Lost In Eriador

Tolkien ~ Classics ~ Writing ~ INFP ~ Virgo 25, she/her, Sweden

[fan-a-tink]

these battle shots are peak cinematography. next level epic.

Arthur & Emrys at the Battle of Camlann | 5.13 "The Diamond of the Day - Part 2"

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

Building off of the romantasy sex scene anon question, what makes a good sex scene in romantasy or any other kind of literature by your metrics?

I honestly find the described physicality of sex scenes pretty boring to read or write on their own? But simultaneously the challenge of them is really interesting to me from a craft perspective! I think the way characters have sex can be very revealing, and therefore valuable for painting a broader picture of their psychology. But… a lot of sex scenes actually aren’t that entrenched in character

The important thing that I think gets missed a lot is that sex scenes are scenes. Constructing them requires consideration for arcs, larger story purpose, and pacing. The way open door sex scenes are most often approached in romantasy/romance heavy genres though is just throwing in a laundry list of sex acts. And that itself often has no sense of emotional continuity with who the characters involved are. There’s a direct correlation imo to whether a genre treats sex scenes like they are a prize unlocked after a relationship dynamic achieves a certain point, with no other purpose than to be sexy, to how irrelevant and poorly written the scenes in it often are

So for me, the most important metric is whether the scene in question can be skipped. The answer should be no!! If it adds nothing to the story then it is a bad scene and it’s going to feel stagnant and weird or like it’s bringing the plot to a grinding halt

How the characters interact and what they do and how they view it and think about it should all matter and it needs to change something about the story. So in that sense I don’t think a good sex scene really depends on idk what sex acts are happening or how explicit or vague it may be, those can all vary so much based on particular context. But the most important thing is just character and story relevance

[sroloc--elbisivni]

i'm reading a book about seventh century northumbria and you've heard of the tiffany problem but let me tell you there is nothing quite like reading through 350 pages calibrating for names like Oswiu and Æthelfrith and Paeda and Ecgfrith and Eanflæd and then getting smacked in the face with the fucking Bishop Chad

[lualuadraw]

they will get there

[feyandferal]

Elves, wise ? Peaceful ? Frolicking under the stars ? Nah.

Give me First Age elves. Give me Finrod cosplaying as an orc to have an epic rap battle with Sauron. Give me Lúthien dancing the fucking devil to sleep. Give me Fëanor bursting into flames because the man literally does not know how to stop being extra. Give me Maedhros using adoption as a coping mechanism, Elwing going full bird mode, Glorfindel whacking Balrog butt like he was born to do it. Beautiful, unhinged, powerful little freaks. First Age elves are something else, man.

Inspired by a little chat with @moringottocake.

[lemonomelette]

Crafty one and Golden one

also:

[xann-z-the-artsy-enby]

I love all my characters

(Just ignore their screams of pain in the background)

[lost-in-eriador]

in 2026, remember how GOOD writing feels. remember how satsfying it is to get your characters to the point you have been dying to get to, where they will experience the love, fear, relief or whatever the feeling you want to bring to life may be. let this year be the year of writing, prgress and of satisfactory endings.

[podcastwizard]

i do NOT write for myself i write for the eleven year old girl walking circles on the playground making up stories in her head and muttering the dialogue out loud. i see you girl. that stick you found DOES look like a cool dagger.

[castielstiel]

[secondstar-acorn]

how insane must it have felt to be an actor table reading for bbc merlin. alright anthony this week, you are driven mad by memories of the children you killed in your genocide. next week? bald.

[beyond-crusading]

"I asked ChatGPT-" Well I asked the immortal Dragon that Uther chained in the caves beneath Camelot and HE told me to commit treason

[azaikit]

foresight

[ematothesky]

things about middle-earth that sound fake to people who haven't read the silmarillion

the earth was flat until some people pissed off god enough that he punched it round

the sun and moon used to be trees, but a big spider ate them

elves even being in middle-earth can be traced back to one (1) dude hating that people mispronounced his mom's name

sauron is a werewolf

elrond's biological parents are a star and a bird now

there's a sexy vampire lady

fighting a balrog barehanded is so cool it'll get you reincarnated right away even if there isn't a current big crisis going on (sorry gandalf, glorfindel just did it better)

satan got banned from heaven for playing his own music too loud

if you were intense enough in life, when you die, you might literally explode

[dionysiaproductions]

[prophetic-writer]

“What if I write it and it’s bad-”

WHAT IF YOU WRITE IT AND ITS GOOD? WHAT IF YOU WRITE IT AND ITS EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANTED? WHAT THEN????

[waywardsou2]

Some idiot: "Why are you reading your own fic, that's shallow and stupid"

All fanfic writers and writers everywhere: "Who the fuck do you think I wrote it for?!"