Admin Post: The SWG Reference Library is looking for new essays!

[dawn_felagund]

Do you write meta? Do you love creating and sharing resources about Tolkien’s world?

We are looking for new essays, articles, and references to publish in the SWG’s newly updated Reference Library. One of the facets of the SWG’s mission is to “create a reliable set of references to aid others wishing to learn more about Tolkien’s works, the craft of writing, and fandom culture,“ and our Reference Library exists to meet that goal. Essays, articles, and resources should be relevant to The Silmarillion, its fandom, or the creation of fanworks about it.

The full submission guidelines can be found here, but I think it is also essential to offer an important caveat: Also of great importance to us on the SWG is seeing fan voices represented in the scholarship on Tolkien studies. There are multiple venues already for academics who wish to publish their work in Tolkien studies. The SWG is committed foremost to sharing and promoting the work of fans, and we are willing to work with anyone who wants to see their work become part of our Reference Library.

Authors sometimes express anxiety over taking the next step from publishing their meta on their own blog to seeing it published elsewhere. We hear things like, “I’m not sure it’s good enough” or “It’s not the right style” or “I’m not comfortable with citing sources.” Angelica and Dawn, the SWG mods who work in the Reference Library, are both teachers in the humanities as well as having experience in academia and being authors themselves. We will never turn away an author who is new to nonfiction writing or not yet comfortable with its conventions. We will work with any author who wants to publish with us to meet the expectations of our Reference Library.

If you are interested (or even think you might be!), reach out to us at loremaster@silmarillionwritersguild.org or through any of our social media, including comments on this post. And of course, if you have an essay, article, or resource about The Silmarillion, its fandom, or the creation of fanworks about it, do see our submission guidelines for more information on how to send it to us.

If you are not a meta writer yourself but have a favorite meta author you think we should check out and talk to, please let us know!

And the more than 150 references we already have in our Reference Library can be found here.

Comments

[ladybrooke]

I have a question!

Regarding the first criteria, "Submissions should have some relevance to The Silmarillion or its related works" would something like how human sacrifice in Numenor fits into real world examples and theories of human sacrifice be acceptable?

[dawn_felagund]

Absolutely.

[ladybrooke]

:D I'll keep that in mind, thanks!

[independence1776]

This may be an obvious question, but: how do nonfiction works already in the archive section of SWG play into this? Namely, is it possible for a work to be hosted in both places?

[dawn_felagund]

The simple answer is yes.

All Reference Library essays are crosslinked in the archive, which allows them to receive comments and for visitors to find them via the archive search. Essentially, in place of the text of the essay, I put in a Javascript redirect that points to the Reference Library instead. (You've probably seen this with the character bios.)

If something is already on the archive, if it was accepted into References, we'd leave up the essay on the archive and just replace the text with the redirect. That way, existing comments, clicks, etc would remain in place.

One of my plans is for Angelica and me to go through what's already on the archive and contact authors who have essays archived that we think would be close to ready for the Reference Library. So you'll be getting pestered by me eventually about your L&C essays (which is one of my favorites on the archive), if that's what you're thinking of. ;)

[independence1776]

Thanks for the explanation!

Who me, think of that essay? :D