Notes from Middle Earth: Every Novel Needs A Detailed Back Story

Backstories are extremely important in creating a setting. We must write a history, an ecology, a governmental system and many other things to make a believable setting.

A Question About Samwise Gamgee…and Tolkien’s Answer

Over at Noel Campbell’s blog, he has posited an interesting question about Samwise Gamgee from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.  The question was quite good, and caused me to peruse Tolkien’s letters for the answer. The question is this: Who would history say destroyed the ring if Samwise had told the story?  To quote Mr. Campbell:

Tolkien on Allegory

For years we have heard the story that J.R.R. Tolkien, creator of Middle Earth, never intended for any of his books to be allegory at all even though the Christian community rallies around him as a writer of Christian fiction.  It is true that we can see many images of Christ in the characters of

Tolkien on Tolkien: Frodo’s Other Option

For those of us who have read The Lord of the Rings, we all thrill when Frodo finally throws the One Ring into the crack of Mount Doom, but according to Tolkien’s own letters Frodo had one other option once he possessed the Dark One’s Ring. In a letter to a fan, one Eileen Elgar, who

Tolkien on Tolkien: Why Must The One Ring Be Destroyed?

I absolutely love J.R.R. Tolkien.  He is, in my opinion, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and certainly is (for fantasy writers at least) the great grandfather of modern fantasy novels. I often discuss Tolkien’s works with others, and one question that always comes up is “why did they have to destroy

Tolkien on Inspiration

Today’s post is fortuitous in that Tolkien is again in the news.  Yesterday NPR ran a story about an ancient Roman ring that may have been the inspiration for The One Ring in Tolkien’s Middle Earth epic.  You can find “The Vyne” here, but the summary of the story is that Tolkien was brought in

Tolkien’s 5 Tips for Writing to an Audience

One of the most important things a writer must consider is the audience.  Who will read this massive tome we are constructing?  To what group of people are we directing our story?  J.R.R. Tolkien considered this in retrospect after The Hobbit had been on the shelves for a while.  He was asked the following questions by The

Tolkien’s 5 Tips for Creating Complex Heroes

Tolkien’s letters are rich with information about J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing process.  I wrote a post last week about Aragorn being Tolkien’s example of an epic hero, and someone posted: “But Frodo Baggins is the hero of the LOTR trilogy, right?”  I would argue that he is not, but only one of three or four characters who together

Tolkien’s 10 Tips for Creating Epic Heroes

One of my most popular posts is Tolkien’s 10 Tips for Writers, in which I glean from J.R.R. Tolkien’s letters of his wisdom about writing.  Today I will delve into his letters again, but will focus on the epic character Aragorn and ask Professor Tolkien how he created great characters. 1.  Motivational Mirrors – Tolkien

Tolkien’s 10 Tips for Writers

I have long been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien.  Every year, when school dismisses for summer break, I read The Lord of the Rings.  This year I will read it to my children and do all the voices for them.  Tolkien was a brilliant writer, but what if we could sit down with him and ask