When the SWG was founded in March 2005, it was intended to be a writer's workshop group and a small one. The vision was that ten or so Silmarillion writers would gather and share and provide feedback on their writing to each other, mostly using Yahoo! Groups (though we had a LiveJournal too). My (Dawn's) first post to that Yahoo! Group mentioned an archive as a down-the-road possibility, and it was this—not the writers' workshop—that captured our new members' interests. We never started the writer's workshop, but I did start learning HTML and CSS. Nineteen years later, here we are.
Likewise, when the concept of a character of the month arose, it was in conjunction with our monthly challenges. The idea was that we'd feature a character each month as a writing challenge to create fic about that character. We started including a brief bio about the character to, ostensibly, get people interested. In August 2009, Oshun took over writing these "brief bios"—and she did stick to the original vision at first. Her first biography was of Irmo and was about 560 words long. However, this idea also evolved and changed beyond anything we imagined at first, until Oshun was producing scholarship-level biographies every month—some of them so in-depth that they spanned multiple months—and ended up gifting us one of the most notable parts of our site.
Throughout the history of the SWG, we've often moved like leaves before the wind, following where enthusiasm and interest have taken us. Right now, the Character of the Month is in its sunset phase; most of the major Silmarillion characters have been written. But we are in the process of developing new columns to continue to provide a venue for fan scholarship, a space where fans who want to write nonfiction can learn the craft, and resources for fanworks creators and Tolkien fans alike.
Our next endeavor follows Oshun's Character of the Month (in fact, the idea was hers, when we realized we were running out of biographies to write) and will focus on locations in Arda. You can vote for the name of this new column here. If you want to contribute to this column (or any other!), reply to this email. As a fan group first and foremost, we are committed to welcoming beginners and experts alike and provide support to new authors, so don't let a lack of experience with nonfiction writing dissuade you!
We do have a handful of characters still in need of biographers: Elendil, Gothmog, Yavanna, Eönwë, Marach, Hador, Manwë, Melkor, and Nienor. Likewise, reply here if you are interested in taking one!
We are excited to see where the wind blows and our new column goes and will have more details on it in the weeks to come!
SWG News
New Challenge: Epic 80s
This month's challenge features hundreds of fresh prompts from the bodacious decade of the 1980s.
Cultus Dispatches: Communities Do Comment
Comment data from the SWG underscores community as an essential component to a robust commenting culture.
Instadrabbling Sessions for July, August, and September
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
New Fanworks
Is it raining with you? by AdmirableMonster [Writing]
In the last days of Númenor, two very different men meet in Umbar and fall in love.
(Please note that while this work is heavily inspired by Disco Elysium, no knowledge of the game is necessary to read the fic!)
Read more ...Wrensong and Roses by Isilme_among_the_stars [Writing]
Concerned by his responses to the paraphernalia of healing, Fingon steals Maedhros from his room for an impromptu garden excursion. Maedhros battles with dark thoughts.
Read more ...Bon(e)fire by Fuin [Writing]
On the night before the battle, Caranthir and his ally share thoughts about their peoples' traditions:
Burning bones ward off evil.
Read more ...McShady by Babblecat [Writing]
Melkor has himself a bad time in the Void.
Read more ...
Updated Fanworks
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 ...Nasyalossë by Lovimmy3365 [Writing]
Erestor lay up against a tree, brown washed to black in the wet of the snow. The black disc of the new moon sailed across the dark sky. Erestor wished it were gone. He had no need to look into dark eyes any longer.
He was dying.
(AKA Erestor unwittingly travels back in time to the days between the Dagor Bragollach and the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, meets the sons of Feanor, Thingol and his ilk, many Laiquendi, many Dwarves, and Men besides, and THEN decides to solve the drowning of Beleriand himself. This has nothing to do with his personal problems. Nope. Not at all. Erestor is having regular feelings.)
Read more ...Until the Stars are All Alight by Dagstjarna [Writing]
Reembodied in Aman, Celebrimbor decides to return to Middle earth to help heal the darkness and hurt wrought by the ring.
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 ...The Mirror Crack'd by AdmirableMonster [Writing]
Rescued from a brutal Angband hunt, an ex-thrall with a strange and powerful artifact embedded in his spine is brought to Himring, for it is one of the only places in Beleriand which welcomes such folk. Though he has no memories of his life before, Anniavas slowly becomes accustomed to his new life and finds he has a queer connection with Maedhros, Himring's lord. As their intimacy grows, however, so do the dangers surrounding them, both without and within. What secrets are hidden inside the depths of Anniavas's lost memories--and how will those with whom he is forging and deepening bonds react, when those secrets are at last revealed?
Read more ...Eä's Redemption by AaronAzrael [Writing]
This is my new poetical attempt to add my own interpretation to Tolkien's Cosmology as to Eru's Creation and the Valar's minds and behind-the-scene providence reasons and mechanisms.. I often review Eä as part of our own world, just in another dimension, this is why I have always seriously thought on the matter who the Ainur are, who Eru is, how he matches our own religious pantheon, and this has been conducted after serious research of many esoteric teachings of our own planet's heritage.
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.
Tolkien Gen Week 2026
Tolkien Gen Week will run from July 6-12, 2026 to appreciate all of the incredible characters and relationships within Tolkien’s legendarium that fall under the broad category of “gen.”
