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Dor Cúarthol Week 2023

Dor Cúarthol week is a week-long Tumblr event about the relationship between Túrin Turambar and Beleg Cúthalion, whether interpreted as romantic, platonic, somewhere in-between, or something else. We’ll share fanart, fic, edits, headcanons, and other mediums of creativity. This year's event will run 11-16 September 2023.

Prompts

Day 1: meetings | farewells | teaching

Day 2: legends | names | songs

Day 3: curses | choices | chances

Day 4: truest of friends | love against wisdom | tryst

Day 5: bow and helm | anglachel | the last battle

Day 6: a happier ending | what-if | role reversal

Day 7: free form

These prompts are simply suggestions; feel free to diverge. The dates listed are recommendations rather than deadlines. Don’t fret about meeting a specific day; feel free to join at any time.

Rules

• We will gladly accept both romantic and platonic content. We do not tolerate dismissive behavior towards others who may share a different view of this relationship.
• Regardless of your views towards the nature of Túrin and Beleg’s relationship, this blog is LGBTQ-friendly and homophobia will not be tolerated.
• NSFW material is welcome, but it should not contain underage Túrin or graphic depictions of abuse or assault.
• Overall, just make sure to have fun and be kind.

Trick or Treat Exchange 2023

Trick or Treat is an exchange in the style of exchanges like Yuletide or Chocolate Box. It is inspired by a real world holiday, but you do not need to celebrate Halloween to participate in this exchange.

Each participant will receive at least one gift. The gift will be a trick or a treat, and gift minimums are 300 words for fic or a nice sketch for art. A trick should be more horror, occult, supernatural, or scary. A treat should be more sweet, sexy, or fluffy. These are a bit vague to give the writer/artist room for how they interpret trick or treat.

Participants must be 18 years or older.

General Links

2023 Collection
2023 Tagset

Schedule

Sept 1 – Nominations Open
Sept 8 – Nominations Close
Sept 11 – Sign-Ups Open
Sept 18 – Sign-Ups Close
October 24 – Assignments Due
October 31 – Gift Reveals (16:59 UTC)
November 7 – Creator Reveals (16:59 UTC)

All times are 23:59 UTC unless otherwise specified.

See the 2023 Trick or Treat info post for complete details.

September challenge at tolkienshortfanworks

The September Challenge has been posted at the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth.

The thematic prompt is Silver, with a choice of three quotation prompts.

All three are from The Silmarillion, but that does not mean your fill has to be; there is no expectation to stick to the canonical context and you can pick and choose what to respond to in the quote.





A

Tilion was a hunter of the company of Oromë, and he had a silver bow. He was a lover of silver, and when he would rest he forsook the woods of Oromë, and going into Lórien he lay in dream by the pools of Estë, in Telperion's flickering beams; and he begged to be given the task of tending for ever the last Flower of Silver.



B

And she gave him store of lembas, the waybread of the Elves, wrapped in leaves of silver, and the threads that bound it were sealed at the knots with the seal of the Queen, a wafer of white wax shaped as a single flower of Telperion



C

And that dome was roofed all with silver, and rose glittering in the sun, so that the light of it could be seen afar off; but soon the light was darkened, and the silver became black.



The formal challenge is to write a haiku.

We were thinking here of the format with three lines with the syllable count 5-7-5, but I know that other interpretations of the haiku format in English exist and these are also welcome.

These prompts can be filled independently and combined with other challenges.

New participants are welcome. More details on the challenges at the linked post.

Sindar Week 2023

Sindar Week is a Tolkien event week for the Sindar, the Grey-Elves, from the Years of the Trees to the Third Age. It will run from September 4th 2023 to September 10th 2023 on Tumblr.

Prompts (2023)
FAQ/Guidelines
Navigation

Prompts:

• Day 1: Heroes & Villains
• Day 2: Locations
• Day 3: Legendary Deeds
• Day 4: Traditions & Myths
• Day 5: Songs & Sailing
• Day 6: The Third Age
• Day 7: OCs

Ainur Week 2023

Ainur Week will be taking place Friday, September 1 to Saturday, September 9 on Tumblr. This is a Tolkien fandom week dedicated to the Ainur, J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional species. The Ainur, including the Valar and Maiar, are the first beings created by Eru Ilúvatar in the Professor’s lore. They are powerful, mysterious, and even controversial. Come celebrate the Ainur by creating fanworks centered around them!

You can create art, fics, graphics, playlists, meta, headcanons, or any other type of fanwork. When you post your work, make sure to mention this blog (@ainurweek) and put “ainur week” or “ainurweek” in the first 20 tags.

Prompts

Day 1

Manwë | Varda | Eönwë | Ilmarë

Power dynamics | Life among the stars | Flight

Day 2

Aulë | Yavanna | Curumo | Aiwendil

Craftsmanship | Relationship with Nature

Day 3

Ulmo | Ossë | Uinen | Salmar

Romance | Relationship with Elves

Day 4

Oromë | Vána | Arien | Tilion

Hunting | Family dynamics | Legends

Day 5

Mandos | Vairë | The Blue Wizards

Death | Fate | Travel

Day 6

Lórien | Estë | Melian

Dreams | Healing | Friendship

Day 7

Tulkas | Nessa | Balrogs

War | Dance | Darkness

Day 8

Nienna | Olórin

Grief | Mercy | Light

Day 9

Melkor | Mairon

Chaos | Corruption | Redemption

Code of Conduct

1. Do not repost other people’s fanworks without their explicit permission.

2. Respect other people’s interpretations of Tolkien’s characters and relationships. Do you disagree with a certain ship or a creator’s perspective on a character? Please keep that to yourself.

3. Fanworks that are bigoted/ prejudiced in their messaging are not allowed. You may, however, depict instances of bigotry/ prejudice in your fanwork. E.g. You can write about characters experiencing sexism, but fanworks that endorse or promote sexism are not permitted.

Violation of these rules will result in your being blocked. 

August Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth

The August Challenge has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth.

We are doing something slightly different this month.

Co-mod Lferion has very kindly offered us an image prompt, featuring their lovely artwork.

The piece is called Elven Elements. 

New participants welcome. For more details on the challenge go  to the linked post.

Innumerable Stars 2023

Innumerable Stars is a Tolkien fandom gift exchange for all works by Tolkien or associated with Middle-earth.

People Who Participate in Innumerable Stars are:
★ Interested in and excited about multiple Tolkien-based canons.
☆ Interested in their fellow fans’ creativity in fanfiction and fanart, and excited to explore their own.
★ Open to creating and receiving any one of a number of different prompts or ideas.
☆ Happy to read and comment on the fanwork(s) they receive with thanks first of all, but also to read and comment on other fanworks in the exchange.

People Who Participate in Innumerable Stars will:
★ Generally read and create for a variety of slash, gen, het, adventures, fluff, dark, erotica, worldbuilding, etc.
☆ Create their fanwork following their recipient’s prompts in good faith, and receive the fanwork(s) that have been given to them in good faith also.
★ Also write or draw “treats” for others in the exchange, if their own time and inspiration permits after they have completed their assignment,. These are not required but they add to the fun and excitement of the exchange!
☆ Create their fanwork without the use of AI, be it in writing or art.

What Innumerable Stars is NOT:

You do not have to be open to or interested in every type of fanwork to participate.  However, Innumerable Stars is not for anyone interested in just one character, pairing, or scenario. Nor is it for people who find stories or art containing material they are not interested in offensive because it exists. If either of these apply, we wish you well, but this is not the exchange for you.

Links

AO3 Collection | Tumblr | LiveJournal RSS Feed

Schedule

Nominations Open: Sunday, 06 August 2023, 8:00 PM UTC

Nominations Close: Sunday, 20 August 2023, 8:00 PM UTC

Sign-ups Open: Sunday, 20 August 2023, 11:59 PM UTC

Sign-ups Close: Sunday, 03 September 2023, 8:00 PM UTC

Assignments Out: Monday, 04 September 2023, 8:00 PM UTC

Assignments Due: Sunday, 15 October 2023, 8:00 PM UTC

Works Revealed: Sunday, 22 October 2023, 8:00 PM UTC

Authors Revealed: Sunday, 29 October 2023, 8:00 PM UTC

Silvergifting Week 2023

Silvergifting Week will happen on Tumblr August 7-13, 2023!

This is the second year of the week-long event that celebrates the relationship between Celebrimbor and Mairon | Annatar | Sauron. The event wants to encourage people to create fanworks focused on Celebrimbor/Mairon pairing (including  Celebrimbor/Annatar and Celebrimbor/Sauron). Fan art, fan fiction,  headcanon, moodboards, fan crafts, cosplay, fan videos, meta ... all kinds of fan works are welcome!

This year, there are optional word prompts for days 1-5 you can use in addition to the main prompts.

List of prompts

Day 1 (August 7): Beginnings | First Meetings

Optional word prompt for Day 1: Delicious meal

Day 2 (August 8): Crafting | Community

Optional word prompt for Day 2: Curious cat

Day 3 (August 9): Soulmates | Marriage | Bonding

Optional word prompt for Day 3: Beautiful gift

Day 4 (August 10): Betrayal | Captured | Bad Ending

Optional word prompt for Day 4: Corrupting touch

Day 5 (August 11): Post-canon | New beginnings

Optional word prompt for Day 5: Nimble fingers

Day 6 (August 12): Canon divergence | Alternate universe

Day 7 (August 13): Freeform

Tolkien of Colour Week 2023

Tolkien of Colour Week will run 31 July - 6 August 2023 on Tumblr and AO3.

Any form of content is welcome. Tag @tolkienofcolourweek in your post and #tocweek2023.

This year there is a Ao3 collection!

The prompts below are only suggestions. There are two sets of prompts - Peoples | Themes. You can use both sets of prompts or just one.

Day 1: Ainur | Faith, Hope, Festivals

Day 2: Elves | Home, Lands, Journeys

Day 3: Men | Ancestors/Descendants, Tradition, Stories

Day 4: Dwarves | Music, Artwork, Clothing

Day 5: Hobbits | Family, Friendship, Romance

Day 6: Mixed | Community, Language, Belonging

Day 7: Freeform | Intersectionality, Sexuality, Gender, Intersex, Disability

Call for Papers: 2024 Kalamazoo Congress

The 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies will be held in a hybrid format, Thursday through Saturday, 9-11 May 2024) at Western Michigan University. Six sessions on Tolkien are offered this year. Note that some sessions are in-person and others are virtual.

• Tolkien's Leeds Legacy: A Reconsideration of His Work as a Medievalist (In-person)
• Tolkien and "The Battle of Maldon" (In-person)
• Tolkien’s Problematic Medievalisms, A Roundtable (In-person)
• Flora, Fauna & Fantasy: Medieval Poets and J.R.R. Tolkien, co-sponsored with the Pearl Poet Society. (Virtual)
• Here Be Dragons: Tolkien at the Medieval Margins (co-sponsored with Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic, University of Glasgow: Virtual)
• Tolkien and Disability (co-sponsored with Society for the Study of Disability in the Middle Ages: Virtual)

Proposals are due by 15 September 2023.

Call for Papers | Paper Proposal Guidelines