May's Challenges
Canon with a Twist
Have you ever wondered, what if just one thing had been done differently in the canon? Maedhros had decided to hold off on meeting Morgoth? What if Oromë had taken a different road and hadn't discovered the Elves for another five centuries? What if Haleth had taken Caranthir's offer to stay in Thargelion? What would have changed?
This challenge asks you to think about just that. Choose a single moment in Tolkien's canon and have the character make a different choice. How does history change? Or how does fate fulfill itself? The response may be any length and format--poetry, drabble, or fiction--but should ask what might have happened if one thing had changed.
The Quote of the Month Challenge
The Quote of the Month challenge asks you to write based on the themes and thoughts the quote inspires or about the event in which the quote occurred. You may write in any format--poem, story, essay, or drabble--with any characters, genre, or rating.
"Now in Mithrim there dwelt Grey-elves, folk of Beleriand that had wandered north over the mountains, and the Noldor met them with gladness, as kinsfolk long sundered; but speech ata first was not easy between them, for in their long severance the tongues of the Calaquendi in Valinor and of the Moriquendi in Beleriand had drawn far apart." -The Silmarillion, "Of the Return of the Noldor"
Do you have a favorite quote that you think might inspire other authors as well? Let me know! I am seeking quotes for future quote challenges; please email me at DawnFelagund@comcast.net with your ideas.
Check out past challenges and learn how to submit your own challenge ideas by visiting our challenges page!
Welcomes and Birthdays
I would like to extend warmest welcome wishes to kaizer_ken_ichijouji, lenajade9, ceana33003, and Dean, our new members who joined the Yahoo! portion of our group in April! Welcome also to those who have joined or are following our LiveJournal.
No members with birthdays in May have signed up for stories.
Do you want to get stories for your birthday and other special occasions? Sign up on our "Give Someone a Silmaril" database, located on our Yahoo! Groups homepage (you must be a member of this group in order to post to the database) or post your request to the list or the LiveJournal.
News and Announcements
Beta-Version of Homepage Launched
The biggest news this month was the launch of a beta-version of our homepage, but it you are reading this here, this clearly isn't news to you!
This is an exciting time for SWG, and I would like to encourage all interested persons to get involved with building our site. As a recent initiate into web design, I am always open to suggestions and offers of help. Please don't hesitate to drop me at a line at DawnFelagund@comcast.net.
In the months to come, our site will sport many new and exciting features. Chief of these will be our forums and archives, which I am currently researching. In early July, our site will be moving from free Geocities space to our own domain. Keep checking back for updates!
Submit Your Group or Site to Our Yellow Pages!
As discussed on the Yahoo! group, one of the features of the Reference section of our website will be the Silmarillion Yellow Pages, a listing of groups and sites that have to do with The Silmarillion and writing.
If you have a group or site that you think fits the bill for our Yellow Pages, don't be shy: sign up! Hopefully, this will one day be a good way to connect Silmarillion groups with people who might otherwise have never found--or found only with difficulty--the group or site that fits their needs. No group is too large or too small, and everything from canon resources to fiction archives to RPGs are acceptable! Guidelines for submitting a group and the necessary forms can be found on our site.
LiveJournal Posting Tutorial
Because posting to LiveJournal can be tough for the uninitiated, I have replace our old and no-longer-pertinent FAQs with a step-by-step illustrated tutorial for how to post in the SWG LiveJournal community. All you need to post in our community using this tutorial is a free LiveJournal account; you do not need to be a member of or have SWG friended in order to post.