Henneth Annûn Story Archive

Hi everybody -
it's been almost two years since the "Quickie" challenges were first established. If you check the forum you will see that not much has been happening in this section in terms of challenges and short short-stories. This is an attempt to rekindle this challenge format. In LJ-land everybody seems to be writing drabbles, so maybe *now* the time is ready for another try with Quickie Challenges asking for "short" stories.

Challenge Title: 4th Quarter 2006 Quickies

A Quickie is a story
- no shorter than one, no longer than three type-written pages (a "page" equals approx. 1500 characters),
- describing one continuous scene,
- written from one point of view or focusing on one main character.

Quickie Challenges are open to anyone.

I am asking for prompts for Quickie Challenges. Please submit your suggestions for any Age, place or person. Quickies are supposed to be "easy" challenges. The goal is to write a short, to the point vignette, with a single sentence concept.

The next Quickie challenge will be posted during the next week, it will run through the end of December. Quickie Challenges will then be started every three months.

Thanks for your ideas!

All the best
Calanthe

 

Bearing in mind that it's Hallowe'en at the end of the month - a ghostly encounter for a man/elf/hobbit/any character you choose.

Jay

 

Hi Jay -
a Halloween Quickie, yes, what a great idea :-).
Any man, elf, hobbit, any character you particuar wish to see in said ghostly encounter? (trying for specific story challenges here ...)
Calanthe

 

OK - a meeting between any canon character and a long-dead ancestor. 

Jay

 

That is a marvelous idea. Just perfect for an autumn night. The trees rustling, a campfire and a meeting in the woods.

RiverOtter

 

It's a wonderful idea to re-establish the Quickie Challenges!

Here are some quick (*g*) ideas I had; I think a few of them might even be useful for the New Member Challenge:

Imhiriel

- "Tell me, Gildor, have you ever seen Bilbo since he left us?"
Gildor smiled. "Yes," he answered. "Twice. He said farewell to us on this very spot. But I saw him once again, far from here." He would say no more about Bilbo, and Frodo fell silent. (FotR, Three is Company)

- The arrival of Tuor and Idril in Aman - How do the Elves react to the first Mortal in the Undying Lands?

- Why did Vardamir Nólimon (Elros' son) not "ascend the throne, but gave the sceptre to his son." (UT Part Two III, The Line of Elros: Kings of Númenor)

- "A strong place and wonderful was Isengard, and long it had benn beautiful; and there great lords had dwelt, the Wardens of Gondor upon the West, and wise men that watched the stars." (TTT, The Road to Isengard)

- How did Bard settle into being King?

- Melkor "on parole" in Aman - what did Valar or Elves (other than Fëanor) think? Did they watch him? Were they suspicious - or not?

 

a meeting between any canon character and a long-dead ancestor. 

That is a really good idea. It fits perfectly for Halloween.

~Vilwarin

 

I think the ghostly encounter is a great idea. (Imhiriel brought up so excellent quotes for fodder as well, but I got something of an idea as soon as I read Jay of Lasgalen's suggestion, so I'm a tad biased!)

 

Since this challange goes all the way through December, what about a choice between the 3 main holiday themes? It could be something like 1) Jay's Ghost encounter idea, 2) An Autumn Rememberance (or Thanksgiving), or 3) a Yule story?  Just an idea, so let me know what you think.

Laureleaf

 

A holiday theme could be a separate challenge. Perhaps it could be a prospective challenge.

Set it up please?

RiverOtter

 

Here are some suggestions for you:

1. Thingol disappears for several years and then re-appears with a new queen who is not an elf and whom the other elves have never met before: Melian. What did his subjects think of her?

2. "[Bilbo] was thinking once again of his comfortable chair before the fire in his favourite sitting-room in his hobbit-hole, and of the kettle singing. Not for the last time!" Tell us about one of these bouts of home-sickness -- what prompted it and how he dealt with it.

3. Many people found new homes after the War of the Ring: Faramir, Eowyn, Beregond, and Legolas in Ithilien; Aragorn and Arwen in Minas Tirith; Gimli in Aglarond; Sam in Bag End; and Frodo, Bilbo, and too many elves to name in Valinor, to name a few. And many others would come back to homes that were ruined or at least drastically changed. Write a story about any of these people (or any other in a similar situation, original or canon) adjusting to their new homes.

4. In the movie version of Lord of the Rings: how does Frodo know he is granted passage to Valinor? How does he decide to go?

Marta

 

Hi Jay -
good :-). I will fiddle a bit with the phrasing to make this prompt even more specific.
Thanks so much!
Calanthe

 

Dear Imhiriel -
thanks so much for the many prompts. Wow, I wish someone would write a story about either one of the two meetings of Bilbo with Gildor - what a great idea!

Thanks, too, for the Sil prompts, they are very good and "writable". Possibly I will use some for the New Member Challenge as well.

Calanthe

 

Dear Marta -
thanks so much for your prompts. I love 3. in particular and wish someone would write about any of these new homes - Merry and Pippin, btw, had to settle in "new" homes, they both moved in together in Crickhollow.

Thanks, too, for the movieverse prompt. I find it especially hard to come up with any ideas for those.

Calanthe

 

Dear Laureleaf -
I think it's a great idea! Really worth - as RiverOtter suggested - a challenge of its own. Do you want to set it up? Please do!!

All the best
Calanthe

 

Hi Calanthe,

I love the ideas of new homes and there are so many that I think would make very interesting stand-alone scenes. Feel free to change the examples I gave or otherwise edit it however you like.

As for the movieverse idea, I love the books but saw the movies around the same time I read the books so both are pretty nuzgul-forming in my mind. Glad I could help in that regard.

Marta

 

Hi Marta -
I love the idea of the many new homes for the members of the fellowship and all the others involved in the destruction of the Ring and the events of LotR. You are right - thinking about how they all settled (or didn't settle) into their new homes could make wonderful stories. I am definitely including this suggestion into the Quickie Challenge!

I love the books, and I can appreciate (most of the times) the movies for what they are, I guess ;-). Some things, though ... well, I just have a hard time coming up with movie story prompts when there are so many book stories which have not yet been written. So thanks again for you help.

Calanthe

 

thanks so much for the many prompts.

Glad you found them useful. Sometimes you read certain sections of the book and suddenly - ping! - the question just comes, when you never thought about it before...

I, too, love Marta's prompt about new homes, and the one about meetings with long dead ancestors.

Imhiriel

 

Hi Imhiriel -
I know what you mean about story ideas popping up while reading! Isn't it curious how much new one discovers by reading and re-reading the Books?

Actually, both the prompt about new homes and the one about meetings with dead ancestors I will use for the New Member Challenge - I think they will make wonderful pov-stories allowing people new to fanfic-writing to approach Middle-earth from an interesting and unique angle.

Calanthe

 

Calanthe,

sorry, i've been out of town...anyway, I'll play with it a bit and set it up in challanges.  Thanks for the idea to do so.

LL

 

Hi Laureleaf -
looking forward to Challenge for the Season!

Thanks for your ideas!
All the best
Calanthe

 

Hi everybody -

thanks again so much for your contributions to this challenge. If more ideas and story prompts happen to come your way or pop into your head, do let me know. For now, though, the Quickie Challenge has been set up.

May I ask you now to direct all your creative impulses to story-writing. There are some truly great ideas among this quarter's Quickie Challenge story suggestions.

You find the Quickie Challenge IV/2006 here.

Looking forward to great short stories!
All the best
Calanthe

 

I seem to have become a bit lost.

I see the discussion of the challenge in the forum, but has anyone set up the challenge? I at least did not see it. Did I overlook it? If not, I will gladly set it up.

~Vilwarin

 

Hi Vilwarin -
sorry that you seem to have become lost. This might be my fault, I am doing this for the first time.

The Quickie Challenge is sort-of set up, you can find it in the Challenge Forum under Quickies. I see that this Challenge does not appear, however, under the section "Open Challenges". What do I do to get it there? Would you set up the Challenge so that it truly is an open challenge?

Thanks so much for your help!

- Calanthe

 

Yes, of  course I can do that. This is what I, as challenge assistant, am her for, after all.

~Vilwarin

 

Wonderful! Thanks so much, Vilwarin!
Do you have the wording of the challenge? Do you need anything else from me?

One more question: as I am also a challenge assistant, could I set up the challenge by myself (trying to save other folks' time here)? Or can only specific people like you do it?

- Calanthe

 

Oh Calanthe!

 It looks like you are going full steam as our newest assistant! Great for you!

 And the challenges that everyone has suggested are just awesome. Can't wait to read them!

 Again - congrats on a great first challenge forum!

Agape

 

Thank you so much, Agape,
but really all the laurels belong to the people coming up with these wonderful story prompts! *bows*

With the help of Vilwarin, the Quickie Challenge IV/2006 is now officially opened. You find it here.

Take up a pen and ...

All the best
Calanthe

 

Do you have the wording of the challenge? Do you need anything else from me?

No, I do not need anything else. I just copied your wording.

as I am also a challenge assistant, could I set up the challenge by myself

Yes, I think that you should be able to do that. As a challenge-volunteer, you should have gotten an instruction concerning everything that has to do with challenges.

~Vilwarin

 

Hi Vilwarin -
I just found the instructions. Now I also know how to close the challenge once December 31st comes along. As I said - my fault. I hope next time this will go more smoothly. Again, thanks so much for your assistance.

- Calanthe

 

*puts hands on hips in imitation of Sam telling off young hobbits*

We'll have none of that! You two have done a great job, both of you. This is a challenge that HASA hasn't had in a while, and I've missed it to be sure. So thank you to both of you but especially to Calanthe for organizing this again.

Sure next quarter will go smoother, but this is a great start.

Marta

 

thanks, Marta
- Calanthe

 

Thanks for doing all the work to create this challenge. I look forward to many inspired stories. I might even take up one myself.

RiverOtter

 

thank you for your help (and patience )

Please do take up a challenge, RiverOtter - I am playing with ideas, as well ... Gildor meeting Bilbo "far from here" (does he mean at Rivendell? Or some place else?) ... an orc finding lembas on the stairs to Shelob's Lair ... hm hm ...

- Calanthe

 

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