Every year, we run a challenge called a Matryoshka challenge. Like the eponymous nesting dolls, completing one prompt in the challenge reveals another so that participants build a fanwork progressively, using between two and seven prompts. This year, our Matryoshka challenge comes with a twist, and we need SWG creators' help in making it a success!
May's challenge will be a scavenger hunt. Clues will point to pages on the site, where participants can collect prompts. And what are the clues? Well, the clue can be ... you! If you sign up to hand out prompts to participants, a clue will point to your page on the archive (or a specific fanwork if you prefer), the participant will comment on your work, and you will hand out a prompt for the challenge.
Writing and art can be lonely, so we like to offer the occasional challenge that involves an element of collaboration so that we can discover new creators, support each others' work, and problem-solve challenges together. Furthermore, we hope that members willing to hand out prompts will be rewarded with comments on their work and new readers or viewers!
Maybe you think this sounds like fun but have some misgivings. "What if I'm not good at making up prompts?" No worries! The moderators will provide a list of possible prompts to give out to anyone who requests them. "I'm just not able to be online every day and don't want to leave participants hanging." Likewise, if you aren't able to respond, they can contact the mods, and we'll assign them a prompt. "What if I can't make a fanwork for the challenge?" You can hand out prompts even if you aren't able to participate in creating for the challenge!
If you want to provide prompts for the challenge, you can sign up here. If you have additional questions, just reply to this email!
The Scavenger Hunt challenge will not begin until May 15. In the meantime, our Everyman challenge is running if you missed last week's announcement: create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration.
And next week is our monthly instadrabbling session on our Discord server, hosted by the wonderful Anna (IdleLeaves). The session will run on May 2, 2026 at 6PM/18:00 UTC (find this in my timezone). You can find out more about upcoming instadrabbling sessions here. And if you're not a member of our server yet, you can join our Discord server here.
SWG News
New Challenge: Allusive
Literature and art constantly refer back to each other using allusions, and this month's prompts are inspired by allusions to literature, myth, art, and history.
Cultus Dispatches: "The Rings of Power" Is a Ripple (So Far)
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data for 2025 shows that "The Rings of Power" TV series has not had the same impact on the fandom as the film trilogies did ... so far.
New Challenge: Building Middle-earth
Let global architecture be your inspiration in this challenge, where you will work with a prompts that are architectural styles, locations in Arda, or both.
Instadrabbling Sessions for July, August, and September
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
New Fanworks
Explain This by Elrond's Library [Writing]
Melkor demands an account of Mairon’s failures.
Read more ...Message in a Bottle by StarSpray [Writing]
Over the course of his very long life he had found a handful of messages in bottles, but it had been a very long time. So when he found the glass bottle on his little stretch of pebbly beach, he picked it up with the intention of tossing it into his recycling. But it wasn’t, he found, just another beer bottle.
Read more ...Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard by Independence1776 [Artwork]
A Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard.
Read more ...Updated Fanworks
The Stars of Home by Idrils Scribe [Writing]
Elrohir has been found after his long abduction by the Black Númenóreans of Umbar. He comes home to Rivendell, but all is not well: the Elf-child that was taken is now a Man grown. War and darkness have left Elrohir deeply scarred, and even at home there is danger...
An alternate universe for the Under Strange Stars series, in which Elrohir goes with Glorfindel instead of running away from him after the events of Under Strange Stars. This story can be enjoyed without having read the original.
Many thanks to Grundy and Marchwriter for their excellent beta-reading and brainstorming.
Read more ...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 ...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
Finwean Sibblings Prompt Fest 2026
A prompt-based fandom event aiming to focus on celebrating Finwë's children: Fëanor, Findis, Fingolfin, Lalwen, & Finarfin - ships, gen relationships, or character-centric
Gigolas Week 2026
Gigolas Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Legolas and Gimli
Innumerable Stars 2026
A character-based Tolkien fandom gift exchange is returning for another year of gifting.
Tolkien Sapphic September
Tolkien Sapphic September is a month long event focusing on Sapphic relationships and characters in Tolkien and adjacent materials.
