tolkienshortfanworks | Recent Entries

Welcome to the tolkienshortfanworks community!

This is a community for very short texts from all Tolkien fandoms (word count up to 1000 words, especially 500 words or less), such as ficlets, all types of fixed-length forms, and poetry.

For guidance on posting, membership, tagging, and other community guidelines, please see the community profile.

hhimring

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Tags: Please use existing tags, if they are available to you. Any missing tags will be supplied by the mod.

For more guidance, see the community profile.

hhimring

Challenge and prompt fills are optional, not required.
Challenges and prompts will be posted monthly (around the beginning of the month).
They do not expire and can be filled at any time.
(There may also be an amnesty month for challenges, as required.)

When there is both a thematic prompt and a formal challenge, these can be filled independently (you do not have to do both unless you want to) and freely combined with other prompts and challenges (including challenges from other communities).

There is an AO3 collection that you can cross-post challenge fills to: link.

Reminder that although you can fill the thematic prompt any way you like, in order to post the fill to this community or to the related collection on AO3, the fanwork can only have a word count up to 1000 words and must be linked to a Tolkien fandom.

Rec lists and podfics can be posted as fills for thematic prompts, as long as the fanworks concerned meet those conditions.

Prompt list for the months of the year 2026:

Prompts for January 2026: lamp or lantern; Lanterne (poem)
Prompts for February 2026: sea; multiple of 50 words
Prompts for March 2026: spring or autumn; form of 20 parts or otherwise involving 20.
Prompts for April 2026: fool; prose + poem (haibun)
Prompts for May 2026: quotation prompts from "May Day"; multiple of 25 words
Prompts for June 2026: drink (with quotation prompts); epistolary
Prompts for July 2026: select three words or concepts; multiple of 50 words
Prompts for August 2026: guest or hospitality; poem of 18 words or variations on this
Prompts for September 2026: quotations by Wendell Berry; repetition.

Prompts from previous years:

Prompts for December 2020: Candle or Wreath.
Prompts for January 2021: New Year; true drabble.
Prompts for February 2021: First Flower; piece that comes full circle (e.g. a sestina or carol)
Prompts for March 2021: Balance (equinox); sonnet or piece of 14 lines/parts
Prompts for April 2021: Duck or Egg; quatrains
Prompts for May 2021: The old custom of Maying; zejel.
Prompts for June 2021: Solstice (Midsummer or Midwinter); dribble or half-drabble.
Prompts for July 2021: Sea Shell; couplets
Prompts for August 2021: Gold and silver; Welsh triads.
Prompts for September 2021: 144 or "gross"; Bilbo's verse forms
Prompts for October 2021: apple; blank verse.
Prompts for November 2021: poppy; elegy
Prompts for December 2021: prompt amnesty
Prompts for January 2022: beginnings or new start; alliterative verse
Prompts for February 2022: melting; proverb
Prompts for March 2022: new life; acrostic
Prompts for April 2022: sudden change in the weather; fixed length of 222 words
Prompts for May 2022: bonfires; songs of defiance
Prompts for June 2022: cows or similar domestic animals; bredlik poem
Prompts for July 2022: summer storms or other explosions; exposition
Prompts for August 2022: art or craft found in unexpected places; diary entry
Prompts for September 2022: harvest; work song
Prompts for October 2022: bridge, inscription
Prompts for November 2022: spooky or eerie; children's or nursery rhyme.
Prompts for December 2022: prompt amnesty
Prompts for January 2023: lamp or lantern; Lanterne (poem)
Prompts for February 2023: Glorfindel and/or Erestor; a form in 19 parts or otherwise involving 19.
Prompts for March 2023: map or sign-post; travelogue.
Prompts for April 2023: rhyming words: rabbit / habit; eggs / legs; daffodil / codicil; bun / run.
Prompts for May 2023: tax or tolls; account book.
Prompts for June 2023: unseasonable weather; traditional weather predictions.
Prompts for July 2023: temperature contrast; news report.
Prompt for August 2023: Elven Elements (image prompt, artwork: beaded strand, by Lferion)
Prompt for September 2023: Silver (with three canon quotation prompts); haiku
Prompts for October 2023: Sound and silence; tanka
Prompts for November 2023: Tree and leaf; cynghanedd.

Prompts for December 2023: Prompt amnesty.
Prompt for January 2024: building; cumulative (song, poem or tale).
Prompt for February 2024: gift or gift-giving; ballad
Prompt for March 2024: glass; triolet.
Prompt for April 2024: bread; bredlik.
Prompt for May 2024: name; acrostic
Prompt for June 2024: influenced by another work (including crossover); fixed length of 333 words.

Prompt for July 2024: original character or unnamed canon character; fixed length: multiple of 50 words.
Prompt for August 2024: magic trees; call and response.
Prompt for September 2024: wave; in-universe commentary.
Prompt for October 2024: Golden Shovel (words from Tolkien prompts in same order)
Prompt for November 2024: refuge; imitation of a sound

Prompts for December 2024: Prompt amnesty.
Prompts for January 2025: small comforts; list of ingredients.
Prompts for February 2025: recovery; story-telling
Prompts for March 2025: return; multiple of 100 words
Prompts for April 2025: wood; linnod

Prompts for May 2025: words, phrases and a song title containing may as word or syllable
Prompts for June 2025: regard - reward; alliteration
Prompts for July 2025; flowing water; shape poem
Prompts for August 2025: Tolkien's Verse (bingo card); ten-line poem

Prompts for September 2025: four-word prompts; multiple of 30 words.

Prompts for October 2025: plant name (from a list); in-universe instructions.

Prompts for November 2025: mention of sibling relationship and food item; drabble (100 or multiple of 100)

Prompts for December 2025: prompt amnesty

ermingarden

Author: Ermingarden
Title: Praise of Rain
Text type / Format: fixed-length ficlet
Source / Fandom: The Silmarillion
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 111
Summary: It rains during Fingon's visit to Himring. He doesn't mind.
Author notes: For the thematic prompt of "a sky that tastes of rain that’s still to fall" and the formal challenge of a 111-word ficlet.
( Read more... )

starspray

Author: StarSpray

Title: Survivors

Text type / Format: fixed-length ficlet

Source / Fandom: Silmarillion

Rating: G

Word Count: 111

Summary: Maglor wanders north, and discovers Himling Isle
Note: Written for the November challenges: the thematic prompt of "a sky that tastes of rain that’s still to fall", and the formal challenge to write 111 words exactly.

( Read more... )

hhimring

Thank you very much for your engagement with this community during the past month!

Here is the tolkienshortfanworks challenge for November.

Thematic prompt:

Here are six quotation prompts taken from poems by the Scottish poet Douglas Dunn, who died recently (in his eighties).
You can respond to them in any way you like.

1) over the eventful, unforgiving waters
2) that old clock-sorcery
3) these soft disputes drift over river-meadows
4) a shivering transparent wing
5) fragments of spirit, leaf and mind
6) a sky that tastes of rain that’s still to fall

You can find the full text of the poems and also more information about the poet here, if you are interested (but it is not required for the challenge):
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/douglas-dunn/

The formal challenge is:
A word count of 111 words.
(Yes, I picked this figure for the date 01/11.)

As usual, the thematic prompt and the formal challenge can be filled separately or combined.

Also, I'm adding my usual reminder that in order to post the fill to this community or (later) to the related collection on AO3 (linked in a sticky post at the top), the fanwork can only have a word count up to 1000 words and must be linked to a Tolkien fandom.
Rec lists and podfics can be posted as fills for thematic prompts, as long as the fanworks concerned meet those conditions.

Also, we continue to welcome other pieces unrelated to any challenge, of course, including cross-posts and older stories, as long as they meet the criteria!

hhimring

As AO3 is expected to be down for two to four weeks, so obviously will be our AO3 collection.
I will be posting the November challenge here on Dreamwidth according to the usual schedule, though.

silver_trails

Author: Silvertrails
Title: The Gap
Text type / Format: Double drabble
Source / Fandom: The Silmarillion
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 200
Summary: Caranthir and Maglor discuss what to do with the gap between their realms to stop Orcs from using it

https://archiveofourown.org/works/95564031

silver_trails

Author: Silvertrails
Title: The Prize
Text type / Format: Not fixed length
Source / Fandom: The Silmarillion
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 261
Summary: Findekáno is allowed to see the prisoner

https://archiveofourown.org/works/94682886

silver_trails

Author: Silvertrails
Title: The Kingdom
Text type / Format: Double Drabble
Source / Fandom: The Silmarillion
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 200
Summary: Maglor thinks of the Noldor in Endorë and the Valacirca give him hope

https://archiveofourown.org/works/94195546

Current Mood: accomplished

hhimring

Author: Himring
Title: Another Name for The Sickle
Characters: Erestor
Pairing: n/a (unless you count Erestor/Tengwar)
Text type / Format: ficlet (double drabble)
Source / Fandom: Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion, History of Middle-earth
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Word Count: 2 x 100
Summary: In the library of Imladris, Erestor copies a manuscript and has thoughts about the Valacirca, the Sickle of the Valar.
Author notes: For the October Challenge. Also incorporating other challenge prompts.

( Read more... )

hhimring

Thank you very much for your engagement with this community during the past month!

Here is the tolkienshortfanworks challenge for October.

Thematic prompt:

Here are six Tolkien quotations about the same constellation, Ursa Major, under different names. Use these as you like; your prompt fill does not have to be about Ursa Major or even about stars.

1) Peering out, Frodo saw that the night was still clear. The Sickle was swinging bright above the shoulders of Bree-hill (The Fellowship of the Ring)
2) The seven lampads of the silver bear / Are waxen to a wondrous flare (Kortirion)
3) And high in the north as a challenge to Melkor she set the crown of seven mighty stars to swing, Valacirca, the Sickle of the Valar and sign of doom (The Silmarillion)
4) The Seven Stars were not set by Varda, being indeed the sparks from Aulë’s forge whose brightness in the ancient heavens urged Varda to make their rivals (The Book of Lost Tales)
5) Only from the map did Bilbo know that away up there, where the stars of the Wain were already twinkling, the Running River came down into the lake from Dale (The Hobbit)
6) By Men of the Ancient North it was named the Burning Briar (The Later Annals of Valinor)

The formal challenge is:
Double Drabble (2 x 100 words)

As usual, the thematic prompt and the formal challenge can be filled separately or combined.

Usual reminder that in order to post the fill to this community or to the related collection on AO3 (linked in a sticky post at the top), the fanwork can only have a word count up to 1000 words and must be linked to a Tolkien fandom.
Rec lists and podfics can be posted as fills for thematic prompts, as long as the fanworks concerned meet those conditions.

Also we continue to welcome other pieces unrelated to any challenge, of course, including cross-posts and older stories, as long as they meet the criteria!

silver_trails

Author: Silvertrails
Title: The Dark Lord
Text type / Format: Double Drabble
Source / Fandom: The Silmarillion
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 200
Summary: Findekáno, now Fingon, must prove his loyalty to get his prize

https://archiveofourown.org/works/94187261

hhimring

Author: Himring
Title: Hope against Hope
Text type / Format: poetry (free verse)
Source / Fandom: The Lord of the Rings
Rating: General
Word Count: 78 words
Summary: A Song of the Dunedain in hard times, written after Lesya Ukrainka, Contra Spem Spero, for a prompt of Ukrainian Tolkien Week. It also fits the Repetition prompt of the September challenge at this community.

I shake off the weight of thought.

I shall stay awake through the night.

I shall wait for the morning star.

If amdir leaves me, I will lean on estel.

I will go on climbing the mountain.

I will carry the stone on my back.

When amdir deserts me, I will cling to estel.

I will scatter seed in the fallows,

even if I never should see the flowers.

As amdir forsakes me, I will hold to estel.

A/N: You can find out more about the original prompt and Lesya Ukrainka's poem here:
https://www.tumblr.com/ua-tolkien-week/828485245283319808/for-the-topic-2-from-the-quotes-section-i

hhimring

Author: Himring
Title: Fires of Secret Thought
Characters: Finduilas of Nargothrond (with references to Gwindor, her former betrothed, Turin, and her father Orodreth)
Pairing: Finduilas / Gwindor (past); Finduilas / Turin (unrequited)
Text type / Format: ficlet
Source / Fandom: Silmarillion, Children of Hurin, The Lay of the Children of Húrin
Rating: Teens
Warnings: allusion to Gwindor's canonical trauma
Word Count: c. 230 words
Summary: Before the fall of Nargothrond, Finduilas plays the harp in the presence of her father's court.
Author notes: For the September challenge, for the prompt Repetition. Also for Finwean Ladies Week on Tumblr.

( Read more... )

silver_trails

Author: Silvertrails
Title: Angband
Text type / Format: Drabble
Source / Fandom: The Silmarillion
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 100
Summary: Nelyafinwë loses his mind after Findekáno is taken into Angband

https://archiveofourown.org/works/94184936

Current Mood: accomplished

hhimring

Author: Himring
Title: Reunion in Belfalas
Characters: Nellas, Celeborn
Pairing: n/a
Text type / Format: drabble
Source / Fandom: Silmarillion, Children of Hurin, Unfinished Tales
Rating: Gen
Warnings: hints of previous mental health issues
Word Count: 100
Summary: After a long time of lonely wandering, Nellas is learning to be among people again. Unexpectedly, she encounters a friendly face from long ago.
Author notes: For the prompt "I could hear the splashes / farther and farther away" (From: Before Dark, by Wendell Berry). I used the prompt loosely; this was also for prompts from Sindar Week on Tumblr.

( Read more... )

vamp_ress

Back with a new ficlet. This was actually written for Teitho, but if you squint just so, it also fits this month's repetition challenge. At least if you apply some imagination. Enjoy!

Title: The Hazards of Navigating Familiar Lands
Author: Michelle
Email: michelle [at] waking-vision.com
Fandom: The Lord of the Rings
Summary: Rivendell is hard to find. OR: An argument between friends, told entirely in dialogue.
Genre: gen, humour
Rating: General Audiences
Disclaimer: In this house, we don’t infringe on someone’s copyright. We don’t steal, we just borrow with utmost love and respect.
Author’s Note: Written for my old fandom love, Teitho. The challenge was Mistakes Were Made.
( The Hazards of Navigating Familiar Lands )

hhimring

Thank you very much for your engagement with this community during the past month!

Here is the tolkienshortfanworks challenge for September.

Thematic prompt:

Here are six quotation prompts from the work of the poet Wendell Berry, who died on 31 August (at the age of 92).
Use them any way you like.

1) I could hear the splashes / farther and farther away (Before Dark)
2) monsters like yourself, / pitiable because unforgiving (Enemies)
3) the bow of his rushing boat (The Vacation)
4) which one goes first through the dark doorway (They Sit Together on the Porch)
5) who, wandering, is always home (The Terrapin)
6) the silence from which it came (How to Be a Poet)

The formal challenge is:
Repetition.
It's your choice how you do this, exactly, but here are two suggestions:
Repeat a whole phrase two or more times.
Start or end three sentences with the same word.

As usual, the thematic prompt and the formal challenge can be filled separately or combined.

Usual reminder that in order to post the fill to this community or to the related collection on AO3 (linked in a sticky post at the top), the fanwork can only have a word count up to 1000 words and must be linked to a Tolkien fandom.
Rec lists and podfics can be posted as fills for thematic prompts, as long as the fanworks concerned meet those conditions.

Also we continue to welcome other pieces unrelated to any challenge, of course, including cross-posts and older stories, as long as they meet the criteria!

hhimring

Author: Himring
Title: Upon a Memorial Tablet for Gilraen in Rivendell
Characters: Gilraen
Text type / Format: poem (free verse)
Source / Fandom: Lord of the Rings, Appendices
Rating: PG
Warnings: allusions to mortality
Word Count: 26
Summary: Gilraen was a guest in Rivendell for long years. She was also a Mortal among Elves. One of the Elvish names for Mortals is "Guests". The text on this memorial tablet was, I think, written by an Elvish friend of Gilraen's after her death; it's the reader's choice to decide who the author is. I imagine that memorial tablet as also being incised with a line drawing of Gilraen in profile.
Author notes: For the thematic prompt of this month's challenge.

( Read more... )

silver_trails

Author: Silvertrails
Title: The King
Text type / Format: Fixed format
Source / Fandom: The Silmarillion
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 180x2
Summary: Makalaurë and Nolofinwë discuss what to do after Findekáno is also captured by Melkor.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/94184651

Current Mood: accomplished

hhimring

Thank you very much for your engagement with this community during the past month!

Here is the tolkienshortfanworks challenge for August.

Thematic prompt:

Guests and hospitality.

This theme is just being discussed in some quarters in connection with the Odyssey and Nolan's recent film at present, but hospitality, the relation between a host and their guest, the treatment of guests and the behaviour of guests, is very relevant to Tolkien's works as well, in many places in the Legendarium and also in his smaller works.

The formal challenge is:

Write a poem of 18 words' length or with a section 18 words long. If you are writing prose, you can stick to the number 18 for flash fiction or substitute the number 180 instead.

As usual, the thematic prompt and the formal challenge can be filled separately or combined.

Usual reminder that in order to post the fill to this community or to the related collection on AO3 (linked in a sticky post at the top), the fanwork can only have a word count up to 1000 words and must be linked to a Tolkien fandom.
Rec lists and podfics can be posted as fills for thematic prompts, as long as the fanworks concerned meet those conditions.

Also we continue to welcome other pieces unrelated to any challenge, of course, including cross-posts and older stories, as long as they meet the criteria!

hhimring

Author: Himring
Title: Will it ever be thus? No!
Characters: Ioreth
Pairing: n/a
Text type / Format: drabble
Source / Fandom: The Lord of the Rings
Rating: PG
Warnings: Set during the Siege of Minas Tirith
Word Count: 100
Summary: Tolkien seems to show Ioreth as somewhat single-mindedly oblivious to the siege and the battle outside the walls even as she is devotedly treating its victims. Maybe there is a bit more to that, though?
Author notes: Written for a poetry fiction prompt taken from a poem by Christina Rossetti, from which the title is adapted. As it's a drabble (and as it's 31 July already), I'm also claiming it as fill for the July challenge (multiple of 50 words).

( Read more... )

Profile

A community for short fanworks from Tolkien fandom

November 2026

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1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
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Syndicate

Page Summary

hhimring - Welcome post
hhimring - Headers for posts
hhimring - Challenges and Prompts
ermingarden - Praise of Rain, by Ermingarden
starspray - Survivors, by StarSpray
hhimring - November Challenge
hhimring - AO3 Downtime
silver_trails - The Gap, by Silvertrails
silver_trails - The Prize, by Silvertrails
silver_trails - The Kingdom, by Silvertrails
hhimring - Another Name for The Sickle, by Himring
hhimring - October Challenge
silver_trails - The Dark Lord by Silvertrails
hhimring - Hope against Hope, by Himring
hhimring - Fires of Secret Thought, by Himring
silver_trails - Angband by Silver Trails
hhimring - Reunion in Belfalas, by Himring
vamp_ress - The Hazards of Navigating Familiar Lands
hhimring - September challenge
hhimring - Upon a Memorial Tablet for Gilraen in Rivendell, by Himring
silver_trails - The King, by Silvertrails
hhimring - August Challenge
hhimring - Will it ever be thus? No! (by Himring)

Active Entries

1: Praise of Rain, by Ermingarden
2: Survivors, by StarSpray
3: AO3 Downtime
4: The Gap, by Silvertrails
5: The Prize, by Silvertrails
6: The Kingdom, by Silvertrails
7: Another Name for The Sickle, by Himring
8: Fires of Secret Thought, by Himring
9: The Dark Lord by Silvertrails
10: Hope against Hope, by Himring

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Style: Neutral Good for Practicality by timeasmymeasure

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Page generated Nov. 6th, 2026 12:26 pm

A community for short fanworks from Tolkien fandom

Recent Entries

Admin Post: Sticky: Welcome post

Admin Post: Sticky: Headers for posts

Admin Post: Sticky: Challenges and Prompts

Praise of Rain, by Ermingarden

Survivors, by StarSpray

Admin Post: November Challenge

Admin Post: AO3 Downtime

The Gap, by Silvertrails

The Prize, by Silvertrails

The Kingdom, by Silvertrails

Another Name for The Sickle, by Himring

Admin Post: October Challenge

The Dark Lord by Silvertrails

Hope against Hope, by Himring

Fires of Secret Thought, by Himring

Angband by Silver Trails

Reunion in Belfalas, by Himring

The Hazards of Navigating Familiar Lands

Admin Post: September challenge

Upon a Memorial Tablet for Gilraen in Rivendell, by Himring

The King, by Silvertrails

Admin Post: August Challenge

Will it ever be thus? No! (by Himring)

Profile

November 2026

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