Admin Post: Character Biography Needed

[dawn_felagund]

Oshun and I have been planning the next few month's of character biographies, and we've decided to take a slightly different approach from how we usually handle scheduling bios. We are looking for someone willing to write a character biography on one of the following characters. The bio would be due on Friday, November 29, and would appear within the next three months. (It could be as early as the December newsletter, but since we're uncertain of other projects-in-progress, we can't commit firmly to that, but we can guarantee it will be in February's newsletter at the very latest.)
Here is the list of characters we are looking for:

• Celebrian


• Estë


• Gothmog


• Hador


• Idril


• Manwë


• Olwë


• Saruman


• Shelob


• Uinen

If you're interested in writing a bio on one of these characters, please comment here or let me know via PM or at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org. Expectations for character bios are below the cut.

Character Biography Expectations

The main purpose of the character biographies is to review and compile what information is available in the published canon about that character. The "published canon" includes The Hobbit, LotR, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, the History of Middle-earth series, Tolkien's Letters and published lectures, and other compilations based on the canon (Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and The Fall of Gondolin.) Most characters, obviously, appear in only a few of those works. We are also willing to help with access to books that you don't have.

At a minimum, character biographies should present all information about that character in a single document. Some biographies go further, but this is not a requirement. For example, past biographies have considered how the character developed through Tolkien's various drafts, roots in and connections to other mythological and literary sources, treatment of the character in fandom/fanfiction, linguistic considerations, and how the character connects to popular topics in Tolkien studies (e.g., Tolkien's treatment of women, fate vs. free will, pseudohistorical devices).

Naturally, our writers have opinions on the characters they are writing about, but biographies should strive to be as balanced as possible and not push a particular agenda or interpretation of a character.

Biographies are published in our Reference Library and featured in that month's newsletter. As such, all sources must be cited. If you're not sure how to do this, we can help. All biographies are copyedited before publication to bring them in line with our site's style. We are happy to work with beginning and advanced writers alike.

Reading a few character bios by different authors will ideally show both what we expect and the diversity of approaches and styles our authors take. Please comment or reach out with questions!

Comments

Thanks, Dawn!

[heartofoshun]

Just a word of encouragement. They really are fun to write. Take a leap of faith that you will enjoy writing one and be proud of your work!

[hlinspjalda]

This sounds fun, and I have access to all the materials listed. I could do Shelob, Celebrían, or Idril (in that order of preference) if you need me.

[dawn_felagund]

You're the first to reply, so if you're still interested and available, you can have your choice of characters. Could you email me at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org if you accept the assignment and the character you're working on?

Many thanks! :D

[hlinspjalda]

Emailed you.

[fernstrike]

This sounds great! I'd be happy to do one for Gothmog, Saruman, or Manwe. I have all the key texts online but unfortunately my copies of HoMe and the other canon compilations are in my home country, so I'd appreciate help with access to those if possible.

[dawn_felagund]

There is one person who has expressed interest already, but if that falls through, I will let you know. We are also always looking for backups (we just can't usually guarantee a publication date and publish on a first-received-first-published basis), so if you'd like to write any of the above characters as backups, please let me know, and I'll add you to the backup list.

Thanks so much! :D

[fernstrike]

Sure thing! I'm happy to write any of them as backups :)

[dawn_felagund]

I can share the Google Doc with you where we track backups, if you would like. Then you can always see what's available and sign yourself up for anyone you're interested in working on.

(I can also sign you up, of course, but am happy to get rid of myself as middleman whenever possible! :D)

[fernstrike]

That would be great, please do :D you can message me the link here or wherever

(and yes I totally get it, streamlines things a bit!!)

[dawn_felagund]

I shared the document with you; if the email doesn't come through, I can send the link as well. Sorry it took so long! Drive was being weird on my home computer when I first tried, and then report cards were due and I haven't been online all week.

Please just add any characters you want to work on with your name. That doesn't obligate you to write them and certainly doesn't impose a due date; it's just a way for Oshun and me to know who is still available when we're planning from month to month. If you later decide not to write a character, you can delete him/her from the list.

Let me know if you have questions or if I can help in any way! :)

[fernstrike]

Fabulous thank you, I've got it! Not to worry - I've barely been online the past week either...finals and suchlike are bearing down as we speak. I've added one so far (Elendil), hopefully I can get started in the New Year :D

[hlinspjalda]

May I have a link to that doc as well? Having stuck my toe in the water and found it welcoming, I'd like to contemplate writing another bio.

[dawn_felagund]

I just shared the document with you. If it doesn't come through for some reason, let me know and I'll send a link.

(And YAAAAY! :D)

[hlinspjalda]

Got it; many thanks!