The Silmaril Awards 2022: Nominations open

Well well well. Here we are, gathered once again for a jolly good time, and I'm very pleased to say I've put on an excellent feed in preparation for a few guests. 

Because! 

 Nominations for Wisest Counselor are open!

And knowing I'm going to be having so many of these highly respected people as guests in my home is a little intimidating, so I've been taking notes from the good folk of the Shire, as they have a bit of experience with hosting parties! I have plenty of food and drink; comfortable chairs from which they can have a good sit-down, a natter, and a bit of a reminisce; and I've set up the backyard in case they want the opportunity to show off their respective skills, like archery or dancing or fireworks.

...I also spoke to some Shire-folk who have a bit of experience with my first house-guest, who is our award-presenter for this category of the Silmaril Awards.... 

Gandalf!

...naturally, he hasn't turned up yet. 

But I'm sure, knowing his history, that he would be fine with us getting started while we wait for him! Firstly, for any newcomers, here's what's going on and how it works: 

Awards Ceremony! | Silmaril Awards 2021

So. The villains who weren’t shortlisted have been politely asked to leave, the edge of a curtain and also an odd circular patch in the lawn have been set on fire, several villain-to-villain farewells have been topped with a promise of eternal friendship (by which I mean "my good friend, your flair for villainy is commendable, if you ever need an ally in a plan I’d be touched if you thought of me, I love murder"), and a portal has been opened up in my bathtub because aPPARENTLY the front door wasn’t dramatic enough to leave by.

I’m just happy I didn’t need to call the dragons to drive them out.

So this leaves us, of course, at the final round of the award:

 

Most Nefarious Villain: Awards Ceremony

Presented, of course, by Saruman, noted Istari from Middle Earth!

Excuse me for a moment while I just blibbityblobbitybloop myself into a third person side character.

*crackling static*

Voting Opens! | Silmaril Awards 2021

So it's one week in, and my house is full of villains. Which I suppose I did sign up for, literally, I put my name in the box an' all, but there are?? One hundred and two of them? Actually it might be a hundred and three, it's difficult to keep track, there are a couple of them currently speedwalking laps of the kitchen table while giving out-of-breath evil monologues and I'm not sure which of them is chasing who.

And among that one hundred and two, there have been some definite reader favourites!

Unfortunately, even among those favourites, not everyone can go in the running for a Silmaril Award. We have to be very picky. After all, there is but one Nefarious Villain Silmaril, and – I believe I might have mentioned already – there are a hundred and two villains. 

Which is why only the top five – as nominated by your good selves, and tallied up by my own numb fingers! – will make it to the voting round. 

So let's have a moment here to applaud all the lovely nominees. Very nefarious, folks, very nefarious. I've heard some quite elegant monologues (and some terrible ones, but I'm not naming names, because I am rather fond of my ears being attached). Three plates and a floral teapot have fallen, as poor innocent bystanders (again, I'm not naming names here, but to save myself from the wounded honour of the English villains I will specify that it was not any of them. Or any of the other tea-drinkers. Of which there seems to be an unreasonably high percentage among the villains, and if they haven't been spotted drinking tea they always give me the impression of being tea-drinkers, so I have some questions here. Namely, does evil naturally gravitate to tea, or does too much tea make one evil.)

I think someone ate my petunias. I'm afraid to ask who.

Nominations Open! | Silmaril Awards 2021

(So. Let me just. Take a moment for the jitters.)

(Stress? who, me? there is absolutely no reason that I would be nervous, wha-ha-hat– Did you hear an explosion outside or was that just my imagination? I'm in sudden fear for the lives of my petunias–) 

 

Anyway, it's my pleasure and stress to announce to you all, shouting into the depths of the blogosphere like the slightly hoarse and crazy-eyed gremlin I am:

 

Beloved friends and tolerated acquaintances, it's time
for the 2021 Silmaril Awards!

And not only! am I! hosting?? a category! but also!

It's the villains.

Nominations For the Most Nefarious Villain!

 

How to nominate your favourite bundle of death:

• Jump in the comments of this post and yell their name! Usually it's "I nominate Captain Hook! his mustache is the epitome of nefariousness in villains!" or something like that, but if you feel like hiring a herald or something to jazz your nomination up a bit, go for it. It's what your villain would want.
  
  

One Quirk Later #3

I absolutely definitely have not been bingeing The Silver Eye. Or listening to Stay Gold on repeat. Or reading Batfam fanfiction.

Definitely not.

I will, however, admit to a) picking up my one-volume Lord of the Rings for a reread; b) joining a basketball team; and c) getting called back into the library for the first time in four months! (I mean. It's still going to be very spotty because they shouldn't need casuals due to decreased hours. But I do have a few shifts!)

Could I have these posts drafted out well beforehand?? well. Yes. But where would be the stress fun in that.

...all that to say. TIME FOR A QUIRK.

forging the Fellowship | how could I NOT do this tag

Julia at Lit Aflame created a new tag (*cough* in 2018) and it's LotR themed. So. Even though she tagged me approximately 365 years ago, I'm still going to do it, and with thanks. :D

So for this tag, I "forge my own Fellowship" out of book characters. Which is cool! I get to pick my own party! (To try to cut down on the infinite possibilities [and also, once I drag these characters out of their storyworlds, awkward explanations] I'm going to limit myself to characters from books that are at least partly fantasy.

The Questions

1. [The Ring Bearer]: If you could choose, which of the four races would you be: Elf, Dwarf, Human, or Hobbit?

Hobbit. Their lives are sO SOFT AND DOMESTIC. Lovely rambling houses and green hills and good food. Parties and soft curly hair and bare feet and fireworks. Books and armchairs and fireplaces.

Yes, the occasional hobbit gets picked for the Death Trials (aka holding the One Ring), but that was, like, two in the the history of hobbits?? I'll be fine.

(*rereads question* ...wait, am I supposed to be the ring bearer? NOOO I wanted to be a regular hobbit!!)

Fine. If I had to be the ring bearer, I'd rather be an elf. (Even though canonically only hobbits can handle holding the One Ring.) Because elves can run fast and I can't imagine trying to cross Middle Earth on hobbit legs. Ugh.

2. [Gandalf the Grey]: A wise/powerful elder/mentor character:

Sunshine Blogger

Micaiah @ Notebooks and Novels tagged me for the Sunshine Blogger Tag: thank you, Micaiah! (This is my first time actually getting tagged by name, so that's awesome! :D )

Here are the rules:

...Answer 11 questions from your nominee
...Tag 11 bloggers
...Ask them 11 new questions


So, because I'm terrible at introductions, let's jump straight in, shall we?

--{ What is your favorite type of post to write?}--

Ooh. I've only been blogging for - *counts on fingers* *gives up and looks at calendar* two months? Two months. And I don't know... mostly I've written waffle-posts?

I like writing posts about things that I can't normally talk about because #nonwriters. Like crazy history things or a cute way for your characters to meet (haven't written that one no you never saw it okay?) or how hard it is to come up with names (no haven't done that yet either) ...Maybe ask me again in a few months when I've written more posts??

--{ When did you start writing?}--

Writing stories? And because I wanted to, not because I had to for school? Maybe twelve, I think. (These stories were all rubbish.) I was thirteen when I started my first 'novel' - I'm still working on it, although it's barely recognizable. (It was full of cliches and the MC was perfect and could do no wrong. I still have trouble with her. 😞)

--{ What is one piece of advice you'd like to give to new bloggers?

[I am a new blogger??]

The obvious piece of advice is that blogging is all about the community - make friends. Be a friend. "A man who has friends must himself be friendly" (Proverbs 18:24) and all that.

Assuming these new bloggers know that, though, I'd say: before you start making friends with everyone, and leaving your URL everywhere so they can find you, make sure your blog looks neat. Not tacky; not amateurish. (Yes, you can always go back and fiddle with the code to your heart's content, but you only have one chance to make a first impression.) I have no idea if there are guidelines as to what looks good and what looks like - well - a Blogger blog?! - but you can judge by eye. Does it look professional? And by that I don't mean stiff, unfriendly professional; I just mean neat! (Neat like we can trust you as a writer?) (...??... What are you trying to say, Jem?)

--{ Do you prefer Microsoft Word or Google Docs?}--

Microsoft Word. I've never actually used Google Docs.

--{ What member of the Fellowship of the Ring can you relate to the most?}--

Gimli: hates running. grumpy and aggressive.

Legolas: facial expressions.

Aragorn: '200% done' facial expressions.

Frodo: tired.

Sam: PO-TAY-TERS and would hit sleazy guys with a saucepan.

Merry: sassy lines and leads Pippin into trouble.

Pippin: gets into trouble and hadn't realised the non-glorified consequences of war (same for Merry).

[Hobbits in general: eat a lot, enjoy home comforts and parties, all that stuff. Also short, cute, curly hair, barefoot, and live in adorable homes. #lifegoals ]

Gandalf: is gone most of the time you need him. harried by the responsibility of looking after all these crazy hobbits/people/etc who insist on running rings around him. also messy hair.

Boromir: human. actually human. tries, fails, and is sorry.

[You were probably not looking for a five-minute lecture.] [Be grateful I didn't bring the PowerPoint slides.]

--{ How are you pursuing your dreams right now? }--

RIGHT now? I am pursuing my dreams by ignoring them.

*reads over last sentence*

That wasn't the right answer, was it... Let me elaborate.

I am pursuing my dreams of working in the library by ignoring my imminent assessment in my tertiary studies in that area. And I'm pursuing my dreams of finishing a novel by ignoring that too because I'm "working on my assessment".

*reads over that again*

Still not working, is it?

Huh.

--{ What is the hardest part of being a writer?}--

Writing.

The end.

Seriously, I don't know. I'm only on first drafts - never done serious book edits, never worried about publication. I do know, from a few short story competitions, that rejection is hard - especially when you loved your story with all your heart and thought it was perfect.

Apart from that, the hardest part is writing. I mean, it's solitary, and you end up all hunched, and you get grumpy from your characters being grumpy or misbehaving, and you spend so many hours working just to find a plot hole that renders all those words useless.

Don't give up, guys. Your story will be worth it.

*thanks self for the pep talk*

--{ What is your favorite hot drink? }--

I once had a caramel hot chocolate. *dies from deliciousness*

*comes back to finish post*

*and see if I can scrounge some more caramel hot chocolate somewhere*

I suppose I should mention here: I'm one of those almost not-a-real-writer writers. I don't drink coffee. Yes, you read that right. I write without caffeine. How do I manage? Well, it's quite tricky, actually. The human body was not made to function as a writer without caffeine.

(But I've heard the stuff's addictive? don't want that? and the only coffee I've ever tried was a mockuccino [how do you even spell that] I think? and while the caramel flavour was great, the coffee flavour was "I think someone burnt something??")

(As an example: my sister made chocolate truffle ball things. They have coffee neatly balanced with cocoa and sugar and biscuit, and they are so. good. But today I got to the middle of mine and the last bit was a big lump of pure coffee and it got stuck in my tooth and I nearly died. I have decided that when I die, I don't want it to be by coffee. And I have now warned my sister about putting coffee death in her chocolate balls.)

--{ How do you come up with your story ideas? }--

I do not actively "come up with" story ideas. They come to me. If they didn't I would be relieved and not write and enjoy the calmness of ordinary life.

Unfortunately characters keep knocking on my brain and insisting I need to know their story; the only way to do that is to write it, and I'll know how it ends when I get there. (AKA I don't plot.) These characters typically do not even have the decency to come with names. So I spend hours trying to find one that suits them, and they are invariably fussy about what suits them.

Bulking up my story's plot, on the other hand, is hard. And requires work. Which usually consists of me spending a day sitting staring at the paper, then ignoring the story until an amazing plot thread/twist/complication pops into my head, at which point I 'write through' it (a page or so, explaining to myself how it will work and talking through the problems/holes).

This has been a crazy rant by a sleep-deprived writer. Now, the weather.

--{ Which do you prefer, ebooks or paperbacks? }--

I only got Kindle (on my laptop) a month ago.

PAPERBACKS HOW COULD YOU EVEN ASK.

I mean, ebooks are typically cheaper, but I don't tend to buy many new books anyway (I am a devoted library member).

And hard copies of books are so much better and asdasdlfkj how can you even ask that??

--{ What is one book that has made you cry? }--

The first book I ever remember crying over was Seven Little Australians. Probably you haven't read it. It's about a family of seven kids who have a stern dad and a sweet step-mother and those kids are just horrors - without meaning to be bad. It's a classic Australian kids' book, anyway.

Despite this book, I TRUSTED authors when I was young. (My mum pre-read our books, which maybe had something to do with my trust.) I might have gotten anxious, but deep down I knew the characters couldn't die.

HAHAHAHA

(I read more books with characters dying, now, but I just get bitter instead of crying?? like that makes sense??)

So those are my answers to Micaiah's Sunshine Blogger tag. Now before I get onto the rest of the rules, a little maths.

(No, seriously, bear with me.)

If I tag eleven people, assuming they complete the tag in exactly one week, next week there will be eleven people tagging eleven more people. Each. So:

Week 0: Me. Tag 11 people. Total 1.
Week 1: 11 people, tag 121 people. Total 12.
Week 2: 121 people, tag 1331 people. Total 133.
Week 3: 1331 people, tag 14641 people. Total 1464 (plus the 14641 people who will be doing this next week).


If the maths was unclear, sorry. But what I'm trying to say is: I'm going to break the rules, giving maths as my excuse. Do you think we know 1464(+14641!) people among us?? I know this doesn't take into account people being tagged twice, but I don't want to be a bother by tagging people who've done this plenty of times already. (If you are always open to being tagged, comment and tell me, and I'll keep you in mind!)

Anyway. I am going to break the rules and tag three people. Only do it if it's convenient, of course. (if inconvenient do it all the same)

Hannah @ Ink Blots and Coffee Stains
Melissa @ Quill Pen Writer
Miss March @ Sunshiny Corner

(As far as I can see you haven't done this tag recently? Not that it would really matter, because the questions change every time, but I don't want to be a bother.) (did I already say that in this post?) (help I'm trying to be cool but my real personality is bleeding through) *takes a few days off from blogging to get my cool online persona back*


And here are my questions:

[Hang on, is there supposed to be a theme? like sunshiny stuff or something? because it doesn't say and I've thought up some random questions that I'd love to see you answer but really have nothing to do with sunshine??]

--{1. Is there a story that you've always wanted to write, but haven't yet?}--
--{2. What tv show/movie have you binge-watched the worst?}--
--{3. You know those innocent little mistakes we make that are so. embarrassing. they keep you up at night. five years later. Those. Tell me about one of them? (I promise I won't tell.) (I might put it in a story though?)}--
--{4. What's your biggest NOTP?}--
--{5. Would you rather be attacked by one horse-sized duck or a hundred duck-sized horses? (seriously I want to know)}--
--{6. Is there a song you've been listening to on repeat?}--
--{7. Who is the first person that pops into your head when you think "weird"?}--
--{8. What's your biggest pet peeve?}--
--{9. Oxford comma or no?}--
--{10. If you could pick a name for yourself, what would it be?}--
--{11. Why did you start a blog?}--


I hope you have fun with these! - and everyone else, I'd love to read your answers to ANY of the questions, in the comments!