This week, we introduce our March 2022 challenge, Arda on Ice. While inspired by figure skating, it most definitely doesn't require you to use, mention, or even know anything at all about figure skating! This makes this a good challenge to illustrate our approach to challenges, which have been a part of the SWG since September 2005, when we introduced challenges with our Strong Women challenge. Since then we've offered over one hundred challenges.
When we design the challenges, we aim for maximum inclusivity. We do not want to exclude creators by forcing them to create about a specific character or other canon element or create a specific format of fanwork. That doesn't mean that every creator will like every challenge format, but we never want a creator to skip a challenge because it focuses only on Elves and they write about Dwarves, or because it requires poetry when they're a graphic artist.
Arda on Ice is an illustration of that. Creators choose three to eight very broad prompts to use in a fanwork. Those who know figure skating will pick up on the fact that the prompts are inspired by the figure skating moves. Those who don't know figure skating can pick the prompts they think work well together and never think about skating at all!
As the SWG expands to welcome all fanworks and not just writing, our moderator team is working on making sure our challenges and other site documents are maximally inclusive of all creators. If you have a question about how you can participate in a challenge or event with the type of fanwork you make, or you have ideas about how we can include more creators, just hit REPLY to this message and let us know!
SWG News
Cultus Dispatches: Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey
Ten years of demographic data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey show consistencies in who reads and writes fanfiction, as well as a few key demographic shifts.
New Challenge: Epic 80s
This month's challenge features hundreds of fresh prompts from the bodacious decade of the 1980s.
Instadrabbling Sessions for July, August, and September
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
Newsletter Subscriptions Now Work for Everyone
If you're reading this, you're receiving the newsletter. But maybe you have a Tolkien fandom friend who you think might enjoy our newsletter. But your friend isn't an SWG member.
But they can still subscribe! All are now able to sign up for our weekly newsletter using either the subscription box in the sidebar on the site, or send them this link to subscribe to our newsletter.
New Fanworks
Yacht Rock Silmarillion by Dawn Felagund [Playlist]
Have you ever wondered what would happen if the characters in The Silmarillion were smoooooth like they were sippin' a Sex on the Beach on a party barge in the harbor at Alqualondë? The "Yacht Rock Silmarillion" retells The Silmarillion as though the characters all had perms and had one too many buttons open, revealing too much chest hair, but hey, no one is killing anyone! This playlist follows the events of The Silmarillion through yacht rock songs.
Read more ...and let's be winners by mistake by atlantablack [Writing]
"Move farther north," Caranthir says to her a month after the attack, gaze steady on her even as his hands continue briskly gutting fish. "There is plenty of land closer to my fortress, and my people can help protect yours if there is another attack."
Haleth looks up from her own fish, frowning a bit at the sight he makes. Even after a month, she hasn't grown used to the sight of this elvish prince so casually working with the rest of them. She opens her mouth to refuse, proud of her people and their independence, having no desire to be indebted to anyone, but the words catch in her throat as she meets his eyes. She thinks treacherously of his mouth against the inside of her wrist, and what comes out instead is, "How close to your keep are you trying to drag us? And what is the cost?"
Or: Caranthir asks and Haleth agrees. This does not mean they were prepared for what follows.
Read more ...Changing Styles by StarSpray [Writing]
“What did you do to your hair?”
Read more ...Contempt by Fuin [Writing]
The crown on Melkor's head is slanted without the stolen Silmaril, and the only thing Sauron feels is contempt.
Read more ...Star of Hope by Fuin [Writing]
A new star shines in the sky. They claim it brings hope.
Read more ...The Message by Flora-lass [Writing]
Borondir carries Steward Cirion's urgent request to Eorl the Young, with the help of his horse but at great personal cost.
Read more ...Updated Fanworks
A Song Amidst His Torment by Elrond's Library [Writing]
Of course it was a trap.
Maitimo has to survive. He must. But what price is too high to pay for survival?
A Thousand Winds that Blow by StarSpray [Writing]
When uneasy dreams bring him back into Beleriand, Daeron finds a pair of twins who have lost their home, and an enemy who has lost himself. The Shadow's reach is growing ever longer, and if they are to survive, they must do it together.
Read more ...From That Rubble by StarSpray [Writing]
Fëanor shrugged, studying the contents of his wine glass. “Something must be done about that house. It will fall down eventually.”
“It does not follow that it must be you that tears it down single-handedly. Are you sure you do not want help?”
“It’s not as though I have much else to do. I need to build something new there,” he said after a few moments. “To do that, I must first clear away the old and broken things.”
Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived.
Read more ...Instadrabbling, 2026-Present by SWG Moderators [Series]
We get together from time to time on the SWG Discord and produce spontaneous fanworks based on randomly chosen prompts. This collection includes drabbles, ficlets, and other flash fanworks produced as part of our instadrabbling sessions beginning in 2026.
Read more ...One Flesh, One Soul. Part I by FellFireFan [Writing]
As beautiful as he is dangerous, Aegnor, an elven prince, stands against the looming shadows of Angband. Brother to Galadriel, he commands the siege with a fierce intensity, a duty that exacts a heavy toll on him. Beneath the iron walls he has built lies a broken soul, haunted by a devastating trauma and a well of deeply guarded secrets. His demons, kept at bay by his unyielding intensity that is both his greatest gift and his biggest curse.
Little does our Noldorin prince know that a chance encounter with a terrified young girl of men will set him on a collision course, igniting an extraordinary bond wrought with challenges, sacrifices, and intense love that threatens to unravel his guarded heart, and all he keeps within it.
Brace yourself for Part I of this captivating tale, where the primal power of love and devestating loss will tear lives apart forever.
Read more ...Around the World and Web
Scribbles and Drabbles 2026
Scribbles & Drabbles is a fic and art exchange with a minimum word count of 100 words.
Tolkien Disability Pride 2026
This Tumblr event focuses on ALL creative works focusing on disability in Tolkien's universe.
Celedriel Week 2026
A Tumblr event week focusing on the relationship between Celeborn and Galadriel.
