tolkienrsb | TRSB2020 Summer Showcase (Reply)

HELLO, TOLKIEN FANS! IN THIS SUMMER SHOWCASE, WE HAVE SOMETHING A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT - IT’S A FANMIX FROM THE WONDERFUL…

2NIENNA2

A little bit of info about yourself: I’ve been in fandom for about three years, and I still feel very new. My primary activities are writing fic, writing poetry, and fanmixing, although recently I’ve started making art. Outside of fandom, I’m (training as) an opera singer, and I also volunteer at the zoo and am really passionate about sleep and dreams, especially lucid dreaming. Tolkien has impacted so much of my life. It was really his writings, as well as how I made a hobby of setting his poetry to music, that first got me interested in music in a more serious way. Reading LOTR for the first time at age 13 set off a flurry of thoughts and feelings in me that dramatically changed my beliefs and understanding of myself. I’m sure that can’t all be attributed to Tolkien, as I was also going through puberty, but they are very intertwined for me, and I definitely wouldn’t be having the experience I am today if not for Tolkien.

Where can we find you?

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2Nienna2

SWG: http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/archive/home/viewuser.php?uid=1003

How are you joining in with TRSB20? I am writing, pinch hitting, arting, and treating. Phew! The TRSB is my favorite fandom event and it really made my summer last year, so this year I decided to go all out.

NÚMENOR PLAYLIST

Rating: G

Warnings: CNTW (aka… it’s Númenor. Songs referencing death and destruction, but nothing graphic)

This was my first fanmix, and it’s still one of my favorites. I have pretty much always entertained myself by connecting songs to stories. I had a lot of fun coming up with different aspects of Númenor and finding songs for them (although perhaps a dispraportionate amount of the songs ended up referencing the destruction.) I usually have at least one song in mind before starting on a fanmix, and this was no exception. In this case it was Blinding, which I listened to (along with the rest of the album) immediately after finishing the Akallabêth for the first time in an attempt to comfort myself but which just gave me even more Númenor feelings.

Top creative tips/words of wisdom for fellow participants: I’m a major procrastinator, so for me the biggest thing is forcing myself to actually write. I find it very helpful to set daily word count or time spent writing requirements (depending on whether I am writing online or in a notebook.) This could also be applied to art-ing, although in a bit of a different way. The main idea is just that you set a certain amount (however you measure that) to create every day until it’s done.

For example “I must write 500 words every day before I sleep. It doesn’t have to be “good” words, it just has to be words.” Obviously there are some days where this just can’t happen, and of course it depends on your schedule, but I think setting whatever goals are manageable for you and actually following through on them, not just sporadically but as part of your regular schedule, is extremely valuable (or at least it has been for me.) Relatedly, I find it very helpful in the first draft to freewrite, setting a 10 minute timer and writing nonstop until it goes off. The thing produced may be terrible, but it often isn’t, and even if it is, it often has a kernel of plot ideas or characterizations that end up becoming central.