Silver's Helpful Writing Tips

What Writers Get Wrong About Lord of the Rings Fanfiction: Intro

Lord of the Rings is iconic, mystical, and a treasure among literature. 

Created by J.R.R Tolkien over many years, the world of Middle-Earth contains one of the richest histories of any work of fiction today, complete with geographic details, complex language systems, a variety of different cultures and creatures; Tolkien pioneered fantasy as we know it today, paving the way for writers of the future and inspiring them to great works. 

You have authors like Terry Brooks, George R.R. Martin, Stephen King, and many more who have been touched by Tolkien's mastery of language and creative thinking. For many more, Tolkien's world has been a way of escape from the real world and find the adventure that they have always wanted to go on. 

This commonly comes through writing themselves into the story, or, re-telling the story to how they would like to see it happen; we know this as fanfiction. 

Typically fanfiction is written by a fan of the story or work and is for the benefit of the larger community in the fandom. Some stories are absolutely amazing, while others are...not so much. 

There are many things can cause a story based on Tolkien's work to fail or struggle, and we're going to spend the next couple of week looking at the most prominent points that writers tend to miss when they write their stories:

The Elves

Men

Locations and Travel

Timelines

There is a lot to unpack in these next few weeks, and I'm very excited to have a good friend of mine, Julianne (Silmarilz1701) from Wattpad, join me in this (she already did, I'm just now moving this over from my site).

 She has been working hard on compiling all her knowledge of Elves for several weeks now, and I'm very excited to have her share it with you all.

I've been waiting to do this series for a while now because I see so many writers who write a story based in Tolkien's world, yet how they execute leaves it falling flat. In this opening to the series, I want to touch on a handful of practical and easy things you can do to get your story right.

Spend Twenty Years Researching

Please don't panic, I'm referencing the time Gandalf was away from the Shire looking for the information he needed about the Ring. 

Thankfully, you don't have to go sifting through thousands of dusty scrolls in a dark, cramped room with little to no light to find what you're looking for. 

LOTR Wikia and Tolkien Gateway

 These sites will be your best friend when it comes to finding out all you need to know about Tolkien's world, and it has been a resource I have used in writing my stories as well. I would advise you to set a time limit for yourself, however, because you can get sucked into these beautiful black holes of information. 

At the very least, know what you are going there to find, and be prepared to need to look up four different things to have enough info on the stuff you initially went there to see. Then you'll know why I told you to set a time limit in the first place. 

And if you did your research, you'll know that it was only seventeen years, not twenty, that Gandalf spent looking for the scroll about the Ring.

Read the book...Seriously.

I cannot stress to you enough that if you're writing a story based only on what you've seen in the movies you're already two or three steps behind. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the films; I quote them at least five times a day as situations arise. I get chills every time I watch Aragorn's speech during RotK and the epic charge of the Rohirrim during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. 

But for all of the wonderful things that the movies got right, they left out a considerable amount of content that makes the story richer. The most notable is how they portray Frodo in the films. 

Contrary to the whiny hobbit who got stabbed at Weathertop, the Frodo from books struck at the feet of the Witch-King and lasted some two weeks before they met Glorfindel. Then he told them to bugger off  (official translation) at the Fords as the waters washed them away. 

The books are always better.

I'm not saying you can't write a story before reading the books, but you would be doing yourself a big favor in doing so. 

Immerse Yourself

The last practical step is to dress the part. If you're going to write a hobbit character, dress up and act as a hobbit would.

No?

Fine. 

But you're missing out. 

Okay, so I was just trying to find a third one to go on the list, and my wife thought of this one. 

There is some truth in it, though, and worth touching on. When I'm writing a story that is new to me, I try and immerse myself in that fandom, so that can I understand what it is I'm getting into. For example, I have an original sci-fi novel getting prepped right now(its not, this is a lie lol), and I have been listening to stories by Philip K. Dick, Frank Herbert, and others to get into the zone.

I have not written anything like that before, so I'm learning all about it. This would be my recommendation to you as well. 

Do your research, read the books, and talk to others in that fandom. Read some of their fanfictions to get a feel for what people are writing about, and then do your own thing. 

Now that you have these three easy steps to start with, you're one step closer to writing your own Lord of the Rings story. Next, we'll launch into what writers get wrong about Elves, their history, their culture, their names, and so much more. I cannot wait!