Reviews for "The virtues of reading the books"

Thu Dec 04, 2003 8:09 am

Thanks, KhazarKhum!

When I first uploaded this I noticed the problem with the formatting too, but at the time didn't have time to correct it, and after that it sort of slipped my mind... Surprised smiley face

Anyway, I've corrected it now, and it's a lot more readable. Thanks for reviewing and reminding me of it!

~Meneltari

Mon Feb 09, 2004 1:01 pm

Great essay, lots of wonderful points made for the benefit of all fanfic writers! Thanks for all your work researching these topics and for addressing them so well.

There were a couple of subjects you skipped over which is present in a lot of fanfics, esp. about dear Legolas. Lots of writers use the plot device of Thranduil forcing his son into a loveless marriage for benefit of his kingdom, or some such reason. Elves didn't do that, they married for love, or if not at least of their own free will.

Also, the vocabulary of the people of ME does not include words like, 'okay' or 'yeah', or 'it's teeth were like, this big', etc. When writing ME fanfic, the dialogue needs to sound more archaic and proper. Writers should not include modern phrases, as they jolt readers right out of the story.

While I'm not a big fan of slash, and I understand why it wouldn't make sense in ME, I also understand why people write it. It's a 'what-if' kind of thing, I think, plus with elves being so pretty and androgynous, it's very tempting to explore that idea. What I don't get and never will is the whole sibling slash, ie Elladan/Elrohir or Haldir/Rumil/Orophin. Why? Why, why, why? Ew.

You've provided a great deal of information I was not yet aware of, such as remarriage, and I am very appreciative of that. I am currently writng a Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover, and yes, Legolas and Buffy will eventually get together, but the circumstances won't be your run-of-the-mill romances you normally find. I'll be working within the confines of the world that Tolkien created so that their union will make sense.

All in all, it's a great essay, although there were some grammatical, vocabulary and spelling mistakes. I would also like to point out to those who seem to think the author said it was 'okay to flame' other authors, that Elvea said no such thing. The author does not condone flaming and specifically says, "The purists too stubborn to leave will flame a non-reader making major mistakes to hell, something that is also quite cruel. They too might work hard on their fics and have more use for constructive criticism. I don't even believe a flame is of any use in the first place, not is it relevant to the story."

And hey, I happen to like 'pretty-boy Legolas'! So there! Smile smiley face

Mon Mar 15, 2004 2:39 pm

I'm not gonna write a long commentary as I'm not in my "English writing mode" at the moment (I'm Polish). But nonetheless I wanted to praise your work. It is very informative and very helpful for writing stories and avoiding certain mistakes. You must have researched a lot to write this essay. I agree with you on the slash issue, too. Anyway, I really liked reading it (from the begginnig to the end).
Very Happy smiley face

Tue Apr 13, 2004 11:36 am

Thank you for taking the time to write this essay. I'm afraid I'm one of those who has not read the books in a long time, am having a difficult time rereading them and haven't done tons of research for the fics I'm writing. I have done some and am trying to do more. A friend is even helping me in this regard, finding books for me and such. (Thanks Margo!)

Okay, so you say it's easy to look up geneologies? Where can I find them? I have bookmarked on this very site where someone has gone to the trouble of doing Legolas' geneology, so that one is covered. Where can I find, say Galadriel's? Who were her parents and did she have any siblings? What of Haldir and his brothers? Who were their parents and did they have any sisters?

Yes, I'm working on a crossover, but I am trying very hard to make it logical or at the very least, reasonable. Somehow I doubt you or other purists would like it though, so I'll tell you now not to read it and save yourself a headache from all that teeth grinding. I'm not being facetious, I'm serious. I don't want to tick anyone off and would prefer to avoid being flamed. I'll put a disclaimer at the top when I finally post (don't plan on doing that till it's finished) to hopefully warn others away that don't see this.

I also greatly appreciate your mention of the languages. As a purist, can you lead me in the direction of a proper site to find (true to the books) Sindarin and/or Quenya dialects? I doubt I'd try to use anything more than those two and mostly the Sindarin, more than likely.

Sat Jan 08, 2005 6:51 pm

Hallelluja!!!!

Finally, someone pointed out some senseless mistakes and misinterpretations around LOTR fanfiction.
At least, in a reasonable way.

Congratulations on your essay. You were able to analyse almost every topic wonderfully.

I'm new on fanfiction and I admit my lack of knowledge of Middle-Earth. I read the books, but it's not enough.

You enlightened us on many subjects some would ever put in doubt or try to «prove», and for that I salute you. You rock smiley face

Love, Joana

Wed Oct 01, 2008 2:09 am

Just want to say: THANK YOU for writing this essay. A lot of information, well written and very helpful. I'm glad I came across your work. Thanks a lot once again. Smile smiley face

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Reviews for "The virtues of reading the books"