Choose a Name for Our New Column!
Our temporarily titled "location bio" will focus on the landscapes and locations of Middle-earth. We need your help naming it!
Challenges have been a part of the SWG since our group was formed in 2005. Before the archive, there were challenges. Before References or any special projects or B2MeM or any of the myriad things we've done over the last decade-plus, there were challenges. Challenges end and a new challenges is posted on the 15th of the month. (Yes, that means there is one thrilling day each month when there are two active challenges!) Participants—both authors and reviewers—will receive a stamp in their challenge stamp collection for their participation. Deadlines apply only if you want your fanwork to receive a stamp.
Every challenge that has ever been offered by the SWG is available for use by creators of fanworks who are looking for inspiration. Even if the deadline for stamps is passed, you are welcome to use the challenges listed on our site. And comments on past challenge fanworks are always welcome and always receive a reward for that month. Want to join us? Click to read the guidelines below!
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!)
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.
Thank you to Cuarthol and Anérea for the gorgeous banners and stamps this month!
View prompts for the Tengwar challenge.
Create a fanwork that involves worldbuilding or themes related to crime and punishment. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Choose a famous first line to start your own story or inspire a non-written fanwork. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork about or showing the oral tradition. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Pit two characters against each other to see who wins. Characters can fight physically or match their wits or even magic. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Choose a place in Middle-earth that is particularly evocative and create a fanwork where that location itself acts as a character. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork that places a Silmarillion character into a fictional setting from our real-world literature Challenge opened in . Read more ...
The Silmarillion has many moments when a character stands upon a crossroad: He or she will have to make a decision. At such a turning point in your story, create a fanwork about that moment that will define or alter the life of your character. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Emancipation and equality can be found in the Professor's words, and we would like to challenge you to create a fanwork about this process. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Take the dark back streets of one of Arda's cities, explore an unsigned tavern or hovel, and meet the people too insignificant or unsavory to make it into the history books. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
In this AU challenge, fix that moment that you always wanted to see handled differently by offering your beloved character that moment of forgiveness or redemption. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork that addresses the question of life, (im)mortality and reincarnation, or re-embodiment. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork that features a memory from a character's childhood. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork about gift-giving (be it material or immaterial) or the traditions of gift-giving. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork focused on numbers: how they were invented or used by a culture or character. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Storytelling is an interactive art, using words and actions to bring a story to life while encouraging the listener’s imagination. This challenge is all about storytellers in the Silmarillion tapestry. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Send a character as a student to an unfamiliar culture and create a fanwork about his, her, or their experience. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Unleash your imagination by looking at fairy tales of old and mix them with Tolkien's own Mythopoeia or make up your own fairy tales featuring your own characters or such stories told by your characters. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Back to Middle-earth Month 2011 featured a daily postcard from a different location in Middle-earth with a creative prompt inspired by that location. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork about storms, whether literal or figurative. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork about seasons in Tolkien's world. Challenge opened in . Read more ...