If there was a writer capable...

[littlemanpoet]

If there was a writer capable, and if you had your choice, which kind of Tolkienian book would you want the writer to write? Like...

The Silmarillion? .... mythic epic

The Lord of the Rings? .... a quest romance

The Hobbit .... a coming-of-age story redolent of Grimm fairy tales

Roverandom/Father Christmas Tales/Farmer Giles of Ham .... light hearted winsome tales

Leaf by Niggle/Smith of Wootton Major .... bittersweet elegies

There are various ways one could approach this, such as in terms of style, or spirit, or theme. I'm going for more than style, but do not care to insist upon "spirit of", nor "theme". So choose on the basis that seems most appropriate to you. The point is the choice .... and the "because", of course. I'm curious and really want to know. I think I know what I would pick, but won't say right away. Sorry, but you have to choose one.

[piosenniel]

A book covering the scope of The Silmarillion but written in the style of Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth.

What I would really like is for Mithadan to write an entire book: Tales From Tol Eressëa, such as the stories found HERE.

[Celuien]

I was a bit torn between selecting The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings but had to go with the latter.

I love the sense sweeping history and myth in the Silmarillion, but the characters feel distant (though beautifully drawn and complex) a lot of the time. I tend to be drawn to stories where I can try to imagine viewing the events through the characters eyes. That's hard with a Feanor, but very possible with Samwise Gamgee.

And the Lord of the Rings has a sense of history too, so it certainly isn't lacking there. I like the missing pieces aspect of the story too, where you don't hear the whole story. It adds to the wonder, mystery, and actually, the realism, of the story for me.

I guess it comes down to mythic epics being too...majestic, while the quest romance can incorporate my favorite aspects of the epics while remaining more approachable.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by The Minute Poetic Guy

The Silmarillion? .... mythic epic

The Lord of the Rings? .... a quest romance

The Hobbit .... a coming-of-age story redolent of Grimm fairy tales

The trouble with choosing is that... well... a choice must be made.

What Celuien says about the distance of characters keeping you from really being drawn in, which characters are distant aren't always the same from reader to reader. I am a big Feanor fan. I can see where he's coming from. As a simple example, I've got some artwork that I'd neither sell nor give as a gift in any foreseeable future, since it's simply too tied to me, and I'm merely an inexperienced teenager. Hobbits, though, astound me. They're so content with the average. No adventures... I'm rarely content with anything, so I don't often side with them. However I do side with the occasional adventurous hobbit that is willing to give up their comfort for the sake of others. I can easily feel tied to Bilbo or to Frodo and Sam, even to Merry and Pip.

In my characters, I like a bit of restlessness and willingness to do what others have not. This goes with good guys and bad guys. If I need a character that I can identify with, those are the two main attributes.

I can find them in all of Tolkien's stories! Heroes in general git into those categories.

My choice for reading material must go deeper, it seems.

The Hobbit is a fun tale, guiding you across Middle Earth with the party, showing you peoples and places, letting you observe their adventures, and eventually, sitting at Bilbo's kitchen table, it's done.

The Silmarillion, The Lays of Belariend in particular, never ends. It just keeps going. You read, and you're pulled into the beauty, majesty, and wonder of a time long passed, and you turn the page and see several hundred more to go and at some points, are somewhat like .

And yet, it has its allure. The characters amaze you, and there are some that specifically catch your eye: Feanor and Fingolfin are two. You see battles beyond your realm of experience, but that you can relate to. Against Morgoth; who hasn't felt that they were striving fruitlessly against overwhelming odds, but that their fight was too important to give up? Hm? Whose pride hasn't gotten them into tight spots? Who hasn't gone into something with an expectation to fail?

And yet it comes down to The Lord of the Rings. It ties in all aspects of every book you've ever liked (including, as you once mentioned to LMP, the Bible). You have your humble characters (Samwise the Loyal), your self-sacrificing (um... everyone, pretty much), other-sacrificing (Sauron, Saruman, Denathor, etc), unreachable (Galadriel, Gildor, Glorfindel, Aragorn), your nice guys (Faramir and Co., Butterbur), your jerks (Bill Ferny)... the list goes on. Pick an archetype and you'll find it.

But it also has the adventure! Whether it's Frodo's reminiscence of teenage shenanigans on private property or meeting Elves in the woods or marching to the Black Gate with the expectation of death, it's there.

And the love... fraternal love abounds, but if you're a fan of romance, you'll find it.

Sacrifice. Wonder. Really great imagery. Smell.

From start to finish, you aren't reading, you're witnessing. You're in the fog with Farmer Maggot, shivering with fear over hoof beats on the road. You're resting in the sun at Rivendell, restless in the City with Pip, weeping on the battlefield beside Eomer.

If another author could do it justice, I would say that The Lord of the Rings is what to aspire to.

[Son of Númenor]

Originally Posted by piosenniel

What I would really like is for Mithadan to write an entire book: Tales From Tol Eressëa, such as the stories found HERE.

Heartily seconded.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

If there was a writer capable, and if you had your choice, which kind of Tolkienian book would you want the writer to write? Like...

Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm. I have a big problem with this entire idea. Yeah, me, the RPGer. Yup.

I wouldn't want any other writer to write any kind of Tolkienian book. Why? Because it wouldn't be Tolkien and it wouldn't be that other writer. It would represent that writer trying to get into the imaginative space of another writer. Now, that might be a useful exercise for some writers, might be a way to explore the craft of writing and might be a way for fans to extend their experience of the ur=writer (ie, of Middle-earth in our case). Even a way for a writer to explore some of the inconsistencies and unexplored terrain of the ur-writer. Which is all find and good and nuffin' bad 'bout that at all. But I'm not sure it would lead to the kind of original experience of art which Tollers gives us and which lmp seems to imply with his qualification of "writer capable".

Every writer has his or her own imaginative space and to conform it to another writer's, well, that's fanfiction methinks rather than original art. It is true that we stand on the shoulders of giants to see farther, but ultimately that vision for a writer of Toller's calibre becomes a new vision. But maybe the question here isn't about creating art of the standard and originality of The Professor.

Perhaps our intrepid threader lmp merely wants to know which of Tolkien's books we want more of? Now, that is a different kettle of story. Maybe lmp wants more RPGs arising out of The Silm and Tolkien's other work and less out of LotR and this is his way of getting us to talk about it? Clever RPG mod, that boy.

[Firefoot]

I have to place my stake in the same camp as Celuien and Fea on this one. (Exellent post, Fea, by the way; I'd rep you for it but apparently I can't...)

I love both the Hobbit and the Silmarillion. Many of the most fascinating characters (to me) come from the Sil (Feanor, Turin, Maedhros, Fingolfin...), but at its heart the Sil is not so much a story about characters but the epic story of an age. It does not strike the same chords with me as LotR does. It isn't quite as personal. It takes certain aspects of LotR and expands those but neglects the rest.

TH is a delightful book. It makes you laugh, maybe makes you cry, but it lacks the grand scale and epic quality of LotR and the Sil.

But LotR takes all those elements and throws them into one. It's epic and historical but still story-like, humorous and light-hearted in parts, dark and serious in others, and still poignantly moving. And even though I love the characters in the Sil and TH, it's with the characters in LotR that I identify most. I see many aspects of myself in Frodo, admire Sam, love and sympathize with Merry and Pippin, and Aragorn is certainly a favorite. And as the story grows, it doesn't drag on or get out of proportion, but does just that: grows into something large and magnificent and beautiful but still with its humble roots in the Shire. It's a book that you can repeatedly open up and read favorite passages and they never seem to get old. As far as qualities I look for in a book, LotR is about as close to there as I get.

This caught my eye:

your self-sacrificing (um... everyone, pretty much)

Cross-posting with Bb.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

And lo! The brave knight Elempi did stand up to the Dark Lord Fordhim; and he said 'You shall control us no more!'

*ahem*

No other book ever written has had quite the same effect on me as The Silmarillion has. The Lord of the Rings may be the most beautiful book in the world, but The Sil goes above and beyond the world. That's the book I want to write. That is the book which stuns you into silence. It's the epic for me.

[Farael]

Well, to me is a no-brainer. Or sort of. While it would be amazing to hear some more about the dwarves in The Hobbit, or perhaps learn about other stories in LoTR.... there is one book by Tolkien that was never finished.

The Silmarillion was not "Done" and odds are, it would have never been. Yet it would be nice, should someone have the skill, imagination and sheer overall talent of Tolkien, to have a finished version of The Sil. No, not the cobbled together, full of sidenotes version that C. Tolkien has given us, I mean a work that stands by itself, with no appendixes or side-notes because everything is properly explained in the text.

Sure, it'd probably be twenty volumes a gazillion pages long each.... but even if it took a lifetime to read it, it would be definitely worth the ride.

[littlemanpoet]

I started reading Bêthberry's post and had to stop to answer a point she made, so I haven't read all the responses yet.

Fea pegged me. Spot on, deary.

I know that I have the capability to write a mythic epic. Or an elegy. Maybe even a Farmer Giles of Ham type book (Gob and Twiddle, anyone?). The reason I said Tolkienian is because no matter what I write, it's going to have the spirit of Tolkien at the back of it. That's simply part of who I am. Am I going to force such a thing? Not on your life. I agree that anybody who would have to force it, shouldn't be writing it. Which is why I said "a writer capable of it". That means someone who would not be forcing it. I hope that clears that up.

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Perhaps our intrepid threader lmp merely wants to know which of Tolkien's books we want more of? Now, that is a different kettle of story.

Precisely.

Now back to your regularly scheduled polling.....

[littlemanpoet]

Now I've read all your responses so far. Thanks, and very interesting points you all make. It's of course far too early to tell, but I'm not entirely surprised by the current lead that The Silmarillion has. I've been rereading it lately, due to a certain (coughRelativePowerscough) thread I've been working on, and I really am enjoying it! It's frankly the kind of work I'm most tempted to write. However, my vote goes to the elegies. I would personally love to read more works with that bittersweet poignancy of Smith of Wootton Major and Leaf by Niggle. There's a hunger there that I want to hunger along with.

Oh, and by the by, I think it would be cool if we had rpg's that came out of the Sil, though that was not part of my intention (would that I could claim it and tell the truth .

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Perhaps I'd have voted for one of your bittersweet elegies if I'd actually read them. Some Tolkien fan I am. In any case, since I pegged you, I'd better get a signed copy (free of charge, of course) when you publish.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

A thought worthy of a double post: What's stopping you from writing more than one story?

[Celuien]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

However, my vote goes to the elegies. I would personally love to read more works with that bittersweet poignancy of Smith of Wootton Major and Leaf by Niggle. There's a hunger there that I want to hunger along with.

Like Fea, I've never read them. How embarrassing! And my already frightfully long 'to read' list lengthens...

Bittersweet is the word. I think that's another part of what draws me into the LOTR. I still can't read the farewell at the Grey Havens (among other passages) without going all teary-eyed. The bittersweet ache for the changing world and loss of an era is beautiful and moving. I want so much to go to the Sea and watch the ships passing into the West. And then to ride back to the Shire with the Hobbits, pondering the vanished days of the Elves, knowing that the world will never be the same, while looking forward to the future with hope. Sigh. I think I'm rambling again.

In any case, LMP, can I join the waiting list for your book?

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

In any case, since I pegged you, I'd better get a signed copy (free of charge, of course) when you publish.

As long as you become President of my fan club.

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil[/quote

A thought worthy of a double post: What's stopping you from writing more than one story?

I have so many projects at various simmering to boiling stages on a many-burnered oven it isn't even funny.

Originally Posted by Celuien

In any case, LMP, can I join the waiting list for your book?

But of course! Though it may be a long, long wait before any of my stuff gets published. However, just pay attention to the upcoming Dueling Wizards Werewolf game and you'll get a taste of what I like to write. The first few posts are written and I'm eager; but I have a lot of deaths and what-not to write.

But that is turning into one major tangent! Back to it. I hope to 'hear' more replies to the original question.

And...... !!! ..... I'd like to put in a personal encouragement to all of you who have not read Tolkien's lesser known works, that you're really missing something! Go read them.

[davem]

Bit difficult to answer.

I suppose I'd initially go for something like Smith (though I wouldn't necessarily class it with Niggle - which is clearly an allegory along the lines of Pilgrim's Progress).

Then again, I love the 'childrens' stories like Roverandom & the Father Christmas Letters (I'd probably include TH in with these though, at least in the original edition) where Tolkien makes use of his Legendarium as background but clearly feels free to run with it, & not restrict himself to being consistent).

Just as an aside, Tolkien did plot out a sequel to Giles (the notes are included in the 50th anniversary edition of Giles).

I think we all regret that the final version of Tuor was left unfinished - same with The Notion Club Papers. More essays along the lines of OFS & the Smith Essay would be wonderful too. And will we ever get to read The Fall of Arthur or the New Volsungasaga (or even his translation of Beowulf come to that?).

I suppose in the end I can't decide, because it all depends on my mood - kind of like 'What would I like to read now ?'

Back me into a corner & I'd have to say I want more stories like Smith. But its probably an age thing. I know that it was the Aragorn/Legolas/Gimli storyline that appealed most to me when I first read LotR, now that section seems entertaining but a little cliched (a result I suppose of other fantasy tales & the movies, & its the story of Frodo, Sam & Gollum (& Merry, Pippin & Treebeard) which affects me most strongly.

Then again, I suppose there are two 'Smith's, aren't there - the version that's usually published, with text only, & the 'true' version with the Pauline Baynes illustrations, so to be absolutely precise my choice would be something like the Baynes illustrated SoWM.

[littlemanpoet]

davem, I'm always intrigued and entertained by such posts as you favor us with here. However, you answered the question in terms of which type of story by Tolkien you want; or at least, so it appears to me. Perhaps you would care to answer the question in terms of what type of story by an author capable, would you most like to read? If I must suggest it, think in terms of the categories I've mentioned, with the stories by Tolkien as their illustrations.

EDIT: Ah, I see you've voted anyway, so it's moot (as I expected, too ).

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I can't vote on this issue because it's a draw in my case. I would absolutely love to have another story like LotR by an author as wonderful with words and thoughts as Tolkien. It always has been, and I suspect will continue to be, my favorite book of his, full of broadness and depth alike. However, I do love his minor works as well, and would enjoy reading more stories that walk the fine line between real life allegory and pure Faerie like "Leaf" and "Smith" do.

Though I enjoy the children's books, I could live without them. And when I really stop to think about it, I could live without the Sil, UT, etc. as well, though I have read and enjoyed them. But they do not touch my heart the way the above mentioned books do. (I've also enjoyed reading some of Tolkien's essays, but they are not centrally important to me either.)

So, no vote, but a definite opinion (well, two) on this topic from me.