naryaflame

[naryaflame]

I love you. I’ll wait for you. Come back. Come back to me.

Keira Knightley and James McAvoy in Atonement (2007)

#atonement #favourite films #keira knightley

[naryaflame]

My advice is this: there will always be someone out there who wants to work in a way that fits you, or at least is open to it.

I am someone who likes to hide under a rock for three months and emerge right at the end with a story. For this reason, I have stopped choosing any pieces where the artist has said they want close collaboration - I deliberately pick options where the artist is happy to be surprised. And I'm still spoiled for choice.

So don't be put off if you think "I might like to do this but I hate sharing my drafts and I can't spend three months sharing snippets" - or, equally, if you think "I want to do this but I hate the idea of flailing about for three months with no idea if the artist will like what I'm writing." Just be sensible about what you choose.

And if you don't think you can manage 5k words, sign up to write treats. Everyone loves treats.

TRSB 2023 Gallery Opening

& 2024 Schedule Premiere

It’s almost time for TRSB 2024! Sign ups for artists for TRSB 2024 open in a month. The full schedule for 2024 can be found here.

To start getting excited for this year’s event, please enjoy the opening of the TRSB 2023 Gallery (and the completion of the TRSB 2022 Gallery!) Many thanks to @usuallysublimepenguin for doing the lion’s share of the work to get both galleries ready and online and to @fishing4stars for supporting that effort!

Before the suggestions form opens on March 24th, we want to invite veteran participants to share their wisdom about the event. If you were speaking to someone curious about participating in TRSB for the first time, what would your advice be on picking what to draw? Or, as an author, what do you look for in a prompt? 

The mods have given their own answers under the cut. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

~TRSB Mods 2024

Mods answer the question:

Fishing4Stars (roles: artist, writer): As a writer I look for prompts that either give me a clear inspiration that I think matches the artist’s idea - or that leave me enough flexibility to write something I find inspiring. Either works! I do get inspired by my favorite characters, but the underlying idea can be a great source as well. I had a blast writing a story focused on Thorin last year even though he’s not a character I normally write for because the underlying prompt, about being an outcast and having a complex identity, inspired me. I loved working closely with the artist on this - I will probably make my ‘involvement level’ preference this year more specific, because I’d love to do that again.

I think my biggest takeaways as an artist after participating last year were: 

(1) Be a little selfish when picking prompts: As an artist, I’m responsible for supporting my writers and their works - whether cheerleading, brainstorming, beta reading, or hands off, my writer deserves for me to be excited to read their work in September and give them comments. So it’s to both our benefit for me to pick something I like and want to read. Last year I picked a prompt off the suggestions list that I normally wouldn’t have. It actually turned out really well and I had tons of fun reading it, but it did make me think about maybe giving slightly more personalized prompts this year. 

(2) Leaving room for collaboration can be fun: Both of the works I submitted last year were in mostly finished form. The bit of collaboration I got to do to adjust the work to the writer’s story was really fun, though. So this year I’m thinking about leaving some room for the writer to weigh in on the art.

Usuallysublimepenguin (role: artist): I’ve participated as an artist for a few years now and can warmly recommend joining, as it’s been such a joy every time.

Regarding the prompt list, I can certainly echo Fishing4Stars: draw something that you like! The list is great for sparking ideas, but be careful of picking the very specific ones; they might be something the prompter would want to read but not necessarily write. So, if it’s not something you want to draw, do not pick it. Use the list for inspiration, or if the list is too dauntingly large, go for something completely different from your own head.

My prompts have gone from quite detailed "Lothiriel, a new bride getting to know Éomer" to very open "here's one or two characters in a pose I wanted to draw; please fill in the blanks" or "Here's a landscape; please fill in the details." Keep in mind that the open prompts require quite high levels of collaboration, and that the stories might take you to new places you never even thought existed - but for me that works very well. Every single story that came from these prompts are dear to me. 

Ettelenë (roles: writer, sometimes artist). Since I am mainly a writer who sometimes draws, I tend to pick prompts that suit the characters or stories I want to tell. The first time I participated as a writer, it was with a prompt/character I never thought I would write about (mermaid Voronwë!), and, surprisingly, it was not the most challenging time. So, to start, writing or drawing something completely out of our comfort zones can actually draw people in. Nowadays, though, as I don't have much time to write a fully complex story with worldbuilding etc, I’ll go for the prompts that I am 100% sure I can bang 5k in the blink of an eye. As for drawings, I usually stick with what I do best, which is watercolor. And curiously enough, the two times I did art for TRSB, it was about the Valar, characters I mostly never write about, but who always spark my artistic creativity.

Raiyana (roles: writer): I have a tendency to fall in love with a piece or an idea and fall HARD… so far, happily, the artists have been pleased to have me write for them ;) And then I find that weird secondary prompt in the gallery, generally during second claims, that tickles Something. I usually filter out characters/ideas I definitely can’t do and then something or someone (often a co mod, actually) will challenge me to come up with a way to do a prompt and spark another fire of creativity ;). 

I never thought I’d be able to write a streamer script version of FoG, but here we are…

Lathalea (roles: writer, artist): When I joined TRSB for the first time, as a writer, I definitely felt overwhelmed with the size of the event and the amount of prompts, and then art pieces. It wasn’t easy to pick just one, so many of them screamed “pick me!”. I managed to narrow them down and mull over them for some time. I asked myself what ideas and parts of the Tolkien legendarium spoke to me the most, what “blank areas” of Middle Earth I would like to fill with my works, and how I wanted to do this. What I learned back then is that it worked for me best to focus on a very particular and narrow theme so that I could delve into proper worldbuilding – which is something I live for when it comes to Dwarves and their culture.

Finally, I chose the one that sparked the most creativity in me that year. I feel that for writers who decide to work on a specific art piece, prompts can be a great help, making you enrich your story or add a detail or two that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. As a bonus, you get at least one very happy reader: the author of that specific prompt! 

One year later, I decided to submit art for TRSB because I liked the prompts so much – I just had to create a piece of visual art inspired by them. It resulted in a great cooperation that explored a completely new subject that I always wanted to focus on but never had a chance to do properly before.

Feel free to surprise yourself and pick prompts or ideas you haven’t worked on before, you never know what way your creativity will go!

Legolasbadass (roles: writer, artist): There are always too many great artworks, so I usually make a list of pieces I’d be most interested in writing for to help narrow down my choices. I look for ideas and characters I am most inspired by and comfortable writing about — though it can also be fun to step out of your comfort zone and try something new! Another really important thing for me is the collaboration level. I really enjoy brainstorming with the artist, sharing my progress with them, and getting regular feedback, so I tend to avoid choosing artists who prefer a less collaborative experience. 

When looking for inspiration for art, I usually look at the answers to the suggestions form as well as my personal list of prompts and pick an idea that I’d be most excited to share with someone. The collaborative aspect of the event is what excites and inspires me the most, so I tend not to submit an idea I feel too possessive of. I like working closely with an author and letting their vision inspire my art as much as my art will inspire their story.

#trsb24

[naryaflame]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Leaf by Niggle - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), The Porter (Tolkien) Additional Tags: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Inspired by Art, Inspired by Music, Friendship, Homesickness, References to Depression Summary:

Not everyone needs a train trip to Niggle’s Parish in their afterlife. How about some other trees by a rather famous painter instead?

Written for @take-the-hidden-paths

#leaf by niggle #tolkien #fic rec

[naryaflame]

“No man is an island” oh really? Really? What about him?:

#tolkien #fastitocalon

[naryaflame]

Hidden Paths 2024 - Prompts (Set 2)

One week in already! Here is the second set of prompts to tempt your muses...

~~*~~

Thematic Prompt: Gifts

Character Based Prompt: Morally ambiguous characters

Setting Based Prompt: Villages and small settlements

Text Prompt:

“Why was he born so beautiful?

Why was he born at all?”

- From The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker.

Visual Prompt:

[Image ID: 'Studies of a Dog's Paw' by Leonardo da Vinci.  Three sketches of a dog's paw, covered in shaggy fur. /.End ID]

Audio Prompt: Galadriel's Lament - J. R. R. Tolkien

Wildcard Prompt: Choose a folk or fairy tale from our world, and use elements from it when creating your fanwork.  (Note that the fanwork itself need not be a fairy tale, or anything like one!)

#hidden paths 2024 #prompts #tolkien fandom event

[naryaflame]

The Psamathist's Cove

Summary: On a starry moonlit evening, two unexpected visitors come to Psamathos' cove.

Characters: Psamathos Psamathides, Little Boys 1 & 2, various sea- and land-fairies

Genre: Ficlet, Fluff, General

Rating: General

Written for Hidden Paths (@take-the-hidden-paths) 2024!

#roverandom #fic rec

[naryaflame]

Woodland by Nick Green

#trees #photography #inspiration

[naryaflame]

Hidden Paths 2024: Ten Days To Go!

The first set of prompts will be posted on 14th February – although you don't have to wait until then to get creating. The prompts are optional, so if you want to work on something ahead of time, please feel free!

Last year's prompts are also still up and available for use, here and here. We accept all fanworks where one of the smaller Tolkien canons plays a significant role.

For further details about the event, please read our AO3 FAQs or our Dreamwidth sticky.

Hope to see you on the 14th!

#signal boost #fandom event #tolkien #hidden paths 2024

[naryaflame]

Any o-fic writers fancy doing this with me?

One day intensive mentoring course - 10-5 UK time, 10th Feb. Full disclosure: run by my old tutor, but I can promise she is amazing!

#writing

[naryaflame]

For the guessing game:

Table

"He kept an eye on Laura at the far end of the table, making sure that she was eating enough – he'd had half an idea that she might only order a starter or a side dish, to keep her share of the bill small – but she seemed to be sharing in everything as enthusiastically as anyone else."

Thank you for playing!

#asks #wip meme

[naryaflame]

Beautiful <3

Rose, for the WIP guessing game? Or flower?

No roses, but I've got two sentences with flower!

He sat by the falls of Lanthir Lamath, and for a time allowed himself to be lost in his grief for Rían, little Rían who had been so bright and cheerful, always singing, who had loved flowers and bluebirds and the taste of honey. In springtime she had braided flowers in anyone’s hair who would let her, and rare was the day that Beren did not go about with a tangle of bluebells and daisies about his ears.

[naryaflame]

Fire for the WIP guessing game?

This was the 'Fire' quote I found for @spiced-wine-fic:

FIRE

“Fire and blood,” Ilbereth murmured.

I did go looking for another one but I don't appear to have it anywhere else in my unpublished stuff - sorry!

Thank you for playing <3

#asks #wip meme #tolkien

[naryaflame]

Toshiaki Katō — Lady Murasaki

#art

[naryaflame]

Neil Gaiman, what are you doing EVERYWHERE?? Yesterday, you were in two knowledge bowl questions- one involved a reading from a passage in Stardust, and the other was "Which novel, written by Neil Gaiman, published in 2001-" (I didn't hear the rest of the question before I was shaking my teammate to hit the buzzer). And then, this morning, your name was one of the answer options to a radio show question about who wrote a Dolly Parton song. Sadly you did not write a Dolly Parton song.

Whew!

#neil gaiman

[naryaflame]

WATER

"Do the waters still sing to you?"

LIGHT

The light in this place was wrong.

DREAMS

He smiled, but it was taut and brief; Claire wished he was near enough to hold, knowing his dreams were no laughing matter, whatever he might say to comfort Theo.

FIRE

"Fire and blood," Ilbereth murmured.

@spiced-wine-fic I'm not sure these are super exciting XD but thank you!!

Fanfiction Work-In-Progress Guessing Game

Send me a word, if it’s in my wip document I’ll answer your ask with the sentence that it appears in

#writing

[naryaflame]

Fanfiction Work-In-Progress Guessing Game

Send me a word, if it’s in my wip document I’ll answer your ask with the sentence that it appears in

#writing

[naryaflame]

Dear Narya, As I was re-reading the Paradox for the n'tieth time a question came up to my mind. What is your interpretation of Claire and Mark's relationship? While the tags do not include a romantic retionship some people might perceive it as one. I personally read it as a deep platonic frendship, but maybe that's what my aro/ace side prefers. What are your thoughts on this matter?

Hi! Thanks for the message :) so glad you're re-reading <3

I should probably say first that I'm not a huge believer in author = word of God. Something magical happens between a text and a reader, and interpretations are very personal and subjective.

That said, I didn't intend a romance between Claire and Maglor/Mark, certainly not in the conventional sense. I don't know that friendship neatly covers it either. I've had some readers ask if it's intended to be queerplatonic, and I can see why, but personally I think I prefer not to categorise their relationship? It wasn't written with a label or an endgame in mind; it just sort of evolved.

It's certainly deep, complicated and powerful, though. "Not a thing but a something", as @spiced-wine-fic put it in Summerland.

#tolkien #silmarillion #the ways of paradox #maglor #writing #fic #asks