silwritersguild | Entries tagged with challenge

SWG November/December 2025 challenge banner: Great Beleriand Bake Off against a gingham background, accented with a basket of bread above and scrollwork below.

Ready? Set? Bake!

For the next two months, we invite you and your favorite characters out to the tent to demonstrate your prowess in baking … metaphorically, that is! (Though actual baked fanworks are of course welcome!) This challenge will feature a daily prompt calendar of baked goods from around the world, many of them suggested by our members.

Sundays are the exception—on Sundays, there will be a baking-themed comment challenge. Notify the mods if you complete a comment challenge—there are stamps for each individual comment challenge! Comment challenges apply to any fanwork on the SWG archive, not just Great Beleriand Bake Off challenge responses.

Just like baking, you can make this challenge as intense or easygoing as you like. You do not need to complete every prompt and can pick and choose as you'd like from the prompt calendar. Prompts do not need to be completed on the day they are posted. Post early! Post late! Perfect crumb and soggy bottoms are all welcome. If you'd like Paul Hollywood-level intensity, you can of course try for Star Baker and do all of the prompts.

Each day's prompt includes a sweet and a savory option. There is a description and sometimes a recipe (and sometimes several recipes) for each item. You are welcome to use any part of the prompt: the name of the baked good, the description, the recipe, stuff you learned from the links, anything. Fanworks do not need to be about baking or include the foods from the prompt. As always, you are welcome to get as creative with the prompts as you want, which includes twisting prompts, finding loopholes, and going in weird directions the challenge mods never imagined.

Finally, remember that the SWG is an international community with members from regions and cultures all around the world. If you prefer to swap in a recipe for a featured baked good that reflects how your region or culture makes that item, you are welcome to do so! However, please remember that there is no single "correct" or superior way to make any of these items. Let's approach this challenge with appreciation for the diversity of our community and the unifying human experience of sharing food to communicate love and fellowship!

Thank you to Grundy for this month's banner and stamps!

In deference to the winter holidays that direct many people's lives at this time of the year, our final challenge of the year always spans two months instead of one. Furthermore, in January, we will run our annual amnesty challenge when you can post fanworks for any of 2025's challenges to collect stamps you missed. Even though the challenge calendar will only run through 15 January, you can receive a stamp for your fanwork if your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 February 2026. At that point, you must step away from the fanwork and let Paullando and Pruefindel award your endeavor! For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

grundyscribbling

October 2025 SWG The Only Thing To Fear challenge banner - a house at night with one light on seen from a distance in a misty, dimly lit forest

Fear developed for a good reason, to keep animals—including people—safe in dangerous and uncertain situations. For our characters in Arda, some of those fears make perfect sense in their world, but as we know from our world, fear can also manifest in maladaptive ways, causing us to react strongly when there is no danger present or even make unsafe choices to avoid the object of fear.

For this month's challenge, creators will make a fanwork about fear using one or more of the common fears from the prompt list below. While your fanwork should involve fear in some way, it does not need to be scary, and as always, we encourage creative interpretation of challenge prompts.

Thank you to grundyscribbling for this month's stamps and jane_ways for the banner!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 November 2025. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

grundyscribbling

SWG September 2025 Jumble Sale challenge banner

Twenty years of SWG challenges has seen all kinds of use of the prompts that (mostly) moderators cook up each month to tempt and torment our challenge creators. Some challenges are worn thin with love. Others lie, untouched and growing dusty, in the attic of the SWG Challenge page. This month, in honor of twenty years of challenges, we are upcycling our old challenges and dusting them off for a second chance at life.

Jumble Sale prompts are created by SWG members using past challenges and prompts. For this challenge, you can choose your prompt from the list below. Each prompt is indicated by a "For Sale" and may include multiple elements. As always, we welcome creative interpretations of prompts and use of any part of the prompt.

Make sure to tag all challenges included in the prompt if you would like the stamps for them. Challenges from before 2017 do not have stamps, but there is a special stamp for creators who venture into the deepest, dustiest recesses of the SWG attic by creating for a prompt that uses a challenge from prior to 2017!

If you'd like to create prompts of your own but missed the original call, you're not too late! Submit Jumble Sale prompts here. Allow us forty-eight hours to update the website before querying.

Thank you to Varda delle Stelle for this month's stamps!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 October 2025. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

dawn_felagund

Kids These Days, SWG challenge, 15 August through 15 September

If there is a unifier among generations, it is complaining about the kids and teens in the generations coming up behind them. There was likely an ancient Mesopotamian complaining about the brainrot effects of that newfangled cuneiform and kids carving their names on the ziggurat walls. Likewise, there is no reason to believe our beloved Tolkien characters were immune to these timeless worries and whinges about the young people around them (or experienced the ever-helpful "advice" of their elders when they were themselves whippersnappers).

This month's challenge will offer a bingo card chock-full of perennial complaints about kids and teens. Choose one or several prompts to include in your fanwork. Numbers will not be called; you can select any prompt you want at any time. Your fanwork does not have to be about kids and teens; as always, we welcome creative interpretations of our prompts.

There are special stamps available for completing rows, columns, diagonals, or (if you are old enough to withstand the effort of going uphill both ways) a full card blackout where you manage every prompt. Note that, to complete rows and blackouts, you do not need to use all of the prompts in a single fanwork but can use them across multiple fanworks. Let the moderators know if you need one of the special stamps.

You can find the bingo card and text prompts for the Kids These Days challenge here.

Thank you to hîn_isil for this month's adorable stamps!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 September 2025. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

dawn_felagund

Jumble Sale, SWG challenge, 15 September through 15 October, banner shows a jumble sale flier amid a jumble of past challenge banners

Have you ever noticed one of our challenges or prompts that would be absolutely perfect … for someone else to write? Or maybe the perfect storm of challenge and prompt combos that would be entirely delicious, intriguing, perplexing, or evil? For our September challenge, Jumble Sale, you will have your chance to offer up past challenges and prompts to other creators to work their magic!

How It Will Work

You can offer up to five items "for sale" at the jumble sale! Items should consist of a past SWG challenge or a prompt for a challenge. You can combine challenges and prompts, but all challenges and prompts should come from the SWG collection. You can find the full list of challenges here. Items will be listed as the prompts in the Jumble Sale challenge for other creators to make fanworks for.

How many challenges/prompts can you include in your item? As many as you want! Be tame, go wild, the choice is yours!

Next, you can set an optional "price" on your items. These are extra conditions that the creator must fulfill in claiming your item. Remember that the SWG is a positive-focused space; make sure your price is what you want to see, not what you want to avoid.

Some examples:

It's Magic challenge using the prompt "The stain will not come out…" from the First Lines challenge
Combine the Soap Opera prompt "secret family" with the Also Appearing prompt "mockumentary"
Notion Club Revival challenge; price: include the pairing Celegorm/Maeglin

Ready to put some items in our Jumble Sale? Use the form here to send us your items!

grundyscribbling

The 1940s was a decade of contrasts. It contained humankind's deadliest war and ushered in its biggest baby boom. European powers nursed their war wounds, the United States and Soviet Union rose as superpowers, and the first stirrings of decolonization inspired millions to seek independence and the right to self-governance. All of this occurred as swing music and the first jukeboxes played in the background, and technological advancements brought space travel, the atomic bomb, and Tupperware.

This month's challenge focuses on the decade that both contained the first teen crooners and saw literature and film turn to noir. Prompts come from the 1940s, and you are welcome to choose any from the list below. As usual, you can use any part of the prompt—dig deep into a novel or film or the lyrics of a song if you want, or use the title, book cover, or movie poster—anything goes! We welcome you to combine prompts and interpret them as creatively as your imagination requires.

Find the Swinging 40s prompt collection and fanworks here.

Thank you to Pages for this month's stamps!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 August 2025. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

grundyscribbling

SWG Gates of Summer challenge banner - dragonflies amidst tall grass

Summer is a season of flourishing, when life is at its peak. It is a time of plenty, when the light lingers long and celebrations dot the calendar. As we prepare for our big Mereth Aderthad celebration in just a month's time—an event that celebrates the vibrant life of our group and all of the creators and members who have shaped its history—we turn to the topic of summer. Like summer, we hope the SWG and the creativity and fellowship between its members will be a light that endures for many years to come!

This month, challenge participants will select their own prompts from a collection of prompts related to summer. The collection includes quotes from the texts, canon events, events in Tolkien's life, and quotes from Tolkien's letters. As always, you can mix and match prompts if you want, and we encourage creative interpretations of prompts.

In honor of Pride Month, there is a special stamp available for fanworks that focus on LGBTQIA+ characters.

Thank you to anerea for this month's banner and stamps!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 July 2025. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

grundyscribbling

A rustle of silk, the song of a sword unsheathed, the rhythmic clop of hooves on cobblestones … Period dramas take us back in time—to the good times, that is, and an escape to a past where we aren't asked to endure the absence of antibiotics, electric lights, or basic rights for most of the population; when people and clothing were beautiful (and had all of their teeth), no one stunk, and toileting practices are left to the imagination.

This month's challenge is a Matryoshka challenge, where you will choose a prompt set based on a level of difficulty, revealing one prompt at a time as you move through your fanwork. Prompts are based around common tropes found in period dramas. It is important to note, however, that your fanwork does not need to be a period piece itself. Any genre, topic, and approach to the prompts is welcome!

How a Matryoshka Challenge Works

Matryoshka dolls are also known as Russian nesting dolls, with each doll containing a smaller doll inside. A Matryoshka challenge works similarly, requiring creators to fit their response to each prompt within a fanwork already underway for previous prompts.

You will use multiple prompts for a Matryoshka challenge. First, choose your difficulty level: Beginner (two prompts), Easy (three), Medium (five), or Difficult (seven … and good luck!) You will include each prompt in your story, opening them one at a time as you create your fanwork. (See below for how to use the prompts for formats other than fanfiction.) Prompts will include directions about when you can open the next prompt. Prompt sets can be found below.

If you want to create a fanwork other than fiction for a Matryoshka challenge, you can use any of the following approaches to your prompt set:

You can, of course, use the Matryoshka rules for fiction. For example, if you are making a fan vid, you could open each prompt one at a time to guide the storyline and selection of video clips.
You can use each prompt individually to create a series of flash fanworks using either the prompt title or the full prompt (or a mixture of both). For example, if you request a Medium prompt set and want to make fan art, you could do a series of five sketches that fit each of the five prompts.
You can open all of the prompts at once and make a fanwork that incorporates them all in some way, using either the prompt title or the full prompt (or a mixture of both).

This month there is a special stamp available for nonwritten fanworks made using the Matryoshka prompts! This would include artwork, audio, link collections, playlists, videos, and multimedia fanworks. Writing is allowed but should also include one of these other types.

Thank you to Zdenka for this month's banner and stamps!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 June 2025. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

grundyscribbling

Color illustration depicting a man in red touching the brim of his hat; stage opposite three Silmarils float in a spotlight. The text reads 'Musicals! A Silmarillion Writers Guild Challenge Coming April 15 - May 15, 2025'

The curtain rises, the lights come up, and for the next few hours, you are transported to a world where people sing through their problems. Musicals tell stories ranging from the petty to the profound through song and, as they belt out from the stage, saturate the culture, moving from theater to film to radio, inspiring uninhibited shower-singing and getting unapologetically stuck in your head.

This month's challenge draws its prompts from musicals. Select the prompt you want from the list and, as always, you can use any part of the prompt—including delving deeper into the lyrics and performance of the selected songs—in crafting your fanwork.

You can find prompts for the Musicals challenge here.

Thank you to Silmalope for this month's gorgeous banner and stamps!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 May 2025. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

grundyscribbling

A woman carrying a birthday cake with lit candles and icing letters saying "SWG challenge" against a gloriously vintage background. Text above her head reads Birthday Bash

On March 14, 2005, the SWG arrived in the small hours of the morning. It was still in very embryonic form, actualized only as a Yahoo! Group with no members and a series of very cringey posts on Dawn's LiveJournal (she had no idea how LiveJournal worked, having joined just that day to post these cringey posts in her insomnia-fueled effort to launch the SWG).

Twenty years later, this challenge debuted in recognition of two full decades of existence of the SWG. Each day, we will post an event that is an important hashmark on the timeline of the SWG's history along with three prompts that (at least in the challenge mods' mind) are associated with that event: a single word, a snippet of poetry (with a link to the full poem), and a public domain image. As always, you can use any aspect of the prompt to inspire your fanwork, including fragments of prompts or parts of the poem not included on the challenge page. The history snippets are fair game as prompts. You do not have to create or share your response on the day a prompt is posted. You can go back to past prompts, and you can stitch prompts from different days together into fanworks in cool and bizarre ways.

You can find challenge prompts for Birthday Bash here.

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 25 April 2025. (Note that this extends the challenge past the usual deadline of the 15th so that those who wish to create for the later prompts in the challenge have the opportunity to do so!) For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

grundyscribbling

Dark matter is a substance found throughout the universe that goes unseen and is known to exist only because of its interaction with objects around it. This month's challenge seeks to imitate the mystery that is dark matter: a prompt that isn't there yet shapes the fanwork around it.

This month's prompts are anti-prompts, and your challenge is to create a fanwork where those prompts don't exist or that is shaped around their lack of existence. Prompts are selected using a randomized prompt generator. There are three categories to choose from: motifs and tropes, literary techniques, and words and letters. You can select your prompt from whichever of the three categories you wish (and if you're really feeling the dark energy, you can try prompts from two or all three categories in the same fanwork!)

We know this challenge is an unusual approach, so prompts range from very easy to just-about-impossible (don't use the letter E?!) You can reroll the prompt generator as many times as you want until you find a prompt that you can work with.

Dark Matter Prompt Generator

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 March 2025. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

Thank you to Independence1776 for this month's banner and stamps!

grundyscribbling

SWG January 2025 Jubilee Challenge Banner - the word "Jubilee in large handwritten font over a blue background spangled with silver stars

We always like to start the new year fresh and with creativity. To that end, we begin the year with an amnesty, allowing you to create a fanwork for any of the previous year’s challenges. To celebrate the SWG’s 20th anniversary year, we’re expanding that in our second ever Jubilee. (Yes, we know Jubilees are traditionally every 25 or 50 years. We’re not that patient, so we’re making our own Jubilee tradition—do one when it feels right.)

Any challenge from January 2017 onward is fair game for the amnesty this January! If there’s a challenge you’ve been eyeing that was before your time, or one you’ve been kicking yourself for missing, this is your moment. If you started a challenge response but never finished it, here’s your chance. Done them all? We are in awe. Also, you can create for any of them—just make sure you post to the Jubilee challenge to get your stamp.

If you’re all worn out from all 2024 threw at you but ready to go on a fanworks binge, the Jubilee includes commenting stamps.

During the Jubilee, you can collect any existing challenge stamp. The only new stamps we’ll be giving out are the Jubilee-specific ones. We do have a few caveats and mod requests regarding particular challenges—all are available on the challenge page.

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 February 2025. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

grundyscribbling

As the year draws to a close, we gather with friends and share memories and gifts and, of course, a good meal. And there’s nothing like a potluck to make sure there’s something for everyone!
For our last challenge of 2024, we’re offering Potluck Bingo. We hope to have a smorgasbord of bingo cards made by you prompting a delectable spread of fanworks, with something to suit all tastes. (The mods will contribute a few boards to get things started. But as with any potluck, the more, the merrier!)

Board Making & Submission (Begins November 1)

Templates are available to make it as simple as possible to create a board:
Canva
PSD
Text-only prompt list
You may submit as many boards as you choose, and there is no deadline aside from the challenge deadline of January 15. There is no restriction on board themes.
If you don’t have time to make a board, we also have a form open from November 1 - 8 to submit prompts that someone else can turn into a board. Form submissions are limited to 1 per person. (You are also free to team up and collaborate with other SWG members directly.) The window to submit prompts through the form isn’t very long, but that’s to give the boardmakers sufficient time to work their magic.
Prompt sets submitted through the form will be available for potential boardmakers to view and pick from. If you are interested, let the mods know and we will share the link where you can view the form submissions and claim a prompt set to make a board for.
Boardmakers, we ask that you do the following:

If you choose to make a board from scratch rather than use the templates, please keep the dimensions roughly 575 x 865 pixels, with a portrait orientation.
Please submit a plain text list of the prompts along with your board - we provide a text-only version for every board for accessibility. (There is a text-only prompt list template also. Please note that links, hexadecimal color codes, etc can be given as part of the text!)
If submitting a NSFW board, please let the mods know so we can mark it appropriately.
Finished boards should be submitted to moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org

Bingo
Play begins November 15, when all boards received up to that date will be available on the challenge page. After November 15, we will continue to add boards as they are submitted. You are free to play any board—you are not required to play your own. You may also play as many boards as you want. And of course, you’re free to combine prompts from different boards.
We will not be pulling numbers—there is no daily prompt. Pick your board, and see what prompt(s) on the board spark something.
Commenters, you’re not left out of the bingo fun. There will be a few comment challenge boards to play. (Possibly more than a few if our boardmakers decide to run with it …)
As there will be many different boards in play, both creators and commenters will need to notify the mods when stamps are needed for bingo (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or card blackout). You can reach us on Tumblr, DW, Discord, or using the contact form. We will have a special stamp for anyone who plays multiple boards. There will NOT be a stamp for playing all boards, as past experience suggests there could be quite a few.

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 January 2025. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

dawn_felagund

Orctober - SWG Challenge - October 15 through November 15, 2024

Winter is stretching its bitter fingers across the lands to the north. Dead leaves rattle upon the hissing winds that bring the cold and first stinging snows to the dying lands. Listen closely, and you will hear another sound: the crackle of a feeble fire, the rustle of an old parchment map, and whispering voices, plotting.

We know the Free Peoples of Middle-earth observed the lives of Melkor's servants, and Melkor sometimes seduced (or coerced) Elves and Mortals to his service. But what about the Orcs? They too came into contact with cultures different from their own, and some doubtlessly braved Melkor's wrath to seek a better life for themselves.

This month's challenge has two parts. Prompts will be spooky-themed and associated with locations on the old parchment map discovered by a troop of Orcs braving the first bitter patrols in the icy north. Each location on the map represents a location where an Orc seeking freedom can find protection, shelter, or objects useful to resistance.

You can, of course, complete the challenge simply by completing one or more prompts. If you would like to go a step further, there is also a puzzle to solve. The whispers around the guttering fire speak of escape from Melkor's enslavement. Will you join this quiet rebellion?

Find the Orctober challenge guidelines and prompts here.

This month's spooktacular banner and stamps were created by Independence1776!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 November 2024. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

grundyscribbling

Raining cats and dogs. A short fuse. Up a creek without a paddle. A piece of cake. Sometimes colorful, sometimes puzzling without backstory or explanation, these delightful turns of phrase enrich our language—whichever one it happens to be.

This month we celebrate idioms from languages around the world. We will assign you a random idiom. (Some may not be originally English—for the non-English idioms, we will give a translation along with the original.) How you use this idiom to create a fanwork is entirely up to you. You can request your prompt by commenting here , ask on Tumblr, in the #monthly-challenges channel on our Discord, or by emailing the mods.

Many thanks to Zdenka for her clever work on this month's banner and stamps!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 October 2024. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

dawn_felagund

Kings and Queens - Silmarillion Writers' Guild Challenge - 15 August through 15 September 2024

Tolkien's legendarium, with its roots in medieval Europe, displays all the royal drama of history: arguments over succession, regicide, kidnapping, and secret kings dashing back at the heroic last minute to rise to greatness. (Yeah you, Aragorn!) Amidst this royal rumble are kings and queens simply doing the job they were born to do. The annals of Middle-earth are filled with rulers who improved (even saved!) their people's lives, turned their realms into a disaster zone, or—most commonly—simply disappeared into the pages of history.

This month, we challenge you to create a fanwork about a king or queen in the legendarium, whether dramatic or dull, brilliant or disastrous, renowned or forgotten. Below, you will find a list of kings and queens listed in the indices of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. Note that this list is not exhaustive, and you are welcome to create fanworks about kings and queens not listed. In some cases, it may be questionable whether a character counts as a king or queen, and if you decide they do, we trust your judgment. Fanworks about kings and queens who are textual ghosts or original characters are welcome as well. Finally, remember that the "Silmarillion" is much more than just the First Age. If you're not sure if a Third Age idea would fit on our site, our FAQ on "Silmworks" is here.

Because this challenge falls during Akallabêth in August, there will be a special stamp for anyone who creates a fanwork set during the Second Age.

Thanks go to Zdenka for this month's lovely banner and stamps!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 September 2024. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

You can find the list of kings and queens for this challenge and fanworks created for the Kings & Queens challenge here.

grundyscribbling

Bollywood - SWG challenge - 15 July-15 August 2024

The world's largest film industry isn't Hollywood, with its stars and scandals and endless sequels but Bollywood, the film industry that originated in Bombay in the late 19th century, more than a decade before Hollywood got its start. This month's challenge celebrates the lively dances, glittering costumes, towering emotions, and music you can't get out of your head of Bollywood.

Prompts this month come from Bollywood films and will be assigned by a moderator. You can request your prompt by commenting on this post, Tumblr, the #monthly-challenges channel on our Discord, or by emailing the mods. You can specify whether you'd like a song, film title, trope, or color palette—or you can let us surprise you! (If you choose a song, let us know if you'd like a song with an English translation available.) As always, you can use any aspect of your prompt to inspire your fanwork.

In some cases, we provide an intentionally brief and vague synopsis of a film or definition of a concept so that creators can get started with a prompt without having to do additional research. However, creators are welcome to dig deeper into a prompt if they want to and use what they learn to inspire a fanwork. For example, you might find that the film in your prompt has a clever subplot you will write a story around, the music video for a song has costumes you will include in a drawing, or a concept has aspects not included in our definition that you wish to use to make a playlist. While this is not required, you should feel free to dig as deeply into the prompts if you want and use anything you find!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 August 2024. In addition, July is Disability Pride Month, so we have a special stamp for fanworks that include characters with disabilities. Make sure it is clear from your summary or let a moderator know if you need this stamp. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

grundyscribbling

Break out the lava lamps, we’re getting groovy this month with a trip back in time to the funky 70s!

For this month's challenge, select a prompt or prompts from the '70s-themed lists below. You can use any aspect of the prompt that you want and we encourage creative interpretation of the prompts. Want to dig up a particular episode of a show from the TV list and use that? A favorite book cover for one of the titles on the literature list? A line from the theme song from one of the movies on the Movies list? Go wild, moon child! (Of course, tamer interpretations of the prompts are acceptable too!)

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 July 2024. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

grundyscribbling

Crossroads of the Fallen King challenge banner: aerial photo of an urban highway interchange at night

The Nirnaeth is fought by superheroes. Elven history becomes a telenovela. Túrin rages through the five acts of a Shakespearean tragedy. Tolkien characters fall into favorite films and shows, and classic literature mixes with zombies … or Balrogs. Elves in space and Maglor in history—Tolkien crossovers that are nearly genres in their own right.

Crossover fanworks have a vibrant history in the Tolkien fandom, and the crossroads are fertile ground for new and unexpected creative endeavors. This month's challenge asks participants to create a crossover fanwork. The second text and how exactly you cross the two is entirely up to you!

Crossovers are fanworks that use elements from two or more fandoms or texts to create a fanwork. Crossovers can use characters, settings, and other elements from the second text. In the Tolkien fanfiction fandom, crossovers have also included fanworks that combine Tolkien's world with folklore, myth, and real-world history. As always, we encourage participants to get creative in how they interpret this month's challenge.

You can find a list of crossover texts already added to our site here. If you need a tag added to the Crossover Text list, you can let us know now or request it when you post your fanwork using the Moderator Request field on the fanwork submission form.

Note that, on the SWG, Silmarillion-based fanworks that use The Rings of Power show (and other media adaptations) are considered crossovers. Likewise, fanworks that cross The Silmarillion with any of Tolkien's non-Middle-earth works are counted as crossovers.

Many thanks to Independence1776 for this month's lovely banner and stamps!

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 June 2024. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

dawn_felagund

The Tengwar are one of the delights of visiting Middle-earth as a fan of Tolkien's work. Whether a serious student of the letters; dabbling with them, Appendix open, on a lazy afternoon; or simply admiring the way they flow across a title page (or the One Ring …), most Tolkien fans find them beautiful and packed with meaning beyond what it seems should be contained within a single letter.

This month (and a bit beyond!), we will feature a prompt per day taken from the Tengwar chart. The prompt will include a graphic of the tengwa and its name in Quenya and English. You can use any part of the prompt: the tengwa itself, the name, the English translation, the graphic, or some other creative interpretation we haven't even dreamed up yet! You may do as many or as few of the daily prompts as you would like. One prompt is worth as much as challenging yourself to do them all, so work at the level and pace that is comfortable for you. (However, there may be a special reward for anyone ambitious enough to try them all!) Tengwar prompts can be found here.

Prompts will be posted daily at midnight UTC on our website, Tumblr, Dreamwidth, and the #monthly-challenges channel on our Discord. You do not need to do the prompt on the day it was posted; you can go back and do prompts you missed or do them out of order.

In honor of Poetry Month, we will have a special stamp for fanworks that are or include poetry. In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 June 2024. Note that the deadline is a month later than usual since the challenge runs longer than usual. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

Thank you to Cuarthol and Anérea for the gorgeous banners and stamps this month!

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Silmarillion Writers' Guild

November 2025

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grundyscribbling - November/December 2025 Challenge: Great Beleriand Bake Off
grundyscribbling - October Challenge: The Only Thing To Fear
grundyscribbling - September Challenge: Jumble Sale
dawn_felagund - New Challenge: Kids These Days
dawn_felagund - Prompts Needed for September's Jumble Sale Challenge!
grundyscribbling - July Challenge: Swinging 40s
grundyscribbling - June Challenge: Gates of Summer
grundyscribbling - May Challenge: Period Drama
grundyscribbling - April 2025 Challenge: Musicals
grundyscribbling - March 2025 Challenge: Birthday Bash
grundyscribbling - February 2025 Challenge: Dark Matter
grundyscribbling - January 2025 Challenge: Jubilee
grundyscribbling - November/December 2024 Challenge: Potluck Bingo
dawn_felagund - October Challenge: Orctober
grundyscribbling - September Challenge: Idiomatic
dawn_felagund - New Challenge: Kings & Queens
grundyscribbling - July Challenge: Bollywood
grundyscribbling - June Challenge: Funky 70s
grundyscribbling - May Challenge: Crossroads of the Fallen King
dawn_felagund - New Challenge: Tengwar

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Style: Neutral Good for Practicality by timeasmymeasure

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Page generated Dec. 5th, 2025 11:04 am

Silmarillion Writers' Guild

Entries tagged with challenge

November/December 2025 Challenge: Great Beleriand Bake Off

October Challenge: The Only Thing To Fear

September Challenge: Jumble Sale

Admin Post: New Challenge: Kids These Days

Admin Post: Prompts Needed for September's Jumble Sale Challenge!

How It Will Work

July Challenge: Swinging 40s

June Challenge: Gates of Summer

May Challenge: Period Drama

April 2025 Challenge: Musicals

March 2025 Challenge: Birthday Bash

February 2025 Challenge: Dark Matter

January 2025 Challenge: Jubilee

November/December 2024 Challenge: Potluck Bingo

Admin Post: October Challenge: Orctober

September Challenge: Idiomatic

Admin Post: New Challenge: Kings & Queens

July Challenge: Bollywood

June Challenge: Funky 70s

May Challenge: Crossroads of the Fallen King

Admin Post: New Challenge: Tengwar

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November 2025

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