Today is spooky instadrabbling on our Discord server. (It's not too late to join!) Right now, at this juncture of the SWG's history, our Discord server is one of the thriving corners of our community, along with our archive. But given that the SWG is a decade older than Discord, this was clearly not always the case.
The SWG didn't originate as an archive but as a fandom community, hosted on Yahoo! Groups and LiveJournal. Yahoo! Groups, which closed in 2020, was a semipublic email list and formed the cornerstone of many early Tolkien fanfiction groups. During the heyday of the Lord of the Rings films, some Yahoo! Groups received dozens of messages a day and allowed fans to talk Tolkien using their email. LiveJournal was an early blogging platform; again, active LJs would sometimes have posts with comments numbering in the hundreds. Pre-dating Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, these early social media platforms tended to require you to opt-in to a community (versus seeing content from communities shared by others you follow or content recommended by an algorithm).
From these social communities, fanfiction archives arose. The fan scholar and archive expert Abigail De Kosnik calls them community archives because they become the more public, formal face of fan communities that were often highly informal. The SWG followed the exact trajectory De Kosnik described (as did many 2000s-era Tolkien fanfic archives): our Yahoo! Group and LiveJournal were active spaces for discussion, the foundation of the SWG, and the archive grew from there.
Fan-unfriendly decisions by the leadership of both Yahoo! Groups and LiveJournal eventually led us to move away from those platforms, and neither are officially in use any longer (although the LJ community is still open for historical purposes and any SWG member who wants to use it). There was a time in the 2010s when there was no active community space for interaction and discussion on the SWG. On my endless list of fandom data projects is to trace how archive activity aligns with the moments in our history where community was vibrant and when it was essentially nonexistent.
Right now, the pendulum has swung back toward community spaces with the use of our Discord as a central meeting place for SWG members. Just like the Yahoo! Group email and LJ comments of old, discussions range from silly and irreverent to serious discussion of the texts and their implications ... and from all of this, fanworks continue to grow.
SWG News
New Challenge: Everyman
Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration.
Cultus Dispatches: Fanworks, AI, and Resistance by Dawn and Grundy
The fan studies column Cultus Dispatches returns with a history of how Tolkien fanworks fandom has reacted and resisted generative AI by drawing strong boundaries in a way that is not typical for the fandom.
Instadrabbling Sessions for April, May, and June
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
New Fanworks
The Endless Years by by Elrond's Library [Writing]
Elwing reckons with the passage of time.
Read more ...dye me, nocturne by by skywardstruck [Writing]
Maglor without Maedhros, Daeron without Lúthien. Alone, they are nothing, but together, they can be something more.
Where do you turn, when you have no one else left?
Written for Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2023, featuring artwork by athlai.
Read more ...a life freely given, a favor returned by by skywardstruck [Writing]
Finrod and Bëor stop for a while on the road to Nargothrond to rest. The bodies of the Secondborn often grow weary, and Finrod laments, massaging Bëor's back and renewing his beloved's vigor with the work of his hands. But Finrod has other burdens of his own, Bëor soon discovers, returning Finrod's favor in the best way he knows how.
Read more ...Til We're on the Other Side by by StarSpray [Writing]
It was only the second time Finwë had come out foraging with them, and of course this would happen—of course the Hunter would come, the Dark Rider on his steed with its terrible, heavy footfalls, and the deep-throated laughter that held no mirth, only malice.
In the dark woods near the Waters of Awakening, Finwë's brothers are taken.
In Valinor, when the Trees wither, Finwë is slain.
In the Fourth Age, things take place long thought impossible.
Read more ...The Long Arm of the Law by by Elrond's Library [Writing]
Turgon cannot be above the law.
Read more ...Updated Fanworks
Despair and Shadows by by octopus_fool [Writing]
Haleth leaves to find her brother, even though her father does not permit her to.
Read more ...Hill and Water Under Sky by by StarSpray [Writing]
a collection of drabbles and mini ficlets in the meanwhile the world goes on 'verse that aren't long enough to stand on their own
Read more ...A Hundred Miles Through the Desert by by StarSpray [Writing]
“Come on.” Maedhros grabbed his hand and pulled him along down the path, both of them quickening their pace now, until the trees opened up into a wide meadow filled with flowers, bright yellow celandine and dandelions and sweet-scented pale chamomile mingling with cornflowers and irises. On the other side of it was a larger party than Maglor had ever seen in Lórien—five figures sitting in the grass. Huan barked again, and they all looked up. “It seems everyone has come to fetch us home,” Maedhros said, laughing, as all their brothers scrambled to their feet.
After years in Lórien, Maglor and Maedhros are ready to return to their family and to make something new with their lives--but to move forward, all of Fëanor's sons must decide how, or if, they can ever reconcile with their father.
Read more ...Beyond the Silmarillion Fanworks
The Mirror of Galadriel by by skywardstruck [Artwork]
Smoke rises from the Mirror, where the Lady of Lothlórien awaits to share its visions.
Read more ...Bar-en-Eladar by by Gabriel [Writing]
Out of the shadow, light is born anew.
A Chieftain is dead. And whilst the events surrounding his death are unclear, a son tries to come to terms with his loss.
Read more ...Around the World and Web
April/May Teitho Challenge
Teithio is running a prompt challenge around the theme of "heartbreak."
Barduil Month 2026
A month-long Tumblr events all about the relationship between Thranduil and Bard the Bowman.
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2026
The Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang is back for another summer of collaboration between artists and writers!
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.
Gondor Week 2026
A Tumblr week event focusing on the history of the realm of Gondor.
Angbang Week 2026
Angbang Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Morgoth and Sauron, running from May 5-11, 2026
Crablor Day
A day dedicated to everyone's favourite warcriminal crustacean - April 26, 2026
