Silmarillion Writers' Guild

This community is primarily a place for sharing writing: for hosting workshops, for posting and writing responses to challenges, and for sharing your work with community members. Silmarillion writing encompasses a broad range of genres and topics, and so to make it easier for community participants to find and enjoy writing in the community, I am going to ask that writers use a specific format when posting their writing to the community.

Title: The title of your work.

Chapter: Where in the tale are we at this point? If you are posting a later chapter, it is advisable to post previous chapters in the "Related Links" section. If the piece has a single chapter (and it is all here), simply do not include this.

Author: That's you! Include your penname how you would like to be addressed by reviewers or workshop participants. If you would like to remain anonymous (and there are legitimate, non-nefarious reasons why a writer might choose to do so), simply state "Anonymous" or leave it blank.

Rating: This is important! Postings that do not include a rating will be removed! I do not care if it is the fluffiest, most innocuous G-rated tale you've ever seen. Some readers are sensitive to certain material, and we owe them the courtesy of letting them know what they are reading. The rating system for the community is simple:

• General--The material is appropriate for younger or sensitive readers. There is no gratuitous violence, strong language, or graphic sexual situations. If your story contains material that may be offensive or bothersome to some readers (like moderate violence or non-graphic slash) but does not meet the qualification for an "Adult" rating, please qualify your rating in the "Warnings" section.


• Adult--The material contains graphic violence or strong language. There are graphic sexual situations that are appropriate only for an adult audience. This includes especially situations that involve violent or non-consensual sexual situations.

Ratings, of course, are largely a judgement call. Use your intuitions and err on the side of caution when you're unsure.

Warnings: This is the place where you qualify your rating. Some people may not mind an Adult-rated story with consensual sex between married folks but may not want to read a piece full of angst and violence. If your posting includes any of the following, they must be listed in this section, or I will remove your story: rape, torture, non-consensual sex, graphic violence, graphic sexual situations, and strong language. It is also highly advisable that slash (the homosexual pairing of characters) and tales that are AU (alternate universe) be marked as such.

Genre: If the story fits a particular genre (e.g.- romance, action, adventure), indicate it here.

Summary: In as few words as possible, what can readers expect to encounter in your story? It is a good idea to include a listing of the main canon characters here as well as any pairings (slash or het) in the story.

Author's Introduction (optional): What do you want to say to your audience before they read your work? Maybe you would like them to pay attention to a specific problem you are having with the piece. Perhaps you want them to understand your inspiration or rationale for writing it. This is your section to sell your story to your audience as well as ask for help and advice: use it and use it wisely!

Related Links: If the story is archived elsewhere, you may include a link to it here. (Some people would rather read stories on some archives than others.) If there are chapters preceding the one posted here, please link them here with brief summaries.

Posting: Using an LJ cut, post your writing here. Even short writing (such as drabbles and poetry) must be posted in this manner so that readers can avoid writing that might offend them. Workshop pieces must meet the following requirements, some of which are highly recommended for general postings as well:

• Workshop pieces may not exceed five typed pages (single-spaced, normal font size and margins).


• Please run a spell check before posting. All modern word-processing programs, many email programs, and LiveJournal all have spell checks. Workshop pieces that haven't been spell-checked will not be accepted. Most readers quickly lose patience in reading a piece that is riddled with easily caught errors.


• Do you best to observe proper use of grammar, structure, and punctuation. At the bare minimum, writing must be divided into coherent paragraphs and sentences, unless there is a stylistic reason for doing otherwise. While not everyone is a grammar expert, at the minimum, read your piece before you post it. (Even better--read it aloud. You'll be surprised at the silly errors you'll catch.) Workshop pieces will be copy-edited if the author requests it.

Author's Epilogue (optional): What do you wish to express to your audience after they read your piece? You may want to pose a question to them after they have had a single, unbiased read-through. Now is a good time to do that (and, again, LJ cuts can be very helpful in assuring that readers won't accidentally see what you wish to know before they have read the story).

Resources and Acknowledgments: If another person's work was essential to the piece you have written, you must list it here. To do otherwise is plagiarism. (It is safe to assume that you have used Tolkien's work in your writing. Unless you are directly quoting, then you do not have to list The Silmarillion or its related works as a source.) This is also an excellent place to give credit to anyone who provided help with your story and whom you wish to acknowledge.

Please see the Sample Posting for an example of how your posting will look.