Intro Post

[narya_flame]

Hello and welcome! I'm Narya – bi; she/her; writer, bookworm, fan, gamer and geek.  I like people.

I also exist over at Tumblr and Pillowfort (I really need to get better at using that site). I post moodboards and manips at DeviantArt, periodically trawl for aesthetic inspiration on Pinterest, and am active on the Silmarillion Writers' Guild Discord.

I was born in Yorkshire but I now live in Scotland. I have a busy “career” type job with more than full time hours, but when I can, I write, read, or retreat to the sea or the hills. I've been hanging out in the Tolkien fandom for going on fourteen years now (I am a Fandom Old, though I was a naïve teenage baby when I started). My uncle introduced me to the Bakshi cartoon when I was a tot; I read LOTR when I was still fairly young, the Silm when I was a bit older, and I never looked back. I both write and read fic, mostly about Elves, though I like or at least am interested in most of the canon characters.  I also love to read and write OCs, and I enjoy reading non-Tolkien fic, though I rarely write it and almost never post it.  Non-Tolkien fannish interests include:

 

• The MCU
• Narnia
• Star Wars
• Star Trek
• Castlevania
• Doctor Who
• Mushishi
• Penny Dreadful
• Firefly
• Downton Abbey
• The Hollow Crown
• Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire
• Dragonriders of Pern
• The Old Kingdom
• Folklore and Mythology (including British, Greek, Roman, Norse and Mesopotamian)
• The Forgotten Realms
• A bunch of smaller fandoms based on individual books, films, short stories, plays, fairy tales, poems, songs, games, works of art and other things.

My Fic

 

My main, mostly Noldor-centric 'verse lives here on AO3. Mostly my fics are canon-based, if not strictly canon-compliant (I pick, choose and blend the versions of canon that I like best; I stretch, bend and extrapolate beyond established canon fact; I treat LACE as an optional extra) and run from pre-First Age all the way through to modern times.  The stories are listed in chronological order as far as possible, and for the most part they stand alone – though if that isn't the case, the story notes or summary will say so.

I also co-write the Summerland series with Spiced Wine, a crossover between my modern Maglor story The Ways of Paradox and her Dark Prince/Magnificat AU.

I write original fiction too, but like my non-Tolkien fic, I rarely talk about it and never post it.


My Journal


Mostly I use Dreamwidth to keep in touch with my fandom friends. I try to post links to my fic when I remember, but I'm not good at doing this consistently.  Personal stuff is locked to my access list (and may also be restricted to a filter, depending on how personal it is); fannish stuff may also be f-locked if it's just wittering, or bits of drafts, but links to finished works will be public.

Other things posted publicly are my 'Poem of the Week' posts, which (when I'm doing them) go up on Mondays, 'Dear Creator' letters, and the results of my kitchen experiments.

 

Friending

 

If you follow me I will most likely follow you back, as long as you seem like a nice person and not a troll or a bigot.  If it's not obvious how we know each other, I'd appreciate a DM or a comment on here to say hi :)

 

Commenting

 

Comments are welcome, including single word responses and emojis. Equally, you're welcome to stay quiet if you're more comfortable doing so.

One caveat – my job is stressful. Fandom is my happy place. I don't do discourse, drama or arguments, and I will step away if things look to be heading in that direction.

 

Transformative Works

 

If anyone wants to translate, remix, make art, podfic etc. that's absolutely fine - just tell me so I can get excited about it and promote/reblog your creations! Please note, though, that this does not extend to writing spitefic, parody, or feeding my fanworks into any kind of generative AI programme.


Events and Communities


I moderate the hidden_paths event, a low-pressure annual celebration of the smaller Tolkien canons. 



I had a sort-of admin role at Faerie, a small Tolkien archive which was my fandom home for a long time, and is now sadly defunct.  I also cross-post fic to the Silmarillion Writers' Guild.  From time to time I run fanfiction book clubs on the Silmarillion Writers' Guild Discord.

I love exchanges and prompt fests.  A few favourites:
 

• My Slashy Valentine, a hand matched slash fiction exchange focused on the people of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
  
• Innumerable Stars, a low-commitment, low pressure fic and art exchange inclusive of all things Tolkien (books, movieverse, game canons, and more).
• The Tolkien Short Fanworks community, which is exactly what it says on the tin - a DW community for the posting of very short texts from all Tolkien fandoms (word count up to 1000 words, especially 500 words or less).  There are optional monthly prompts and formal challenges, though all short form texts are welcome.  I've found some lovely pieces and writers here.
• The Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang, which involves authors writing long-ish fic (5k words minimum) in response to an artist's prompt. The prompt should be based on one or more of Tolkien's works.  I am slightly biased about this one as I was one of the founding mods; I stepped down in 2022 but intend to keep taking part as a writer and maybe an artist.
• Tolkien Secret Santa, a fandom-wide gift exchange inspired by the season of giving and celebrating. Everyone who participates gets to make and receive a little digital present from their Secret Santa, which could take any number of forms: a fic, a playlist, an artwork, a poem, a graphic… 

Other
 

I'm married, I play the cello, I love Italy, I speak decent French and a little Scottish Gaelic, I have a soft spot for a dram of good whisky, I'm a football fan (my team is Leeds United), and I giggle at anything.

I have an enormous cat also. (“He is the size of a sheep, as majestic as a snow leopard, and the colour of Irn Bru.” - a dear friend.)

Comments

[fiachairecht]

cha robh fios agam gu robh thu ag ionnsachadh gàidhlig! inns dhomh ma tha thu airson a bhith ag obair <3

(tha gaol agam air do chat, cuideachd :D)

[narya_flame]

I've literally just started learning so I will confess I had to put this through Google Translate 😂 but yes, that would be good! <3

I love my cat too. He's the bane of my life but I adore him.

[spikedluv]

Hi! I'm glad you joined in on Snowflake.

Since you like Star Wars and I've recently watched it: your thoughts on The Mandalorian?

[narya_flame]

Hi!

I really enjoyed it overall - I liked the characters and the storylines, though I think it could go deeper in places and might benefit from hour long episodes. How about you?

[madeline_gwydion]

Is your cat a main coon? Sounds like ours before he took up mouse-hunting for excercise. *g*

I'm absolutely with you on the no discourse, drama or arguments thing.

[narya_flame]

He is a Maine Coon! He's a very big boy ❤

[mithrial]

Hi Narya, Thank you for your subscribe and access on our DW accounts here.
Lovely to meet you via spiced_wine.
Loving reading and also creating banner-illustrations for some of your fics on AO3.

XX Tia

[narya_flame]

Hi! Thanks for granting access back 😊 your banners are absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad you're enjoying the fics xx

[carmenta]

Hi! Just stumbled across this entry via the Snowflake challenge - I knew I'd recently seen your name somewhere before! Your Tolkien fic collection has been open in a browser tab here for a week or so, to be checked out once I find more than a minute to read :-) Looking forward to it!

[narya_flame]

Hello! Nice to meet you :D I hope you do get a breather, and that you enjoy the fics if you get to them.

[rekishi]

Ohhh, long time Silm writer. :D

How busy is that Hobbit Discord? I'm sort of in the same boat with the super busy job and I never managed to keep up with Discord and fell away again because it was just draining my energy in the long term. Not the point of fandom!

Thanks for the fic links, I'll go check them out (if...I'll ever get through my TBR pile?).

[narya_flame]

Hello, nice to meet you!

Well, I've only been writing Silm fic for a few years, though I've been a fan for much longer - I started off writing Third Age fics, I didn't think I could do the Noldor justice, and I had a very soft spot for the Rohirrim!

It's busy-ish; at the moment I spend more time on the Silmarillion one, purely because of what I'm writing.

Hello!

[ysabetwordsmith]

My mother read me The Hobbit when I was four. You can thank Master Tolkien for my grasp of the hurt/comfort ratchet. \o/

You sound interesting, so I have friended you. Feel free to drop by my blog to see if you like it.

Re: Hello!

[narya_flame]

Hello! I love hurt/comfort too :D and hurray, another Tolkien person! I have reciprocated the friending; I hope you enjoy your stay <3

[spikedluv]

I had to look up Irn Bru and discovered that while it is orange in color it is not necessarily orange in flavor. *g* Your cat sounds magnificent!

[narya_flame]

No, it isn't orange in flavour :D the best way I can describe the taste is "slightly ferrous bubblegum"!

But yes, my cat is a magnificent beast <3

[polarissruler]

Hello! I'm also a mythology fan and I've started watching Mushishi (which so far is a beautiful show imo).

[narya_flame]

Hello - very nice to meet you! Mushishi is a gorgeous show, it's a wonderful one to relax with after work.

I followed your journal - hope that's OK :)

[perhin_madoc_gamgins]

I was introduced to a recent post on Tolkien-based poetry of yours. I just read your intro here, and I'd love to add to my friends list. Add?

[narya_flame]

Hello! Nice to meet you - lovely icon. And yes, absolutely! :D

[spikedluv]

Hello again! I went through the comments here and see that your cat is a Maine Coon. My sister has one, and they are quite large. *g* I've also been reading a cozy mystery series with a Maine Coon and he is of course, very smart. (Miranda James' Cat in the Stacks series.)

[narya_flame]

Yes, my boy is Large, and also very smart :D I will look out for that series!

Hello there

[sauronnaise]

General Kenobi.

You are a bold one.

I came to your blog because of your Tolkien fics (and I'm the sneaky brat who's new to Dreamwidth and follows fic authors I like), am surprised you're a Downton Abbey fan. And no, I won't judge, I'm not big on watching TV, but it's part of the three shows I watch repeatedly.

If you need help with French, I'm a French tutor! :D (je suis francophone qui vit en milieu francophone (hint: not France, but it used to be the motherland), donc bon)

Re: Hello there

[narya_flame]

Hello! I'm sorry it's taken me a while to add you back, it's all been a bit wild with TRSB reveals <3 thanks for the offer of French help, I may take you up on that at some point!

[pattrose]

Hi. I came here to say hello for the snowflake challenge. I’m going to your AO3 link to find your Firefly stories. I can’t wait to read them.

[narya_flame]

I actually don't have anything posted for Firefly I'm afraid, but you're very welcome to stick around. I would love to chat to fellow Firefly fans!! (I am contemplating a Tolkien/Firefly crossover, if that might be of interest.)