#tolkien fandom event

[tolkienrsb]

TRSB 2023 Gallery Opening

& 2024 Schedule Premiere

It’s almost time for TRSB 2024! Sign ups for artists for TRSB 2024 open in a month. The full schedule for 2024 can be found here.

To start getting excited for this year’s event, please enjoy the opening of the TRSB 2023 Gallery (and the completion of the TRSB 2022 Gallery!) Many thanks to @usuallysublimepenguin for doing the lion’s share of the work to get both galleries ready and online and to @fishing4stars for supporting that effort!

Before the suggestions form opens on March 24th, we want to invite veteran participants to share their wisdom about the event. If you were speaking to someone curious about participating in TRSB for the first time, what would your advice be on picking what to draw? Or, as an author, what do you look for in a prompt? 

The mods have given their own answers under the cut. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

~TRSB Mods 2024

Mods answer the question:

Fishing4Stars (roles: artist, writer): As a writer I look for prompts that either give me a clear inspiration that I think matches the artist’s idea - or that leave me enough flexibility to write something I find inspiring. Either works! I do get inspired by my favorite characters, but the underlying idea can be a great source as well. I had a blast writing a story focused on Thorin last year even though he’s not a character I normally write for because the underlying prompt, about being an outcast and having a complex identity, inspired me. I loved working closely with the artist on this - I will probably make my ‘involvement level’ preference this year more specific, because I’d love to do that again.

I think my biggest takeaways as an artist after participating last year were: 

(1) Be a little selfish when picking prompts: As an artist, I’m responsible for supporting my writers and their works - whether cheerleading, brainstorming, beta reading, or hands off, my writer deserves for me to be excited to read their work in September and give them comments. So it’s to both our benefit for me to pick something I like and want to read. Last year I picked a prompt off the suggestions list that I normally wouldn’t have. It actually turned out really well and I had tons of fun reading it, but it did make me think about maybe giving slightly more personalized prompts this year. 

(2) Leaving room for collaboration can be fun: Both of the works I submitted last year were in mostly finished form. The bit of collaboration I got to do to adjust the work to the writer’s story was really fun, though. So this year I’m thinking about leaving some room for the writer to weigh in on the art.

Usuallysublimepenguin (role: artist): I’ve participated as an artist for a few years now and can warmly recommend joining, as it’s been such a joy every time.

Regarding the prompt list, I can certainly echo Fishing4Stars: draw something that you like! The list is great for sparking ideas, but be careful of picking the very specific ones; they might be something the prompter would want to read but not necessarily write. So, if it’s not something you want to draw, do not pick it. Use the list for inspiration, or if the list is too dauntingly large, go for something completely different from your own head.

My prompts have gone from quite detailed "Lothiriel, a new bride getting to know Éomer" to very open "here's one or two characters in a pose I wanted to draw; please fill in the blanks" or "Here's a landscape; please fill in the details." Keep in mind that the open prompts require quite high levels of collaboration, and that the stories might take you to new places you never even thought existed - but for me that works very well. Every single story that came from these prompts are dear to me. 

Ettelenë (roles: writer, sometimes artist). Since I am mainly a writer who sometimes draws, I tend to pick prompts that suit the characters or stories I want to tell. The first time I participated as a writer, it was with a prompt/character I never thought I would write about (mermaid Voronwë!), and, surprisingly, it was not the most challenging time. So, to start, writing or drawing something completely out of our comfort zones can actually draw people in. Nowadays, though, as I don't have much time to write a fully complex story with worldbuilding etc, I’ll go for the prompts that I am 100% sure I can bang 5k in the blink of an eye. As for drawings, I usually stick with what I do best, which is watercolor. And curiously enough, the two times I did art for TRSB, it was about the Valar, characters I mostly never write about, but who always spark my artistic creativity.

Raiyana (roles: writer): I have a tendency to fall in love with a piece or an idea and fall HARD… so far, happily, the artists have been pleased to have me write for them ;) And then I find that weird secondary prompt in the gallery, generally during second claims, that tickles Something. I usually filter out characters/ideas I definitely can’t do and then something or someone (often a co mod, actually) will challenge me to come up with a way to do a prompt and spark another fire of creativity ;). 

I never thought I’d be able to write a streamer script version of FoG, but here we are…

Lathalea (roles: writer, artist): When I joined TRSB for the first time, as a writer, I definitely felt overwhelmed with the size of the event and the amount of prompts, and then art pieces. It wasn’t easy to pick just one, so many of them screamed “pick me!”. I managed to narrow them down and mull over them for some time. I asked myself what ideas and parts of the Tolkien legendarium spoke to me the most, what “blank areas” of Middle Earth I would like to fill with my works, and how I wanted to do this. What I learned back then is that it worked for me best to focus on a very particular and narrow theme so that I could delve into proper worldbuilding – which is something I live for when it comes to Dwarves and their culture.

Finally, I chose the one that sparked the most creativity in me that year. I feel that for writers who decide to work on a specific art piece, prompts can be a great help, making you enrich your story or add a detail or two that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. As a bonus, you get at least one very happy reader: the author of that specific prompt! 

One year later, I decided to submit art for TRSB because I liked the prompts so much – I just had to create a piece of visual art inspired by them. It resulted in a great cooperation that explored a completely new subject that I always wanted to focus on but never had a chance to do properly before.

Feel free to surprise yourself and pick prompts or ideas you haven’t worked on before, you never know what way your creativity will go!

Legolasbadass (roles: writer, artist): There are always too many great artworks, so I usually make a list of pieces I’d be most interested in writing for to help narrow down my choices. I look for ideas and characters I am most inspired by and comfortable writing about — though it can also be fun to step out of your comfort zone and try something new! Another really important thing for me is the collaboration level. I really enjoy brainstorming with the artist, sharing my progress with them, and getting regular feedback, so I tend to avoid choosing artists who prefer a less collaborative experience. 

When looking for inspiration for art, I usually look at the answers to the suggestions form as well as my personal list of prompts and pick an idea that I’d be most excited to share with someone. The collaborative aspect of the event is what excites and inspires me the most, so I tend not to submit an idea I feel too possessive of. I like working closely with an author and letting their vision inspire my art as much as my art will inspire their story.

#tolkien fandom event #trsb24 #tolkien reverse summer bang #tolkien fanart

[silvergiftingweek]

Silvergifting Week 2024 - info and prompts

Silvergifting Week will happen on August 5-11, 2024.

For the third time, Silvergifting week will happen on Tumblr, celebrating the relationship between Celebrimbor and Mairon | Sauron | Annatar. The purpose of this event is to encourage people to create works focused on this pairing (either romantic or queer-platonic). All kinds of fan works are welcome as long as they're created by you: fan art, fan fiction, headcanon, moodboard, fan craft, playlist, cosplay, meta, etc.

The tag of the event is #silvergiftingweek. When posting, use this tag and/or tag this blog @silvergiftingweek. Please respect general Tumblr content posting rules when participating in this event. Mature and potentially triggering content should be posted under cut.

Can't wait to see what you'll create this year! If you have any questions, you can always send an ask.

Happy creating!

-@elennalore, your mod

List of prompts, 2024 edition

These prompts are not mandatory, they're just for inspiration.

Day 1: Beginnings First meeting. First time. Developing relationship. The past and the present.

Day 2: Desire Falling in love. Soulmates. Desire and passion.

Day 3: Larger circle Gwaith-i-Mírdain. Friends. Celebrating together. Other relationships.

Day 4: Crafting Forge work. Collaboration. Ambition. Rings of Power.

Day 5: Darkness Betrayal. Sauron’s darker side. War. Captured. Dark ending.

Day 6: AU Canon divergence. Meeting in a different time. Meeting in a different universe.

Day 7: Post-canon New beginning. Valinor. Reconciliation. Recovery. Remembering the past.

#silvergiftingweek #silvergifting #celebrimbor #annatar #mairon #sauron #tyelpe #tyelperinquar #tolkien fandom event #silm fandom event #mod post

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Hidden Paths 2024

Happy New Year, small canon fans!

Just a quick post to confirm that Hidden Paths will be running again in 2024.

Hidden Paths was created as a low-pressure, low-commitment opportunity to explore the lesser known Tolkien canons (e.g. Sellic Spell, Mr. Bliss, The Notion Club Papers), and create and share fanworks based on them.

The dates will be the same as last year, 14th - 28th Feb, with optional prompts at the start of each week of the event.

For more info on the event and how it works, check out our AO3 collection or our Dreamwidth sticky post.

Looking forward to seeing your creations!

Mod Narya

#tolkien #tolkien fandom event #hidden paths

[silmsmutweek]

SilmSmutWeek will be back, Sept 30 to Oct 6 2024!

SilmSmutWeek is a fandom event celebrating sexually explicit fanworks based on the The Silmarillion.

Prompts and themes to come in Summer. Meanwhile, you can check out last year's.

About & How to Participate (2023)

FAQ

Rules

The event is run by @ettelene and @polutrope. Questions? Send an Ask.

#mod post #silmsmutweek2024 #silmsmutweek #silm smut #silmarilion smut #tolkien fandom event

[screwyule]

So it begins again... another year, another excuse to start it off writing Tolkien fandom smutfic. Or making art. Or really whatever you want. It's twenty days, it already started, and you can...

Find out more here

Join the Discord with the channel to talk about it

#screw yule #sy2024 #tolkien fanfiction #tolkien fanart #tolkien fandom event

[march-of-the-noldor]

March of the Noldor

What is it?

A month-long event to commiserate the grueling walk the Noldor took, across the Helcaraxe, from Aman to Beleriand.

When is it?

March 1 - March 31

How do I participate?

Post something regarding the march and mention @march-of-the-noldor. Everything made will be reblogged here.

Go forth and create something New!

But this is also a great time to reblog older works relating to the march too!

What is allowed?

EVERYTHING!

Art, fic, meta, moodboards, poems! It's all welcome!

Want to do a character study? Awesome!

Make a collage of the kind of wild life the Noldor might encounter? Amazing!

Talk about the different types of ice the Noldor walked across? Fantastic!

Record a list of new traditions that developed during the walk? Bring it on!

We shall depart on this voyage together!

If you have any questions please ask them! <3

header by Adam Excell - unsplash

#the silmarillion #march of the noldor #tolkien #middle earth #helcaraxe #ocs and aus are all allowed too. we need all we can get to make it across the ice! #the silm #the silm fandom #fandom event #info post

[thorinsspringforge]

Welcome!!

Calling all Thorin fans! We are happy to announce that sign ups for Thorin’s Spring Forge (TSF) 2024 are now open! 

What is TSF? TSF is a minibang style event where writers and artists come together to create fanworks centred on Thorin Oakenshield. Fanworks can be based on the book or the movie version of the character. Any pairing or gen are welcome and we look forward to seeing what you create!

You can participate in this event as a:

Writer;

 Artist;

 Beta reader;

 Pinch hitter (writer);

Pinch hitter (artist).

Explanations of what each of these roles is can be found in our FAQ. You may sign up for more than one role, but there is a maximum of two fanworks per participant (i.e. you may write two fics, or create two artworks, or do one of each). 

Participating authors create a short summary/synopsis of a fic, which is posted anonymously for artists to view and claim. Artists will then create art based on the fic they chose, and authors will write a complete fic (minimum 2,500 words). 

Sign up as a writer

Sign up as an artist

Sign up as a beta reader or pinch hitter

Sign ups for authors and artists will be open until January 5th 11:59 pm EST.

Sign ups for beta readers and pinch hitters will remain open for the duration of the event!

Please be sure to familiarise yourself with our rules and schedule before signing up! 

Questions? Visit our FAQ or contact us via [email protected], send us ask or DM on Tumblr. 

We have also opened up a form to submit prompts for everyone who is looking for inspiration!

If you are unsure of what you want to write: Check out the current suggestions list

If you have an idea you want to share: Add something to the suggestion form

We hope to see you on the sign up list soon! 

Mods @frosticenow, @lathalea, @legolasbadass, and @middleearthpixie

#tsf24 #thorin #tolkien event #thorin fanfic #thorin fanart #fandom event #thorin oakenshield

[glorfindelweek]

Hey Tolkien fandom! Your friendly neighborhood mod is here to announce that Glorfindel Week is 12 days away!

Check out the FAQ and prompts page for more information. Excited to celebrate with y’all! 💛

#glorfindel week #glorfindelweek #glorfindel #silm #silmarillion #lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #tolkien event #tolkien fandom

[the-red-butterfly]

The Oldest Of Friends

Day 2: Friends & Love | Rain & Clouds

Second day of @manweweek AND IT'S STILL TUESDAY, I'M ON TIME! I love their friendship so much (@cilil baby girl, I know you wanna ship them, you have my permission go ahead, go ham, green light means go) so so much, I think it was one of the things that first stuck with me when I read the silm. I mean, unless I imagined the whole thing. Wasn't there something about them working together?? Correct me if I'm wrong XD

Anyway, I REALLY wanted to draw Manwë under the rain, I'm doing everything on a time crunch but I would love to try again with more time and mind to put into it.

.

Open for Commissions

#my bird son #Manwë #Manwe #manwë sulimo #Manwe Sulimo #tolkien #silmarillion #jrr tolkien #tolkien universe #TheRedButterfly #traditional art #markers #fandom event #tolkien fanart #artists on tumblr #Manwë fanart #manwë week #manwë week 2024 #manweweek #manwe week #valar #ainur #Ulmo

[manweweek]

Introduction/About

Hello and welcome to Manwë Week!

Manwë Week is a week-long fandom event dedicated to Manwë Súlimo from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion, planned for March 11th - 17th 2024. The month of March is known as Súlimë, so it seemed only fitting to create an event to celebrate the Lord of Winds!

All sorts of fanworks are welcome, including but not limited to art (digital or traditional), fanfiction, moodboards, headcanons or playlists.

Here is a brief overview of this year's prompts:

Day 1: Family | Breath & Air Day 2: Friends & Love | Rain & Clouds Day 3: The Children | Whispering Breeze Day 4: Poetry & Birdsong | Taniquetil Day 5: Free of Evil | Opposition Day 6: Fallen | Storm Day 7: Freeform

For more details, please have a look at the prompt list.

Any questions, suggestions or concerns? Check out the FAQ or send an ask! You can also reach out on @cilil's blog.

ʚ Mod @cilil

A big thank you and shout out to @glorf1ndel and @arofili for providing advice, inspiration and resources for setting up and managing fandom events.

#mod post #manweweek #manwe week #manwe #manwë #manwe sulimo #silmarillion #valar #ainur #tolkien fandom #fandom event #tolkien event

[bagginshieldweek24]

Welcome to Bagginshield Week 2024! DATES & PROMPTS

First things first, sorry for the slight delay!

All of the elements of this event (dates, extra posting days, prompts) have been voted for by participant or people interested in it, with the sole exception of one of the prompts for Day 7, and the specific dates of the week (the vote fell on the side of "second half of June").

Event Dates & Prompts June 24: Role Reversal/The Shire Falls Instead + Bilbo is the Thain/Is a Royal June 25: Thorin in The Shire + Developping Relationship June 26: Soulmates/Soulmate Marks AU + Dwarf Culture June 27: Bookshops & Libraries + Khuzdul Language June 28: Canon Divergence (gen.) + Hairbeads/Beads in general June 29: Single Parents/Uncles AU + Gardening June 30: Gothic Horror AU + Sky/Storms

Regular Alternate Prompts: Alpha/Beta/Omega AU - Mythology AU (gen.) - Fire/Smoke - Enemies to Lovers, or Enemies to Allies to Lovers - Secret Relationship

Whump Alternate Prompts: "I thought I had lost you" - Gold Sickness - Hurt/Comfort - Fake Death/Believed to be Dead - Hidden Injury

The event consists of seven regular posting days, for which there are be two distinct but easily relatable prompts per day, and two sets of alternate prompts with five prompts each (one is for regular prompts and the other is for "whump" tropes). On top of that there will be two extra days for you to post your works right at the end of the week (you can post the very first chapter of your work on either day and then finish it some other time, no problem!). You can also mix and otherwise use prompts however way you want: maybe you want to go about it the traditional way and pick one prompt for each day, or close to it and only switch one of them for an alternate; or you can take a Day 5 prompt, a regular alternate, and cap it off with a whump trope and post that for Day 1. Pick your poison!

Have a great time, and see you around!

P.S.: friendly reminder I'll be reblogging/posting things like references from here until the event takes place! Let me know if there's anything you might be looking for and I'll try t help <3

#bagginshield #thilbo #thilbo week #thilboweek24 #Bilbo Baggins #Thorin Oakenshield #Thorin II #The Hobbit #Fandom #Fandom Event #JRR Tolkien

[tolkienrsb]

Suggestion form 2024 is live

Hey everyone!

The TRSB 2024 prompt suggestions form is now open. You can access it here!

We can’t wait to see all your ideas for this year! 

If you’re not familiar with this form, this is to submit ideas for art for this year, which artists can look through for inspiration. There’s no guarantee anyone will pick up your idea, and you’re not obligated to try to claim art that matches a prompt you submitted. 

We look forward to reading all your great suggestions and seeing your art - soon!

If you’re looking for the suggestions, this is the sheet for 2024!

~TRSB 2024 Mods

We loved hearing everyone’s responses to the question we asked last week about picking prompts! You are very welcome to keep adding to those answers. Here are some takeaways and themes we noticed:

Writers really want to work on ideas that their artists are excited about! Make art that you want to read stories about. Get ready to share your enthusiasm in September at reveals, if not earlier depending on collaboration level. 

Writers that replied were trending towards focusing on: 

Length. Keep in mind that writers need to write a 5k story for TRSB. This is 2x to 4x longer than what many people might consider a ‘one shot’. The idea needs to have some meat. On the other hand, complex AUs or stories with many characters might inspire stories that authors felt would need to be very long to get right. It looks like multiple writers are looking for story ideas between 5k and 20k words.

Favourite characters.

Fit:

Ideas that leave room for creativity but give an idea of whether they might vibe well with an artist. (Including notes in the DNWs and ‘must haves’.)

Artists with matching desires for collaboration levels. Writers’ preferences cover the whole range from hands off to high collaboration. The more open-ended a prompt is, the more collaboration it will likely require.

Writers that replied were not concerned about the following. (This is a very welcoming event for artists at all skill levels!)

How ‘good’, ‘polished’, ‘complex’, or ‘advanced’ a piece of art is. 

Digital versus traditional art.

#trsb24 #tolkien fandom event #silmarillion #lotr #the hobbit #tolkien fandom

[silvergiftingweek]

Mark the date! Silvergifting Week will be happening again in August 5-11, 2024. The prompts and more info will follow.

#silvergiftingweek #silvergifting #celebrimbor #sauron #mairon #tyelpe #tyelperinquar #annatar #tolkien fandom event #silm fandom event

[take-the-hidden-paths]

HIDDEN PATHS: A Celebration of the Smaller Tolkien Canons

Hello, and welcome to Hidden Paths, a fortnight-long event dedicated to the celebration of smaller Tolkien canons!

We all know and love the tales of Tolkien's Middle-earth, but the Professor's creative and academic endeavours didn't stop there.  However, fanworks for smaller Tolkien canons (such as Farmer Giles of Ham, Mr. Bliss, Leaf by Niggle and more) are much rarer than works inspired by their Middle-earth counterparts.  This event was created to be a low-pressure, low-commitment opportunity to explore those lesser known works, and create and share fanworks based on them.

Define “smaller Tolkien fandoms”. 

Basically, any Tolkien canon or text (including academic works and translations) that is not explicitly set in Middle-earth and is not based on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, or The Silmarillion and closely related histories.  This includes, but is not limited to:

Beowulf/Sellic Spell

Farmer Giles of Ham

The Fall of Arthur

The Father Christmas Letters

Finn and Hengest

The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son

The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun

Leaf by Niggle

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún

Mr. Bliss

Mythopoeia

The Notion Club Papers

Pearl

Roverandom

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Orfeo

Songs for the Philologists

Smith of Wootton Major

The Story of Kullervo

Tolkien (2019 film)

Tolkien's essays, poems, letters and non-ME artwork

We also accept fanworks based on The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (because it collects a number of poems that were not originally intended as part of the Middle-earth canon) and The Book of Lost Tales (because it differs so significantly from later versions of the legendarium), and/or centring characters or concepts that only appear in extremely early drafts of The Lord of the Rings (e.g. Trotter).  

We know that this leaves a bit of a grey area, but ultimately, we will trust and accept the judgement of fanwork creators.  Act in good faith, and assume that others have done the same. 

How does it work? 

At the start of the event (14th February) the mod will post seven optional prompts to inspire you.  There will be a thematic prompt, a character-based prompt, a setting-based prompt, a text prompt, a visual prompt, an audio prompt, and a wildcard prompt.  A second batch of prompts will be posted on the 21st. 

If you like the prompts, then use any or all of them to create and share a fanwork based on one or more small Tolkien canons.  If they don't speak to you, then please feel free to do your own thing – the prompts are there to spark creativity, not impede it! 

What types of fanworks do you accept? 

Anything you like.  Fic, poetry, meta, art, edits, vids, podfic, craft, cosplay, rec lists, playlists, compositions, interviews with fellow fans...it's all good. 

Are there any minimum requirements? 

No, none.  Want to write a six-word story?  Be our guest. 

Are crossovers permitted? 

Yes!  We accept crossovers with the Middle-earth canons, and with non-Tolkien fandoms.  We only ask that one of the smaller Tolkien canons plays a significant role in your fanwork. 

What do you consider a significant role? 

We don't.  The event is intended to be low commitment and low stress for both participants and the moderator, and we trust that people will act in good faith.  We are not going to police fanworks or apply an arbitrary definition of “significant” - we leave that up to the creator to decide. 

Does actor RPF count? 

For the purposes of this event, no it doesn't, unless you are also drawing on elements from a smaller canon (e.g. Liv Tyler encountering the Shadow-Bride).

Where do I post my fanworks? 

We have an AO3 collection, but you may post your fanworks anywhere you like.  We'd appreciate a link back to our Dreamwidth or Tumblr page, though, to spread the word about the event! 

Are there any restrictions on rating or content? 

Nope.  Tag and warn appropriately, as you normally would, but make whatever your heart desires. 

Can I post fanworks that were inspired by or created for another event, or created prior to the event's inception? 

Yes!  The goal is to celebrate and increase content for the smaller Tolkien fandoms.  Please feel free to share your creations and add them to the collection, regardless of whether they were created specifically for this event. 

I want to take part but I don't know anything about the smaller canons.  Help!?

Tolkien Gateway has helpfully collated a list of Tolkien's writings, and some of the articles reproduce or link to the actual text.  This is a great place to start browsing, and to find out more about a text before you invest in your own copy.

Have a look at fanworks for some of the smaller canons and see what appeals.  Innumerable Stars and TRSB both have several works for the smaller canons in their collections, and many of them can be understood with no prior knowledge of the source material.

Lists of characters appearing in the various texts and canons can also be a useful jumping off point - like this one for The Book of Lost Tales.

Many of the smaller canons are just that - small!  If you can get hold of a copy from your local library, book store or from a fellow fan, they are generally quick to read and digest.

If anyone has any other ideas and resources for folks wanting to dip a toe into the smaller canons, please get in touch so they can be added to this list. 

When does the event run? 

Officially, February 14th-28th.  Unofficially, as long as you like; the prompts will stay up and the AO3 collection won't close.

#hidden paths #tolkien #tolkien fandom event #signal boost

[tolkienocweek]

Tolkien OC week is coming!

We plan to have the week at the end of August. More detailed prompts and inspiration is coming, but here is a preview of this year's prompts:

Day 1: Worldbuilding

Day 2: Canon-OC Relationships

Day 3: Alternate Universes

Day 4: Gaps and Ghosts

Day 5: Non-Humanoid Characters

Day 6: Background Characters

Day 7: Freeform

#tolkien #tolkienocweek #fandom event #silmarillion #lord of the rings

[searchingforserendipity25]

Quick explanation: @welcomingdisaster, @thelordofgifs and I are considering doing a Russingon Week next year. It's still in its first stage, so feel free to share your preferences in order to decide on the best timing!

#maedhros #fingon #russingon #tolkien events #tolkien fandom #russingonweek