How it Should be?

[lindahoyland]

I was actually inspired to write LOTR fanfiction as it anoyed me that Tolkien said nothing about the two weeks between the destruction of the ring and the celebrations at Cormallen.
I looked everywhere for a story which fitted in with my imagination but none had enough about Aragorn,so I wrote my own.
My first seeds of inspiration for Burden of Guilt came about as result of reading a story where Faramir was depressed and I felt Aragorn didn't do enough to help him.Simliarly Shadow and Thought was written when I read a story where Aragorn was injured but felt all the details ,especially about how he would feel were too glossed over.
I am becoming wary of what i read in case I feel compelled to write a very alternative version !

[shieldmaiden]

I was actually inspired to start writing fic in a very similar way, Linda-- Eowyn's story always intrigued me, but I found it slightly frustrating that it seemed like the entire reason that she decided to go into battle was Aragorn's rejection when it also seemed like she was a very strong woman and that one thing alone wouldn't have pushed her to that point. So then I started thinking about what might have happened before she met Aragorn that would set it up, and An Act of Desperation was born. And then I never meant to take it past the Pelennor, but it also seemed like there were a lot of gaps to fill in the Houses of Healing (bookverse, of course. I'm not even going to start on the travesty that is PJ's version of it.)

I also had a similar situation about writing an alternative version. Though it was written in response to a fic challenge, I had seen so many fics where either Faramir and Eomer immediately became the best of friends once they met, or Eomer couldn't stand Faramir but never really went into why, that when the opportunity came up to write a version that fit my ideas about Eomer's response to Faramir wishing to marry Eowyn, I couldn't pass it up.

I think it's really interesting though, to see how two fanfic authors can take the same concept or basic plot and make them so completely different.

[lindahoyland]

It's fascinating to know I'm not the only one infuriated by gaps or thinking I could write it as it should be !Thank you for sharing.

[binky]

gaps are the reason i started reading fanfics. it's funny to say this, but there was sooooooo much left out of tolkien's books ;D well, stuff i'm interested in anyway

[lindahoyland]

i so agree, the gaps drive me crazy yet are the lifeblood of fanfic writers !I also like to explore what the characters think and feel which is something Tolkien often leaves out for any other than the Hobbits.

[shieldmaiden]

I'm actually a bit glad that Tolkien left so many spaces to be filled. Granted, his main concern in telling the story was with Frodo and the Ring, and rightfully so. But I think that a lot of what makes his world so rich is everything that's left unsaid-- it leaves so much room for the fans to use their own imaginations and fill in those gaps. Which, in the case of fanfic, means I don't have to leave Middle-Earth even when the book is done.