SWG Newsletter--January 2006
Dec. 31st, 2005 12:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dawn_felagund posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
silwritersguildHappy holidays and best wishes for a safe and prosperous New Year to all of our members and friends!
2006 promises to be an exciting year for SWG, as work begins on our archive site, giving Silmarillion readers and writers a place to showcase their work, find Silmarillion stories, and access and share research. At this time, member input is of utmost important so that the group best serves everyone. I will be posting to the Yahoo! group soon about the archive site; those who are not members of our Yahoo! list should feel free to email me at DawnFelagund@comcast.net or leave a comment on this post with thoughts and ideas. I'd love to hear from each and every one of you.
Best wishes for 2006!
Dawn
January's Challenges
Many Meetings
In honor of Finarfin Appreciation Month, this month's challenge asks you to consider nonviolent conflict. Can you create tension and conflict without drawing swords? Many of the key turning points of The Silmarillion take place off of the battlefield, in meetings and councils, between individuals and groups, but few are the instances where we are allowed to see and hear what actually transpired. So let us wander there: to the soaring halls of Valinor or the hovels of the Edain, where decisions that would change the history of Middle-earth were made. Entries may be any length and involve any characters; the goal is to create tension and conflict without resorting to overt action.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
If you have ideas for compelling story hooks for this challenge or know of any good examples of stories that satisfy this challenge (either your own or someone else's), please feel free to share them in a comment or in a post to the group.
Finarfin Appreciation Month
This month has been declared Finarfin Appreciation Month, so be sure to share your Finarfin stories here and welcome the New Year in peace and civility.
Other Ongoing Challenges
At SWG, challenges never die. You are welcome to write for a challenge at any time. All of our past challenges have been tagged and may be found here.
A Call for New Challenges!
The SWG does not have a committee or person devoted to challenges: The challenges are for members to create! If you have an idea for a challenge, please do not hesitate to suggest it on-list or email me privately at DawnFelagund@comcast.net.
As always, all Silmarillion writing, including challenge responses, is welcome in our LJ community.
Welcomes and Birthdays
I would like to extend warmest welcome wishes to Sirielle, Space Llama, and Space Weavil, our three new members who joined the Yahoo! portion of our group in December! Welcome also to those who have joined or are following our LiveJournal.
No members with January birthdays have signed up to receive stories for their birthdays.
Do you want to get stories for your birthday and other special occasions? Sign up on our "Give Someone a Silmaril" database, located on our Yahoo! Groups homepage or post your request to the list or the LiveJournal.
News and Announcements
The SWG Archive Site
Since the group's inception last July, we have been hoping and planning for the chance to develop an archive site for sharing Silmarillion writing. While there are many sites devoted to fan fiction and research into Tolkien's works, most focus on The Lord of the Rings, and Silmarillion work--as a result--is often drowned in the clamor.
Maedhros (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nelyo) was a huge help in solely designing our first site, and we nearly had it up and running, but unforeseen circumstances have put me back at the drawing board. The next few weeks will be a key time for the group regarding the site, to share expectations and what each of us hopes to get out of our site. It will be much easier to build these things in now than to add them later, so please feel free to communicate your ideas with me and with the group. I will be making a post on Yahoo! soon regarding several key questions pertaining to our site, as the Yahoo! group is the portion of SWG concerned with administration and planning. If you are not a member there but would like to be involved with planning the site, please join the group or contact me personally at DawnFelagund@comcast.net to make alternate arrangements.
So far, our site will archive Silmarillion writing of all genres and ratings, both fiction and nonfiction. In addition, we will compile and store our research there, hopefully becoming a valuable resource for Silmarillion writers.
I am more than happy to have help on this project, so if you wish to volunteer with building our site, working on research, or simply helping out where needed, please let me know. I'm happy to have the help!
We Need a Logo!
While we have two wonderful icons kindly created and donated byevils_hero and tarion_anarore, we will need an actual group logo--preferably something simple and of a small file size--to use on our group site. Many of you, I know, are talented with art and graphics, and if you have any ideas for our logo, please send them to me at DawnFelagund@comcast.net. If I receive more than one, we will let the group vote on them.
Finarfin Appreciation Month
January seems a fitting time for peace and reflection following the hectic holiday season and so has been declared Finarfin Appreciation Month, a time to honor the neglected King of the Noldor in Valinor and writings related to him. This month, please feel free to share your writing about Finarfin--as well as artwork, icons, or other material--and recommend other authors' stories, here and on the Yahoo! list.
Not a member? Do you want to be?
The SWG consists of two components: a Yahoo! email group, for discussions, story promotions, and planning, and a LiveJournal community for sharing our Silmarillion writing. Members are welcome to belong to both or just one, depending on what best suits their needs.
Read more about the Silmarillion Writers' Guild at our LiveJournal Community Information page.
To join our Yahoo! group:
At any time, I encourage people--both members and non-members--to contact me with inquiries. I may be reached at DawnFelagund@comcast.net or through either the Yahoo! or LiveJournal groups.
2006 promises to be an exciting year for SWG, as work begins on our archive site, giving Silmarillion readers and writers a place to showcase their work, find Silmarillion stories, and access and share research. At this time, member input is of utmost important so that the group best serves everyone. I will be posting to the Yahoo! group soon about the archive site; those who are not members of our Yahoo! list should feel free to email me at DawnFelagund@comcast.net or leave a comment on this post with thoughts and ideas. I'd love to hear from each and every one of you.
Best wishes for 2006!
Dawn
January's Challenges
Many Meetings
In honor of Finarfin Appreciation Month, this month's challenge asks you to consider nonviolent conflict. Can you create tension and conflict without drawing swords? Many of the key turning points of The Silmarillion take place off of the battlefield, in meetings and councils, between individuals and groups, but few are the instances where we are allowed to see and hear what actually transpired. So let us wander there: to the soaring halls of Valinor or the hovels of the Edain, where decisions that would change the history of Middle-earth were made. Entries may be any length and involve any characters; the goal is to create tension and conflict without resorting to overt action.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- We all know that Caranthir caused a stir with the sons of Finarfin during the Noldorin council about Thingol, earning the chastisement of Maedhros, and we are granted the chance to see part of this. But what of the rest? What might have led up to Caranthir's reaction, and how might Maedhros have later dealt with it?
- To draw from the material in HoMe, how might the councils between the Valar and between Finwë and the Valar have gone, regarding Finwë's remarriage? To take an AU approach, assume Fëanor's involvement: What might he have said? Or, if you take the approach that Fëanor was an adult when Miriel died, what transpired that he did not go at all?
- How was the decision made by the Valar to re-embody one of the deceased Elves? How might it have progressed in certain individual cases, for example, Finrod? Or Glorfindel?
- Journey to darker places, to the secret meetings between Morgoth and the Men of Ulfang, when they plotted their treachery in Nirnaeth Anoediad. How were they convinced? What might have been the thoughts of their wives? Sisters?
If you have ideas for compelling story hooks for this challenge or know of any good examples of stories that satisfy this challenge (either your own or someone else's), please feel free to share them in a comment or in a post to the group.
Finarfin Appreciation Month
This month has been declared Finarfin Appreciation Month, so be sure to share your Finarfin stories here and welcome the New Year in peace and civility.
Other Ongoing Challenges
At SWG, challenges never die. You are welcome to write for a challenge at any time. All of our past challenges have been tagged and may be found here.
A Call for New Challenges!
The SWG does not have a committee or person devoted to challenges: The challenges are for members to create! If you have an idea for a challenge, please do not hesitate to suggest it on-list or email me privately at DawnFelagund@comcast.net.
As always, all Silmarillion writing, including challenge responses, is welcome in our LJ community.
Welcomes and Birthdays
I would like to extend warmest welcome wishes to Sirielle, Space Llama, and Space Weavil, our three new members who joined the Yahoo! portion of our group in December! Welcome also to those who have joined or are following our LiveJournal.
No members with January birthdays have signed up to receive stories for their birthdays.
Do you want to get stories for your birthday and other special occasions? Sign up on our "Give Someone a Silmaril" database, located on our Yahoo! Groups homepage or post your request to the list or the LiveJournal.
News and Announcements
The SWG Archive Site
Since the group's inception last July, we have been hoping and planning for the chance to develop an archive site for sharing Silmarillion writing. While there are many sites devoted to fan fiction and research into Tolkien's works, most focus on The Lord of the Rings, and Silmarillion work--as a result--is often drowned in the clamor.
Maedhros (
nelyo) was a huge help in solely designing our first site, and we nearly had it up and running, but unforeseen circumstances have put me back at the drawing board. The next few weeks will be a key time for the group regarding the site, to share expectations and what each of us hopes to get out of our site. It will be much easier to build these things in now than to add them later, so please feel free to communicate your ideas with me and with the group. I will be making a post on Yahoo! soon regarding several key questions pertaining to our site, as the Yahoo! group is the portion of SWG concerned with administration and planning. If you are not a member there but would like to be involved with planning the site, please join the group or contact me personally at DawnFelagund@comcast.net to make alternate arrangements.So far, our site will archive Silmarillion writing of all genres and ratings, both fiction and nonfiction. In addition, we will compile and store our research there, hopefully becoming a valuable resource for Silmarillion writers.
I am more than happy to have help on this project, so if you wish to volunteer with building our site, working on research, or simply helping out where needed, please let me know. I'm happy to have the help!
We Need a Logo!
While we have two wonderful icons kindly created and donated by
evils_hero and tarion_anarore, we will need an actual group logo--preferably something simple and of a small file size--to use on our group site. Many of you, I know, are talented with art and graphics, and if you have any ideas for our logo, please send them to me at DawnFelagund@comcast.net. If I receive more than one, we will let the group vote on them.Finarfin Appreciation Month
January seems a fitting time for peace and reflection following the hectic holiday season and so has been declared Finarfin Appreciation Month, a time to honor the neglected King of the Noldor in Valinor and writings related to him. This month, please feel free to share your writing about Finarfin--as well as artwork, icons, or other material--and recommend other authors' stories, here and on the Yahoo! list.
Not a member? Do you want to be?
The SWG consists of two components: a Yahoo! email group, for discussions, story promotions, and planning, and a LiveJournal community for sharing our Silmarillion writing. Members are welcome to belong to both or just one, depending on what best suits their needs.
Read more about the Silmarillion Writers' Guild at our LiveJournal Community Information page.
To join our Yahoo! group:
At any time, I encourage people--both members and non-members--to contact me with inquiries. I may be reached at DawnFelagund@comcast.net or through either the Yahoo! or LiveJournal groups.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 06:56 am (UTC)I got a birthday in January... like, on the 9th even...
;-)
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 05:23 pm (UTC)Feanor wants to know what the heck he did to deserve a whole month?? He's not very happy about it BTW Dawn.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 07:31 pm (UTC);-)
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 07:35 pm (UTC)I'll have to stop giggling first...
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 07:39 pm (UTC)"OMG! Tarion wrote me Amrod forge-mut!!"
*helpless giggles of laughter*
no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:30 am (UTC)And the Twins have said nothing, but are planning to put itching powder in Curufin's and Celegorm's boots!
no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-02 01:45 am (UTC)They're gone, to I don't know where. Central Australia or Tibet or something, I think. Giggling that Curufin can't even deal with mortals properly.. .
no subject
Date: 2006-01-03 03:29 pm (UTC)I'm still conjuring a good Legolas smut story for you.... ;)
And I'll make a post to the list about the 9th, if you want.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-03 03:32 pm (UTC)*sighs again* These Elves have to be so damned difficult....
Not to mention that Finarfin is wholly more deserving
*hides*
no subject
Date: 2006-01-03 07:10 pm (UTC)And yes please! I can never get enough about my birthday. As if anyone hasn't noticed that already... ;-)
no subject
Date: 2006-01-06 07:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-06 01:40 pm (UTC)Yay, for Finarfin Appreciation! :)
no subject
Date: 2006-01-06 09:35 pm (UTC)