Around the World and Web

Prompt amnesty at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth

As previously, the December challenge at the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth is a prompt amnesty.



Although our challenges don't expire and prompt fills can be posted at any time, this is a special invitation for you to write any idea a prompt may have given you and that you didn't get around to writing, or complete a prompt fill you had started working on, or cross-post something that you wrote for another challenge with one of our prompts in mind and never got around to posting to the community.



Also, you can just pick any previous prompt or challenge that tickles your fancy and recombine prompt elements, too, if you like. 

Check out the linked post for a full prompt list and more details on these challenges.

December 2023 Calls for Papers

Centre for Fantasy Literature Studies: Magic System as the Key Element in Fantasy Worldbuilding

This conference is hosted online on 25th –26th January at 11am (+2 GMT) by the Centre for Fantasy Literature Studies at the Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

How does one choose a magic system for a fantasy world? How do we employ magic to build a dialogue with reality? Fantasy fiction is brimming with magic systems ranging from ritual magic to elemental, from dominating and manipulative magic to the one that is shaped by a dialogue between equals. A magic system in fantasy literature can be defined as a conglomeration of magic sources, manifestations, practices and implements that interact with one another and the environment and are employed by magic users to produce an impact on the world at various levels or to create an illusion of such an impact in accordance with the in-universe laws. You are invited to participate in a conversation about the principles of magic system modelling and functioning in fantasy fiction. Issues to be discussed include but are not limited to:

• Magic systems in fantasy short stories / novels / series / worlds;
• Magic systems typology within one world or at the metagenre level;
• Magic systems in action: sources, mechanisms, implementations, potentials and limitations;
• Magic systems as a space for creative experiments and collaboration between
• the author and the reader. Magic systems and fandoms;
• Magic system analysis through the prism of poetics, genre, narrative theory, etc;
• Correlation of fantasy magic systems with contemporary social, psychological, political concerns (gender, postcolonial, environmental studies, etc.).

Proposals are accepted till 10th January 2024.

To submit a proposal, please fill in the form.

Languages: English and Ukrainian

25-minute presentations will be followed by 5-minute discussions

Tolkien at UVM 2023: The Psychologies of Middle-earth

This hybrid conference will be held 13 April 2024 at the University of Vermont.

This is our 20th annual conference. The theme is The Psychologies of Middle-earth. We are excited to have Dr Sara Brown as our keynote!

Please submit abstracts (150 words) to Dr. Chris Vaccaro (at cvaccaro@uvm.edu) by the deadline of January 15th 2024. The registration fee is $25 and covers breakfast and lunch and helps to pay for our tech support for the virtual modality.

Abstracts can cover various applications of psychology including myth, religion, art, sexuality, world building, race and ethnicity, feminism, queer theory, class consciousness, ideology, PTSD, trauma, desire, disability, and much more.

Proposals Due: January 15, 2024

Note that SWG members often attend this conference! Message Dawn if you are thinking of attending and want to meet up.

Mythmoot X: Homeward Bound

This hybrid conference will be held 22-25 June 2024 at the National Conference Center in Leesburg, Virginia.

Mythmoot annual conference brings together students, fans, staff, and friends of Signum University, the Mythgard Institute, Signum SPACE, and Signum Academy. Our online and in-person completely hybrid event combines the best of scholarship and friendship in four glorious days.

The call for papers for this conference has not been posted yet. The conference webpage is here.

Signum University Regional Moots

These small, regional conferences are held at various dates and locations. See the Regional Moots page for more details.

Many thanks to Robin Anne Reid and her Online Conference Project for handily compiling this information on a regular basis!

"Disability in Tolkien Studies" by Clare Moore

Clare Moore is a Tolkien scholar who works on disability in Tolkien, among other areas. Her annotated bibliography includes a list of scholarship that investigates this topic.

White Oliphaunt Gift Exchange 2023

Welcome! The White Oliphaunt is a Tolkien fandom gift exchange. Similar to a other gift exchanges, everyone who signs up to participate will make and also receive a present from someone else. As with real-life White Elephant exchanges, we encourage-but do not require-gifts to be humorous in nature!

Schedule

• November 17th: Sign-up forms are open

Use this form to sign up for the exchange!

• November 30ths: Sign-up forms are closed

Sign-ups close at 23:59 EST

• December 1st: Assignments are sent via email

As there is currently only one mod, this date is an approximation. If there is a delay, I will be sure to let you know!

• December 25th: Anonymous posting and last call for dropouts

Starting on December 25th, you may post your gift anonymously. Simply do not tag the recipient of your gift (Make sure you remember to tag them on the 31st!)

• December 31st: Gift reveal!

Post your gift and tag your giftee! All gifts should be tagged with your giftee’s blog, this blog @WhiteOliphaunt and use the hashtag #WO202 (If you do not wish to have your gift reblogged by White Oliphaunt, please let us know). All gifts MUST be posted by January 1st 23:59 EST

Links

Sign-up Form
FAQ

Tolkien Family Week 2023

Tolkien Family Week is a Tumblr event dedicated to showing appreciation for familiar relationships in Tolkien's work, be it The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, or beyond.

Below is a list of non-mandatory prompts to take some inspiration from:

Day One Parent-child relationship - From Lúthien and Dior to Samwise and Elanor, on this day we encourage you to explore the relationships between mothers and fathers and sons and daughters!

Day Two Siblings - Tolkien presents us with many pairs of siblings throughout all the ages of Arda. This day is devoted to relationships between brothers and sisters, such as Fili and Kili or Galadriel and Finrod.

Day Three Extended Family - Cousins, uncles, nieces, grandparents. Family trees goes beyond the traditional household members. Finwë with his numerous grandchildren, Théoden with Éomer and Éowyn - this day is dedicated to them.

Day Four Cut Ties - Families can break apart. Disagreements, rivalries, separation, death - their presence is a never-leaving shadow in Arda. One only has to look at the likes of Fëanor and Fingolfin.

Day Five Found Family - Families can break apart, yes, but at other times, they can also be in found in unlikely places. From kidnap fam to adopted distant cousins, this day is for exploring them.

Day Six Ancestors and their Legacy - Every family has its roots somewhere. On this day we look back to where the great families in Tolkien's works came from and what those ancestors left behind for their descendants.

Day Seven Freeform - Did we forget about something or is there a prompt you want to revisit? Feel free to use this day for any family related content!

The week will run 20th to 26th November 2023 and will be hosted by @tilions and @armenelols. We will operate in a mixture of queued posts and direct reblogs.

Some minor clarifications:

• Please tag @tolkienfamilyweek and put #tolkienfamilyweek in the first five tags of your post so that we can find it
• Feel free to send us an ask should your post not be reblogged
• OCs are welcome
• All kinds of content is appreciated - edits, art, writing, headcanons, analysis, let your imagination run wild
• The ask box is open for any remaining questions!

We are looking forward to your creations!

Writing With Color Askbox Is Open!

In the summer of 2014, bookworm Colette Aburime founded WritingWithColor, WWC for short, to help writers add diverse representation of People of Color (POC) to their creative works, with a focus on Western fiction. At the time, the majority white-run advice blogs were unequipped for POC-focused Q&A. Some even banned questions about writing POC outright. 

Having a passion for reading, especially books that actually had a variety of BIPOC main characters, she felt compelled to bridge the gap in the writing advice world. Thus, WritingWithColor was born.

Since then, WritingWithColor has gained over 100,000 followers! We are committed as ever to help writers create more respectful, diverse, and inclusive works. With a changing and ever growing team of diverse moderators, we serve a broader demographic to promote thoughtful representation of marginalized groups that are not one’s own.

Writing With Color opens their askbox during the month of November to aid writers who share their mission. If you'd like to ask a question, start here.

Ainur Secret Santa 2023

This event is there to celebrate all the Ainur across all Tolkien Works (the Silm, Lost Tales, The Hobbit, LOTR)

Upon registering you will be asked to submit your own prompt + additional information regarding your preferences (do not hesitate to be thorough, the more details the better the mod can assign you someone matching you)

The assignment will be done by grouping participants by similarities. 

• The sign-up open on November 09th and will be closed on November 30th 12am(UTC+01)

• The ao3 collection will open on January 16th and will remain open until January 26th, Midnight UTC+01

• The Reveal will happen on January 27th, 3PM(utc+01)

• If you happen to be unable to post on time please contact the mod and we will arrange a solution.

Rules

• The total wordcount of your fic should be at least 1000 words.

• AI generated works are prohibited without exceptions.

• NSFW, Dead Dove and dark works are accepted, as long as they are properly tagged.

• One submission by giftee.

• Play the game and do not spoil the surprise to your giftee.

Additional Links

Sign-Up Form
Frequently Asked Questions
Ask Box

Lord of the Rings Secret Santa 2023

So, it's that time of the year again: time to sign up for the Lord of the Rings Secret Santa exchange! Slash, femslash, het and gen; you can request it all, so why not join in?

2023 is a year of special magnificence for this exchange, as it has now been going for TWENTY years! We'd love to see you join us for this anniversary.

Lord of the Rings Secret Santa has been a traditional exchange since its inception, but we continue to adapt and refine the exchange to best serve all participants. The exchange has been in the form of a prompt meme since 2020.

If you are new to the format, AO3 has a helpful FAQ here.

Timeline (2023)

• Prompt Posting: November 1st to 30th
• Claiming: December 1st to 31st
• Collection Open for Posting: December 1st to 31st
• All Fills Due: December 31st

You will be able to post up to 2 prompts, and we will do our best to make sure that at least one of your prompts is filled.

Please note that this is an FPF challenge. (i.e. Fictional, not real people fiction/RPF.) We're always open to all the Peoples and Ages of Middle-earth, which means that characters from The Hobbit and The Rings of Power are welcome too!

The Rules (2023)

1. You will be able to post up to 2 prompts between November 1st and 30th, and we will do our best to make sure at least one of your prompts is filled.
2. Your fill is due December 31st 11:59 pm Pacific Time (you can check what that is in your time zone here). Please post it to AO3 (and nowhere else, until January 10th).
3. As a matter of fairness, please make your story more than 750 words (1000 is better).
4. Once claiming has opened, please only claim a prompt if you plan on actually fulfilling your end of the bargain, and please only claim one prompt at a time. After you have completed your fill, you may claim a new one.
5. Signing up: the sign up form can be found here (or here if the main link gives you an error message). If you need help with signing up, please don't hesitate to contact the mods at lotrsesa[AT]gmail.com.
6. Claiming a prompt: use the "Claim" button next to the prompt you want to claim. (You can find open prompts under "Prompts" in the sidebar.) Several people can claim the same prompt. You can also claim a prompt without having submitted any of your own.
7. It's a good idea to follow us here on Tumblr or join the Dreamwidth community so you can keep track of any admin posts.

MiniWriMo 2023

Maybe you just want to get some words on paper. Maybe you’re gearing up for a big bang or similar challenge. Maybe you want to get in the habit of writing every day. Maybe you just want to bring something fabulous, wonderful, and positive into a year that has otherwise been grim and unprecedented and a lot of other trite and tiresome words that mean things have generally sucked. (Your mod apologizes for the editorializing. I’m just thrilled to have you all back.) Whatever your reason, if you want to take the month of November to write, but do not want to commit to an onerous word count, this is the comm for you.

Without further ado, it’s time for MiniWriMo!

Mini WriMo is a community for people not really up for the NaNoWriMo challenge but who still want to set and meet writing goals.

It's all very simple.

1. Join the community. (Sign-ups are members-only, so you need to join first!)
2. Commit to a word count. Minimum commitment is 100 words a day. There is no maximum, but we ask that you keep it realistic.
3. Report in. Beginning November 1st, 2023, the mods will make a new post every day. Comment to that post with your written word count for the day. If you like, you can also post your work (in comments) or a link to your work, but it isn't required.

That's it. Word count can be to a single story, individual drabbles, snippets, vignettes, or ongoing works, it can be from any fandom or original. It can be slash, het, gen or a combination. Just write something.

• 2023 Sign-Up Post (Public)
• How to Post Your Word Counts (Members Only)
• Questions for the mods go here (Public)

Sign-ups will remain open through November 10.

November Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks on Dreamwidth

The tolkienshortfanworks challenge for November has been posted to the Dreamwidth community.

The thematic prompt is : leaf and/or tree.

There are, of course, many of both of these in the Legendarium, as well as Tolkien's shorter stories!

If you are in the northern hemisphere, the leaves have been turning colour and drifting in the wind; if you are in the southern hemisphere you may be seeing new growth.



The formal challenge is inspired by Welsh cynghanedd.

The essential idea of this is a repeated pattern of consonants with the two half-lines of a verse matching each other. (You could try it with two clauses in prose, too, of course!)

This is a Welsh example of the strict form in which the repeating pattern is easy to see:

clawdd i ddal / cal ddwy ddwylaw.

Our challenge does not call for such a strict form (unless you want to attempt it!), but you get the idea.

Cynghanedd can be combined with internal rhyme.

There is more information on cynghanedd here and here.

As usual, these two prompts can be filled separately or combined and they can be freely combined with other challenges.

New participants welcome.

For more details on the challenge see the linked post.