Tag: lotr

Any advice for first time fanfiction writers?? (Specifically TH/LOTR writers)

I suck at advice! But here’s two points to keep in mind:

1. This is your story. 

Yes, we have an established world, and established and well-loved characters. Yes, it comes with a boatload of rules and history. You can use it, or not. You can change it up, or not. You can research like mad, or not. You can use fanon, or not. You can use a Tolkienesque style, or a modern one, or a mixture of the two. You can go plot-driven, or character-driven. It’s yours now. What does your story require? Whatever it needs, do that.

Dive, dive, dive, and enjoy it. This is meant to be fun.  

2. Write. 

Just write. Write and write and write. Some of it will not be great, some of it will be awesome, you will be amazed at what is in your head sometimes – and other times it will feel like you’re emptied out entirely. But the more you write, the better you get at it. It’s like anything else, be it an instrument or drawing or cooking: if you practice, you will improve. 

(Story time: I have been writing fic for approx 17 years. I was in my late teens when I began. I have made many, MANY shitty stories. I have been the writer with no reviews A LOT. For basically a decade, I chugged along in my own little writing world, making stories that nobody found or was interested in. But I liked them. I worked hard on them and loved them, they were crappy in hindsight but they made me feel things, and that’s what it’s all about I suppose: these are words that make us feel things. That decade was good for me. I didn’t stop writing. I read a lot, I practiced a lot, I got better, people grew interested at last and I was hugely grateful – still am – but in the end, it STILL boils down to whether I like what I’m writing, whether it still makes me feel things. I’m still practicing, every time I sit down to write, I am a student like you. I’m still getting better, I hope. I hope.)

So, don’t stop. You may be discouraged at times. You may love your stuff one day, hate it the next. You may feel like you’re shouting into a black hole of indifference. Just keep going. Cut ruthlessly if you have to, in order to find the pieces of story that make you feel things – the ones that work. Be cruel to your work, kind to yourself. Whine to your friends about how goddamn difficult this section is being. Ask folks to read over parts you are uncertain of. Get friendly feedback in private, from someone you like and trust. Specify what it is you are anxious about (dialogue? pacing? Whatever) and listen to their response. Fix it. Work on it. LOVE IT – it is yours, so love it even when you also hate it. Take your time when you gotta, and then get back onto the horse and keep writing. 

You’re one of us now, Nonnie! Welcome to the fun 🙂

Hi! I gotta question: which character from LOTR/Tolkien do you most identify with? Apparently Tolkien wrote: “As far as any character is ‘like me’, it is Faramir”, so which character do you (not necessarily LIKE the most, but) most connect with?

Ooooh. The one that is personality-wise, most like me character-wise…

Bc I like my books and my writing and my squishy chair and my garden and my kettle, I can be clever and I can speak eloquently when I want to

I have a ‘business manner’ lmao

and I too like exciting tales and travelling – sometimes up close, sometimes at a distance

and if I was roped into a big dangerous adventure, I too would DEFINITELY complain the whole way

and I would absolUTELY write inappropriate poetry and read it aloud

and I am a short and a bit of a grump and a hermit crab, but I have been known to go way way OTT to help out my friends and family, I will not stand for them to be hurt or insulted, I am loyal AS HECK

I’m braver now than I was when I was younger

and I definitely call the huntsman spiders dumb names when I have to shift them outside 

(stupid tiny panicky deckchairs that they are)

Hi! Who’s your favourite LOTR character? <3

estel-of-the-eyrie:

…. This is so difficult; I KNEW someone was going to ask this one! But I love thinking about this, so here we go:

first thought? Aragorn. (I may or may not have a type with dark haired men with stubble who are sassy…) He was perhaps the first character that I appreciated and respected when I watched for the first time.

Second thought? Boromir. Initially, naive me hated him – and I can’t believe I ever did. True, this was because I hadn’t really looked into the books and the background of his character before I was 13-ish? But now? I will defend my Gondorian Son with my LIFE. There’s a whole lot more here, and I would rant (which someone is also able to ask me about) Plus I feel like I have a bit in common with him, and tbh he’s probably inspired personality etc.

Honourable mentions: Eowyn and Haleth (from the Silmarillion) – badass women who inspired me to not take shit that I don’t have to; Gimli – strong and dedicated companion and one of the main reasons that I take more steadfast ways of dealing with everything (This may or may not be why the title for When The Road Darkens is what it is…)

Oh shit. I’ve picked 4 human characters and 1 from the other races?
Rosie Cotton! Esp. her portrayal in @determamfidd ’s Sansukh (especially in the Scouring of the Shire – “Brave and Clever” and I am quoting here!) Also Sam Gamgee for pretty much the same reasons.

Elves? Idk I don’t really have strong feelings towards any? I mean I appreciate Legolas and Thranduil and Galadriel, but. I just feel detached from them all so it’s kind of more difficult to relate to them. Ah well.

~*~

I’m bored, so ask me a question – any question! – to distract me from revision!

ESTEL AAAA THANK YOU!! *hugs and snugs* you delight, I am so HAPPY you like what I did with her!!

I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse ‘applicability’ with ‘allegory’; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.

J. R. R. Tolkien (via one-small-garden)