Silmarillion Writers' Guild

We are pleased to announce that we have three winners for our birthday contest drawing! Earlier in the week, Rhapsody's daughter, who is our Official Drawer of Important Pieces of Paper, drew three story IDs from the thirty-nine (!) entrants.



And the winners are ...

Scribe of Mirrormere (bookset)
grey_gazania (vintage puzzle)
Cheeky (signed Jenny Dolfen print)

Thank you to everyone who wrote a story for our tenth birthday and, again, congratulations to our winners! I have sent out emails to winners with instructions on how to claim your prizes.

I realized yesterday that I was so wrapped up in putting the finishing touches on the birthday cards that I never announced the newsletter. And it was actually finished on the first of the month, which almost never happens. So if you haven't seen it yet, here it is:

http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/news/august2015.php

This month is Akallabêth in August, as usual, so there is a list of Second Age stories from the archive. We also invite our members to share a Second Age story with us during August, even if this isn't the usual time period you write. Keeping with the AinA spirit, Oshun's character biography this month is on Tar-Meneldur, the father of the Aldarion and one of the rare Númenoréans whose obsession isn't the sea and sailing but rather astronomy. And, of course, we have a list of all new stories posted to the archive in July, news from around and beyond the SWG, and our monthly challenges.

Also, a friendly reminder that we have about a week left in the birthday writing contest. See here for writing contest rules and prizes. The last day for entering a story in the contest will be next Saturday, August 15. At midnight Eastern Daylight Time on the 16th, new entries will not be accepted.

Today, the SWG officially turned ten years old! It was ten years ago today that ford_of_bruinen and I started encouraging our friends to join our nascent Silmarillion group. Ever since then, we have grown in ways that I would not have imagined possible on this day ten years ago, when I recall reaching ten members on our Yahoo! group and feeling such a giddy sense of accomplishment.

I recorded a video in honor of our birthday. It's pretty short, and you can see my dusty study and hear my Baltimore accent! What's not to love! :)



This last decade has been simply incredible to me. I never imagined the group taking off like it has. So many people have made the SWG what it is. You are to credit with what the group has become. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for all that you have given to this community over the past ten years. Here's to many more!

(Also, a gentle reminder that the birthday cards will be closing soon. On August 1, I will take down the form and begin sending out the albums to recipients. If you want to send birthday cards and have not, our birthday card page can be found here.)

At the end of the month, on July 28, the SWG will celebrate its tenth birthday. This has been an incredible ten years for me and, I know, a lot of our members as well: Ten years filled with new friends and new insights, overzealous muses and hungry bunnies, a little drama and a lot of enthusiasm, and thousands and thousands of fanworks. My comods and I have been discussing and planning for months now how to celebrate our tenth birthday. In true Tolkienian fashion, we wanted it to be a way to give back to the members and friends who have shown this community so much love and support over the last decade.

We have two gifts that we've put together and would like to share with the Tolkien fan community: a brand new shiny Silmfic prompt generator (and a writing contest with a drawing for prizes for anyone who wants to take it for a spin!) and a birthday card collection so that you can show love and appreciation for the people who make this fandom such a wonderful place.

Silmfic Prompt Generator and Prize Drawing

Over the past month, my comods and I have been collaborating to build a random Silmfic prompt generator. If you've ever been in the mood to write but had trouble coming up with an idea (or if you loved all those BINGO prompts from B2MeM 2012 ...), this generator was made with you in mind! With ten categories--one for each year we've been in existence--and thousands of prompts within those categories, it results in all but endless combinations of prompts that are almost certainly unique to you. You can roll in as few or as many categories as you want, and you can reroll as many times as you want. Maybe you just want a new character to explore in a character study; maybe you want to challenge yourself to write something using all ten categories. (And trust me, when you roll all ten, it gets pretty bizarre pretty fast!) It is intentionally flexible so it can be used in any way you see fit to inspire your fanworks.

Now we can hardly unveil this new gizmo without encouraging people to use it. During the month of July, we encourage our members to play with the prompt generator and create fanworks based on it. On August 1, we will be holding a drawing for anyone who participates to win some Silmarillion-themed prizes. (I will have more details on these very shortly; Mr. Felagund is handling this part of the event and has come up with many ideas, but I honestly just haven't had a chance to sit down with him and make some decisions because *pointed look at generator and birthday cards* ... I've been otherwise engaged!)

10th Birthday Prize Drawing Rules

1. All stories written using the Silmfic prompt generator during the month of July are eligible for the drawing.


2. In order to be eligible, stories created for the contest must
   
   
   • be posted to the SWG archive at silmarillionwritersguild.org. Stories posted to our LiveJournal, Dreamwidth, Yahoo! or Tumblr groups are not eligible.
   
   
   • select 10th Birthday Celebration Contest from the Challenges list. Please note that there is also a 10th Birthday Celebration NO CONTEST option for those who wish to write using the generator in honor of our birthday but don't want to be entered in the drawing; make sure you select the correct challenge.
   
   
   • list the prompts you used to create the story in the Story Notes or Chapter Notes.
   
   
   
3. You can roll for just one category or all ten. You can reroll in a category if you want to, so if you end up with an impossible prompt or something you're just not comfortable writing, feel free to try again. And again and again. (Seriously, we have no idea if and how many times you reroll! Have fun with it!)


4. Each story posted will result in one entry into the drawing. (So if you post five stories, you will have five entries into the drawing.)


5. Each participant is eligible to win only once.


6. If you win, you must be willing to provide a mailing address for us to send your prize to you.


7. If you post an entry as part of an existing collection, please make sure to select 10th Birthday Celebration Contest from the challenges list and identify the prompts you used in the chapter notes for the piece or pieces that you are entering. This is how our mods will know from the table of contents of your collection which pieces in the collection are being entered, so it is important to place the prompts in the correct location.


8. You can add a chapter to an existing work-in-progress using the prompt generator. Again, make sure to select the correct challenge and include your prompts in the chapter notes for the chapter(s) you are entering.


9. The contest begins July 1 and ends on July 31 at midnight Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). We will draw winners on August 1. Winners will be notified at the email address they have listed on the SWG archive, so please make sure this is correct if you are participating. If we do not hear back within a week, we will re-draw a new winner. If you expect to be offline during the week after the drawing, please let us know ahead of time so that we do not give away your prize if you win and cannot respond within a week.

As always, questions are welcome here or at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org.

Birthday Cards

Of course, fandom--even the fanfic community--is about more than just writing. There are the readers, reviewers, betas, researchers, podfic readers, volunteers, artists, and friends who keep us coming back, day after day and year after year. During the month of July, we hope to provide a way to acknowledge and celebrate the myriad people in our fandom lives who make this community fun.

During the month of July, we invite participants to send birthday cards to the SWG members who make the fandom a better place for them. Our generous volunteers have made over one hundred (!) beautiful digital cards that you can select from and send to the SWG members of your choice along with a personalized message. Our birthday card form includes instructions and allows you to easily select what you'd like to send and to whom. The master list of birthday cards includes full-sized images of all the cards you can choose from.

On August 1, we will begin compiling digital albums of cards for each recipient that they can enjoy and return to whenever they want.

I want to close out by thanking the wonderful volunteers who made all of this possible. Our card artists included Oshun, Independence1776, Klose, Elleth, Lyra, and Ysilme. Elleth, Linda Hoyland, Lyra, and Sirielle generously granted use of their photography and/or artwork for the project. These contributors have created true works of art for our members and friends to share with each other. (And there are birthday cards for bannermakers and artists, just sayin' ... ;) Last but certainly not least, my wonderful team of comods helped with everything from writing those thousands of prompts to running database queries to nitpicking my writing to thinking of things I never would have.

I hope everyone enjoys our month-long birthday celebration! Here's to another ten years! <3

We are still looking for volunteers who would be willing to help us design the birthday cards for our upcoming 10th birthday celebration. You don't need to be a graphics expert to be of assistance. Any amount of help is useful, even just one or two cards!

If you're interested, comments are open here, or email us at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org.

Many thanks to those who have volunteered or assisted with this project in other ways! :)

The SWG will be celebrating its tenth birthday at the end of July, and the mod team is already planning how to celebrate. In true Tolkien tradition of giving rather than receiving gifts on one's birthday, we plan to offer the opportunity for fandom participants to send birthday cards to the SWG members who make the Tolkien fandom a brighter place for them. Like paper greeting cards, the card will contain a standard image/message, and you will be able to add a customized message as well, if you choose.

This post is a call for volunteers who want to help with the birthday cards and a place to share ideas on what birthday cards you'd like to see created. There are a few ways to get involved:

Artists and photographers can grant permission for our graphics designers to use their work to create birthday cards. We are able to offer credit and/or a copyright notice on your work. You can also specify how your work can and cannot be used. If you'd like to donate use of your work to our birthday card project, please email us at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org with links to the work that you're willing to allow us to use, how you'd like to be credited, and any additional terms you are placing on the use of your work.

Graphics artists are needed to create birthday cards. If you're interested or would like to learn more, email us at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org to be added to future emails about the project.

And finally, we need ideas on what birthday cards our members would like to see. Feel free to be creative and think outside the box! In addition to cards for specific fandom roles, you might have a poem, quote, or concept that would make a great card. Comment here with your ideas, as this post will be the go-to resource for our graphics designers as they look for inspiration on what cards to create.

(Examples: "I would like to see a birthday card that I can send to the people who always leave me comments that brighten my day." "I would like to see a card using some or all of the poem Achievements by Ella Wheeler Wilcox." "I am requesting something funny, done in a comic book style, for the people who keep fandom fun and humorous.")

Please share your ideas and, of course, ask any questions you may have here!

Our final birthday theme has been posted! "To My Dear" tells stories in letters, and we have quite a variety collected in our compilation.

In addition, we have two new works posted for this theme. Fragments of a Letter, by Himring, was a communication written by Emeldir and retrieved from a lorebook.

Letters to Calion, by lady_roisin, collects the letters written between Tar-Miriel and Ar-Pharazon during the early days of their courtship

We have also added a new story to the "Numenorean Queens" collection. The Axes of a Soul by Eärillë looks at Tar-Miriel's final moments and her salvation.

And now we begin the process of winding down the birthday event. We will continue to accept token awards through Saturday, September 18, so if you'd like to brighten the day of a favorite author, please do send your choices! You can either use the form on the website or send your selections in an email to us.

A few people have inquired as to what exactly we mean when we say that there is no deadline for new works written for the birthday challenge. Does that mean that we'll really accept works indefinitely? Yes it does! We always have a handful of authors whose muses run away with the challenges and turn their idea for a nice, concise ficlet into a sprawling novel. We do update compilations for this purpose, so as not to leave unfinished stories hanging into the final ages of Arda.

However, we will be posting the final birthday-related announcement in our next newsletter. This will list any stories added to the project between now and October. After that point, we won't be making announcements for new content added to the birthday site.

Given this, I strongly advise anyone interested in contributing to have their new work sent in by the end of the month. After this point, traffic to the birthday section of the site will likely slacken, and there won't be much benefit to having work added there, except for any continuations of longer stories, if there are any of those still hanging around out there. It'd be far easier for readers to find work added to the archive.

Finally, I would like to thank the many of you who made this event a success. If you contributed ideas for themes or tokens, sent in your older works, wrote newer works, honored your fellow members with tokens, spread the word about the event, or "only" encouraged others from the sidelines--thank you. I haven't done a final count of how many entries we received or how many people participated, but it was a lot, in excess of my expectations once again, and evidence of how we have reached this five-year milestone and why we can look forward to another five years! :)

Extra special thanks go to my comods, without whom this project would not have happened. rhapsody11 not only took over for me when I was away but answered more than one email along the lines of "OMG HELP!" when I needed an extra set of hands in coding and putting together compilations. I returned home from both of my trips to find that the birthday event was better organized and more caught up than when I left! (She also managed to find time in there, somehow, to organize our moderator email inbox. If you had seen the mess that had become, you would know that organizing Eä from cosmic rubbish required only slightly more patience and fortitude.) angelica_ramses handled sending most of the token emails and organizing the lists of tokens that were sent out this past weekend. Without both of their help, this project would not have come off smoothly, if at all. Thank you both for everything!

I hope that everyone enjoys the final theme. Here's to the next five years! :)

The compilation for "What Would Socrates Say?" has been posted on our birthday page:

http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/birthday/socrates.php

In addition, there are three new stories for this theme. In Lady Roisin's "A New Perspective on Love," a young Arwen asks Daeron what it was like to love and marry a mortal:

http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/birthday/perspective.php

Russandol's new chapter of her ongoing story "Chasing Mirages," about Eonwe after the War of Wrath, can be found here:

http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/birthday/mirages.php

And in Lady Roisin's "Lady and Captain," Isildur shows up to sail on a dangerous journey and discovers that the captain isn't quite who he expected:

http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/birthday/lady.php

In addition, Silver Trails has sent in a new story for the "Perfect Matches" theme. A crossover with Highlander, "You do not wish to live my life" considers a meeting between Maglor and Methos:

http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/birthday/wish.php

Today is the last day to send in any older poetry that you'd like to have included in "The Lays of Beleriand Reloaded" theme. The due date for "Into the Woods" is September 8. We are drawing quickly to the end of our birthday celebration as well, so don't forget to get your tokens sent in for your favorite authors and stories!

Today's theme is Through the Ages, a theme that looks at stories, poems, and artwork about characters whose deeds were important in more than one age. We have many story excerpts collected in the compilation, in addition to three more works of art done by Szilvi.

The next due date for older works for compilation is September 4, for the "What Would Socrates Say?" theme. This theme is for work where characters challenge their beliefs or those of someone else.

Important note: Please resume sending everything birthday-related (or anything urgent at all, for that matter) to the moderators rather than me personally at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org. This address forwards to several of our mods, including me, and is the best way to have issues speedily resolved. Between weather-related uncertainties in the next few days in my part of the world and travel plans that may or may not include reliable Internet access, this will assure that your work makes it into the birthday compilations on time rather than languishing in my inbox for days, if I'm without Internet.

And, of course, my requisite reminder that due dates apply only to older works. If you have a new story, poem, or piece of artwork for one of the themes, we will add it at any time.

Finally, the birthday event will conclude in just two weeks! I encourage everyone who wants to award tokens to do so soon because those two weeks will go quickly! :) Tokens are small awards that you can award to stories and authors you feel deserving, and it's a quick and easy way to show your appreciation for authors who have inspired and entertained you with their work.

A list of tokens
The form for sending your choices to the site mods

We will shortly be sending out emails to everyone who has awarded tokens so far, listing the tokens that you have given, so if you've forgotten which you've awarded, keep a lookout for this in the next week or so.