Ozmoot 2024 – Day 2 – Afternoon

Tolkien, Faith, and the Final Eucatastrophe with Elizabeth Lyon

  • Tolkien’s Catholic faith is well known to most of us
  • It is easy to look past through it’s familiarity
  • What is evidence it made it’s way into his fiction?
    • Often appears in his letters
    • Appeared in “On Fairy Stories” re subcreation
    • “I am a Christian which can be deduced from my stories”
  • In what way did his faith shape his fiction, especially LOTR
    • Where is the religious sensibility in the book?
    • The LOTR is infused with the same light that illuminates the man who wrote it
  • What of March 25th?
  • The date of the destruction of the Ring
    • The Catholic Annunciation. Date of the Conception of Christ
    • First day of the new age of middle earth
    • Annunciation day was the start of the New Year in most European countries in Medieval times. Celebrated as a new beginning
    • 25th March is sometimes also marked as the date of the crucifixion
  • The aftermath – On Mount Doom
    • Like a passion – A merging a triumph and tragedy, sorrow and joy
    • But the tale goes on
  • Resurrection
    • Still to come. Not until the end of each character’s journey
    • Renewal of the Shire
    • Hope for final healing for most of our characters, but offstage
  • The Mirror of Galadriel
    • His work is a mirror to the real world and a person’s view of it
    • Especially the quotes where she says what it may or may not show
  • Questions
    • Q: What did you think he didn’t duplicate the final battle?
    • A: Don’t really know. It was not complete when he died
    • Q: Do you like the generally positive and hopefully writing of Tolkien
    • A: I read widely but Tolkien helpped me at a difficult stage in my life. Reads other things though

Memories of Another Land with Peter Kenny

  • Galadriel
  • Three brothers who all perished in the first age. Touch by grief early
  • Denies Feanor tresses of hair but gives them to Gimli
  • Comes to Middle Earth
  • Comes into contact with Mellian and Celeborn
  • Video of the poem with various pictures added
  • 2nd version online

The Future of Creative Writing: Lessons From Tolkien with Julian Barr

  • Close reading of fiction engage the motor-cortex of the brain
  • How are things for authors these days?
    • Writing can feel like taking a vow of poverty
    • Most authors make also zero money
  • How does Tolkien’s literary career give lessons to today’s authors?
  • Creative angle
    • Your voice matters. His own perspective of philology was unique
    • But he wrote to be read. To his friends and family
    • So many people want to write a book but worry their perspective is too strange. But reads crave a different voices
    • ChatGPT creates fairly bland and generic words
  • Have good people around you
    • eg Inklings
    • Encouragement, educated feedback, Good reviews and recommendations to others
    • Writing is a lonely art. May be responsible for depression in authors.
    • The most productive authors lift each other up
    • rejection happens to everybody. Tolkien was rejected
  • Cultivate relationships with your readers
    • Tolkien did more so than most authors
    • Requests for details about Gandalf and the Necromancer feed into the LOTR
    • Probably mostly enjoyed others who liked Arda
    • Use social media. Connect with others. Give and don’t take. Don’t just do marketing
  • Build a portfolio with the eye to the commercial
    • Art need not exclude commerce
    • Tolkien created all sorts of works, no initial market for them
    • Tolkien knew that people liked Hobbits so he eventually did that
    • But danger of writing the same book or series and nothing else
    • Can you another name if other books are significantly different
  • Advances aren’t everything
    • A third of Australian authors reported not getting any advances. That might not be as bad as it sounds
    • A failure to earn out an advance can be a big black mark
    • The LOTR had no advance and got 50% of the profits instead
  • Patience and Persistence are a key
    • In 1937 Tolkien had the desire to write fiction full time
    • He didn’t achieve his desire until the last years of his life
    • He didn’t get serious money until the 1960s
    • Many budding authors disappointed with the life
    • The ones who make a living hold on through the dark times
  • Questions
    • Q: How do you find your own inklings
    • A: Join a writers group. Ads with writing societies. Very hit and miss. Signum lso has groups around it’s creative-writing classes
    • Q: What is you writing process?
    • A: Write every day, just a little bit
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