#backtomiddleearthmonth

[outofangband]

Inspired by the @backtomiddleearthmonth prompt “flamingos”

The Cultural and Environmental Significance of Three Families of Wading Bird on the Coasts of Beleriand

Note: as the title says I chose three families with a representative species in the last two. I used my more general headcanons for the climate of Beleriand but I'm always happy to make posts exploring locations and their environment, flora, fauna or people based on any location or climate!

The coastal wetlands of Western Beleriand encompasses a range of climates from the chilled volcanic landscape North of Losgar and the Fief of Drengist to the warm, sunny shores near Nevrast and the Havens of Falas which rarely see harsh weather even in winter. In the warmer areas especially, wading birds have long been considered sacred to the different populations of elves that live there. The Falathrim and the Northern Sindar, as well as the population of Avari in Western Beleriand, consider the birds of the salt marshes and coastal wetlands to be indicative of a healthy ecosystem and their images appear in their art, stories, and writings.

1, Flamingos 🦩

Flamingos (closest to real life species probably James or Chilean flamingos) live in coastal and inland wetlands of Western Beleriand where they are easily recognizable to the native Sindar and Avarin elves due to their colorful feathers, unique vocalizations, and flock behavior. The flamingos of Western Beleriand live primarily in brackish marshes and mudflats around and North of Nevrast though avoiding the colder weather of Losgar and the Fief. Elven children consider stray feathers of these birds to be extremely valuable treasure for their uniquely pink feathers. They make crowns with ones they find in mud flats. It is considered wrong to slay one as their flesh or parts are not used for food or other resources. These flamingos unlike their real life counterparts are not usually migratory and travel only short distances most years. They tend to mate for long periods if not life. In the culture of the Avarin groups of Hithlum and Nevrast, flamingos represent joy and loyalty and are almost always depicted in pairs.

2, Western Reef Heron (used to represent egrets and herons in general)

The Western Reef Heron lives in salt marshes and coastal wetlands of Western Beleriand where they feed on crustaceans, small fish and mudskippers. Like most herons they are a quiet species and will vocalize mainly in defense of their nests. This species does migrate to warmer weather for breeding, likely choosing small islands off the Bay of Balar. Herons and egrets are especially beloved by the Northern Sindar for their grace and aptitude as hunters. Seeing one in flight is thought to be lucky by some.

Herons and egrets represent a connection between both fresh and saltwater ecosystems and the land. In some stories, Maiar and messengers of Ulmo sometimes take the form of these birds

3, Golden plover (used to represent plovers and sandpipers)

Plovers, sandpipers and similar species are beloved by the Teleri of Aman. Though they do not hold quite the same cultural significance in Beleriand, they are nevertheless among the more common kinds of birds to appear in Falathrim art and stories. Elven children love to imitate their movements in and out of the water. Golden plovers are noted in particular for their somewhat mournful cry because sandpipers and some species of plover are thought of as a lively, joyful kind due to their quick and sometimes seemingly playful behavior. Golden plovers live in wet meadows and marshes throughout Western Beleriand and into Central Beleriand. Some populations are migratory and for the Northern Sindar (Northeast of the Falathrim) their return to the cliffs is a sign of approaching warmer weather. Plovers are also noted for eating pests.

Note: I’ve also been thinking about currently extinct or prehistoric species such as Thiornis.

#the silmarillion #beleriand #nevrast #falathrim #musing and meta

[edgeoflight]

Text Description: The image is of a white, ethereal, vaguely humanoid shape against a background of colourful stars and nebulae. The text on the image says: “Then the voices of the Ainur, like unto harps and lutes, and pipes and trumpets, and viols and organs, and like unto countless choirs singing with words, began to fashion the theme of Ilúvatar to a great music; and a sound arose of endless interchanging melodies woven in harmony that passed beyond hearing into the depths and into the heights, and the places of the dwelling of Ilúvatar were filled to overflowing, and the music and the echo of the music went out into the Void, and it was not void.”

[Click for bigger]

My @backtomiddleearthmonth answer to the daily prompt for today, March 3rd! 

(I was so, so happy to find this image on depositphotos, as it matches exactly how I picture Eru Ilúvatar.) 

#b2mem #backtomiddleearthmonth #anuilindale #silmarillion #silm #fanart #text with images

[arofili]

how’d u get into writing? like, writing fic and being part of the silm community, being Known, that stuff? i’m really new to being a silm cc and i’d love to know ur advice! also: how’d u build up the confidence to start posting meta/hcs? bc i have a Lot of hcs and meta ideas but also i’m really anxious abt posting them bc yknow anxiety is like that

these are some great questions, anon! I’m gonna go through them one by one :)

how’d u get into writing?

not to be like, super cliche, but I’ve...kind of always been a writer? as long as I can remember I’ve been telling stories, and when I was too young to read or write I would dictate them to my mom, who would type them up for me and help me choose clipart illustrations to accompany them. when I got old enough I would always be writing; I attempted my first novel at age 9, and while that never really went anywhere I did finish the darn thing and it had some pretty sophisticated plot twists for a 9-year-old!

like, writing fic

around the same time I got into fandom! I was deep into Warrior cats (like. really deep) and I believe I started writing my first fics when I was like? 10 or 11? my memory is kind of fuzzy on the order of things, but I know I got an account on the Warriors forums when I was 9, and that I was already posting my fic there when I made my FFN account. I believe I was 12 when that happened, but who knows. I haven’t the faintest idea of what happened with those forums, but uhhh pretty much all of my Warriors fic is still up on FFN lmao. you could probably find that if you want to but um...maybe don’t?

my first Big Fic was a self-insert of...my entire 5th/6th grade class into the then-current timeline of the Warriors books...well. I honestly think that might still be my most popular fic of all time l m a o though I try not to think about it because Hashtag Cringe. though as much as I look back on that time with a “yikes,” I am very grateful for the Warriors fandom in a way? that place was so accepting and encouraging of OCs, of AUs, of completely disregarding canon, of worldbuilding that is completely alien from canon - it was a fantastic sandbox to begin with, there were so many ways to write stories and practically all of them were accepted and had fellow fans invested in them!

and being part of the silm community, 

soooo I wrote Warriors fic until my freshman year of high school (wow sdjfhkdsjfh), which was when BOTFA came out, and I was absolutely wrecked by the ending and immediately started writing my own fixit fic. I was also super hooked on Kiliel! so that was my intro to the Tolkien fandom; and simultaneously, I joined tumblr, and, well, the rest is history tbh.

I honestly do not remember when I first read the Silm, but I kind of got into the more obscure parts of the Tolkien fandom through fandom osmosis, and I do have a vague memory of doodling the Finwean family tree in geometry class so it might have been later on in freshman year? that was also the same time I was having my Queer Awakening, and Russingon definitely contributed to me unlearning my internalized queerphobia, so probably around then.

anyway - queer awakening, tumblr, Tolkien, transitioning from FFN to AO3 - all of that was happening around the same time. I know I dipped my toes in the Silm fandom then, but I was still primarily a Hobbit fic writer focusing on Kiliel. toward the end of high school I kind of shifted to LOTR and (qp) Gigolas...but somehow the Silm fandom is the most active of the Big Three within the Tolkien fandom, and I was getting dragged further and further in.

it wasn’t until @backtomiddleearthmonth 2019, my freshman year of college, that I really dove into writing Silm fic! I picked some Silm-specific bingo cards and never looked back :D that was really not all that long ago but I am obsessed in a way I don’t really remember being even with TH/LOTR, I obviously cannot see the future but I anticipate hanging out here for a long time. the Silm fandom is great overall and there’s just so much material to work with!! <3

being Known, that stuff?

so I don’t really have a whole lot of context on how “well known” I am in the fandom?? definitely within the past year and a half or so I’ve noticed that I like, get asks like this, and get a significant amount of notes on my posts, and I’ve made a lot of fandom friends especially since I joined some Silm servers on Discord (hmu if you want invites; I’m on the SWG server and 2 general Silm servers and the Russingon server) this past year. and I have 3,000 followers as of this month - and while ever since I hit 1k I don’t particularly pay attention to my follower count I can definitely say that I have more engagement now than I used to! but it took me a long time to build this “audience,” I suppose; I’ve been around the Tolkien fandom since late 2014, so nearly 6 years of this, lol.

really the best way to build a following, in my experience, is to just post a lot of stuff. when I started making edits I got a lot more engagement, because for a long time I would post one every day! (I made them in batches and queued them; I didn’t actually make one every day lol...and now I’m too busy to do that, so I just make edits for events and whenever I feel like it) And I have [checks ao3] 145 works in the Silm fandom as of today - I’m fairly prolific! I’ve come to generally expect 3-10 comments on most of my oneshots, which is a lot more than I used to have back in the day. consistency and quantity are more likely to attract people to your work - and quality, of course.

also: how’d u build up the confidence to start posting meta/hcs?

I’ve been writing since I was very young, and I’ve been writing fic for like...11 years? I think? in that time I’ve produced a lot of garbage, but imo most of that was in my Warrior cats phase, so I came into the Tolkien fandom with confidence in myself and my writing. I’m also working on original fiction on the side (I hope to eventually become a published fantasy author, but right now school takes up most of my time that I don’t devote to fandom, which gives me more immediate gratification and also is just Very Fun) and I know I’m a good writer.

basically, I’ve been doing this for like...half my life, and I’m still fairly young, so I’ve had time to build up my skill and confidence and I know I’m only going to get better with time. you will get better with practice. like I said, I’ve written a lot of terrible stuff, and it’s only through sucking for a long time that I’ve gotten to the point I am now. and I am far from perfect; I know I still have lots of room to grow!

for meta and headcanons specifically, I started with writing fic, and then when I didn’t think I could stretch something into an entire fic I would just make a hc post. I have a vivid memory of writing my first meta in a notebook during driver’s ed because it was so goddamn boring and I had Thoughts about Tauriel and Thranduil!

in my experience, meta comes from having Opinions and wanting to share them and most importantly to back them up - you need to have sources! you need to have reasons! you need to have justification! otherwise it’s not meta, it’s a headcanon or an AU. which is fine!! I love hc/AU!!! but they are not the same as meta, and I’m a stickler for being accurate when it comes to meta. if you have sources and shit to back you up, that will help you build the confidence to share your meta.

sharing disinformation and passing it off as meta instead of just coming out and saying this is a headcanon/baseless theory/AU or whatever is such a fandom pet peeve of mine; it’s not bad for something to not be Accurate! you just have to have that disclaimer - and even when you’re writing meta, you’re offering an interpretation of the text, and you need to acknowledge that other interpretations also exist and are valid.

um. I hope this answers your questions? and sorry for basically word-vomiting my entire life story, lol. this post got long; the main reason I’ve written so much fic is because I really just cannot shut up for the life of me. sooo if you can tear of that filter of being shy and just. say shit. you can go so far~!

OH and one more thing - I can’t believe I almost forgot this - but part of being a writer is participating in the community. this is code for LEAVE A DAMN COMMENT IF YOU LIKE A FIC. that’s how I made most of my fandom friends before Discord! I follow @ao3feed-silmarillion and stalk that blog for new Silm fics; I read the ones that interest me and comment on them.

I know this is not really the most common way for folks to find fic but it’s so rewarding to interact with new fic, new writers, new commentors, new stories - you can find gems that don’t rise to the top of the kudos/bookmark lists; you become friends with your fellow writers; you can watch people grow and change; you support smaller content creators. yeah, you might not be getting Just The Best Stuff, but it’s so so so worth it!!

and if you make friends in the comment section of other people’s fic - I guarantee you some of them will go to your AO3 profile and check out your fic, too! and they’ll leave comments! this is a fic community, and that’s what I cherish about fandom most of all, tbh.

anyway - again - sorry for rambling so much, but I hoped this helped! feel free to send in another ask, or to come talk to me off anon if you’d like! and definitely send me your stuff if/when you decide to share it; I would love to support you!!! <3

#silm #silm fandom #silmarillion #fan culture #tmi anna #(for real this time sjdfhdkfh) #tefain nin #long post #anon #answers

[independence1776]

For @backtomiddleearthmonth, using the generator prompt: “This is how we defend ourselves.”

This is meant to include all Ages of the Legendarium, which is why I went with a public domain photo of a harpist instead of a screenshot from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. That photo was the closest thing I could find to something from The Silmarillion.

This is how we defend ourselves: sword and shield, song and story, family and friends.

#tolkien #b2mem #mine

[joyfullynervouscreator]

Tempestuous Waters

A small fic for @feanorianweek, @backtomiddleearthmonth and the March @silmarillionwritersguild challenge, Hidden Figures.

One textual ghost is a son of Olwë's - another is Thranduil's mother... and this is why the daughter of the former finds herself in a position to become the latter... eventually.

Or, the First Kinslaying as seen by a young Telerin maiden.

The hum, a counterpoint to Aireraumo trying to convince her that they had seen a fish as big as their boat, cut off abruptly.

Nenya stopped dead, staring at the spectacle ahead, but by the time she thought to douse her lamp, Airendil had snatched it from her grasp and pushed her towards the gangplank of the nearest ship, a much larger vessel than their small fishing boat.

“Hide, Nenya!” he hissed, and the sudden fear she heard in his voice made her obey the command instantly. Wishing that her hair would remain under the blue kerchief she used to tie back the loose strands when she went to the boats, she scampered up the plank, dropping low behind the railing and peeking at the strangers. In the distance, grandfather was lit by flickering torch-flames giving his hair an unfamiliar red gleam. Patting her own hair for reassurance – the kerchief held, the small shells along the edge familiar bumps under her fingers.

The crowd of strangers scared her. Atyaro had joined them, fishing spear in hand, and Aireraumo flanked him as grandfather spoke words she could not hear. The dark-haired ellon she had never seen before but who looked a lot like King Finwë – was this Fëanáro come to restore the Trees? – gestured angrily. His body seemed covered in scales, like some of the depictions of Lady Uinen, the torches flickering across the… metal? At his side hung a long knife, though the blade was longer than any knife she had seen before.

read more on Ao3

read more on SWG

#first kinslaying #silmarillion #tolkien #my fanfic

[silmarillionwritersguild]

Our current Silmarillion Writers’ Guild challenge, Love Actually, closes in five days, on March 10! Fanworks must be posted by then in order to receive a stamp. (Late fanworks are always welcome but do not receive stamps.)

This month's challenge uses self-selected love quotes from the books as prompts:

We have made a list of quotes about love from the Legendarium, and you can select one - or several - that inspire you to write about that crazy little thing called love. It doesn’t have to be a love story; it just needs to respond in some way to the quote(s) that you’ve chosen. Although we are sorting the quotes according to their context, feel free to disregard that in your response! For example, you can use a romantic love quote in a platonic way, or turn a feudal reading of love into something romantic.

The SWG challenge page has those quotes and full challenge guidelines.

March is a busy time with Back to Middle-earth Month (@backtomiddleearthmonth) and other fandom events going on. Please remember that if you combine an SWG challenge with another challenge, like B2MeM, you get a special stamp in your collection. (Please make a note of this in the Story Notes when you post so that I know to award you your stamp.)

Check out the Love Actually challenge works posted so far here.

#swg challenge #silmarillion #tolkien

[dawnfelagund]

The B2MeM Effect: On Community and Commenting

For the past few months, I have been thinking and posting a lot about commenting, namely what causes it to go up (or down) and how we, The Tolkienfic Fandom, can improve commenting on stories. All of the research I’ve done points to the fact that comments have dropped off in recent years, and this harms us as a community. Figuring out how to fix this is important to me. In a post I wrote in December for @longlivefeedback, I synthesized some of my data and ideas on the subject of commenting, drawing the conclusion that a sense of community encourages commenting:

[My] data suggest that non-commenting authors don’t feel as deep of a community connection as Tolkienfic authors and community members in general. As noted above, 78% of participants want to leave comments more often on what they read. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the above, for non-commenting authors, that number drops to 63%. This suggests that, in addition to confidence, a community connection fosters a desire to comment. 

Last month was Back to Middle-earth Month (B2MeM, @backtomiddleearthmonth). As an admin of this event, I noticed something interesting as I perused the fanworks being posted: The comment counts were much higher than normal for the Tolkienfic fandom. This sent me back to this earlier idea that community facilitates commenting.

I waited a month and returned to the first two weeks of fanworks posted for B2MeM. I also looked at AO3 and my own archive, the Silmarillion Writers’ Guild, and the number of comments being posted on those sites during the same time period. Here is the frequency of comment counts for the three sites:

There is more discussion and data below the jump

Methodology

I looked at all single-chapter English-language fanworks posted on the three sites between the dates March 1 and March 14, 2018, inclusive.

Note that not all fanworks were fiction: There was also meta, art, and playlists, although most fanworks were fiction.

I looked only at top-level comments on sites that use threaded comments.

AO3 data came from the category  TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms.

I collected this data on April 14, 2018.

Additional Data

During the two-week period analyzed, the following number of eligible fanworks were posted to each of the three sites:

AO3 = 169

SWG = 19

B2MeM = 55

The median number of comments received on each site for eligible fanworks:

AO3 = 1

SWG = 1

B2MeM = 4

The percentage of eligible fanworks that did not receive any comments:

AO3 = 33%

SWG = 26%

B2MeM = 9%

Some Observations

In every measure, commenting was best on B2MeM. If you look at the graph I posted above, on both the SWG and AO3, fewer fanworks have higher numbers of comments. The exact opposite is true on B2MeM: relatively few fanworks have between 0 and 3 comments. The number of fanworks receiving 4 comments, however, jumps and only slowly declines through 8 comments. This is the window where AO3 drops and the SWG disappears entirely.

B2MeM stories, not surprisingly, received a much higher median number of comments. Furthermore, you have a less than one in ten chance of posting a fanwork to B2MeM and receiving no comments, compared to a one in four chance on the SWG and a one in three chance on AO3.

Community Comparisons

Back to Middle-earth Month is an annual Tolkienfic fandom “holiday” that has run every March for the past twelve years. It began in 2006 as an anonymous meme intended to keep excitement high in the fandom after the Peter Jackson films. A few fic fandom groups, including the SWG, began sponsoring B2MeM events that year. Eventually, only the SWG continued participating, until they brought on other groups to help them organize annual events. In 2013, B2MeM shifted to LiveJournal as a centralized location, slowly separating from its sponsoring groups. Last year, the event migrated to Dreamwidth, where the 2018 event was hosted. The event’s history is described in greater detail on Fanlore.

B2MeM has always had a strong sense of community. I believe there are several reasons for this. For one, it is a month-long event, and past events have been rather intense (the infamous 2012 bingo event even resulted in the creation of an unofficial support community), generating hundreds of fanworks in some years. Some events require a degree of interaction on the community, i.e., it is not always enough to just sign up, make a fanwork, then post and ghost. Its original format as an event run on Tolkien-specific fanworks groups provided ready-made communities, who then interacted during March (rather like branches of an extended family coming together at an annual family reunion). Even once it became a standalone entity, its centralization on LJ/DW rather than Tumblr continued to make it easy for participants to interact with each other and creates the sense that participants are posting for other community members rather than the public. Participants often return year and year, and in some years, the excitement around the announcement of B2MeM events has been quite high. Finally, B2MeM frequently includes a comment challenge as part of its annual event, not only encouraging commenting but communicating the importance of commenting to culture of B2MeM.

The SWG and AO3 are archives, not communities. The SWG is a relatively small site and, because it only accepts Silmarillion-based fanworks, has a more limited purpose than B2MeM and especially AO3; however, perhaps because it is a small group catering to a narrow set of interests, it has more of a “feel” of a community than AO3. Like a small town, it is relatively easy for “everyone to know everyone,” if the effort is made to interact. The SWG also sponsors regular challenges--including comment challenges--and other group events. Therefore, feedback is slightly better on the SWG than AO3 despite the fact that the former is much smaller than the latter. If a sense of community is indeed important to commenting, it is perhaps not surprising that feedback is most dismal on the sprawling, multipurpose AO3.

Other Confounds and Factors

There are a few other factors to keep in mind, however.

First of all, there is overlap between all three groups, and B2MeM may influence the data on other sites. Some fanworks, for example, were posted to B2MeM and one or even both of the other sites. A B2MeM participant who may have read and commented on that story on AO3, for example, may choose instead to comment on the B2MeM site, driving AO3′s data lower and inflating B2MeM’s. Furthermore, because activity on B2MeM can be so intense--some authors create and post a fanwork every day or nearly so--these authors’ energy may be redirected from reading and commenting on sites outside B2MeM.

There was also a decrease in commenting as the first two weeks of B2MeM progressed. This graph shows the number of comments for each fanwork posted between March 1 and March 14.

Notice that the very high comment counts are almost all in the first week. As the second week winds to a close, commenting slows down. Most of the fanworks that received no comments were found in the second week.

This suggests that the “B2MeM effect” may be at least somewhat dependent on the fact that B2MeM is a time-limited event driven in a large part by a brief burst of excitement and energy. Is it possible to sustain B2MeM levels of commenting across longer periods of time? How much of the “B2MeM effect” can be explained by excitement and energy around an anticipated annual event that slowly wanes as the month wears on?

Conclusions

That a sense of community plays at least some role in the “B2MeM effect” is, I think, a reasonable conclusion from this data. B2MeM generally has more fanworks posted than the SWG and less than AO3. It pulls from varied corners of the fandom. And yet comment counts are unusually high. I believe that at least part of this is due to the sense of shared endeavor that has grown up around B2MeM. It is not merely an archive for one’s work but an event where part of the fun is construed as seeing how others respond to the same challenges and--perhaps most importantly--participants see one of their roles as lending support to each other through those challenges, often in the form of feedback.

If we want to improve commenting in the Tolkienfic fandom (and other fandoms facing this problem as well), I believe we must fix the lack of a sense of community first. This is not to say that there is no community in the Tolkienfic fandom now. Clearly there is. Personally speaking, I have friends I’ve made through the SWG, LJ and DW, and Tumblr with whom I interact regularly; I’ve met at least one person met through each of these sites in person. However, the Tolkienfic fandom looks very different today, in 2018, than it did ten or twelve years ago, when most fannish activity occurred on Tolkien-specific archives and social media sites. Nearly all of these groups incorporated a community component. Sites like the Henneth-Annûn Story Archive, for example, had extensive forums for members to interact with each other. Nearly all sites had mailing lists and sometimes journal communities where members could further interact, discuss questions of canon, and talk about their writing in a more informal setting than the comments on an archive. The sense of community was very different then: You interacted with a more limited group of people, but you interacted more deeply with those people. Perhaps not surprisingly, commenting was more frequent then.

Today, the fandom is increasingly moving toward consolidation on a handful of enormous, multipurpose sites, namely AO3 and Tumblr. It is unsurprising that community is harder to achieve here, especially since neither site provides tools that facilitate it. (Even Fanfiction.net, the big multifandom archive before AO3 came on the scene, had forums.) So what to do?

We need more events that specifically seek to encourage interaction and community. There are more people active in the fandom now than ever (aside from the bursts during and immediately after the films) and yet fewer events and challenges than there were ten years ago (and most of those are being run by veteran fans or organizations that have been around that long, like @legendariumladiesapril and @teitho). Seriously, anyone can run an event. (I was profoundly unqualified to start the SWG and launch B2MeM into a major event; I survived and you will too.)

Events should encourage collaboration, interaction, and commenting, not just post and ghost.

We need more spaces built and controlled by members of our own community. We are losing Tolkienfic archives at an alarming rate. If you answer yes to the question, “Are you in the Tolkienfic fandom?” I would encourage you to support at least one site or community that is not Tumblr or AO3. (And “supporting” can look like stopping by every week or so and reading and commenting on a story or two.) The link above has a list of Tolkienfic archives; it would be lovely to see some of them come off of the inactive list. There are still active communities on Dreamwidth and LiveJournal. There are even still mailing lists just waiting for someone to care enough to resurrect them.

But in order to achieve the former, we need an open-source, current software option for building fandom sites, and one that can be used by someone with minimal web development experience. When the school year is over, I plan to pursue the development of a Drupal module for a fiction archive. If there is someone able to do this in the meantime, message me and I’ll gladly hand over the reins. In short, I strongly believe that if you want to build an independent community for fans, you should be able to do so.

#tolkien #b2mem #commenting #fan fiction communities #fan fiction feedback

[nimium-amatrix-ingenii-sui]

“The Wanderer”

Late for @feanorianweek‘s Maglor day, still in time for @backtomiddleearthmonth and @silmarillionwritersguild‘s Middle-earth Museum challenge.

One of the preliminary B2MeM prompts - "But the songs wither, and the world worsens”, from The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorthelm's Son - brought to mind another great Anglo-Saxon lament, commonly known as The Wanderer, which I’ve always associated with Maglor, wandering the shores of the world in pain and regret. So here is would-be Anglo-Saxon wanderer Maglor, currently a bit down on his luck. (The Museum promt is his ring, the last precious thing he possesses (next to his blades I guess). Inspired by the mysterious York Sapphire ring with its iconic star design. I love the idea that it’s a trace of Maglor wandering through the ages, losing (or bartering) his ring at some time during the early Middle Ages... of course, you can barely see it in the painting, but it’s supposed to be there. :P)

#tolkien fanart #my stuff #feanorianweek #b2mem2018 #swg challenge #maglor #wyrd biþ ful aræd

[tolkien-fandom-history]

March is Back to Middle-earth Month!

B2MeM is one of the Tolkien fandom’s longest-running events, having begun in 2006 as an anonymously submitted meme to Middle-earth News:

Miss the golden days of the Lord of the Rings fandom? Get homesick for Middle-Earth? Then this is for you! You don't need to sign up anywhere to participate. But if you see this on your friends-page and like the idea, please post this text to your LJ to spread the word.

Participants were instructed to choose a day of the week (or more!) and promise to post about Tolkien on that day during the month of March. Since then, B2MeM has grown considerably into a celebration of Tolkien-based fanworks. Each year has had a different theme and a slightly different event. B2MeM has attracted hundreds of participants and resulted in thousands of Tolkien-inspired fanworks.

As someone who was involved in B2MeM from that first year in ‘06 (and still is), I’d love to do more with its history on this blog this month. The link above points to discussion posts hosted by Dreamflower in 2016, the 10th anniversary of B2MeM, that collected the history behind each event and invited others to share their memories about each year’s event. I can’t wait to go back through these.

If you were involved in B2MeM, please consider submitting a post to us about your memories and experiences! Which events did you do? What were they like? Or, if you’ve done lots, which are the most memorable?

If you’ve done multiple B2MeMs, how have you seen it change? How do you think it has impacted the Tolkien fandom or Tolkien-inspired fanworks?

@backtomiddleearthmonth

#event #event:b2mem #fanwork #fanwork:fanfiction #fanwork:fan art #time:2000s #time:2010s

[backtomiddleearthmonth]

edgeoflight mentioned you in a post: B2MEM Orange Path, Act of Kindness

…of Kindness for @ backtomiddleearthmonth was to create or…

I see no reason why this can't be crossposted to the B2MeM comm. (I'm honestly not sure how many LJ-based people know Fanlore exists even if they know about AO3.) ~Indy in mod mode (Of course, you don't have to crosspost it if you don't want to.)

#edgeoflight

[edgeoflight]

B2MEM Orange Path, Act of Kindness

(posting here rather than at the LJ comm because I want to attract the attention of certain individuals)

So one of the suggestions for an Act of Kindness for @backtomiddleearthmonth was to create or update a page on Fanlore. I haven't really done anything with Fanlore before, probably because I knew that once I did I would be totally hooked on it. 

...I’m totally hooked on it now. I have a deep and abiding love for fannish history and I couldn’t resist the chance to add some of the knowledge I have and allow for its preservation. 

So I made a few pages: 

For characters: Fëanor, Nerdanel, Finwë, Míriel, Maglor, Celegorm, Caranthir, Curufin, Amrod, Amras, Beleg, Fingolfin, and Fingon. 

For fans: @alackofghosts, (Alackofghosts) @thearrogantemu (Arrogantemu), @imindhowwelayinjune (LiveOakWithMoss), and um, myself (Amy Fortuna).

For communities/other things: @innumerable-stars (Innumerable Stars) and tolkien_slash.

(These are all embryonic now, but I will be developing them as I can.)

I have PLANS. As I have time over the next few months, I will be adding more characters, fans, and communities and trying to bring Tolkien fandom, particularly Silmarillion fandom, up to date on Fanlore. It would be great to have some hands to help with this, because it’s a monumental task. 

I think I worried for a long time that adding in information about stuff I was present for or did would be a bit egotistical, but I’ve changed my mind about that -- it’s not about ego, it’s about preserving our fannish history and legacy. Someone on Fanlore’s been kind enough to keep an article on Least Expected, as well as some other things I did back in the Elder Days, and I’d like to make sure that current and recent fandom history is preserved as well. 

You matter. Your work matters. Even if you’ve only written a few Silmarillion stories or drawn some fanart, your work is important and worth preserving, not just for our viewing and reading pleasure today, but because people in the future will think of it as valuable. Believe me, as someone who wishes they had done more to preserve the fannish history I’ve been a part of, I know this is true. And I’m infinitely glad I preserved the bits I did, because they were worth saving.  

We have a great and glorious fandom, full of creativity and beauty, and we should do all we can to hold on to it. Tumblr, as a medium, is terrible for holding on to things, so we need to counteract that, and this is one way to do it. 

#fanlore #silmarillion #silm #fannish history #b2mem 2017

[arofili]

OK so for some reason my main post is not showing in tags, so here is a post that will hopefully work for tags!!

this is a russingon fic ft. nonbinary!maedhros and the telepathic intimacy trope!! check out the notes for more info!!

and if you would be so kind, please reblog the actual post, it’s very pretty it has an image and notes and everything....

for @backtomiddleearthmonth @ardaneedsmorepride and @oneringnet

#b2mem #arda needs more pride #oneringnet #russingon #silmarillion #silm #maedhros #fingon #there will also be singing #if this doesnt work im gonna throw a hissy fit #eta: it worked thank ERU

[independence1776]

Weekly Kudos Thanks

Late but @backtomiddleearthmonth ate my Sunday.

Thank you to bluehair, katiana00, undercat, autobotscoutriella,  Kingsdaughter613, AcesAreComingForTheIronThrone, Calithilel, and four anons for leaving kudos on my fics last week.

#kudos thanks

[joyfullynervouscreator]

Calmer Waters

Aulë claimed Uinen was the only one with the power to reclaim Ossë... and that's what she did, calming his fury with her love - or so the Children say.

Part of my @backtomiddleearthmonth bingo and inspired by the March challenge on SWG with the quote

"Therefore those who dwell by the sea or go up in ships may love [Ossë], but they do not trust him." ~ Valaquenta

You can read it here(SWG) or here(Ao3)

#Osse #uinen

[arofili]

What's back to middle earth?

@backtomiddleearthmonth is a month-long fan creation event for the legendarium! check out their blog for more info!

#anon #answers

[arofili]

BINGO!!!! @backtomiddleearthmonth :D

#tmi anna #b2mem 2019