Happy 40th Anniversary, Silmarillion!
Today we are very pleased to announce the opening day of our Silmarillion40 compilation. Over the past couple months, about three dozen authors and artists have been busy creating more than eighty brand-new fanworks to celebrate the anniversary of our beloved Silmarillion. For the next forty days, we will unlock one or two fanworks per day and journey through The Silmarillion as told in fanworks.
Please check out today's fanworks and, if you like what you see, consider leaving the artist or author a comment.
Star Kindler by @feanorus-rex. Varda creates the stars. (Art)
Subcreation: A Collection by SWG Authors. Tolkien's theory of subcreation states that it is part of our deepest human nature to create secondary worlds. This collection of drabbles, ficlets, one-shots, and sketches follows the thread of subcreation across the span of the legendarium. (Ficlet Collection)
Pengolodh ponders how best to craft the story of the early First Age. (Drabble)
I’ve been so fixated on Silmarillion40 from the perspective of posting and promoting other people’s work that I forgot until now that I had a piece of my own in the first day’s Subcreation: A Collection. It’s a drabble (100 words) about Pengolodh at the moment when he begins drafting the texts that would become The Silmarillion, when he still has creative decisions ahead of him that will shape how readers view the First Age. The drabble is on the SWG here, but what the heck? It’s 100 words, right? Might as well cross-post it in its 100-word entirety here.
This drabble fits in with the much longer story Stars of the Lesser and character study Illuminations, both of which mention an encounter between Pengolodh and Celebrimbor while Turgon's people still reside at Nevrast.
I know I’ve promoted it already but can’t but saying again ... go check out Silmarillion40! We’re only six days in with thirty-four left to go, with lots of stories and art yet to post, and I hope our incredible authors and artists get shown lots of love.
The View from within the Mountains
Pengolodh's pen hovered over the vellum.
The story filled his mind, but how best to tell it? For once told, it would fill the world.
A bead of black ink quivered upon the nib, threatened to fall and splatter and mar the page.
But even that threat couldn't hasten him. He knew the deep ache that lingered in Gondolin--the kinslaying, the burning, the Helcaraxë and Elenwë and--
--but he'd once met Celebrimbor by the sea and knew more of the story than just that too.
The ink trembled like lips buttoned upon a song. Unthinking, darkly, he wrote.
Yeeeee!!!! My fic entry is up for the Silmarillion 40 Collection. There have been so many amazing entries and I'm really excited to have been a part of this!!! Thank you to @acommonanomaly for doing last minute beta reading for me!
My little contribution to the subcreation compilation for Silm40 over at SWG
At Cuivienen, the first Eldar hear the echo of the Music of the Ainur in the waters.
It is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance that is in this Earth.
‘Listen, oh listen!’ cried Enelye.
‘The sound of flowing water?’ asked Tatie.
‘It is a world,’ mused Enel.
‘But is it this world?’ asked Iminye.
‘Or another one?’ asked Imin.
‘Can we make it?’ asked Tata.
Today’s fanworks focus on the War of Wrath: a short story and an artwork. Give them a look and, if you like what you see, please let the creators know!
We Will Be Who We Are by Lotrfan
The Army of Valinor has come to Beleriand. Maedhros and Maglor feel they must join in this battle against Morgoth but are reluctant to bring Elrond and Elros into the conflict. War of Wrath prompt focusing on the relationships between the surviving sons of Fëanor and the sons of Eärendil they are fostering. (Short Story)
There was battle in the air by Lyra
"But Eärendil came, shining with white flame, and about Vingilot were gathered all the great birds of heaven and Thorondor was their captain, and there was battle in the air all the day and through a dark night of doubt. Before the rising of the sun Eärendil slew Ancalagon the Black, the mightiest of the dragon-host, and cast him from the sky; and he fell upon the towers of Thangorodrim, and they were broken in his ruin." (Artwork)
We’re rapidly closing in on the conclusion of our 40-day retelling of The Silmarillion in fanworks. Have some catching up to do? Find the collection posted so far here.
On September 15, 2017, The Silmarillion will celebrate its 40th anniversary of publication. It was Tolkien's life's work, it took more than his lifetime to publish, and it is the reason we are all gathered here, so we cannot let this occasion pass without a celebration.
In honor of The Silmarillion's 40th anniversary, we will be putting together a compilation of stories, poems, and artwork about--what else?--The Silmarillion. More specifically, we will post a story and/or artwork each day for forty days, beginning on September 15, giving a fannish retelling of this book that we all love.
What Is This Event?
We will be putting together a compilation of stories, art, and poetry that spans the entire Silmarillion. What is a compilation? It's a permanent, themed collection of fanworks, housed on its own section of the site, similar to an online magazine. A new fanwork will be released daily, beginning on September 15th and for forty days afterward. You can see past examples of compilations we've done with Akallabeth in August and the SWG Fifth Birthday.
We have created a list of forty important events from The Silmarillion that will serve as prompts. To start with, participants will choose one prompt. (If you want to make both fan art and fan fiction, you may choose one prompt for each. If you want to create a type of fanwork that is not fiction, poetry, or art, let us know the type of fanwork when signing up and what you might need from us, e.g., file hosting.) Prompts will be assigned on a first-come-first-served basis.
Your fanwork should be set roughly in the time period of the event you choose. (Note that, yes, that gives you some leeway to write about things that a little before or after your event, if they're not on the list.) That's the only requirement! Your fanwork does not have to be specifically about that event. For example, if you claim the prompt "Lúthien Dances for Morgoth," you can write about Lúthien actually performing that dance. Or you could write about what Melian is experiencing as her daughter faces down the Dark Lord. You can write about what is going through the Fëanorians' minds as their long-thwarted objective is achieved by a girl dancing. Or you can write about what's going down in Ossiriand with a bunch of Wood Elves who don't even know who Lúthien is. Just as long as the fanwork occurs around the time of that event, you are free to be creative!
We will leave initial sign-ups open for one week. After that week passes, you will be able to claim additional prompts from those that are still available, if you want to.
Please note that each prompt has a due date associated with it. You must send your fanwork to us at [email protected] on or before that date. We will post your fanwork to the Silmarillion 40 webpage and our archive on the reveal date. If you are unable to complete your prompt, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can find a pinch hitter.
To Participate
Please begin by familiarizing yourself with the full Silmarillion 40 guidelines on our site. By signing up, you are indicating that you have read and understand the guidelines, including the publication rights the SWG will acquire.
Check out our list of prompts.
Comment on this Dreamwidth post (comments are screened) or email us at [email protected] and include the following information:
Your SWG username*
An email where we can contact you
Your top three choices if you want to create fiction/poetry (#1 should be your first choice, etc)
Your top three choices if you want to create artwork
*If you don't have an SWG account already, provide the username you'd like us to use. We will register an account for you when we post your work using the username and email address you provide.
If you'd be willing to collaborate with a person creating fiction/poetry or artwork for the same prompt, you can let us know that as well.
Formats of fanwork other than writing and artwork are welcome; please just let us know what you'll be creating and what you'll need from us (such as file hosting for a podfic, et cetera).
We will contact you to let you know the prompt you will be completing and remind you of the due date. If you don't hear from us within 24 hours, feel free to query.
If you'd be willing to pinch hit, please let us know.
Here we are at the halfway point in our celebration of the 40th anniversary of The Silmarillion! Here is today’s fanwork:
No One by Dawn Felagund
Idril sits down to dinner with her cousin Maeglin shortly after the deaths of his parents. What begins as an uneventful meal dominoes into resentment and defensiveness as her own traumatic memories of her mother's death surface. (Short Story)
If you need to catch up on the first half of the Silmarillion40, you can find the fanworks posted so far here.
Over the past forty days, thirty-five different creators have shared over 100,000 words of stories and poetry and sixteen works of art. Putting together a project of this size requires many hundreds of hours of creativity and industry. I am indebted to those whose skills and efforts made the Silmarillion40 possible.
My first thank-you goes always to my comoderators here on the SWG, who support projects like the Silmarillion40 through their planning expertise and devotion of their time: Russandol, Angelica, and Elleth. A very special thank-you goes also to Lyra, who works with me on running the site's challenges and ended up swept into Silmarillion40 planning when I started using our shared challenge document to plan the event. Lyra stepped up to make the beautiful border on the Silmarillion40 site, wrote most of the forty prompts, and authored the introduction when, nearly on the eve of the project's debut, I realized I hadn't done this yet and wouldn't have time. This project would not have had the splendor it did or be nearly as well run without Lyra's assistance.
Three volunteers set aside time every week to make sure that the day's fanworks were shared on our Dreamwidth and LiveJournal communities. Thank you Angelica, Lyra, and Hrymfaxe for taking on this regular obligation and watching out for and helping each other without a word of prompting from me.
Grundy, Fernstrike, and Jenni volunteered as beta readers, a job that cannot be underestimated because having in-house betas available to our authors ensures that no one is left out from participating simply because they don't have a beta in the Silmarillion fandom. Ensuring as many people can participate on the SWG as want to has always been a core value for us. Thank you to our betas for helping make that happen!
I want to give a special thank you to hennethgalad, who pinch-hit for not one but two stories (and the Day One collection!) after authors had to drop out at the last minute. A willingness to write what's needed with only a few days' notice cannot be undervalued, and hennethgalad's swift willingness to step in made my job much less stressful during this event. Thank you also to the other contributors to the Day One collection--Angelica, amyfortuna, Himring, Jenni, Lyra, Vulgarweed, Oshun, Independence1776, LadyBrooke, Fernstrike, Linda Hoyland, and lordnelson100--for collaborating at the last minute so that we'd have a written fanwork to post on the first day.
Lots of people offered friendship and encouragement--a forty-day event is long (and begins well before the first fanwork is posted). My weekend chat buddies Hrymfaxe and Robinka, who listen to me whine and rant on a weekly basis. My friend Oshun, who I know is always there when I need someone (which is a nice way of saying that she also listens to me whine and rant). Lyra, who is not only brilliant and talented but always patient when it takes me more time than I care to admit to reply to her emails (and who is still waiting for me to fix a posting mistake I made on the archive that I promised to fix on Day One ... and here it is Day Forty now. Yikes.) Hennethgalad, who sends me beautiful seascapes and webcams of the ocean just because. My husband Bobby, who has done more than his fair share of livestock feeding, garden harvesting, and housecleaning while I juggled this event, professional coursework, and the start of the school year. So many friends who have encouraged me and the SWG now and over the years, whether promoting the event or reccing a Silm40 fanwork or simply commenting--whether they know I'm listening or not--about how much they are enjoying the event ... all of these seemingly small gestures mean more than I can say. Thank you.
And finally--to those thirty-five creators, who stepped up to make something beautiful or thought-provoking or funny or heartfelt (or all of the above!) for this event. You shared your time, your talent, and your imagination with us. Silmarillion40 would not have happened without you, and I continue to be awed by both the talent and generosity with that talent in our small corner of the fannish world. Thank you all for sharing both with us.
Peace and Elves to all of you,
Dawn Felagund
SWG founder and owner
