Fanworks of the Writing type include anything that is primarily written text: stories, essays, poems, plays, ficlets, meta, resources, screenplays, and other written fanworks we haven't even thought of yet! The Add New Writing form will lead you through getting your writing posted to the SWG archive.
Much of the Add New Writing form will include optional fields. The only required fields are the title, summary, rating, and the chapter title and content itself. Optional fields include Character, Genre, and Relationship. We recommend filling in all of the fields as accurately as possible, as this will help readers to find your writing when they search for specific fanworks.
The directions below will lead you through each field on the form and how to fill it out. You'll notice that most fields also have help text on the form itself.
Creating a New Fanwork
Title. Type in or paste the title of your fanwork here.
Beyond the Silmarillion Fanwork. If you meet the membership criteria for our Beyond the Silmarillion section, you will see a checkbox here to mark if you fanwork is a Beyond the Silmarillion fanwork.
Source Text(s). Checking the Beyond the Silmarillion Fanwork checkbox above will allow you to choose the Tolkien text(s) or adaptation(s) that your fanwork is based on. If you used an adaptation (film, game, etc) that is missing from the list, use the Moderator Request field below to request to have it added. Hold down CTRL (PC) or Command (Mac) to select more than one source. This field is not available for fanworks intended for the main SWG archive.
Co-Creator. If another creator contributed to this fanwork—for example, if you had a coauthor, if an artist illustrated the story, or if you're including a translation by another person—you can add them here. Note that only co-creators who are also SWG members can be added. Begin typing their SWG username and choose it from the dropdown.
If you have multiple co-creators on this fanwork, you can click the Add Another Item button to add additional co-creators.
Important Note: Adding a co-creator does not automatically give them edit access to your fanwork. If you want to grant edit access, you'll do that after saving your fanwork, on the Access Control tab on the next screen. See the access control FAQ for more information.
Language. This field will default to English, so unless you are posting a fanwork in a language other than English, you can skip this field. To change the language, begin typing the name of the language (in the language itself, not in English) and choose it from the dropdown. If the language has not been added yet, you can type it in now to add it.
Please note that only real world languages should be added to this field, not imaginary languages like Quenya and Sindarin.
Summary. The summary is a required field. Provide a brief summary of what the fanwork is about. Information unrelated to the summary—challenge prompts, credit to beta readers, et cetera—can go in one of the notes fields below.
Major Characters. Major characters are those who are a focus of your fanwork or, in the case of a narrative, drive the storyline forward. Characters whom you select here will appear in listings of fanworks, in the fanwork information section at the top of the fanwork itself, and in search results for the character.
If you want to select more than one character in this field, hold down CTRL (PC) or Command (Mac) on your keyboard as you select characters. If you need a character who is not included on the list, you can use the Moderator Request field, discussed below. Please note that there are several broader labels to apply to non-Tolkien characters or characters who are unnamed in the texts:
- Agender Unnamed Canon Character
- Unnamed Canon Character
- Female Unnamed Canon Character
- Historical Character(s)
- Legendary/Mythical Character(s)
- Male Unnamed Canon Character
- Nonbinary Unnamed Canon Character
- Original Agender Character(s)
- Original Character(s)
- Original Female Character(s)
- Original Male Character(s)
- Original Nonbinary Character(s)
- Other Fictional Character(s)
- Real Person(s)
Minor Characters. Fanworks often include characters in a background or supporting role who, while they do not drive the story forward or form the focus of the fanwork, creators wish to list. These characters should go in the Minor Character field. They will not be included in listings of fanworks but will appear in the fanwork information section at the top of the fanwork itself. They will show up in search results for that character.
Try not to belabor who "counts" as major and who counts as minor. There are no hard rules around the use of these fields, and you should trust your judgment as the creator as to which characters are central to your fanwork and which occupy a supporting role.
If you want to select more than one character in this field, hold down CTRL (PC) or Command (Mac) on your keyboard as you select characters. If you need a character who is not included on the list, you can use the Moderator Request field, discussed below.
Major Relationship. Similar to major characters, a major relationship is the focus of your fanwork. Relationships included in this field may be romantic/sexual or platonic. We follow the wider fandom convention of using a slash (/) to denote romantic/sexual relationships, an ampersand (&) to denote friendships, and a plus sign (+) to denote queer platonic and other relationships, where the line between friendship and romance may be blurred. If a relationship in your fanwork includes both romantic and another relationship between two characters, please use the slash designation. For example, if your fanwork focuses on how the friendship between Fëanor and Nerdanel evolved into a romance, label this fanwork "Fëanor/Nerdanel."
To add a Major Relationship, begin typing the name of one of the characters in the relationship and select the relationship you want from the dropdown. Note that, within a relationship, characters are listed alphabetically. For example, if your video explores the four-way friendship between Celegorm, Curufin, Angrod, and Aegnor, the relationship is listed on the site as "Aegnor & Angrod & Celegorm & Curufin."
Information entered in the Major Relationship field will appear in listings of fanworks, in the fanwork information section at the top of the video itself, and in search results for the relationship.
If you want to add more than one Major Relationship, use the Add Another Item button. If you need a relationship that is not included on the list, you can use the Moderator Request field, discussed below.
Minor Relationship. The Minor Relationship field functions like the Major Relationship field, including in how relationships are designated and organized. You can use this field to add relationships—both romantic/sexual and platonic—that are not a focus of your fanwork. They will not be included in listings of fanworks but will appear in the fanwork information section at the top of the fanwork itself. They will show up in search results for that relationship.
As with the difference between major and minor characters, try not to belabor the difference between major and minor relationships but trust your own judgment, as the fanwork creator, in determining which relationships are central to your work.
If you want to add more than one Minor Relationship, use the Add Another Item button. If you need a relationship that is not included on the list, you can use the Moderator Request field, discussed below.
Moderator Request. If a character or relationship in your fanwork is not on the list, you can use this field to request that the moderators add them. Note that we only add canon characters from Tolkien's works, and we use the names listed in the "Index of Names" in The Silmarillion. If you do not need a character or relationship, leave this field blank. If you would like us to add the character or relationship as a minor character or minor relationship, indicate this in your request; otherwise, all characters and relationships will be added in the major character and relationship fields.
Genre. Select one or more genres that describe your fanwork. If you want to select more than one genre in this field, hold down CTRL (PC) or Command (Mac) on your keyboard as you select genres.
Topic. If you select "Nonfiction/Meta" in the Genre field, you will have the option of choosing one or more topics as well. Hold down CTRL (PC) or Command (Mac) on your keyboard to select more than one.
Rating. This is a required field. Note that "Creator Chooses Not to Rate" is an option if you prefer not to rate your fanwork. More on ratings can be found on our Ratings and Warnings policy.
Warnings. This field lets you choose warnings to apply to your fanwork. This helps visitors who wish to avoid certain types of content to do so (and can also serve as an endorsement for those who enjoy certain content!) If you rated your fanwork Teens or Adult, you must choose at least one warning. Note that the option "Creator Chooses Not to Warn" is an option if you would prefer not to use warnings. You can also choose "Check Notes for Warnings" if the warning you need is not on the list or if you want to provide additional detail or clarification in the notes.
Challenge. If you created your fanwork as a response to one of our site challenges, you can include it here. Doing so will list your fanwork among the responses to the challenge. If you are completing a challenge to receive a stamp, you must label your fanwork correctly here in order for the moderators to give you the stamp you've earned. If you want to select more than one challenge in this field, hold down CTRL (PC) or Command (Mac) on your keyboard as you select challenges. This field is not available for Beyond the Silmarillion fanworks.
Story Notes. Use the Story Notes field to hold notes that apply to the entirety of your fanwork. Story notes will appear at the top of the Table of Contents or the single-page view, and the visitor will not need to click to view them. This field is a good place to include information that you want to be sure your audience sees before proceeding with your fanwork, such as additional warnings, translations, or challenge prompts.
Chapters. Now that you've added information about your fanwork, you will begin adding your chapters. The Chapters section of the form includes several fields as well that you will fill out for each individual chapter.
- Chapter Title. This is a required field. Input a title for your chapter here. If your fanwork is a single chapter, many people choose to simply retype the title of the fanwork here.
- Chapter Notes. Use the Chapter Notes field for any notes that you want to appear at the top of your chapter. In addition, on both the the Table of Contents and single-page display, the chapter notes are visible before the visitor clicks to read the chapter, making this field useful for including information about the chapter that you want your reader to see before proceeding. For example, if a warning applies only to a single chapter, this can be a useful place to include this information.
- Chapter Text. Paste the text for a single chapter here. If your fanwork has multiple chapters, see below for how to add more chapters. Note that if you are copying your fanwork from Microsoft Word, there is a Paste from Word button that will remove the extra markup Word adds to its documents.
- Chapter End Notes. Content entered into the Chapter End Notes field will appear at the bottom of that chapter. These notes are not visible before clicking into the chapter itself, so information that you don't want the reader to have before starting the chapter often fits well here.
If you need to add more than one chapter, use the Add Chapter button to add another set of chapter fields. To reorder the chapters, drag and drop them in the order you wish to see them presented.
Constructive Criticism Preferences. If you want readers to provide construction criticism (including typo fixes) in their comments, you can choose the options you would like here. Note that constructive criticism is not allowed unless you ask for it. You can change this field at a later date if you no longer want constructive criticism. If you do not want constructive criticism, do not check any of the available options.
Complete. If your fanwork is finished, check this box.
Authoring Information. If you want to backdate your fanwork, you can do so here. This will prevent a fanwork from showing up at the top of the All Fanworks page and New & Updated Fanworks block in the sidebar and can be useful if you are archiving multiple older fanworks. Note that dating a fanwork in the future does not schedule it to post; please use this field only for backdating.
Exclude from Most Recent. If you do not want your fanwork to show up on the Most Recent blocks on the front page and sidebar or included in that week's email newsletter, check this box. For example, you might use this field if you are archiving a lot of older fanworks at one time, or if the edit/change you are making to your fanwork is minor.
Multimedia Only. The SWG archive includes a fanwork type called Multimedia that allows creators to combine multiple types of fanworks (e.g., a story with accompanying art, or a poem with an accompanying audio recording) into a single fanwork. If you are adding components to add to a multimedia fanwork and you do not want those components listed on the archive as independent fanworks, check this box. See the multimedia fanwork FAQ for more information on this fanwork type.
Publish. This box is checked by default. If you want to save your fanwork as a draft, you can uncheck this box.
Editing a Fanwork
Once you've saved your fanwork, if you want to make changes to the content you've already entered or add additional chapters, you will need to edit the fanwork. To edit a fanwork, you can use the My Fanworks page and click the pencil icon next to the fanwork you want to edit, or you can view the fanwork and use the Edit tab at the top of the fanwork.
