Henneth Annûn Story Archive

Hey guys, I suppose this is less of a challenge, more of an organizational thing. But it would be cool to have a challenge of stories featuring all-original-character casts. No canon characters, except in cameos or minor, minor, insignificant roles. This challenge might resemble Working Life in Middle-earth too closely to be taken up, but it would be a nice way to keep all the all-OC fics in one place. I've already got a few fics in mind by other people - as well as one of my own, in the works - and I obviously encourage others to write outside their canon-comfort zone and delve into the lives of the little people. Takers? Thoughts? Aeneid

 

Three cheers for the Little People, Aeneid! Obviously I'll bite for this one. I've got one finished fic and one WiP. And I don't think it's too close to "Working Life": I've seen quite a few OC fics which are of too broad a scope to fit comfortably into that category, and also quite a few which don't deal with work at all. Let's go, people! Everyone polish up their favorite non-canon characters. I bet we can have a lot of fun with this one. Cheers, Aliana

 

*raises paw* I'm in. Most of my stories include OCs, so half of my story list would fit in this anyway. Werecat

 

Cool. I've always enjoyed gapfillers and what ifs. It would be nice to have a collection of OCs all in one place. RiverOtter

 

Hi Aeneid, I have a few stories or parts of stories which figure in this one. So I guess you can count me in. Yours Juno

 

Shazam! OK, so that makes it me, Aliana, Werecat and Juno. We need one more, wahoo! Time frame: one year. Yeah? Aeneid

 

You might want to put out a request on the HAlist or contact people with stories that fit the category, RiverOtter

 

Whoa, I'm caught! I'm in! Yeah, a year would be great. Allie

 

Aeneid, Aliana, Werecat, Juno, and myself! That's five! Title: All OCs, All the Time Length: 1 year. It would be cool to have a challenge of stories featuring all-original-character casts. No canon characters, except in cameos or minor, minor, insignificant roles. Come on! Write outside your canon-comfort zone and delve into the lives of the little people. Sound good to everyone? A longer prompt might be good. ~Allie

 

That sounds good (to me, at least! ), Allie. I have a couple other brainstorm-suggestions to throw out: If people wanted to start working on a brand-new fic, but needed some help getting started since there are so many possibilities, maybe we could include some very broad prompts (perhaps a few involving ideas from various books/ages/races/locations etc) and some fun tips or exercises on dreaming up original characters. It might also be fun to link to the Why original characters? thread, as well as the Naming OCs thread. Sorry if I'm getting carried away or something. Aliana

 

Huzzah! Well, we have the five needed. I also wanted to contact some people I knew who have some OC fics already written. Also, very good idea, Ali. I couldn't think of any prompts - so feel free to just brainstorm anything you might be thinking. Aeneid

 

How do these sound? I worry that some of them might be kind of redundant. I was thinking about the all-OC fics I've read, and asking myself, "Now, what's the premise behind all of these..." -- Tolkien has been known to give notoriously short shrift to women and children. What would women's and children's lives be like in various Middle-earth cultures and locations? One idea might be to think about the wives, sisters, mothers, neighbors, and children of minor characters (e.g. Elfhelm, Beregond, Haldir, etc.) -- Is there a story back in "the mists of time" that you have always wanted to hear or tell, but that involves few or no canon characters? -- Think about the people "in the background" in any given scene: hobbits or men at Bree, an elven attendant or musician in Imladris, or stable boys in Edoras, a random orc on the march, for example. What are the details of their lives? What kinds of things do they worry or dream about? -- Explore a place or culture that's not given much "screen time" in the books/films: what is daily life like in Harad or in a dwarven hall, for example? Let me know, Ali

 

Looks good. Lots of ideas that could easily inspire a story or two. RiverOtter

 

Hi, everyone. How do these sound? I worry that some of them might be kind of redundant. I was thinking about the all-OC fics I've read, and asking myself, "Now, what's the premise behind all of these..." Aliana, these are good. Actually, this is how my mind works and produces all my OCs. Especially those "background" people... Werecat

 

Good prompts, Ali. Allie *traipsing off to create the challenge...*

 

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