our website. Just log in (or click "log in as guest" if you're not a member) and click on the first link, "2007 MEFA Story Results." Here you will find a listing of what stories won in what categories as well as links to the reviews our members have written about these stories as part of the competition.
We have begun our annual post-mortem to look at how we can improve the awards for next year. Feel free to join in at the Yahoo group mefa-discussions.

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Around the World and Web is provided for our members to inform them of events in the larger Tolkien community. SWG is not affiliated with and does not endorse the groups that we feature in Around the World and Web, and we are not responsible for content on sites outside of our own. Please use discretion and caution when visiting unfamiliar sites on the Internet.
Would you like to see your group or event featured on Around the World and Web? See our Promotions Page for more details or email us at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org.

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Comments

[dracoena.livejournal.com]

Pst..

Where do I post challenge stories, should I have one or more?

Thanks. ;)

[klose.livejournal.com]

I believe you can post them at SWG, where you'll be able to select a Challenge to place your story in when you upload... or you can post it here, on the LiveJournal community if that suits you better? :)

[ford-of-bruinen.livejournal.com]

Hi :)

Klose is absolutely right! You can post them to the archieve at http://silmarillionwritersguild.org, on this LJ or in the yahoo group (or of course in all three places :) )

I am looking forward to seeing all challanges as usual :)

Uli

[dracoena.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

And, another thing: does it have to be a new story, or can it be a story I just didn´t publish and that happens to agree with the challenge?

[ford-of-bruinen.livejournal.com]

It doesn't need to be new at all :) feel free to post whatever you feel suit the challange.

[dracoena.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I just know the thing, then- will post it in the weekend, and I hope I´ll do it right!