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Call For Papers: Reading Fanfiction/Fanfiction Readings

Call for Papers: Reading Fanfiction/Fanfiction Readings

Fanfiction can be many things: an interpretation of the source text, an insight into a fandom
culture, or an exemplar of popular narrative tropes and themes. But fannish stories are also,
always, works of fiction, and they reward in-depth analysis as much as any other work of
literature.

In Reading Fanfiction/Fanfiction Readings, we aim to put together a collection of essays in which
we treat fan fiction as an important form of contemporary literature, using the tools of close
reading: focus on the author’s use of language, imagery, and theme. This project calls to all of us
who have discussed a story for hours (or over many comments or DMs), or who have a story
that we rec to friends who don’t know the fandom or the characters, because it just has that
much to offer, or who have a story we come back to long after we’ve moved on to another
fandom, a story that we have analyzed in passing but feel it deserved an article of its own. If you
love close textual readings and love fan fiction and have a story that says and means so much
more, we want your contribution!

We are looking for 3,000-4,000 word essays that provide a close reading of a specific story and
whose argument addresses the relevance and impact of the story as literature beyond its status
as fannish commentary. Every essay in this volume will focus on a specific story (or series), asking
how a fan author uses a fandom’s narratives and tropes to think beyond the themes or interests
of the fannish source; or, to put it another way, to ask what is the fanfiction author using the
fandom to think about?

Please contact us with your ideas on a specific story, fandom, and, if applicable, pairing. We’d
appreciate a brief abstract or an email detailing your basic argument and theoretical framework.
We want to feature stories from a wide range of fandoms and genres. We don’t discourage the
discussion of shorter works, but longer stories often allow fan writers to move beyond the direct
focus on the source text and engage in broader philosophical, social, and personal engagements.
Essays on lesser-known fanfiction stories are welcome, but a story’s respective popularity,
enduring appeal, and appeal outside of its fandom can indicate how the story speaks to fans
beyond its initially intended interpretive community. We already have some contributors, and
we want to put together a collection of essays that offers a wide range of close readings over a
diverse set of fanfiction.
The volume is contracted to The University of Michigan Press.

Timeline and Contact Info 

April 1, 2026 Completed Essay
July 1, 2026 Final Revision

Francesca Coppa (coppa@muhlenberg.edu) & Kristina Busse (kbusse2@gmail.com)

Tolkien Food Week 2025

Tolkien Food Week is a Tumblr event where we share recipes we love and link them to Tolkien's works in one way or another. Recipes, fanfics, fanart or other.

Tolkien Food Week will run 3 to 9th November 2025.

To participate, post a recipe and tell us which character would like it best and why, or what place of Middle-Earth it would come from, tag me @tolkien-food-week and tag it with #tolkien food week.

Or post a fanfic about food, or fanart, or whatever you like.

Rules are simple: no hate, no ship wars, no AI.

Prompts 

These are purely optional ofc!

Day 1 - soups and stews / Hobbits (3rd nov)

Day 2 - breads and cakes / Nùmenor (4th nov)

Day 3 - teas and drinks / Gondor and Rohan (5th nov)

Day 4 - vegetarian dishes / Elven realms (6th nov)

Day 5 - salads / Ents and Maiar (7th nov)

Day 6 - sweets / Dwarven realms (8th nov)

Day 7 - fish dishes / crack (9th nov)

Silmarillion Secret Stockings

Welcome to Silmarillion Secret Stockings!

This is a Secret Santa-like prompt fest for the Silmarillion fandom at large, where people can write gifts for each other, based on stockings/prompts left on AO3. Who has never wished for a few cheeky elves in their stockings, or a dragon by the fireplace?

The aim here is to have a low-threshold, low-pressure event; as such, this does not operate as a classic gift exchange. There are no minimum requirements, you can prompt without planning to fill a stocking (although it's encouraged! The idea is for each stocking to hopefully receive several fills!), and you can write fills without having prompted.

Find more detailed information on how this works in the FAQ.

Our Schedule:

• Prompting/Sign-ups: November 1st - 15th
• Creation Period: November 16th - December 29th
• Work Reveals: January 1st
• Creator Reveals: January 8th

As you can see, gifters are meant to be anonymous until the reveals on January 8th, to keep the spirit of surprise/gifts. As such, we ask you to keep it secret, keep it safe!

Nolofinwëan Week 2025

Nolofinwëan Week welcomes fan creations centering any members of the House of Fingolfin and their descendants through the ages. Nolofinwëan Week 2025 will run from November 2nd - 8th.

To Participate

• Create fanfiction, fanart, headcanons, close readings and musings, moodboards, photography, rec lists or anything else that inspires you to celebrate Nolofinwëan characters.
• Mention the blog @nolofinweanweek in your post and include the hashtag #nolofinweanweek2025 in the first 10 tags.
• If you would like, add your work to the AO3 collection.
• Take inspiration from the nonmandatory daily prompts.
• Complete one or more of the community challenges.

Rules & Requirements

• There are no minimum or maximum requirements; anything goes!
• There are no content restrictions or rules on tagging beyond what AO3 requires of you. If you post to tumblr and your fill is Mature or Explicit, and/or falls under one of AO3’s major warnings, please provide tagging on your post, though!
• That said, please refrain from using genAI.
• This fest operates firmly under the premises of ‘don’t like; don’t read,’ ‘ship and let ship’ and ‘your kink is not my kink but that’s okay’ (if you’re unfamiliar with these concepts, see this post). We will not tolerate any shaming, harassment, or attempts to police content.

Prompts

Day 1: Heroism

• Characters: Fingon | Gil-galad | Argon
• Places: Ard-Galen | Thangorodrim | Mordor
• Inspirational Poem:

A song for the heroes who saw the sign And took their place in the battle-line. They were walls of granite and gates of brass, These heroes that cried, "They shall not pass." And they hurled them back in a storm of cheers, And the sound will echo on over the years. —E. F. Hayward

+++

Day 2: Sacrifice

• Characters: Anairë | Elenwë | Elwing
• Places: Valinor | Helcaraxë
• Inspirational Poem:

Love cannot be bought, Neither hath it price; It seeks not, and is given unsought, A glad self-sacrifice. —John Boyle O'Reilly

+++

Day 3: Adventure

• Characters: Aredhel | Tuor
• Places: Vinyamar | Nan Dungortheb
• Inspirational Poem:

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. —Robert Frost

+++

Day 4: Wisdom

• Characters: Fingolfin | Turgon | Elrond
• Places: Mithrim | Barad Eithel | Lindon
• Inspirational Poem:

The tree must stand, it cannot run;Whatever comes of snow or sun It has to bear; it has no fears; Knowing not regret nor tears It stands and stretches to the sky Without a murmur, plaint or sigh— And this has stood a thousand years, And seen ten thousand storms go by! —Annette Wynne

+++

Day 5: Heritage

• Characters: Idril | Maeglin | Eärendil
• Places: Gondolin | Sirion
• Inspirational Poem:

My river runs to thee: Blue sea, wilt welcome me? My river waits reply. Oh sea, look graciously! I'll fetch thee brooks From spotted nooks, — Say, sea, Take me! —Emily Dickinson

+++

Day 6: Separation

Characters: Elros | Eöl | Celebrían

Places: Nan Elmoth | Númenor

Inspirational Poem:

Fare thee well! the ship is ready, And the breeze is fresh and steady. Hands are fast the anchor weighing; High in the air the streamer's playing. Spread the sails—the waves are swelling Proudly round thy buoyant dwelling, Fare thee well! and when at sea, Think of those, who sigh for thee. —Hannah Flagg Gould

+++

Day 7: Memory

• Characters: Peredil Descendants | Original Characters
• Places: Rivendell | Arnor | Gondor
• Inspirational Poem:

Only lovers see the fall a signal end to endings a gruffish gesture alerting those who will not be alarmed that we begin to stop in order to begin again. —Maya Angelou

Community Challenges

Community challenges are a way to share some love with the fandom community or participate in a low-commitment way.

Day 1: Step away from the beaten path: Pick a Nolofinwëan character that you usually skip over or simply haven't really thought about much. Read a story featuring that character. Look up some new art. Don't forget to leave a kudo, a comment, or hit the reblog button.

Day 2: Discover someone new: Find a creator who is participating in Nolofinwëan Week this year and who is new(ish) to you. Follow them and interact with their creations (read, share, comment). 

Day 3: Share your faves: Create a rec list of your favorite creations featuring Nolofinwëan characters. Don't forget to tag the creators if they are on Tumblr.

Day 4: Inspire something new: Send a creator an Ask (anon or not) with an optional prompt. Don't forget to be gentle and encouraging as you go about it.

Day 5: Heap some love: Send a creator an Ask (anon or not) and tell them how much you love their work, or maybe ask them to do a "director's cut" about something they created.

Day 6: Do a Throwback: Dig a little through that bookmarks list! Reblog or share a link to an older creation featuring Nolofinwëan characters and let the creator know why you like it in the tags.

Day 7: Give a gift: Give your faves a little gift! Create a moodboard, a playlist, or a drabble based on a creation you loved. Tag the person who is receiving the gift.

Tolkien Horror Week 2025

Day 1: Angband, Utumno, & Tol-in-Gaurhoth | beautiful and yet horrible of shape | captives and thralls

Day 2: Angmar & Minas Morgul | lit with a fell light | specters and wraiths

Day 3: Mordor & the Dead Marshes | enmeshed in shadows | spells and enchantments

Day 4: The Barrow-downs & the Old Forest | cold be hand and heart and bone | mists and mires

Day 5: Mirkwood, Nan Elmoth, & Taur-nu-Fuin | hunted like wild beasts | beasts and monsters

Day 6: Nan Dungortheb & the Paths of the Dead | phantoms of terror | webs and snares

Day 7: Isengard, Moria, & Númenor | old and forgotten | rituals and sacrifices

Tolkien Fanfiction Survey, 3rd Edition

Do you read or write fanfiction based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien or a Tolkien media adaptation like the film trilogies or Rings of Power series? If so, we'd love to hear from you!

The Tolkien Fanfiction Survey first ran in 2015 and has run every five years since. We are excited to introduce the third edition, which will give us insight into how the fandom has changed across the last decade!

What is it like to participate?

If you choose to participate, we will collect basic demographic information and ask you about your beliefs and habits regarding reading and/or writing Tolkien-based fanfiction. Most questions are multiple choice, but there is also a space on each page where you can elaborate on any of your answers if you want to share more information with us. You can skip any question you don't want to answer and quit the survey at any time.

The survey will take about 15-20 minutes to complete.

Who can participate?

• Participants must be 18 years or older.
• We want to hear from both readers and writers of Tolkien-based fanfiction.
• All levels of experience and involvement with Tolkien are welcome.
• Readers and writers of fic based on Jackson's film trilogies, The Rings of Power, and other Tolkien-derived media are welcome as well.
• If you read and/or wrote Tolkien-based fanfiction in the past but don't any longer, we still want to hear from you!

Who are you and what do you plan to do with the results?

We are Dawn "Felagund" Walls-Thumma and Maria K. Alberto, and we are both readers and writers of Tolkien fanfiction! Dawn is an independent scholar in Tolkien and fan studies, and Maria is an assistant professor at Richland Community College.

We hope this survey will help us to better understand how our fandom interacts with fanfiction, the texts and adaptations, and one another as fellow readers and writers. We will aggregate survey responses to look for trends and changes across the past decade of survey results. This data will be used in conference presentations, papers, and articles about Tolkien fandom and Tolkien-based fanfiction, but we will also share our data and findings in fandom spaces. We will also make data available to other researchers who want to do similar research.

If you have questions or concerns about this survey, you can contact either of us: Dawn Walls-Thumma at DawnFelagund@gmail.com or Maria K. Alberto at m.l.e.alberto@gmail.com.

Click here to start the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey!

Please signal boost the survey in other Tolkien fan spaces, where it is appropriate to do so.

Leaf & Lore: A Tolkien Writing Month

Start a story, work on a WIP, finish a fic, dabble in drabbles, pen a poem, type a tale, or otherwise wrestle with words. Set your own goal: Leaf & Lore is all up to you. 

🌿 🌿 🌿

Welcome! Brought to you by @idleleaves and @independence1776, Leaf & Lore: A Tolkien Writing Month is a Tolkien-centric writing challenge that starts on the 1st of November and ends on the 30th.

Any and all parts of the Legendarium are welcome, from The Hobbit, LotR, and The Silmarillion to The History of Middle-earth series to film and TV adaptations of Tolkien's works.

Leaf & Lore is choose-your-own-goal - you can go with a traditional fic word count goal (from the easily achievable to the truly challenging) or you can participate in another way. Maybe you'd like to set a goal of editing a long fic instead, or complete a set amount of chapters, or even write meta? Goals can be changed or updated at any time, too. And if you're more of a reader than a writer, come join in as a beta or a cheerleader!

The Discord server will have both scheduled and impromptu write-ins, weekly low-pressure check-ins, plus channels for Tolkien chat, fic chat, snippets and sharing, and of course an off-topic channel as well. You can ask for a beta or a cheerleader at any time, too! 

🌿 🌿 🌿 

2025 SCHEDULE:

• Oct 17 - Discord server opens! Time to sign up and declare your goals! There will be a sign-up form posted on the 17th so you can be e-mailed the invite link to the Discord server.
• Check-Ins - Nov 08, 15, 22, and 29.
• Official Write-In Sessions - Nov 02, 16, and 30 at 16:00 UTC and 20:00 UTC each time.
• Dec 13 - Server closes! See you next year!

FAQ

Quick FAQ time!

1. What can I write? Whatever you want - fic, poetry, or meta are just some of the options! We will not attempt to place restrictions on subject matter within your work and we do not allow policing of content. If you choose to share, on our Discord server, a snippet containing material commonly regarded as being sensitive and/or triggering, please use spoiler bars. What warnings you use (if any) if/when you post on AO3, SWG, Tumblr, etc. are up to you.

2. Is there a minimum or maximum goal? Nope! If writing a 100-word drabble is a challenge for you, go with it! If you want to treat this as a full-blown NaNo and aim for 50k, go for it. If you want to edit three chapters or finish a draft of a languishing WIP, then that's your goal. This is a self-challenge, so what that looks like will be different for everyone.

3. Can I change my project or goal? Absolutely. We're here to encourage, not to shame. If you want or need to change something at any point during the month, please do.

4. Can I drop out? Yes! We all have things happen in the course of our lives that make participating in fandom difficult or impossible. There is not and never will be a penalty for dropping out.

5. What are the check-ins like? Very low-pressure - just how are you all doing, anyone struggling, anyone doing well, anyone want to talk about how things are going, anyone need a beta or cheerleader?

Curufinrod Week 2025

Curufinrod Week is a Tumblr and AO3 event that welcomes fan creations centering on any iteration of the realtionship between Curufin and Finrod through the ages. Curufinrod Week will run for the first time this year from October 13th - 19th!

To Participate

• Create fanfiction, fanart, headcanons, close readings and musings, moodboards, photography, rec lists or anything else that inspires you!
• Curufin and Finrod should be somewhat the centre of your creation, although their relationship does not have to be romantic, and additional characters are welcome!
• Mention the blog @curufinrodweek in your post and include the hashtag #curufinrodweek2025 in the first 10 tags.
• If you would like, add your work to the AO3 collection (tba).
• Take inspiration from the nonmandatory daily prompts (tba).

Rules & Requirements

• There are no minimum or maximum requirements; anything goes!
• Late submissions, submissions not following any prompts (or combining them, interpreting them loosely, etc.) are all welcome!
• There are no content restrictions or rules on tagging beyond what AO3 requires of you. If you post to tumblr and your fill is Mature or Explicit, and/or falls under one of AO3's major warnings, please provide tagging on your post, though.
• That said, please refrain from using genAI.
• This fest operates firmly under the premises of ‘don’t like; don’t read,’ ‘ship and let ship’ and ‘your kink is not my kink but that’s okay’ (if you’re unfamiliar with these concepts, see this post). We will not tolerate any shaming, harassment, or attempts to police content.
• Please be a respectful and encouraging community member! This means:
  • Do not repost content by other creators without their explicit permission. Please re-blog instead to support their work.
  • Please do not engage in any sort of unfair use of other people’s creations.
  • Respect other people’s headcanons and interpretations, even if you don’t share them.
  • Content and creators espousing any form of negativity, bigotry, aggression or discrimination against others will not be tolerated.

Disrespecting these rules will lead to being blocked from the event.

Prompts

• Day 1: October 13th Pre-Darkening/Valinor | Amnesia | Forests, Springs, and Lakes
• Day 2: October 14th The Darkening & the Doom  | Time Travel/Time Loop | Nightsky & Varda's Creations
• Day 3: October 15th Himlad & Ossiriand | Hurt/Comfort | Forges & Crafts
• Day 4: October 16th Nargothrond & Sirion  | Arranged Marriage/Fake Dating | Winter & Ice
• Day 5: October 17th Oaths & Promises | Angst & Tragedy | The Nauglamir/Gifts & Jewellery
• Day 6: October 18th The Halls of Mandos/Re-embodiment | Enemies to Lovers & Lovers to Enemies | Feasts & Celebrations
• Day 7: October 19th Laws and Customs Among the Eldar | Porn without Plot/Porn with Plot | Sex and Kinks of all Kinds

Oxford/Bloomsbury Fantasy Summer School

The University of Oxford has produced a series of YouTube videos for their Fantasy Summer School

October Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks

Here is the tolkienshortfanworks challenge for October.

Thematic prompt: 

Below is an alphabetic list of plants said to grown in Ithilien. Pick at least one plant name to include in your fanwork. The fanwork can be set in Ithilien, but does not need to be.

Anemone, ash-tree, asphodel; bay, briars; cedar, celandine, clematis, cypress; eglantine; fir; ilex, iris; juniper; lebethron, lily; marjoram, myrtles; oak, olive tree; parsley, primerole; rose; sage, saxifrage, stonecrop; tamarisk, terebinth, thyme; water-lily, wood hyacinth.

[Helpful hint, if you are interested in combining this prompt with the SWG's Jumble Sale challenge: this list has a couple of additional plant names that are not included in the bingo card I compiled on the same subject for SWG.]

Formal challenge:

Your fanwork should include one or more set of in-universe instructions; for instance, instructions for tasks in botany, agriculture, cookery, medicine, etc.
These could be written or traditional oral instructions.

As usual, these two prompt sets can be filled separately or combined.

Usual reminder that in order to post the fill to this community or to the related collection on AO3 (linked in a sticky post at the top), the fanwork can only have a word count up to 1000 words and must be linked to a Tolkien fandom.
Rec lists and podfics can be posted as fills for thematic prompts, as long as the fanworks concerned meet those conditions.

Also we continue to welcome other pieces unrelated to any challenge, of course, including cross-posts and older stories, as long as they meet the criteria!