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Teitho January/February Contest: Looking Back

Our prompt for Jan/Feb is Looking Back.

What memories exist from the road behind? Are there people or places thoughts linger on?

Or are there situations to look back on warmly or perhaps with regret?

Fond thoughts on times past or people we have met—which will you choose?

Or is Looking Back more immediate for you—a danger lurking behind or a need for vigilance on the road?

Will we be looking back at Tirion? Gondolin? The Shire? Those left behind? The road that brought us to where we are now?

We look forward to your stories for this challenge!! Please submit to teitho.contest@gmail.com by Feb 29, 2024.

Also! Don’t forget our current challenge SNOW, which runs through Jan 31, 2024!

More on the Teitho Contest and its rules can be found here.

January Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth

The tolkienshortfanworks challenge for January has been posted at the tolkienshortfanworks community on  Dreamwidth.

The thematic challenge is: building.

This could be a completed building (and any of the buildings in Tolkien's works) or the process of building or any of the senses and uses of "to build", including those that do not involve stones, bricks or mortar.



The formal challenge is to write something cumulative, a form that builds up and keeps getting longer!

Examples of this are the song "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" or the nursery rhyme "This is the House that Jack built".

Your version need not be a song or poem, it can also be prose.

Some further examples (from different languages and cultures) are discussed and linked on these two Wikipedia pages: cumulative tales and songs.

As usual, these can be filled separately and freely combined with SWG and other challenges. New participants welcome.

More details on the challenge at the linked post.

AO3 Demographics Survey

This project is an independent survey (not affiliated with AO3) which seeks to research the demographics and behaviours of AO3 users. The survey will take about 10-15 minutes to complete, will be open until 1 February, and can be found at https://forms.gle/2kt5J17ipzcAbnFY9

We are hoping to survey as large a group of users as possible, so we really appreciate anyone who shares the survey, whether by reblogging this post or sharing posts on other social media.

If you have any questions for us, we have FAQs on Tumblr or on AO3 which will be updated as the project progresses. And of course, you can follow us on Tumblr or AO3 if you want to see the survey results!

Acorns and Oak Leaves: A Year of Bagginshield

Throughout 2024, the Bagginshield community Acorns and Oak Leaves offers monthly prompts to encourage new creations of all kinds (i.e. art, fics, gifs, etc) - but don't worry, there are no deadlines. Pick and choose whatever prompts you like, and be sure to tag the @acorns-and-oakleaves blog on Tumblr so we can share your Bagginshield creations!

Monthly prompts for the Year of Bagginshield can be found here.

Acorns and Oak Leaves also has a Discord server!

Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2024

The Fandom Snowflake Challenge will be happening again in January. We are very excited about hosting another round! The challenge posting schedule we’ve used the last few rounds seemed to work well, so we’re going to stick with every other day. To that end challenges will be posted on odd days: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27 & 29 with the friending meme on the 31st. On posting days, there will be prompt about fandom participation that you can respond to if you want to ... or not! This is a very low-key, low-stress challenge that has been running since 2012.

The Fandom Snowflake Challenge can be found on

• Tumblr: snowflakechallenge
• Twitter: snowflakeDW
• Pillowfort: Snowflake Challenge
• Mastodon: Snowflake Challenge

Screw Yule 2024

You are cordially invited to participate in this year's Screw Yule, a celebration of Elves, smut, and a New Year's Resolution to toss Laws and Customs right out the window (or, at least, ignore whatever is necessary to appease your muses.)

Screw Yule is a way to kick off the new year with Elf smut, and lots of it. There are a variety of challenge options, and infinite combinations between these different options. You can even completely disregard the challenges and just submit whatever Elf smuttiness you like, as long as it hasn't been written previously for something else and there's an Elf in it somewhere. The only rules are to have fun, and be dirty [We used to only allow ratings of R or NC- 17/ adult-oriented fics, but if you want to only put one foot in the gutter and not jump in completely, go for it. We just really encourage being totally in the gutter!] This event was previously held in the magical place that was Little Balrog, but following the shutdown of Yahoo Groups in the form that allowed for that, stories will now be shared on AO3. The AO3 collection can be found here.

Just Leave a Comment Fest 2024

Just Leave a Comment fest will run from December 26-30. Each day will have a theme, but the idea is to leave comments, whether you follow the theme or not!

Full guidelines and FAQ are here!

Prompts

December 26 - First Fandom: Go back to your firt fandom! See what's changed, see what's good, read some fics, and leave them comments.

December 27 - Bookmark Day: You kept bookmarking those fics all year, saying you would leave comments. Today is the day to make good on those promises.

December 28 - Old Favorites: You've been reading that same fic twice a month for years, but you only commented back in 2015. It's time to let the author know how much the fic means to you!! Comment on all those old favorites!!!

December 29 - Fandom Curiosity: You've been seeing a bunch of mutuals post fics, fanart, and gifsets of something you've never heard of, never experienced for yourself. Find out if their new obsession could also be yours through reading those fics and leaving some comments.

December 30 - Rec a Fic! Pay it forward and help and friend find something new! Comment on any fic of your choosing and rec that fic to a friend or a mutual! Comment on all the fics you are recommended and keep the chain going!

On the 31st, post comment totals from the rest of the fest!

Nonreligious Tolkien Fans Needed for a Research Study

Tolkien scholar Tom Emanuel is looking for participants in a study about the reception of Tolkien's work among nonreligious fans. Here is his call for participants:

Are you a fan of The Lord of the Rings? Do you identify as nonreligious? Would you be interested in talking to me (Tom Emanuel) for 1-2 hours about why you love Tolkien?

If you answered "yes" I would love it if you filled out this questionnaire for my PhD research at the University of Glasgow!

Once I've collected enough responses, I'll reach out to a representative sample of 20 respondents for Zoom interviews in Spring 2024. If you know someone who might be a good fit for this project, please share! You can contact me with any questions at thomas.emanuel@glasgow.ac.uk.

Gen-Uary Fic Rec Fest

Send some love to your favorite gen fics!

Submit your rec directly to us or write your own and tag this blog, we'll be posting and reblogging all your faves throughout January!!

Any fandom, any focus, any format!

Teitho December/January Contest: Snow

We are very excited to be back with a new Teitho challenge for December/January!

Our challenge this time is SNOW.

Where will you take us with this prompt? Mountain peaks or cruel Caradhras? The frozen terrain of the Helcaraxë?

Or perhaps the snowy fields of Rohan. A blizzard in the Shire. Winter at the Havens.

Bundled up inside or braving the elements? A gentle fall of snow or a winter storm? Or perhaps snowed in?

It’s all up to you and we can’t wait see what you have for us this time!

Please submit your stories before January 31, 2024, to teitheo.contest@gmail.com.

Find out more about Teitho Contest on their tumblr.