Around the World and Web

Around the World and Web includes announcements and items of interest from beyond the SWG.

Tolkien Native Language Appreciation Fest 2025

This is an event aimed to celebrate the diversity in the Tolkien fandom, which takes inspiration both by Tolkien's profession as a linguist and inventor of all the languages in his opus, and his own characters' prowess in several languages. The event will run on Tumblr from 16-22 June 2025.

The event aims at giving all creators a chance to use their creativity to explore and experiment with all languages. All types of fanworks and all languages (including English and Tolkien's invented languages) are welcome.

Rules

  • NO AI GENERATED CONTENT.
  • No stealing/plagiarizing of anyone's work.
  • Please tag properly your work and use warnings for mature/sensitive content, so people are able to filter it, should they wish to.
  • NSFW: please use the "read more" function, or link it through a different website such as AO3 and use tags and warnings accordingly, so people are able to filter the content, should they wish to.
  • GOLDEN RULE: COMMON SENSE

To be able to participate, please follow the below steps.

  • Reblog this post and follow this blog.
  • Use #jrrtlanguagefest preferably in the first five tags, so I am able to reblog your creations
  • Mention the languages used in the caption of your post - a translation is encouraged so everyone can enjoy your creations
  • There is no limit per day, you can post as many creations as you wish.

Prompts

You can use as many of these prompts as you like. Please specify in your post if you are using any of these.

  • 16th June: Yellow - Shine - Opposites - Song
  • 17th June: Orange - Sunset - Flowers - Dance
  • 18th June: Red - Passion - Wounds - Rain
  • 19th June: Purple - Noble - Valiant - Fading
  • 20th June: Blue - Calm - Creation - Divine
  • 21st June: Green - Envy - Trees - Fading
  • 22nd June: Black - Grief - Moonlight - Deep

Send an ask if you have additional questions.

Russingon Week 2025

Russingon Week is a Tumblr and AO3 event for fanworks that center a romantic or queerplatonic relationship between Maedhros and Fingon. Russingon Week will run June 16th to June 22nd, 2025.

Rules

  1. Be kind and courteous! No shaming, harassment, or bigotry will be tolerated.
  2. Works featuring any interpretations, themes, and topics are welcome. We encourage creators to use appropriate archive tags and content warnings where needed.
  3. Creations of any sort (fanfic, fan art, meta, moodboard, fan song, rec list, interpretive dance, rescuing a loved one who is currently chained to a cliff) are encouraged!

How to Participate

  • Make a work of any sort that centers a romantic or queerplatonic relationship between Maedhros and Fingon. If you post on tumblr, @ this blog (russingon-week) or tag it #russingonweek and we’ll reblog it!
  • Sometimes tumblr notifs can be wonky, so feel free to message us or send us an ask if we haven’t noticed/reblogged your work.
  • You can also feel free to anonymously submit anything you’d like using the “submit” function on the blog.

Prompts

Day 1 – June 16th: Beginnings and Renewal

  • Valinor
  • Childhood friends to lovers
  • Re-embodiment
  • Children and parenthood
  • First time
  • Modern AU

Day 2 – June 17th: Devotion and Desertion

  • Losgar and the Helcaraxë
  • Weddings and oaths
  • Infidelity & Betrayal
  • Role reversal AU
  • Allies and enemies

Day 3 – June 18th: Despair and Defiance

  • Rescue from Thangorodrim
  • Battles and Kinslayings
  • Angry sex
  • "Make it worse" AU
  • Lies and truths
  • Breaking taboos

Day 4 – June 19th: Peace and Ennui

  • The Long Peace
  • Fluff
  • Tender sex
  • Time loop AU

Day 5 – June 20th: Memory and Song

  • Epistolary
  • In-universe writing or art
  • Laws and Customs of the Eldar
  • Salacious letters/erotica
  • AUs based on another work of fiction

Day 6 – June 21st: Tragedy and Doom

  • Nirnaeth Arnoediad
  • Foresight and ósanwë
  • Fantasy/ghost sex
  • Greek Myth AU

Day 7 – June 22nd: Endurance and Survival

  • Post-rescue from Thangorodrim
  • Fix-it AU
  • Legacy
  • Nature
  • Ritual sex

Tolkien South Asian Week

Welcome to Tolkien South Asian Week running from June 16th to June 22th, 2025 on Tumblr.

About

We are back after two years! I started my Everyone in Middle-Earth is Brown series five years ago to imagine Tolkien characters as people like me. Tolkien South Asian Week (TSAW) stemmed from there and is a fandom-wide event to celebrate South Asian peoples, cultures and lives through Tolkien’s Legendarium.

Guidelines

  • Reblog this post
  • Tag your entries with #tsaw25 and mention me @arwenindomiel;
  • Everyone is free to participate, you don’t have to be South Asian;
  • Creations of all kinds are welcome: edits, gifs, art, fic, meta etc;
  • You can post whenever you are ready, including after the event;
  • NSFW and incest are not allowed.

Prompts

Here are the suggested prompts. You can interpret them however you like, combine them or even disregard them. 2021 and 2022 prompts for further inspiration.

  • Day 1 (16th): Ring bearers | Love | Courage is found in unlikely places
  • Day 2 (17th): Kingdoms | (Im)mortality | Home is behind, the world is ahead
  • Day 3 (18th): Home | The Ages | More fair than Mortal tongue can tell
  • Day 4 (19th): Artefacts | Songs and Tales | No living man am I
  • Day 5 (20th): the Fellowship | Lineages | The doom lies in yourself
  • Day 6 (21th): A people | Oaths | The stories that matter
  • Day 7 (22th): Free form | World building | Worthy of remembrance

Scribbles and Drabbles 2025

Scribbles & Drabbles is an annual Tolkien event where artists create artwork and writers then write stories (a drabble or longer) inspired by the art.

So you want to be an...

Sign-ups (this form covers both artists and authors!)

Website!

Discord!

Schedule

  • June 1st: Sign-ups and art submissions open 
  • June 30th: Artist Sign-ups close 
  • July 15th: Art submissions close 
  • July 25th: Gallery opens 
  • July 26th & 27th: Art Viewing Parties 
  • July 27th: Author Sign-ups close 
  • August 2nd: Claims Day 
  • August 3rd: Additional claims open 
  • August 4th: Art posting begins 
  • November 1st: Drop-out deadline
  • November 15th: Fic posting deadline November 29th: Fics revealed

Camp Tolkien 2025

Welcome to Camp Tolkien!

This writing event is meant to be a little retreat in the middle of summer, giving writers the chance to work on a beloved project in the company of fellow writers.

Writers are invited to bring a project to Camp Tolkien--whether you're brainstorming, outlining, drafting, or editing--and spend the two weeks at camp working on your project. While other Inklings Challenge events are geared toward short stories, Camp Tolkien is meant to give writers a chance to make progress on larger projects. You can work on a short story if you wish, but since we're not aiming to finish the project by the end of the event, this is also a chance to work on whatever project is nearest and dearest to your heart at the moment--a novel, a play, an epic poem, whatever you like.

Camp Tolkien will be in session from June 9, 2025 through June 21, 2025. Every day from Monday through Friday, Camp Tolkien will offer four different summer-camp-themed activities. Each of these activities will be a writing prompt or challenge meant to inspire you in your project and/or add some fun to the writing process. Writers will choose at least one of the four activities to join in, though you can choose to complete multiple activities if you wish.

The prompts will be aimed at different parts of the writing process. Some will be better-suited for drafting, while others will work better for people who are outlining or brainstorming, and some are more about adding some excitement to the writing process itself, no matter which stage you're in. The hope is that everyone attending Camp Tolkien will find at least one activity per day that they can apply to their stage of the writing process.

For example, a day's list of Camp Tolkien Activities might look something like this:

  • Photography: Find at least five reference pictures that visualize the setting or characters of your project
  • Friendship Bracelets: Tell us about two characters who are currently friends, or talk about a childhood/former friend of a character
  • Nature Walk: Go on a walk outside and use something about the experience (a sensory detail, something you saw) as inspiration for your project
  • Rock Climbing: Set a timer for thirty minutes and try to finish as much of a draft of a scene as you can in that time

After finishing for the day, writers are invited to reblog that day's post, telling us which activity they joined, and either sharing what they wrote or telling us how the process went.

Each Saturday will be a Free Day, where writers can look over all the activities offered from the previous week and choose any activity they wish to use for that day's prompt. This could be a chance to complete an activity from a day you missed, or to complete an extra activity that you never got to.

The final day of camp, June 21, 2025, writers will get the chance to talk about their progress on their project and how the overall camp experience went.

This is a very low-key event, meant to make the writing process fun. People can join in as much or as little as they wish, and there is no sign-up process. Writers are just invited to check the blog each day and join in the fun of Camp Tolkien.

And that's Camp Tolkien! Now go forth and create!

Boromir Week 2025

Bring your Boromir fics, art, gifs, moodboards, and headcanons for a week of being absolutely normal about our beloved Captain of Gondor! Boromir Week will run from June 14-20, 2025 on Tumblr.

Rules

  • Please tag any ships and/or triggers, and place NSFW/graphic submissions under a "Read More" and tag as such.
  • No AI.
  • This event is intended to show Boromir in a positive light and show our appreciation for the character, so anything that is blatantly anti-Boromir is strongly discouraged. Submitting an AU where Boromir succeeded in obtaining the One Ring or writing a Dark!Boromir AU is different (and hot, let's be real).
  • This also applies to commenting on submissions. Don't like, don't read. Don't yuck on someone else's yum. Ship and let ship. Please keep your comments respectful.
  • The main tags I will be using are #Boromir Week and #Boromir Week 2025. However, Tumblr's tag search is pretty much useless, not only showing results that have nothing to do with what you searched for, but also omitting a lot of results. So, the best way for me to know that you've posted is to tag @boromir-week

Prompts

Day 1: Brother of Faramir, Childhood, Protector and Teacher

Day 2: Son of Finduilas, Maternal Family, Grief and Loss

Day 3: Son of Denethor, Paternal Family, Thorongil

Day 4: Teen Years, Captain of Gondor, Friend of Rohan

Day 5: The People's Prince, Rivendell, Member of the Fellowship

Day 6: Change of Fate, Fourth Age, Alternate Universe

Day 7: Freeform

Celebrimbor Week 2025

In honour of the greatest of the Elven-smith, we will be having a week celebrating the Lord of Eregion, Celebrimbor. Anything from the series to the books is allowed in this little event, all are welcome here.

Join us in celebrating his life and legacy throughout the story that is the Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and The Rings of Power. Through art, writing, and gifs, telling a story of ambition, what ifs, love, and betrayal.

Seven days!

Seven prompts!

June 9th - June 15th

#celebrimborweek2025

June challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth

The June challenge has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth. 

The thematic challenge for this month is: Reward - Regard.
Did you know that these two words, "reward" and "regard" were originally borrowed into English from two different forms of the same French verb (regarder) and, furthermore. that the second element is etymologically related to "guard"?
Your piece should either simply contain the word pair (regard - reward, as nouns or verbs) or somehow make a connection between rewarding and regarding, in any way you like.
Bonus points if you bring in "guard" as well.

The formal challenge this time is: your piece should make use of alliteration in some significant way.
"Reward" and "regard" both start with r-, so you could achieve alliteration just by using the thematic prompt.
But this can be any form of alliteration, in prose and verse.
Side note: in the most strict form of traditional alliterative verse, alliteration would have to be on stressed syllables, so "reward" and "reward" would alliterate on w- and g-. This is not required for this challenge.

More details on these challenges at the linked post.

As always, these prompts can be filled separately or combined freely with other challenges that allow this. 

New participants welcome; a Dreamwidth account is required.

Joyful June 2025

Welcome to Joyful June: a fanworks event where the goal is to let our favourite characters be happy!

The prompt calendar above is designed for maximum flexibility: if you can't do something for every single day in a week, you can still do one thing based around that week's theme!

(Or you can just do as much as you can anyway, whatever, the point is also for us to have some fun, but the completionism urge is strong)

Tag #JoyfulJune and #JoyfulJune25!

AO3 collection: joyfuljune25

Rules/FAQ

What sorts of works?

Fanart, fanfic, music, anything that you would normally consider fanwork.

What fandoms are allowed?

This event originated on the Linked Universe discord, but any fandom is welcome! Be sure to tag the fandom clearly and if you're creating for something in a nested fandom make sure you tag the right one (Linked Universe rather than Legend of Zelda; Rings of Power rather than Lord of the Rings, etc.).

Will you be reblogging work?

I'll be following the tag and will do some reblogging, but I am but one person and can't guarantee I'll get everything, especially if a lot of people take part.

Do I have to do/post work on the day listed in the calendar?

Nope!

Is NSFW allowed?

Sure, but please tag it #NSFW and note that it won't get reblogged here (I'm keeping this blog PG).

Can I use GenAI?

No.

Any other rules?

Don't be a jerk.

Prompts

Week 1: Seasons

1: New Year

2: Spring

3: Summer

4: Autumn

5: Winter

6: Birthday

7: Anniversary

Week 2: Nature

8: Sun

9: Moon

10: Stars

11: Animal

12: Sea

13: Sky

14: Mountain

Week 3: Comfort

15: Warmth

16: (Found) Family

17: Bath

18: Hugs

19: Sleep

20: Home

21: Quiet

Week 4: Fun

22: Dance

23: Games

24: Pets

25: Reading

26: Friends

27: Snacks

28: Music

Week 5: Time

29: Meetings

30: Memories

Teitho May/June Challenge: Weddings

Spring is a common time for weddings and it may be so for Middle-earth as well. For example, Aragorn and Arwen married in the spring.

Wedding rites may vary among the races of Arda. Will you give us stories of Elven weddings, the rituals of Dwarves, or the ceremonies of Men. What about Hobbits?

Weddings bring joy, they can unite families, they can also bring alliances.

How will you weave a wedding tale for us? Will it be a story of Fëanor and Nerdanel? Or Beren and Luthien?

The courtship of Sam and Rosie? Or a deeper look at Faramir and Eowyn?

We look forward to your wedding stories and art for this prompt!

Please submit your fic or art by June 30 to teitho.contest@gmail.com

Find more information about Teitho here.

Tolkien Ekphrasis Week 2025

Ekphrasis: the description or interpretation of a piece of art, usually visual, in a different artistic medium.

Material culture and art add vibrancy to our lives, and it seems that there are so many options in Middle Earth ripe for interpretation! A poem on Nerdanel's statues, a tapestry capturing Nessa's dance, a prose fic describing the impact of seeing Númenor's frescoes, a painting exploring the beautiful quotidian architecture of a Hobbit hole…

This is a Tolkien-fandom-wide event dedicated to the art of ekphrasis in Tolkien's worlds. Its goal is to illuminate the artistic surroundings of the places, people, and stories we love, in as many media as possible. As such, fanworks are welcome to take almost any form: see the FAQ for the full list!

The prompts are multi-part. The first part of the prompt is mandatory, describing the kind of art to be interpreted. The subsequent parts are optional thematic, formal, or visual add-ons that people may choose to incorporate or not.

In short, the timeline is:

  1. Read prompts starting March 17.
  2. Create!
  3. Post tagged work to AO3 before June 9 deadline.
  4. Enjoy daily reveals between June 10 and June 16.
  5. Amnesty day June 17 for late posters.

Inclusion

Tolkien Ekphrasis Week is open to all characters, genres, and ratings, and all Tolkien canons. This includes books, movies both live-action and animated, fan-made films like Born of Hope, TV shows, and game canons such as Lord of the Rings Online. It also includes Tolkien's non-Arda fictional works, such as Roverandom. Crossovers between two or more Tolkien canons are welcome.

Tolkien Ekphrasis Week wants to be as inclusive as possible. As such:

  • All canons and versions of canon are equally welcome and encouraged to participate.
  • Fan creators of all levels of experience should feel more than welcome to join in the fun.
  • All languages are welcomed, and works in languages other than English are actively encouraged.
  • All styles of art and all types of fic are permitted. Apart from following the Art Form content prompt for each day, there are no restrictions on genre, style, rating, or ship. There are two exceptions: first, no character bashing; second, no AI-generated writing or art.

Above all, this event is supposed to get us thinking and feeling about art, which is for everyone. With this in mind, TEW asks participants to be respectful and inclusive at all times. In particular, TEW values its queer and trans participants and participants of color and will moderate as necessary to ensure that this event remains a welcoming space.

Please see the FAQ for all rules and full instructions on how to post and tag.

Calendar

June 9, 2025: Submit all works to the AO3 Collection by this date

June 10-16, 2025: Reveals

March 17, 2026: 2025 AO3 Collection and DW community close to posting.

Housekeeping

The DW site is the primary home of Tolkien Ekphrasis Week: that is where to check first for dates, news, FAQs, links, and prompts!

Prompts will also be posted here on Tumblr. The Tumblr blog will be used for event promotion ahead of the event, answering questions via the ask function, and reblogging your creations, if they are posted and tagged on Tumblr.

This event does not and will not exist on any other form of social media other than Tumblr and DW, though I encourage you to spread the word in your other online communities.

If you have any questions, you can get in touch with the mod, @chestnut_pod, via Tumblr ask or comments on the Dreamwidth community's equivalent post.

Links

Around the World and Web Archive

Events listed here are no longer active but are listed on the site for historical purposes.

Nargothrond Week 2025

This week will be dedicated to celebrating the realm of Nargothrond, her kings, rulers and people from various eras, from the starting point and blooming bud of the idea in Felagund's mind, to her devastating destruction by the dragon Glaurung. Nargothrond Week will run from August 1-6, 2025 on Tumblr.

Rules

  • Please be kind to each participant and how they have decided to express their ideas. Bullying will not be tolerated.
  • There is no limit in how you have decided to participate in this week! Drawings, writings, Headcanon posts, moodboards, cosplays, etc… are all part of this challenge. Let your heart and mind lead you!
  • Based on my own personal beliefs, I will not be reblogging works and posts containing sibling and/or parent incest. Thank you all in advance for respecting my boundaries and don't forget, anyone is free to participate!
  • Mind the tagging! Use the #nargothrond week tag or #nargothrond week 2025 tags or even better, mention the blog or my own personal account in your posts! I will check them all! (I personally prefer to find you through the mentions, but use them all if you want!) And don't forget about trigger warnings or other needed tags.
  • The week is a mere formality. Don't worry about finding this post too late and think you won't have time to participate. I'll be keeping up with the mentions and tags long after the deadline and reblog whatever I can find!
  • Prompts and Themes (which will be further added and posted) are only there as guides. You do not have to follow them. They're merely there to water the tiny plants of ideas which are already inside your creative, beautiful minds!
  • And most importantly, have fun!

Prompts

Day 1 (August 1st): Fire & Water

Born through water, and in fire it came to ruin. Works with elements of fire and water, whether literal or metaphorical

Day 2 (August 2nd): Friendships & Betrayals

Nargothrond is infamous with tales of the betrayals of the sons of Feanor, as they broke all bonds of friendships with their golden cousins with a greed born out of their Oaths. But it is also known for tales of great friendships like that of Finrod and all the free folks, or Turin and the bond he shared with the King

Day 3 (August 3rd): Feasts Of Gold

Nargothrond was a rich kingdom, and home to the most generous and perhaps the most vain of Finwe's grandchildren. Tell your piece of the glorious balls and the dramas they often followed with

Day 4 (August 4th): The Unlikely Bonds

We all know of the Nargothrond trio and their famous frenemy relathionship, but Nargothrond doesn't end with them. Many named or unnamed characters resided in Finrod's golden halls, but we seldom get to hear or see much of they were up to. This day can be about celebrating these relathionships (be them platonic or romantic)

Day 5 (August 5th): Those Bloody Fangs

Be it Huan the great hound to Sauron and his wolves, and to the dragon which brought this land to ruins, Nargothrond's fate was decided by beast and their fangs stained with blood of innocents and sinners alike

Day 6 (August 6th): Oaths and Curses

From Feanor's bloody Oath, to Finrod and his heroic and honorable promise, to Turin and his dak curse, this kingdom was set to be led by words of power

Day 7 (August 7th): In Irmo's Domain

Works revolving around dreams, be they telling stories of future and of foresight nature, or of the dark kinds which keeps our dear elves up at night, caused by hardship and pain

Numenor Week 2025

Welcome to the Numenor Week! This is a Tumblr event created for fans of the tragic and beautiful story of the Land of the Gift, from its birth to its downfall.

The event will run from May 26 to June 1, and will accept all the type of fanworks (fanarts, fanfictions, edits, gifsets, remix, etc etc). please remember to tag @numenorweek and to add #numenorweek and #numenorweek2025 in the first 10 tags of your post. NSFW contents are welcomed, but mind to tag them or to put them under a cut. It's ok to submit Rings of Power contents because the show follows the events of the Akallabeth, but only if said content is about the Numenorean characters.

Prompts

Day 1: Elros Tar-Minyatur | The Line of Elros || Characters: Elros, Elwing, Eärendil, Vardamir Nólimon, Tindómiel, Manwendil, Atanalcar || Prompts: The Choice of the Peredhili - Mortality & Immortality - Rites at the Meneltarma - Kingship - The Legacy of Eärendil

Day 2: The Mariner's Wife | Aldarion and Erendis || Characters: Tar-Aldarion, Erendis, Tar-Ancalimë, Hallacar, Tar-Meneldur, Almarian, Ailinel & Almiel || Prompts: Costumes and traditions of the Numenoreans, the Guild of the Venturers, laws of succession, expansion of the Numenoreans in Middle Earth, Uinen and the Uinendili

Day 3: Daughters of the Great | The Ruling Queens of Numenor || Characters: Tar-Ancalimë, Tar-Telperiën, Tar-Vanimeldë, Tar-Míriel, Silmariën || Prompts: the role of women in Númenor, usurpation, Queenship, the known and the forgotten women of the line of Elros

Day 4: The Faithful | Lords of Andunie || Characters: Inzilbeth, Amandil, Elendil, Tar-Palantir, Eärendur, Lindórië || Prompts: Secrecy, worship of the Valar, the White Tree, Pelargir, Strife between kin

Day 5: The King's Men | The Ban of the Valar || Characters: Tar- Atanamir the Great, Ar-Adûnakhôr, Ar-Gimilzôr, Gimilkhâd, the Witch King of Angmar || Prompts: Cult of the Dead, Fear of the unknown, Umbar, Pride, Ban of the Quenya, Nazgûl

Day 6: Akallabeth | The Downfall || Characters: Tar-Míriel, Ar-Pharazôn, Sauron, Amandil, Elendil, Elentir, Sauron/Tar-Mairon. || Prompts: Hybris, the cutting of the White Tree, the imprisonment of Sauron, Worship of Melkor, War against the Valar

Day 7: The Realms in Exile | The Line of Isildur and Anarion ||Characters: Elendil, Isildur, Anarion, Valandil, Meneldil, Ohtar ||Prompts: Exile, Gondor and Arnor, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Estel

If you have any questions, feel free to send an ask in my askbox!

Monster Fucker May 2025

Monster Fucker May is back for 2025!!! This Tumblr and AO3 event is put on by the Tolkien Pinup Calendar and is an 18+ event.

We hope you enjoy the prompts; we tried to give a good mix of prompts specific to certain media (Silmarillion, ROP, Hobbit, and LOTR) and some less specific prompts!

As always, if you want us to reblog please:

  1. tag us @tolkienpinupcalendar
  2. use the tag #tpcmonsterfuckermay
  3. Submit to our smut-missions form
  4. Add the work to our AO3 collection

The most important rule is to have fun! We look forward to seeing what you create! And remember, any creative work is allowed: Moodboards, playlist, digital and physical art, if you can imagine it you can share it!!!

Prompts

  • Gothmog
  • Goop Sauron
  • Old Man Willow
  • Ungoliant
  • Beorn (only as a bear)
  • fangs
  • fur/feathers
  • Unicorn
  • Undead
  • oviposition
  • free space

Tolkien100 Drabble Community

Tolkien100 is a long-running drabble community that originated on LiveJournal and is currently maintained on both LiveJournal and Dreamwidth (the main link in this announcement goes to the Dreamwidth community; the Livejournal community is here). The community focusses on fixed length or "perfect" drabbles (100 words) inspired by any fictional works by J.R.R. Tolkien, including their movie adaptations. In its current incarnation (since 2018) there are also regular writing prompts. The current prompt is "Green Leaves". 

New participants welcome! (A Dreamwidth or LiveJournal account is required.)

May Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth

The May challenge has been posted at the tolkienshortfanworkscommunity on Dreamwidth.

Here are some word prompts:
maybe, mayhem, dismay, mayonnaise, mayor.

Here are some phrases:
A cat may look at a king; pigs may fly; that is as may be.

Here is a song prompt:
May It Be, by Enya.

You may (ahem) use these prompts however you like.
Bonus if you get more than one "may" in.

New participants welcome (a Dreamwidth account is required).

The prompts can be freely combined with other challenges that allow this.

More on the challenges at the linked post and in the sticky posts at the DW community.

Gondolin Week 2025

A commemoration of the life and death of all those who came to love the fair hidden city and call it home, the Gates of Summer begin on the first day of Laer and end one week hence. Gondolin Week will run this year May 11-17 on Tumblr and will feature bingo cards for the prompts.

Bingo cards for the event have been posted and can be found on Tumblr here.

Please tag your submissions with #gondolinweek2025. Works will be shared using reblogs when possible (or credited). For questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out by ask.

Angbang Week 2025

Angbang Week is a Tumblr event for fanworks about the Melkor/Sauron pairing and will run from May 5 to May 11, 2025.

As always, there is a couple of prompts to choose between for every day of the week, with the last day being a bit more open to topics of choice. You can pick one each day, try to combine them into one work, or skip any day that offers prompts you find less appealing.

Here is the list of prompts for the 2025 event:

Day 1: Friend | Enemy
Day 2: Freedom | Imprisonment
Day 3: Temporary | Permanent
Day 4: Concealment | Revelation
Day 5: Holy | Unholy
Day 6: Singing | Dancing
Day 7: Fix it

Anything that reminds you of the topic of the prompt is encouraged and accepted. The only requirements are that the work is about the pairing, previously unposted, made by you, and that you tag things correctly if your works include sensitive subjects or are adult in nature. Anything written, visual, auditory, or any combination thereof goes.

When posting your works, feel free to post them on the day the prompt appears on or later, tag us directly or add one of the following tags (#angbangweek2025, #angbang week 2025, #angbang week2025) to your post's tag list. For any questions or clarification requests, feel free to reach out at any time.

Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (TRSB) Sign-Ups Open!

Calling all creators of Middle-earth magic! Whether you wield a pen, stylus, or keyboard, it’s time to return to Middle-earth for another epic journey.

What is it? The Tolkien Reserve Summer Bang is a collaborative fan event celebrating the works and adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien. Writers and artists will team up to bring new stories to life—from the Shire to the far reaches of Valinor (and everything in between).

Sign-ups are officially OPEN! Whether you're a seasoned loremaster or a first-time adventurer, we’d love to have you join us. Writers, artists, beta readers, cheerleaders, treat makers, and pinch hitters—all are welcome!

*While artist and author sign-ups have a time limit, sign-ups for the other roles will remain open for the event.

Sign up Here

Read the Rules

Art Suggestion Spreadsheet for inspiration

FAQs:  Answers to all our frequently asked questions

Sign-up deadlines: Artists: May 3rd

                                    Authors: May 17th

                                    Everybody Else: Duration of the Event

Spread the word, gather your fellowship, and let’s make some magic this summer!

Silmarillion Epistolary Week 2025

Silmarillion Epistolary is a challenge dedicated to creating fanworks to tell the story of the Silmarillion in the style of an epistolary novel. It will run April 14th - 20th, 2025, on Tumblr and AO3.

An epistolary novel is where the story is told through letters, diary entries, or other types of documents. One of the most well-known epistolary novels is Dracula, another more modern example would be The Princess Diaries series. These books use different kinds of documents and communications between characters such as letters, telegrams, email, journals, instant messaging, or texting to tell a story in a nontraditional way.

The goal of Silmarillion Epistolary is to encourage fans to take the stories we know and tell them through different kinds of documents.

Rules

Be kind and courteous to others. Disrespect or harassment won't be tolerated.

Entries must be in epistolary format of some kind. There are a lot of possibilities, so be creative!

Prompts are suggestions to help generate ideas, but you're not required to use them.

Tag entries as #silmarillionepistolary or @silmarillionepistolary so that they can be reblogged! If you think your post may have been missed please reach out to let us know!

Please tag NSFW entries so that they can be reblogged here with the appropriate tag.

No AI generated works, we want to see what YOU can create!

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!

Prompts

Day 1: Daily Life, Customs, Recipes

Day 2: Exploration, New Lands, Maps

Day 3: Family, Loyalty, Journals

Day 4: Friendship, Alliance, Bookkeeping

Day 5: Love, Creation, Letters

Day 6: Loss, Betrayal, Obituaries

Day 7: Remembrance, New Beginnings, AU

These are suggestions to help generate ideas, but not required. If you don't like the prompts for the day please feel free to create something else!

April Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks

The tolkienshortfanworks challenge for April has been posted to the Dreamwidth community. 

The thematic challenge for this month is: Wood.
This could be in the sense of "forest" or in the sense of the material.
It could also be "wood" as an element in compounds or names.

The formal challenge this time is: linnod.
This is the traditional verse form used by Gilraen in the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen (LOTR Appendix A).
We only have that one canonical example with translation:
Ónen i-Estel Edain, ú-chebin estel anim.
"I gave Hope to the Dúnedain, I have kept no hope for myself."

The name of the form probably means "chant-seven".
Our Sindarin example seems to show two times seven syllables, although there may be other ways to interpret the form.
Imitate the Sindarin original or its English translation in any way you like.
Alternatively, your piece could include someone using a short response in verse in the way Gilraen does, without your imitating the form of the linnod itself.
 

These prompts can be filled separately and freely combined with other challenges and prompts that allow this. New participants welcome.

More detals on the challenges at the linked post and at the Dreamwidth community.