February 2015 Newsletter Posted

[dawn_felagund]

Please note that our community has been temporarily placed on moderated status so that International Day of Fanworks participants can post their stories. Anything not IDoF-related will be approved immediately. If we don't get to it within 24 hours, feel free to give us a nudge over PM or email.

Our February newsletter has been posted! We have lots of stuff to share this month, so I hope you'll give it a look.

http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/news/february2015.php

We have an unusual amount of news from within the SWG to kick off the New Year: Site Etiquette updates, bugs fixed, archive milestones reached, and more, so do check it out. We are also sponsoring an event for the International Day of Fanworks; I posted to the group about it yesterday, but if you missed it, the newsletter has everything you need to know to participate.

Robinka has written this month's character biography on Carcharoth, and I absolutely encourage you to take a look--she did a wonderful job! Carcharoth was honestly a character I did not think much about, but Binka's essay has made me see him in a new light, as a pivotal character with a complicated history in the legendarium (which Binka breaks down nicely). The connections between Carcharoth and real world myth, especially Norse, were fascinating as well.

If you're looking for a story or poem to read, we had thirty stories added or updated during January, so you should find plenty to keep you busy. This month's Around the World and Web has articles and posts on a variety of topics, from women in Middle-earth to planning a trip to Mordor. If you're looking for something to write, our First Lines challenge is ongoing, and we revisit The Color Of ..., a challenge that requires writers to construct a story around a color used as a mood or symbol.

Finally, in Around the World and Web, we have announcements from beyond our borders. This is a busy time in the Tolkien fandom, and we have everything from writing challenges to movie marathons to read-alongs to keep you busy in the depths of winter (or give our Southern Hemisphere members an excuse to stay indoors and out of the heat).

My sincerest thanks go out to the volunteers who produced the content for this month's newsletter: Robinka, Rhapsody, and Russandol. Thank you all for your hard work! :)

Comments

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

I found this today and I know it's too late for the newsletter but you might find this of special interest:

http:// www .theonering.net /torwp/2015/02/02/ 96824-astounding-tolkien-themed-art-collection-now-open-in-milan/
Comics, Illustration and Animated Picture Museum of Milan

Viale Campania 12 – Milan – www.museowow.it

Tickets: 5 € (reduced 3 €) – Tuesday to Friday, opening 15.00-19.00; Saturday and Sunday until

From 24th January to 22nd March, WOW Spazio Fumetto – Museo del Fumetto di Milano turns into

Middle-earth hosting the great art exhibition La Magia dell’Anello (The Magic of the Ring), curated by Riccardo Mazzoni, vice-director of WOW Spazio Fumetto, Ninni Dimichino, chairman of the Italian Tolkien Society and Davide Martini, expert in Tolkien Art, dedicated to the saga de The Lord of the Rings, starting from the involving figure of its author J.R.R. Tolkien up to the lucky movie adaptations by Peter Jackson.

[dawn_felagund]

I am updating the site sidebar now, so I will add it there, which means it will also go in next month's newsletter (since I always check the sidebar when working on the newsletter). Thank you! :)

[hhimring]

Thank you so much to Russandol for fixing the bug!

I have a question re the new rule about only one copy of each story: I have recently written two ficlets simultaneously in a longer version and (one scene) as true drabble. Would the new rule forbid me to post the drabble version and the longer version as separate chapters of one story, as I had considered doing? (If it does, it's no skin off my nose, I just would like to know.)

Also, I wanted to draw your attention to Mirach's contest on deviantArt, "Never Seen Before", in which Sirielle's Silmarillion Club is participating, if you aren't aware of it:
http://silmarillion-club.deviantart.com/journal/NEVER-SEEN-BEFORE-big-Tolkien-themed-contest-509238283

[dawn_felagund]

The new rule basically addresses people who want to post a draft of a story, make revisions, and then post a second copy of the story while leaving the original draft on the site. What you're describing sounds different, rather more like writing a poem or a song to include in a longer story and also posting it separately (since it could stand on its own as a separate work). I see no problem with that.

I know Elleth posted to Tumblr about "Never Seen Before," and I think it's up on the site sidebar as well (I think it just missed the newsletter), but I will double-check to make sure. It sounds like a really cool idea! :)

[hhimring]

Thank you!

Yes, "Never Seen Before" is definitely up in the sidebar now--I'm afraid it took me some time to get around to making this comment and I hadn't re-checked!

[dawn_felagund]

No worries! I'd much rather hear about something two, three, ten times than miss out because everyone assumes that everyone else has already told us. :)