Nekosmuse is my new god.

[icarus]

amethyst_lupin pointed me in the direction of a great meta by nekosmuse The Ten Commandments of Fanfiction.

Thou shalt never use epithets. Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou. If I never see Draco referred to 'the blond' or Ron called 'the redhead' again, it will be too soon.

Thou shalt use warnings. Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou. I cracked open a fic the other day and halfway through it - Surprise! - was the rape scene. Ack. I still have that unpleasant image in my mind, and I'm glaring at author and never want to read them again.

I shalt not spoil the rest. Enjoy!

Comments

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Actually, you're Catholic. There are ton of Catholics in the LotR fandom. Ever hang out on the Downs?

Icarus

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Er, no. Well, it fits, JRRT being one of us weirdos himself. Although I have to say that I always found a rather troubling discrepancy between his religion and his imaginative world, which, in LOTR at least, has little to suggest Christianity. The Silmarillion, in this, is rather more credible - not only because of the great Creation scene, but also because it shows how human and even elven efforts, unaided by Divine help, not only do not work but consistently make the situation worse - "unless the Lord build the city, the workers labour in vain." However, I never found the imaginative hooks in Tolkien's mythology that I did in JKR's. It just does not stimulate my invention to the same extent. I love reading it, but I do not feel any need to add to it. But that's just me, I suppose.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Tolkien's work is very complete. I wrote a few Frodo/Sam slash stories, but after that I was satisfied. I mostly wrote essays and discussed the LotR.

By the way, my mentor in high school was a former Catholic monk.

Tolkien himself was not trying to write a Christian story, but rather a fairy tale based upon the roots of English myth. The Lord of the Rings owes a lot more to Beowulf than it does to the Bible, and in fact, because he was writing a fictional pre-history it deliberately avoids modern Christian mythos.

Tolkien bemoaned the fact that England's myths were largely French and Greek in origin and set out to write a truly English epic. Which is why he relied so heavily on Beowulf and his research into Anglo-Saxon mythology.

Icarus