Traipsing off after some petticoat.

[tenlittlebullets]

I go through fandoms much like I do love affairs, and I'm afraid that after just over a year the passion has abated and I'm being distracted by new shiny.  I'm not quite sure I'm ready to declare a fandom switch though: the Les Mis love is very much alive, if rather tired, and as lovely as the books are, I'm really not sure about the Lord of the Rings fandom at all.

In the realm of LM being alive and kicking, however wearily: have almost finished a crack!humor fic that awaits only its conclusion.  I'm also refining and reorganizing the random, spastic meta on my website to make it more presentable and coherent.  And planning to see the revival in December.  In a more general sense, if this ceases to be my primary fandom--which might not happen anytime soon--the parting will be on far better terms than some previous fandoms.  I still love it, make no mistake, it's just lost some of its spark.  We'll see what happens.

I have some very serious misgivings about entering the Lord of the Rings fandom, though.  The most minor is that I've been hanging around small fandoms for a long time and I'd be out of my comfort zone.  Wouldn't know where to begin, haha.  The other thing is... well... I don't want a crazy fandom ruining a perfectly good book.  Bad slash and Eowyn-boppers and Legolas fangirls and ship wars and crazeh and wank and I just don't want to fucking deal with it all.  At the moment I just sort of want to admire Tolkien's storytelling and geek out about his languages in peace, maybe among a small circle of fellow geeks.

Anyway.  I know there are a few LotR and Silmarillion fans hanging about, and so I implore your help in the delicate matter of approaching the fandom.  (After all, one does not simply walk into the LotR fandom: there is batshit there that never--*ducks rotten fruit*)  General recommendations for sites, forums, and communities to check out are always welcome, but I have two rather more specific requests: resources about the languages of Middle-Earth, and really good gen fic.  Gen only at the moment, heh.



(I know that there are several people on my flist who dislike LotR or have a low opinion of fantasy in general.  If you are one of these people, kindly keep that opinion to yourself, because fandom is a matter of personal preference.  Snide comments are not amusing and not welcome.)

Comments

[bubonicwoodchuk.livejournal.com]

Ardalambion is probably the most well-known and best site for the languages of Middle-earth. There's a list of links there for other sites that deal with Tolkien's languages.

Merin Essi ar Quenteli has a Sindarin course, as well as some interesting odds and ends.

As far as fanfiction goes, Henneth Annûn is probably your best bet for good-quality writing in general. I tend to avoid Fanfiction.net like the plague.

[rickmangled.livejournal.com]

Hello! I was going to mention Ardalambion as well... Amazing resource. I had a short but torrid love affair with those languages.

In fact I was scared away from the LotR fandom myself, mostly because I read the books in the space between the first teaser previews for the films and the films themselves -- so I felt a little 'nooby' around the fandom, but by the time Return of the King started production I was as outraged by the changes as someone who'd been around since the hippie revival of Tolkein.

:P In so many words, I can't point you to forums, but I'd be glad to geek out with you.

[5oclockdaydream.livejournal.com]

I'll be seeing the revival on December 2nd.
When are you planning on being up there?

[brouhaha.livejournal.com]

I would also recommend Ardalambion, knowing at least one successful graduate of the site's Quenya course (my insane sister, who now, apparently, knows Quenya). There used to be some Tolkien language e-mail lists too, although they may be defunct.

[jean-le-cric.livejournal.com]

LotR was my primary fandom for ages. Then, after some sort of oversaturation, I guess, I went on to 19th century France and the works. I find myself geeking out over Tolkien again, nowadays, and revisiting it all feels great.
I'm a Rohan freak myself, and I used to hang around this place a lot, before the first few times it crashed and disappeared off the face of the Earth.
The forum at Parma Eruseen was the first forum I ever joined and posted in (my introduction to internet, fandom and all that jazz) and I have very, very fond memories of that place. It's also a fanfiction archive, so you might find something there.
Henneth Annûn is definitely the place for quality fanfic, seeing as it's almost hand-picked, and venturing into the hell of badfic that is FFN is most cetainly not what I'd advise, especially if you're looking for good, clean gen.


(Coincidentally, Vana, if you see this - you wouldn't be the Vana from Parma Eruseen, now would you? ;))

[akedhi.livejournal.com]

Um. Hi. Stumbled across your journal and found it interesting, so friended you.

The Barrow Downs (and I suck at all forms of coding, so here's the raw link - http://www.barrowdowns.com ) is a pretty good site/forum. There's some silliness, but there are also some really fascinating discussions.

[cosmicautumn.livejournal.com]

Just make up your own. I'm pretty sure there's no fandom for Les Lettres Persanes. Usbek and Ricca are prime for slash.

[10littlebullets.livejournal.com]

It was directed at several people, actually. XD