SWG News

Cultus Dispatches: Tolkien Fanfiction and Demographics

Posted by SWG Moderators on 30 September 2022 . Last updated on 29 October 2022 .

In a lot of communities, you can get a sense of who is present just by looking around yourself. In online communities—especially online fan communities, where pseudonymity is a cultural norm—it can be harder to know just who you share your online spaces with.

This month's Cultus Dispatches column looks at Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data from 2015 and 2020 to answer that question: Just who is in this fandom? Who is present? Who is missing? And why are some groups of people heavily represented in the fandom while others are barely present or absent altogether?

Remember that Cultus Dispatches is always open to contributions! If you'd like to share a piece of fandom history, consider writing an article for the Cultus column.

Major Upgrade to SWG Site Software

Posted by SWG Moderators on 24 September 2022 . Last updated on 24 September 2022 .

This past weekend, Russandol and Dawn completed a major update to the site's software, upgrading us from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9. This was an important upgrade but also a tricky one, as changes to the file structure between versions (why, Drupal, why??) meant that we also had to build in redirects so that existing links to our site would continue to work.

On September 19, 2022, we were thrilled to switch the lights back on to a Drupal 9 site. However, many minor issues remain that we are in the process of addressing. Just a friendly reminder that we maintain a page of known site issues that you can check; we will be updating here as we find new issues and fix those that have been reported. You can comment directly on the Known Issues page or email us if there is an issue we haven't listed that you need to report.

We greatly appreciate those of you who have reported issues and EVERYONE for being patient with us during the site outage last weekend and as we fix the final small problems with the site.

New Challenge: Major Arcana

Posted by SWG Moderators on 15 September 2022 . Last updated on 14 October 2022 .

Tarot cards first appeared in the 15th century as playing cards that were later used as well for divination. This month, we draw on the arcane and alluring imagery of the Rider Waite Tarot deck to inspire our fanworks.

You will select a card as your prompt. You can find the Major Arcana prompts here. You can use any aspect of the card's imagery, name, description—found below—or reading (upright or reversed) to inspire your fanwork. Want to let fate decide? Choose a random Tarot card here.

Fanworks should be posted to the archive no later than 15 October 2022 in order to be eligible for a stamp.

SWG Archive Read-Only for the Weekend of Sept. 16-18

Posted by SWG Moderators on 9 September 2022 . Last updated on 10 September 2022 .

On the weekend of 16-18 September 2022, we will be putting the site into read-only mode so that we can upgrade our site's software and complete other important updates. There may also be times during that weekend where we need to take the site down altogether.

We expect to be back up by the end of the weekend with a site that is updated and more secure. As always, questions can be directed to the moderator team.

A Sense of History: On Oaths

Posted by SWG Moderators on 9 September 2022 . Last updated on 14 October 2022 .

From the earliest ages of Arda to the culmination of the Ring War, characters in the legendarium swear oaths for various purposes. These oaths are depicted both positively and negatively. In this month's A Sense of History column, Angelica looks at how oaths were used by cultures throughout the world. Just like in Middle-earth, oaths form a part of the traditions of a range of cultures and serve a variety of purposes.

"Oaths in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings fit almost seamlessly into these models, showing the Professor’s undoubted familiarity with the main features of historical oaths," Angelica writes. The use of magic and extraordinary objects to bind a person to pledge has roots in places of the world ranging from Egypt to England.

You can read Angelica's article "On Oaths" here.

Do You Create or Read/View Fanworks with Women Characters?

Posted by SWG Moderators on 2 September 2022 . Last updated on 25 November 2022 .

Do you create Tolkien-based fanworks that include women? Do you enjoy reading or viewing Tolkien-based fanworks about women characters?

Fandom Voices is a project that is part of our monthly Cultus Dispatches column where we ask fans to contribute their memories and experiences around a topic. For an upcoming column, we will be looking at how women are depicted in fanworks in the Tolkien fandom and whether this has changed over time.

Both creators and consumers of fanworks are welcome for this project. You can write as little or as much as you'd like. Responses will be published in an upcoming Cultus Dispatches column. You are of course welcome to remain anonymous if you prefer.

If you'd like to share your experiences about how women are depicted in fanworks, you can find the response form here.

Cultus Dispatches: Fandom Voices - Filmverse Fans

Posted by SWG Moderators on 27 August 2022 . Last updated on 24 September 2022 .

This month's Cultus Dispatches column wraps up our four-part series on the impact of the films on the Tolkien fandom. This month's article, Fandom Voices: Filmverse Fans, compiles the responses of more than thirty fans who joined the Tolkien fandom entirely or partly due to the two Jackson film trilogies. As in all Fandom Voices columns, several big takeaways are presented, but we also provide the complete responses so that you can draw your own conclusions.

How do film fans define the impact of the films on their own fandom experience? Three major effects emerged from the responses we collected. The films often led fans to seek out (or sometimes accidentally discover) the fandom. From there, they formed important friendships. And, as we've now reported through multiple Cultus columns, the films encourage new fans to read the books.

Finally, if you missed the original call for responses, you are not too late: Fandom Voices forms always remain open. If you joined the fandom because of the films and want to respond, you can do so here.

"Beyond the Silmarillion" Section Is Open!

Posted by SWG Moderators on 21 August 2022 . Last updated on 24 September 2022 .

We are very excited to announce the official opening of the Beyond the Silmarillion section of our archive! Here, creators who are already posting with us can archive their non-Silmarillion fanworks based on Tolkien's books and adaptations, and absolutely anyone can read and view those fanworks.

Who is eligible and how does one obtain permissions?

The Beyond the Silmarillion section is open to creators who have committed to posting their work with us, which we define as five fanworks or 10,000 words of fanworks. When you reach one of these milestones, a moderator will grant "Beyond" permissions to your account, and you will be able to post in the new section.

Permissions are monitored and assigned manually, by a human (i.e., not automatically, by a computer script). If you meet the requirements above, please allow us at least twenty-four hours to assign your permissions. After that point, feel free to query.

More than 200 of you met the requirements for the new section right away and can begin posting to the new section now!

If you think you should have permissions and do not, please contact us.

How do I know if I have permissions? How do I post to the new section?

You can check if you have permissions by opening any of the Add New Fanwork forms under the My Account menu. If you see a checkbox for "Beyond the Silmarillion Fanwork" under the Title field, you have posting access for the new section.

To post to the new section, simply check off this box and complete the form as usual. All types of fanwork (art, audio, link collections, multimedia fanworks, playlists, series, videos, and all types of written fanwork) are allowed in the Beyond the Silmarillion section. More detail instructions, with illustrations, can be found in the Beyond the Silmarillion FAQ.

While we have populated the Character tagset with the major characters from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, if you need a character or relationship that's not currently on the list, use the Moderator Request form as usual. Likewise, if you need a source that is not in the Source Text tagset, you can use this field to request it.

How will the new section impact reading on the site?

Beyond the Silmarillion is truly a separate section. We are still a Silmarillion fanworks archive; however, as more and more small Tolkien-specific archives close their doors, we know many of our members would like a place to archive all of their Tolkien fanworks outside of the large multifandom archives. In the recent past, we could point to a half-dozen generalist Tolkien archives where our members' work was welcome that didn't fit on our site's requirements. We can no longer do that and so feel it is an important need to meet for our creator base.

You can find the Beyond the Silmarillion section under the Fanworks menu. If you want all the fanworks, check out the Truly All Fanworks page (you can find a link on the All Fanworks page).

If you follow a creator or tag, and a Beyond fanwork is posted by that person or to that tag, you will receive a notification.

We will also include a section for Beyond the Silmarillion fanworks in our weekly newsletter.

We hope our readers/viewers and creators enjoy the new section of the site!

New Crossover Text Field

Posted by SWG Moderators on 21 August 2022 . Last updated on 21 August 2022 .

In our last round of updates to the site, we added a handy little field that we hope will help our crossover creators better label their work (and crossover fans better find fanworks they'll enjoy). Now, when you select "Crossover" as a genre, you will have access to a field, Crossover Text, where you can identify the text(s) you combined with Tolkien.

Currently, this tagset includes all crossover texts that are currently used in fanworks posted to the archive. If you need a crossover text that isn't in the tagset yet, please use the Moderator Request field on the fanwork submission form to request it, and we will update the tagset and your fanwork for you.

Soon, you will be able to filter the Crossover page by crossover text.

Many thanks to Independence1776 for looking through the crossovers on our archive and making the initial tagset for us!

New Challenge: Restoration and Rebuilding

Posted by SWG Moderators on 19 August 2022 . Last updated on 15 September 2022 .

The Silmarillion can feel like an unrelentingly tragic work. Yet at the end of every downfall comes a time of restoration that drives not just the storyline but our beloved characters of Middle-earth forward into the next chapter of their history.

In honor of Akallabêth in August, our annual celebration of fanworks set in the Second Age, this month's challenge will center on the themes of rebuilding and restoration.

You may select the prompt or prompts that speak to you. We will also be holding an instadrabbling event associated with this challenge on August 20 08:00-10:00 EDT and August 21 19:00-21:00 EDT. The prompts from the instadrabbling event will be added to the prompt list after the conclusion of the second session.

You can find this month's challenge prompts here.