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 about a leader from "The Silmarillion" that shows why that character is a leader. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Back to Middle-earth Month 2010 was a collaborative game-style challenge where participants created fanworks in order to progress in their attempt to win the Last Battle. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Use a fanwork to show a character working to achieve freedom. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
A character discovers a long-lost letter and ... your fanwork tells the rest! Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Move beyond the places and times of familiar events to consider what was going on elsewhere in Arda at the same time as a major event covered in The Silmarillion. How--if at all--did the event impact what was transpiring elsewhere at the same time? Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Take a fanon you feel passionately about and turn it on its head, creating a fanwork that goes against the fanon norm. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Back to Middle-earth Month in 2009 offered a daily prompt connecting our personal experiences to our creative work. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork that depicts characters in the act of plotting something. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Take the ending of a story from "The Silmarillion" and use it as the beginning of a fanwork. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Your characters inspire you--but what inspires them? Consider what inspires your characters to act and create. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Choose a festival or tradition observed in the modern world and create a fanwork that includes that festival or tradition as it might have been celebrated in Tolkien's mythological world. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork centered around games and contests. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Every August, we focus on one of the most tumultuous times in Arda's history: the Second Age and the rise and fall of Númenor. Any story that is or might conceivably be part of the Akallabêth is acceptable for this challenge. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork featuring an animal. Show how important a beloved animal is to a character or tell a story through the eyes of an animal. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Pick an existing memorial, adapt a modern (or not so modern!) one, or create your own and make a fanwork about it. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Consider an item or technology and use a fanwork to describe or explain its invention by the people of Arda. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Try your hand at poetry for National Poetry Month. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Get your Silmarillion off of the shelf. Close your eyes, let your book fall open at random, and put your finger down on the page. Your challenge is to create a fanwork using that quote. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork that about or including a sea voyage. Challenge opened in . Read more ...
Create a fanwork featuring a character as a child or characters as children. Challenge opened in . Read more ...