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fangeek-girl · 7 months

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Fic Tag Game

Thank you @wibzenadarksiderwithasoftheart for the tag

How many works do you have on Ao3?

Works: 12 Fics: 11 One of my works is original fiction

2. What's your Ao3 word count?

242,814 (including 2 unfinished fics)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

At the moment Star Wars only, but when the mood strikes Roswell New Mexico as well.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Fix You (Star Wars, Obianidala)

Three Makes a Family (RNM, Malex)

One Love (RNM, Malex)

Halves of a Whole (Star Wars, Skywalker Dyad part 1)

Treacherous (RNM, Malexa)

5. Do you respond to comments?

When people actually comment, yes! I always feel my responses are superfluous, but I love when people take the time to comment.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Last Kiss, considering it ends with Padmé's death...

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Three Makes a Family, but it's been in edits for over a year so nobody gets to see how wholesome it ends because I haven't been able to put myself back into the RNM writing mood 😭

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I did in the RNM fandom because some people can't handle polyamory.

9. Do you write smut? What kind?

Not much. I usually default to fluffy smut. The closest I've come to actual smut in published fics is Treacherous, and it's focused on their feelings rather than the action.

10. Do you write cross-overs?

I tend to stay in one fandom at a time when writing.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope. And I'm not sure I'd like it. I would be too worried about whether they got the tone right.

12. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Once, when I was in the TVD fandom, years ago. The other two cowriters just stopped participating after like 3 chapters and told me I could do whatever, then got mad at me for taking the whole thing down.

13. What WIP you would like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Ouch. Three Makes a Family is technically written, just not edited. So it's kinda finished...? But I haven't fallen back into the RNM mood, and the shitshow that was s4 made it very hard.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Ships come and go with my special interests, so ask me every few months and the answer will be different. Right now, I'm leaning toward Obikin/Anidala equally.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Writing out feelings and lyrical prose. (What is this, an interview? 😅)

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Continuity in a long arc. My brain goes too fast and gets stuck on subplots. Halfway through a long project I usually have to rethink my idea for the ending (if I even knew where I was going in the first place) because I strayed so far from the original plot lol

On the bright side I am slowly learning to actually outline my fics 😂

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

For real languages, it needs to be grammatically correct. I say this as a native French speaker who read way too many published novels where there's dialogue in French and it's absolutely awful.

For fandoms languages, have fun I guess! A translation in the notes or between parenthesis always helps tho.

18. First fandom you wrote for?

Either HP or Buffy, back when we posted on fanfiction.net. I read those fandoms a lot as a teen, but I can't remember if I wrote much back then.

19. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Treacherous maybe? I really love how it turned out.

20. What fic would you want to rewrite one day?

None. When I post a fic it's done in my head. If I start thinking about how it could be better, I'll never stop editing and rewriting it. And then no one would get to read it. My fics are by no means perfect, and there's always something bugging me about them when I reread them, but they represent my writing at that moment.

Tagging @bisexualalienss, @maeglinthebold, @burntblueberrywaffles, @palfriendpatine66 and @somethingsteff and anyone else who wants to do it. Feel free to ignore me 😉

#Fic Tag Game #my stuff #about me #tag game

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juneiswriting · 4 years

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Open Heart: Second Year, Chap 8 Commentary

When things finally get interesting, the book goes into hiatus…

Guess I’ll have to live on fanfic and tidying up my own writing project. Hopefully the virus will clear out soon so the hiatus won’t need to be extended.

Author’s note: This is my feelings after reading the chapter, so major spoilers ahead

Ethan

Yay! Finally the kiss scene is here! But it kind of felt sudden for me, was expecting a bit more build up for it. Guess I’ll fix that up rewriting the scene (LINK)

I think if you didn’t pick the diamond choice, you get to choose whether you will bump into Landry or avoid him in the match? I’m not sure about it. But if you bump into him, Ethan will come fight another doctor to protect MC, that’s hot.

He also jumped in to protect MC when MC was talking to Laundry after the other doctor jumped in. Of course he is keeping an eye on his rookie. And there is the mention of Garret Throne from the other doctor, maybe we will get some scenes about that in the coming chapters?

In the scene in which the gang asked him to join the game, his reaction is gold, made me laugh so hard. Picking the option ‘I’m asking you to’ is the best, he really is doing whatever MC asks for, their relationship is great, whether you are romancing him or not. And picking ‘Tobias is playing’ is also fun, Ethan was onboard hearing that at once, see how much Ethan Freaking Ramsey wanted to beat that annoying human?

Great to see him willing to tell MC more about his relationship with his father, the comparison he made between Naveen and his father is the highlight for me. I always like the confident side of Ethan and how he tried his best pushing himself and others (his rookie) to achieve more. It really shows how he valued himself and his work, good writing from PB there. I want more Naveen scenes! The man’s humor is so interesting!

As you may have known already since I can never stop talking, I like the original back story line for him in book 1 more than in book 2, I simply wanted consistency.

And I reread some chapters in book 1, PB didn’t even bother to keep the setting of Ethan’s house consistent with that in book 1... We all know PB reuse backgrounds, I don’t have problem with that, but at least use the same background for the same setting? How hard is that?!

I heard some choices and Ethan’s responses are changed in book1, but I am too lazy to replay, can anyone update me or point me to screenshots?

Bryce + Keiki

I feel bad for Keiki, she deserved much better. It is great to see their relationship improved. I suppose we will get more chances to be around them, at least helping until Keiki feels good enough to head home.

Sienna

Her screen time in this chapter is limited, but I will highlight how she mentions she can’t imagine people suffering in silence for so long after she heard Jackie’s case. I want to shout in her face, was you also suffering from the stupid intern, yet you say nothing? Either you eat your words or go do something!

Aurora

I believe she simply wanted to help the hospital, as I mentioned in the last chapter’s comment (LINK). But regardless of the choices, her relationship with MC will still take a toll, which is sad, after they have been through quite something.

Aurora really deserved a better boss. In the upcoming chapters I am looking at either she realized she was used by Tobias and tried to fight her own war, or she grew more resentful to MC and the rest of the gang, hoping for the first one though.

Tobias

It sickens me to read about how he played off stealing patients like nothing and used it to tease MC. While Aurora believed that he didn’t know who she was, I doubted that. When MC didn’t know about Harper in book 1, her friends laughed at her, saying she practiced medicine in the woods. It is impossible for Tobias to not know about Harper and not even curious when he knew Aurora’s Last name. Seeing how sneaky the guy is, of course he is going to do some research.

Winning the game against his team turned out satisfying as expected. Seeing the competition between two hospitals is going to get heated either way, it seemed to don’t matter too much who won, except for our ego.

Kyra

Oh… When she said her treatment would be over soon at the beginning of the chapter, I already got a hunch that things will go south with her, and seemingly I am right about that… For once I hope I’m not… But seeing someone in the book has to die, I am now pretty certain it will be her. At least she won’t suffer more pain, right? *cries*

Diamond scene predictions (which are likely to be wrong XD)

Seeing the book is going on hiatus, and we don’t get a description of the next chapter, it is hard to guess what is going to happen. But I am guessing maybe a diamond scene with Kyra which we can comfort her and maybe a Rafael scene talking about his suspension. Since it looked like we will get at least one work related scene and romance related scene, plus occasionally a scene with friends, and the LIs are getting scenes on a rotational way, maybe it will be Rafael’s time soon. And probably a Ethan scene, since he got pretty constant screen time and he mentioned he and MC will talk about that (but only if you romanced him)

#open heart #open heart 2 #open heart book #open heart fandom #open heart fan fic #ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #ethan ramsey fic

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crafiet · 5 years

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1-50 of the writer’s ask thing, go!

BITCH UR RUDE AF

The Basics1. Do you listen to music when you write?mostly yeah but it depends on my mood2. Are you a pantser or plotter?both, i was a complete pantser up until recently but ive been trying to outline big scenes so i know where im going3. Computer or pen and paper?computer for drafting. pen and paper for outlining/planning4. Have you ever been published, or do you want to be published?not published, dont wanna be5. How much writing do you get done on an average day?none but yesterday i wrote 2k /shrug6. Single or multiple POV?usually single but ive been trying multiple!! its hard!!! idk what voice is!!7. Standalone or series?ugh again mostly standalone, but ive been dabbling in series8. Oldest WIPmy spies one which went though a fantasy and scifi phase and was originally dystopian9. Current WIPmy mages! i have no titles bc who10. Do you set yourself deadlines?nup

The Specifics11. Books and/or authors who influenced you the mostuhhhh to be fair im v easily influenced so if i read a book and really like it i subconsciously try to implement that style of writing or try out that genre in my own work12. Describe your perfect writing spacea desktop next to a big open window where i can play music without headphones13. Describe your writing process from idea to polisheduhhhh i dont have a finished wip yet so idk lol usually: idea→ characters→ plot→ spur of the moment 10k word vomit→ more planning, outlining→ more words→ repeat planning and drafting until finished14. How do you deal with self-doubts?i just take a break, read some bad books, read some good books, look at writing tumblrs and just marinate for a bit before going back in15. How do you deal with writer’s block?i perpetually have it and since i dont have deadlines or a publishing contract i just ride it out, writing is strictly a hobby for me16. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied with a project?i edit as i go, im onto draft 2 of my mages but its technically a rewrite bc i changed most of the plot17. What writing habits or rituals do you have?i have none atm, but i usually pick a time where i know i wont be disturbed/distracted so usually at night18. If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about?idw collab sdkksdlkbnsd die19. How do you keep yourself motivated?i just really really like my worlds lol conceited 20. How many WIPs and story ideas do you have?i have!!! 5?

The Favourites21. Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write?oh mannngggg i like all my protagonists, ary is the easiest bc shes the one i work with the most, but its super entertaining to be in remy’s head, and i like calyp’s bc hers is so different AAHH22. Who is/are your favourite pairing(s) to write?remy and seth orrr red and kieran. if im answering this correctly? or do u mean types of pairings lol idk23. Favourite authorhummm idk every author i really like have books i dont like so i cant say24. Favourite genre to write and readfantasy25. Favourite part of writingworldbuilding *.*26. Favourite writing programgoogle docs. it would be word but im too poor to buy it lol27. Favourite line/sceneidk if this is my favourite but“I am at least trying to be civil.”“I am being civil. You want me to yell at you? Turn into a wolf and fight it out like you’d want?”Kieran closed the file and stood. “I don’t—rem—”“Remember.”“I don’t remember you being so—” He searched for a word, but gave up and growled instead. Red got the idea.“Angry? Callous? I ought to reteach you the English language.”“I know how to speak,” Kieran blurted. “Remember, I spent twenty-four years a full human.”“And look how fast that’s disappeared.”28. Favourite side characterwhat are side characters lol ENSEMBLE CASTS29. Favourite villainossssshhhh probably michael bc i love him30. Favourite idea you haven’t started on yetive started on all my wips im one of those bastards who can multitask

The Dark31. Least favourite part of writingactually drafting lmao32. Most difficult character to writeprobably christine bc shes meant to be relatable and down to earth and thats boring smh33. Have you ever killed a main character?yes, not a pov one though34. What was the hardest scene you ever had to write?probably any scene that requires a lot of research on a topic i know nothing about, like hacking or sword fighting or whatever35. What scene/story are you least looking forward to writing?bridging scenes suck theyre necessary but they SUCK

The Fun36. Last sentence you wrote“My plan would go smoother with you involved, but I can find others. Many want his head.”37. First sentence or your current WIPShe squinted in the harsh light.38. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever hadugh this girl who could see deaths coming and she worked for the fbi but she was like 15 so she still had to go to highschool lol39. Weirdest character concept you’ve ever hadprobably her, only bc i was 13 when i created her and was reading this banshee series but somehow didnt connect??? and didnt realise she was a banshee?? without the screaming40. Share some backstory for one of your charactersomg all of my characters have purposefully murky backstories bc i find that trope cool af lol. i guess ary has that typical woe-is-me backstory where her parents were killed, she spiraled and got involved with the wrong people and then was betrayed and arrested lol

The Rest of It41. Any advice for new/beginning/young writers?literally i swear by: trying anything out. fiddle with pov, tense, perspective, genre, character identity, hell take a story you like and try to put your own spin on it. writing as a craft only gets better with practice and my best work is when im going outside of the box/my comfort zone42. How do you feel about love triangles?is this even a debate anymore, this trope got flamed so hard i havent seen it in ya in years. i dont really care about it43. What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline?good lol my outlines are usually done on the spot and i come up with more creative plots/scenes if i can think on it a bit44. How much research do you do?i edit as i go so i research as i go. my pre-drafting research extends to saving links on things i might wanna write about and thats it lol. i would say i dont do as much as i should45. How much world building do you do?a lot lol i LOVE worldbuilding. but i find it hard to incorporate it into my draft naturally so a lot of minute details get cut 46. Do you reread your own stories?all the time lol i forget what i wrote half the time47. Best way to procrastinatetwitter–OR if u wanna seem “productive”, writing blogs are a good way to get distracted48. What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written?bitch there was a time where i only wrote self insert characters lol49. Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real?im too lame to hang out with any of my characters. they would be nice to me but i wouldnt get to know them like how i know them from an author perspective50. [Other question—ask me anything]u didnt ho

#writing #cloudybookash #sorry for the long post

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wildflowerwoodsworld · 5 years

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Fanfiction asks!

Tagged by @a-kid-named-hiro

1. What made you start writing fanfic? Honestly, I started writing fanfic because I was annoyed that I couldn’t use the characters I liked in my own original story project. I complained about my dilemma to a friend and she got a fic up on her phone and shoved it in my face.

2. Which of your own fanfics have you reread the most? I don’t know. I think it might be the very first one I did - one that has since been taken down because I’m in the middle of rewriting it.

3. Describe the differences between your first fanfic and your most recent fanfic. First fanfic — Oh my gods. My first attempt at a fic was horrific. Nearly everybody was an OC (it was a next-gen fic) and the canon characters that did make it in were horribly out of character. The OC's attitudes and personalities did not reflect their histories at all and most had pretty much the same personality. Pretty much all dialogue and no action.

Most recent fanfic — I’m much better at showing what’s going on rather than just telling. I try and keep to one or two OCs a story and leave the next gen stuff to other people. The characters are mostly in character and the few OCs that appear actually act and speak in ways that acknowledge their histories.

4. Do you think your style has changed over time? How so? Oh yes. My style has changed. No doubt about it. At first, my writing was either a constantly changing first person perspective (and I’m talking changing POV every paragraph or so here) or a third person narrator who literally just said what the characters did. Now I’m much better at getting into a characters head and writing from a third person POV.

5. You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it? Probably by my habit of making one of the main characters a badass female OC.

6. Name three stories you found easy to write. My entire Team Minato series, though Rin’s one was the easiest.

7. Name three stories you found difficult to write. Like I said, my first fic - which was an Avengers next-gen one. I don’t remember what I called it though.

My current (unpublished) project (wip title is Aberration) which is a story about my My Hero Academia OC - a girl I have named Azula Kawaguchi

Children Of The Isle my first AO3 fic from when I liked Disney Descendants. Which is weird as it’s my most popular fic. I should probably get around to finishing that someday.

8. What’s your ratio of hits to kudos? total is 2850:174. Can’t be bothered simplifying it. Point is, there’s a big difference.

9. What do your fic bookmarks say about you? That I bookmark anything that gave me an idea. Which is a lot of things.

10. What’s a theme that keeps coming up in your writing? Found family. (I’m a sucker for a good found family fic. Bonus points if they start off not really liking each other.) I like found family stories as they show that not everybody’s blood family is perfect, and that’s okay.

11. What kind of relationships are you most interested in writing? Platonic stuff. I’ve never been very good at romance. I am the oblivious idiot in fics that never notices people crushing on them and as I’m rubbish with romance in real life I have no idea how to write it well.

12. For E-rated fic, what are some things your characters keep doing? I’ve never written anything for that rating.

13. Name three favourite characters to write. I find Nohara Rin and Haruno Sakura fun to write. Bakugo Katsuki is a character that I find really easy to write.

14. You’re applying for the fanfic writer of the year award. What five fanfics do you put in your portfolio? Yeah, no. There’s no way I can win that unless I actually manage to finish a fic before getting distracted by a new idea.

15. (Question of your choice!) Whose writing are you inspired by the most? I’m not gonna lie. I’ve always loved a Discworld story. Terry Pratchett has been a massive inspiration for me and I’d love to be able to write something that good.

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couchpotatoaniki · 3 years

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Thank you @atozfic for the tag. Also, I’m not surprised by your answer AT ALL, especially from how much you hate on ateez & pe, but you are a wonderful writer sO HAVE SOME CONFIDENCE-- /g

For the original post, click here

"Which of your own fics do you like and dislike most, and why?"

OH BOI, OKAY. So, I'll be splitting this into two--fanfics that I've uploaded on all platforms (and am most likely in the process of transferring over onto Tumblr), and fanfics uploaded on Tumblr only.

✍︎ Fanfics on Tumblr:

☞︎︎︎ Like

For me, it'd have to be my headcanon story line for both BTS and ATEEZ 'cause they're essentially the same. I mean, they're not even proper full-on fanfics, but I'm so in-love with the storyline, how I've chosen to present it, the versatility of the entire concept (since they're literally just a bunch of headcanons but still tied together neatly by an overshadowing plotline). I also like how it challenges me as a writer since I do my best to never repeat the same story (and the situations and context between them help make it easier for me too). Really, it's a way to flesh out my creativity without having so many stories/series I need to keep up with. So, in short, I just love my Stories From Alternate Universes Series.

☞︎︎︎ Dislike

Pretty much everything--jk jk. If I had to chose one, then I'd say it would be my Jungkook fanfic, Gentleman. Idk why, but this was the most disappointing one for me. Initially, I adored the concept (if you know me, you'd know I'm an absolute sucker for the Greek/Roman mythos (since sources show that the story of Cupid (Greek name Eros) and Psyche is strictly a Roman myth) as well as writing some twisted shit) but this felt very... underwhelming. First of all, I don't think it was executed as well as it should have been, making the whole thing seeming very... bland. In fact, it was not only bland, but it was sTUPID. Going back and re-reading it gave me a nasty case of cringe and I truly am sorry for all of those poor saps whose eyeballs had to read it 'cause it was tRASH. Secondly, I'm not a very good smut writer, or even a suggestive one at that, so the ending was not only very basic and (again) stupid, but it was also just very bad writing. Don't try to justify this fic, 'cause in my eyes, you never will. IT BELONGS IN TARTARUS--

✍︎ Fanfics in general:

☞︎︎︎ Like

SWEET ESCAPE oh my god, I love Sweet Escape so much. If you've had a glance at my masterlist, then you'll find the blub/synopsis/description/whatever else you wanna call it. But the basic idea of this mini-series is that it's about being transported to an unknown land (in this case, a land of sweets), with a heavy influence of Alice in Wonderland themes (I say 'themes', but it's essentially just an AU). Rereading it, I like how I've paced myself, how the characters have developed a lot better since there's a lot less pressure to cram it all in. If you've already noticed, I don't write more than 8k in one chapter--this is because I prefer writing series rather than oneshots; it's more my style to break things up into small posts with many chapters than one massive post. I don't have the attention span or the patience to do it all in one go, which is probably why I prefer my series/mini-series than my oneshots.

☞︎︎︎ Dislike

*sigh* Oh, Silence and Observation, the bane of my existence. This one's also a Jungkook fanfic, which is a probs not a coincidence since in my other platform, there was a lot of pressure to write JJK ff. I mean, there still is here, but I care a lot less now. As you can probably tell, I don't do well under pressure, so trying to get perfection from me will most likely result in a hot mess. On top of that, it was one of the first ones I ever wrote so it was gonna be trash from the get-go with my lack of experience. Now, this one mentioned language barriers, which isn't really addressed in fanfics, so I wanted to have a crack at it: angst-style ('cause how else was I supposed to? Fluff???). Obviously, since it was one of my first ones, I was more concerned about the getting across the angst than I was writing it well and portraying it properly. So yes, all in all, it was pure garbage and deserves to burn in Hell. Whether I'll actually rewrite it will deffo be a matter of internal debate, but I doubt it'll happen. AND WHAT'S WORSE, IS THE FACT THAT IT GOT MORE READS AND COMMENTS THAN ANY OF MY OTHER (MUCH BETTER) ONESHOTS so I pretty much have the same issue as Hyde (the person who tagged me). It feels like a punch in the gut :((

Also, special shout-out to Talk, my Jongho fic, which was basically me angsting over my own situation and feelings towards a certain person (they were absolutely 'pErFeCt' in everything except their personality)--and the writing wasn't even any good. It was basically just a shitty rant, and I am 99.9% sure that won't ever see the light of Tumblr.

Tagging (y'all don't have to if you don't want to 💜💛💙): @lovesanmotion @xjoonchildx

#yeah this happened #it was just me ranting about my crappy writing #but it felt nice to justify the ones that I hated the most #and give myself even just a tiny pat on the back for the ones I do like #ya know #instead of calling them trash which I always do #and they kinda are since I'm Shakespeare or Stephen King #or Terry Pratchett #hehe Terry likes yohgurt #if you get the reference #marry me

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dawnfelagund · 6 years

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Rereading LotR: The Prologue

I am rereading The Lord of the Rings because it has been a dreadfully long time since I last read it in my first semester in my MA program. I can no longer read Tolkien purely for pleasure. Part of me wants to append an “unfortunately” to the front of that statement. Part of me also recognizes that reading Tolkien is now such a deep, minds-on experience that is also very pleasurable. Knowing this, I stuck a small stack of post-its into the front of the book this morning when I left the house, knowing I’d find stuff and have ah-ha moments and want to jot down notes. Because, frankly, I am far less familiar/comfortable with LotR than The Silmarillion.

And I’ve also decided to blog about the experience. I doubt I’ll do every chapter, but when I bump into stuff that makes me all flappy-hands excited and like I must write an essay right now or I might explode, I will try to blog about what provoked this.

So today Mr. Felagund was on-shift all day at Jay Peak and needed me to get the groceries for the week, so I treated myself to lunch out alone and the Prologue of LotR. Most of my musings on the Prologue have to do with historiography: Tolkien went to extensive lengths to create fictional authorship of the legendarium, and that authorship which relates to LotR is discussed in the Prologue. And of course this fictional authorship--and particularly the bias I believe JRRT deliberately wrote into the texts--is a major research interest of mine right now. But I also discovered lots of interesting stuff in there about oral versus written tradition among the Hobbits.

“To the last battle at Fornost with the Witch-lord of Angmar [the Hobbits] sent some bowmen to the aid of the king, or so they maintained, though no tales of Men record it.”

This is exactly what I mean. The Prologue also states that the Hobbits had primarily an oral tradition and many were not literate. This quote is interesting because it brings to the fore the valuation of oral histories versus written histories.

We see this in The Silmarillion as well, where precious little of the story is devoted to the histories of people who are not explicitly literate, such as the Avarin Elves. Literate people--the Noldor, Sindar, and Edain--receive most of the attention. The sons of Fëanor lived among the Elves of Ossiriand so they weren’t inaccessible; presumably oral histories could have been collected from among them, except that Pengolodh seems to have fallen into the literate fallacy that the written word is inherently and unequivocally superior. (Tell that to someone who has memorized a text like the Rig Veda or who is competent enough with oral formulas to construct an hours-long epic retelling ex tempore!)

Our (presumably Hobbit) author here seems to feel the same way. The “or so they maintained” has a qualifying, dismissive ring to it. Take that line out and the tone of the sentence changes significantly. As it is, that aside introduces doubt, like, “It wasn’t written down? But why not if it didn’t happen? So maybe it didn’t happen?” (Taking it out makes the sentence read, to me, like the Mortals who failed to record it had ulterior and not entirely magnanimous motives.)

Of course, according to the Prologue, the authors of the texts that form LotR and the Appendices were highly literate--as was Pengolodh, the “author” of much of The Silmarillion--and likely put a lot of weight on written texts and records. Nonetheless, this single line lends credence to my theory that Tolkien was aware of these kinds of historiographical dilemmas in his legendarium: Who got to determine what stories were told and how they were told? I do believe he thought about this and made narrative choices based on such considerations.

“[Hobbits] liked to have books filled with things that they already knew, set out fair and square with no contradictions.”

More on Hobbit historiography! This makes me think that this is a trait of a society that relies heavily on oral tradition, which is inherently conservative, functioning to preserve the past and traditions/wisdom that everyone already knows rather than fording forward into inventiveness the way we think of literature as doing.

This also strikes me as the opposite of The Silmarillion, which it appears Tolkien constructed in such as way as to open multiple contradictions from a historiographical perspective. (Hence my work on historical bias and who gets to tell their story in The Silmarillion.) But The Silmarillion is written with a completely different sense from LotR, which reads like a story. Obviously, there is a clear point of view, but short of wading through the Prologue and/or Appendices, one could escape a reading of it without being aware of it as a “historical text” per se. I think this is far less easily done with The Silmarillion, which is written in such a style as to invite comparisons with ancient and medieval texts of dubious historicity. The characters of The Silmarillion are also much more morally complex: the Fëanorians (”bad guys” whose deeds are often positive or noble) and Thingol and Túrin (”good guys” who don’t seem to do much actual good).

This quote makes this make sense, though. As progressive as the Hobbits who authored and compiled research for LotR may have been, as much stock as they seem to have put in written versus oral tradition, they still come from a conservative culture that holds these values. So the story they write leaves very little room for ambiguity, either in terms of what happens or the moral message one should take away from it.

“Of the Finding of the Ring”

This whole section is fascinating because it recounts how Tolkien essentially leveraged the status of his story as an imagined history (rather than a “story” with clear events that unequivocally happened) to rewrite the riddle scene in The Hobbit to better accommodate its “sequel,” which would become The Lord of the Rings. I know this is common knowledge by now, but it still delights me every time I read it.

An interesting tidbit from this section: “[Frodo and Sam] seem to have been unwilling to delete anything actually written by the old hobbit himself,” even after they learned the truth of the riddle episode from Bilbo. Both were willing to make notes about the text but not to actually change it. Of course, this can be read as a form of deference to Bilbo. It can also be seen as another “symptom” of the conservative oral tradition where the predominant narrative is indeed still the “true” narrative, even if not the factual one, and where the wisdom taught by such a story is more important than the factuality of the details. (On the latter point, the behavior of the hero fitting a certain type--namely, not that of a thief, trickster, and liar--might have motivated keeping the original story intact. See above about the Hobbits’ distaste for contradictions ...)

“At the end of the Third Age the part played by the Hobbits in the great events that led to the inclusion of the Shire in the Reunited Kingdom awakened among them a more widespread interest in their own history; and many of their traditions, up to that time still mainly oral, were collected and written down.”

And so the Hobbits transition from a primarily oral society to a definitively literate one in the Fourth Age. This passage again contains a whiff of superiority of written over oral culture: The notable events of the Ring Quest and the return of the King triggers interest, which sparks a sudden surge in literacy; therefore, literacy must also be a good thing. The idea that participation in the great events of the world might encourage an interest in the oral tradition doesn’t seem to occur to the author of this text. Although, somewhat ironically, when Samwise imagines how their experience will be represented in the Shire, he imagines it recounted as part of the oral tradition.

The passage that suggests that Bilbo translated what we know as The Silmarillion as part of the Red Book of Westmarch occurs in this last section of the Prologue as well:

“But the chief importance of Findegil’s copy is that it alone contains the whole of Bilbo’s ‘Translations from the Elvish’. These three volumes were found to be a work of great skill and learning in which, between 1403 and 1418, he had used all the sources available to him in Rivendell, both living and written. But since they were little used by Frodo, being almost entirely concerned with the Elder Days, no more is said of them here.”

Christopher Tolkien, in the preface to The Book of Lost Tales 1, expresses regret in not making this more explicit, having doubted that there was enough certainty when he compiled and published The Silmarillion to say definitively that the Red Book contained the texts we know as The Silmarillion. The Tolkien scholar Robert Foster first suggested it, and Christopher--citing this passage--later came to agree and regretted not making this clearer. I also feel the loss of the loremasters in The Silmarillion but, hey, hindsight is 20/20 and The Silmarillion is indeed a “work of great skill and learning.”

#dawn rereads lotr #lord of the rings #lotr prologue #lotr #hobbits #oral tradition #oral tradition in middle-earth #silmarillion #historiography in middle-earth

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