after announcing melodramatically on my old, equally abandoned account that I'd never use LJ again I
abruptly started writing more fanfiction again because it's a pandemic I guess. And uhm, then I found out that actually writing fanfiction all by yourself without a community is fine, but feedback was helpful and I miss it, and I have no idea where else to get it and uhm.
this is a very embarrassing way to say that I happen to be back on what some might refer to as 'my bullshit.' My current bullshit attempting to actually finish a a story, one with more than one chapter and an actual narrative (gasp).
My WIPs are
- my very recent Bëor and the Faërie King . I'm ok with how the first chapter turned out! I like the idea, at least. I have fragments of scenes for the next 3 or so chapters, and a various vague ideas of how I want the story to go. The basics of it are; very old woman warns yet unidentified elf-enchanted young mortal to stop following elves around because it's bad for mortal mental health, in her humble opinion. She does this by telling a version of Beor/Balan and Finrod's story, which is the story of how an person who had been important to his people came to follow Finrod's every step instead of giving meaning of his own to his life, and came to feel mostly inferior to elves, and got his very name changed to 'vassal.' I love Finrod, he's my personal emotional support silmarillion character. But it's easy to put a less benign spin on his meeting with the Edain even if you follow canon entirely, and even if you keep his intentions pure enough! Which is what I intend to do here.
I'd really appreciate help on this one simply because I think it does have potential to actually be finished, at some point. By me, even!
NOW, HOW ABOUT SOME ELVISH CANNIBALISTS: otherwise known as 'Two-Legged.' Which is my (so far disastrously bad, because narrative is genuinely hard to write for me, and I never practised) attempt at writing about elves hunting and eating petty-dwarves. I'm not a dwarf-hater at all; I just like to see elves doing horrible things, having too-late realisations, and feeling bad about it for a literal eternity. For example; belatedly realising these small animals are not apes after all. The premise is: an Avarin tribe migrates from warmer regions, where they might occasionally have eaten something that sounds suspiciously like orangutans. This is mostly ancestral memory though, because a lot of people died in their attempt to move West. So they have a very vague idea about the existence of hairy, two legged animals that make incomprehensible sounds and are smaller than them being edible... they're also not at all adapted to their current environment yet and very, very hungry. Personally I love my idea, but that would be because it's...well, it's my idea. I feel like it has a lot of potential; elves literally have to live forever with what they've done. Like god, you can fit 2000 years of therapy in there. Which they'll need. After they realise they've been roasting fully sentient dwarves on their magical campfire that might contain a not entirely benevolent Ainu hitching a ride West.
The only issue is that it sucks so far. I'd really like to bounce ideas back and forth with someone on how to actually write this. I'm going for something between 'mildly humorous adventure' and 'existential horror and self-hatred, forever' and 'denial in the face of food shortages.' With a dash of 'textile history,' because they're very cold.
- I so very badly want to actually continue And After A Time The Elf-Kings, which is also More Narrative than I can manage, also known as The One Time I wrote something I actually thought was a little funny. I have an unfinished third chapter, somewhere. I seem to have been making fun of Finrod a lot, which I'm realising is like-- oh god. Almost all my silm fic is Fighting Words wrt Finrod, my favourite character, and my #1 pick for Silm Character I'd Probably Actually Enjoy Meeting. I assure you my apparent need to kill, nay, bitchslap, what I love-- is limited to fanfiction. I think. I need to find some other character to be passive-aggressive about though. This is quite frankly worrying. Either way, I'll probaby just post draft versions of that here when I'm somewhat further along and hope someone here tells me if it's terribly unfunny. Bouncing ideas not so much needed.
- My poor Telerin sailor! Once upon a time I wanted to write about an underage Telerin sailor girl who managed to go on an Adventure, with a dwarf. She had the unlikely name of Markirya, from the (quenya!) poem about the last ship to depart ennor. I had so many historical sailing sources assembled, I even gutted a fish for her sake so I would know what it was like. And then I didn't actually ...write much. However. I do have A Lot of Ideas about the poor girl now. I even know how she came to be in Middle Earth, having been born in Aman; it's hmm, kinslaying, kidnapping and Noldor without sailing-skills related. This also explains her (rather ghastly) name, which is clearly not actually one her parents gave her. It involves a most daring escape from the host of the Noldor, who, not very happy to have a Telerin sailor on the loose and about to tell everyone what they've been up to in Alqualonde, have been rather reluctant to allow her her freedom. Eventually the secret gets out anyway, but by that time my girl is long gone. This is also an idea-bounding situation; I would appreciate that anyway.