When we migrated the SWG site from eFiction to Drupal now almost five years ago, one of our goals—if we were to go through the ordeal of migration—was to be able to host just about any kind of fanwork. Drupal, because it is basically a giant box of digital LEGO blocks that can be assembled to make whatever you want with it, was particularly well-suited to that aspiration. (And even though Drupal sometimes becomes a four-letter word when Russandol and I are trying to squash a particularly troublesome bug, it has not disappointed in many regards, including this one!)

This week, I want to show some love for some of the lesser-known fanwork types that creators can share on our site (just as a reminder that the playlist you made for Celegorm/Maeglin doesn't have to disappear into the depths of Tumblr hell but can be archived for the wonderment and delight of generations of fans to come!) If you're feeling really ambitious, maybe try one out for our Jumble Sale challenge?

Link Collections are a way to gather all of the links about a particular anything in one place. It might be favorite fanworks or rec lists, resources, or all of the music and art and everything that inspired a fanwork you made. You can link works within the SWG but also outside the SWG. (The key difference between a Link Collection and a Series!) If you really, really love a topic, character, pairing, or whatever and want to do something more formal, we feature Themed Collections periodically as part of this newsletter. Hit REPLY if you'd be interested in putting one together for your fandom love! (And check out the three Themed Collections already in our archive here.)

Playlists focus on audio, such as music or podcasts. (Both of which we host as well!) Fandom and music have always gone together. Many of you reading this right now may have one or more Tolkien-themed playlists in your own music collection! If you want to share them more widely, the Playlist fanwork type allows you to link individual songs or whole playlists that you've stored on other platforms, like YouTube or Spotify. Again, the focus of your playlist, while it should be within the parameters of a "Silmarillion fanwork," can otherwise be whatever you want it to be: a soundtrack for a fanwork, songs about a character or pairing, songs that inspire you to create "Silmarillion" fanworks, or wherever your creativity takes you!

Finally, Series are the old friend in the group, having been around since our eFiction days. Series are how you collect fanworks on the SWG site into a single fanwork. Most people use series to collect their own fanworks that belong to the same arc or universe, but you're certainly not limited to your own, and Series can be used to collect favorite fanworks or resources posted to the SWG or make curated lists of SWG works. Because the series a fanwork belongs to is listed in the fanwork information, this is one way to lead readers and viewers to others of your fanworks in the same arc or universe.

Some final reminders:

Our next instadrabbling session takes place on our Discord next Saturday, October 4, 2025 at 6PM/18:00 UTC. Find out more about monthly instadrabbling sessions here.

The Shopify store will be closing on October 1, which means we are in the final days to order a print fanzine from Mereth Aderthad if you want one! Put in your order before October 1 here.