Yahoo Forum Archive

Author: Ariel · ID: 162 · Races: Hobbits [106]: General
Reviewer: Cuthalion · 2006-11-16 13:02:50
Ariel has a skilled hand with characterization, her heroes are
remarkable portraits of our favorite hobbits, her prose is elegant and
clever ,and her erotic tales are tastefully handled and stunningly
beautiful (aside from the fact that she's an amazing beta!)
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Author: NeumeIndil · ID: 618 · Genres: Drama [107]: General
Reviewer: Súlriel · 2006-11-16 13:18:59
I always know I'll enjoy reading when I see Neume's name on a story.
I've followed her series of romantic sagas for quite some time but am
always delighted to see her skills turned to humor or drama as her skill
as a writer and her voice, that I enjoy so much, come through clearly
regardless of the genre.
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Author: NeumeIndil · ID: 618 · Genres: Humor [50]: General
Reviewer: Súlriel · 2006-11-16 13:19:36
I always know I'll enjoy reading when I see Neume's name on a story.
I've followed her series of romantic sagas for quite some time but am
always delighted to see her skills turned to humor or drama as her skill
as a writer and her voice, that I enjoy so much, come through clearly
regardless of the genre.
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Author: NeumeIndil · ID: 618 · Times: Late Third Age [26]: Fixed-Length
Ficlet
Reviewer: Súlriel · 2006-11-16 13:20:01
I always know I'll enjoy reading when I see Neume's name on a story.
I've followed her series of romantic sagas for quite some time but am
always delighted to see her skills turned to humor or drama as her skill
as a writer and her voice, that I enjoy so much, come through clearly
regardless of the genre.
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Author: Vana Tuivana · ID: 588 · Genres: Romance [51]: Poetry
Reviewer: Rhapsody · 2006-11-16 16:26:30
Vana is one of the most creative poet I ever seen. All her works are
outstanding or are written in such an unique free style format that
leaves me wondering every time how she did that! And I quickly re-read
her work again& and again. I admire her craft in this and how she
manages, mostly the Finweans, come alive so much through her works.
Because this is what she brings to the reader: a living painting where
so much is happening that you simply need to read it often. From
romance, to drama, to humour& is there anything you cannot write about Vana?
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Author: Vana Tuivana · ID: 588 · Genres: Drama [107]: Poetry
Reviewer: Rhapsody · 2006-11-16 16:26:53
Vana is one of the most creative poet I ever seen. All her works are
outstanding or are written in such an unique free style format that
leaves me wondering every time how she did that! And I quickly re-read
her work again& and again. I admire her craft in this and how she
manages, mostly the Finweans, come alive so much through her works.
Because this is what she brings to the reader: a living painting where
so much is happening that you simply need to read it often. From
romance, to drama, to humour& is there anything you cannot write about Vana?
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Author: Imhiriel · ID: 702 · Times: First Age and Prior [23]:
Fixed-Length Ficlet
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2006-11-16 16:53:33
Imhiriel is a relatively new, and quite promising, addition to the ranks
of Tolkien fanfic writers. She is a skilled drabblist and writer of
ficlets, able to evoke complex memories, beauty and emotion, in just a
few words. Like Tolkien, Imhiriel often imbues her description with
incredible magic and grace. She is bold enough to tackle Elves as well
as Men in her short pieces, and succeeds in conveying the timeless
beauty of the Elder Race.

I would like to see what Imhiriel can do with longer stories.

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Author: Imhiriel · ID: 702 · Times: Late Third Age [26]: Fixed-Length Ficlet
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2006-11-16 16:54:33
Imhiriel is a recent and very promising addition to the ranks of Tolkien
fanfic writers. She packs a wallop of sensory detail into 100-word
drabbles, writes beautiful description, and her style is often
reminiscent of Tolkien in its conveyence of beauty, grandeur and hints
of magic.

I look forward to seeing more from her in the future.
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Author: Imhiriel · ID: 702 · Times: The Great Years [56]: Fixed-Length
Ficlet
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2006-11-16 16:59:15
Imhiriel is a relatively new, and quite promising, addition to the ranks
of Tolkien fanfic writers. She is a skilled drabblist and writer of
ficlets, able to evoke complex memories, beauty and emotion, in just a
few words. Like Tolkien, Imhiriel often imbues her description with
incredible magic and grace. She can sketch a variety of different
people, from Ioreth to Elrond, and capture moments of their lives and
pieces of their heart, with equal credibility.

I would like to see what Imhiriel can do with longer stories.

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Author: Alassante · ID: 322 · Genres: Alternate Universe [22]: General
Reviewer: Rhapsody · 2006-11-16 17:09:44
Alassante is an amazing author that I saw growing more in every story
she wrote. Even in her older stories you can see the talent and
inventiveness in her writing. Paradox is the story that she is working
on currently, but besides that she has another alternate universe in the
works, which shows her creativity and knowledge of Tolkiens world. Add
romance to the mix as well and you will find yourself reading story
after story from her. They can be quite addictive! Her characters feel
so incredibly realistic to you and you feel that you can sympathise with
them easily, I know that Alassante spends a big deal on character
development and fleshes them out with care: this most certainly shows in
her stories. As for canon and following Tolkiens ideas, in Paradox Al
gives us a Valinor in the 4th age, which feels so realistic to you, even
though we never read so much about that. In this sense, Alassante does a
good job at world building in her story, she simply fills in the gaps or
shows us how that world must have looked like. Even the canon characters
have this unique feel about them and I often enjoy those written
accordingly to her take on them.

Als story techniques, especially in [Paradox of the fourth age] is
something I never came across before, not even in original works. She
simply writes the paradox in her story and not in a forced manner, but
in a natural way that you can feel the consequences of the past, which
is slowly being changed in the present. I simply marvel at such writing
technique and how she pulls that off: simply thumbs up!
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Author: Branwyn · ID: 240 · Genres: Romance [51]: General
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2006-11-16 17:16:56
Branwyn's skills extend to the depiction not only of romance, but of
sensuality and sex itself, and all the dimensions in between those
tangled things.

Her grasp of the dynamics of a new marriage is stunning in both its
consideration of the rank and background of the bride and groom, and the
universal problems and delights of the honeymoon season. As a bride and
groom start to share their lives together, there will be both, to which
the newlyweds must learn to adapt. Branwyn succeeds magnificently in the
one romance she has written, where one of Tolkien's most famous couples
must cope with an unanticipated difficulty - that of not understanding
each other's sexual needs or having the sexual experience to even make a
good guess at them.

Branwyn weaves this seriocomic tale with splendid grace, economy of
words, and her customary humor, which ranges from dry to howlingly
funny. The use of sharp, strong humor is something I have not seen in
her other works, understandable, since Branwyn seems above all to be a
writer who places plot and characterisation above all, and knows how to
let the humor flow out of the situation rather than force a situation to
create humor; though she is certainly a skilled enough writer to take
advantage of the potential for humor and nurture it! (go read the third
part of BOOK LEARNING if you doubt me. I defy you not to at least smile)

She should really write romance more often. Not only can she write
erotica that is tastefully sexy/sexual, but she brings out the true love
and respect that the newlyweds feel for each other.


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Author: Imhiriel · ID: 702 · Times: Early Third Age [7]: Fixed-Length Ficlet
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2006-11-16 17:22:14
Imhiriel is a relatively new, and quite promising, addition to the ranks
of Tolkien fanfic writers. She is a skilled drabblist and writer of
ficlets, able to evoke complex memories, beauty and emotion, or
cultural/political implications, in just a few words. Like Tolkien,
Imhiriel often imbues her description with incredible magic and grace.
She can sketch a variety of different people, from earthy warriors and
old women to High-Elves, and capture moments of their lives and pieces
of their heart, with equal credibility.

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Author: Alassante · ID: 322 · Times: First Age and Prior [23]: General
Reviewer: Rhapsody · 2006-11-16 17:22:48
Al and the Fëanorians, the Fëanorians and Alassante: what can I say
which I havent said to her before. She has her favourites amongst them,
but her knowledge about them all shows through in her works. Give her a
plot bunny and she comes back with a satisfied bunny and a greatly
written story! Add romance (or smut) to the mix as well and you will
find yourself reading story after story from her. They can be quite
addictive! Her characters feel so incredibly realistic to you and you
feel that you can sympathise with them easily, even though you know,
deep down that they have done evil things too. Her drabble series in
particular are just a stunning piece of art. To exactly get the meaning
across in an limited amount of words, to write those works correctly
language wise and put down a superb portrayal of those final moments and
thoughts: simply wow. It is not always easy to evoke emotions and put
down a moment effectively, but she simply pulls that off. But in every
piece in which the Fëanorians feature, Curufin mostly, come to life to
me. And darn, you should stop writing Curufin so sexy! It is just too
distracting! But all in all, Alassante is a all round first age writer:
she combines this with her unique voice in writing, sometimes crazy
ideas, but we all know shes on a mission to redeem her favourite
Fëanorian and make us love them even more. And honestly, I join her
gladly on this goal.
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Author: Marta · ID: 16 · Genres: Romance [51]: Fixed-Length Ficlet
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2006-11-16 17:35:52
Marta usually employs an approach of somber gravity to Tolkien
fanfiction, so it is a delightful surprise, as well as an indication of
her range as an author, to see her flavor a tale with a bit of light,
romantic mischief.
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Author: Alawa · ID: 103 · Genres: Drama [107]: General
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-11-16 23:55:09
Alawa is one of my favorite Aragorn writers; she always manages to
characterize him as a man who in some way transcends distinctions that
can capture others--he avoids being confined to one class or people or
mood. When humor is called for, he has it believable; likewise grief;
and the setting of her stories is often very important as well. The
landscape becomes a presence that impacts the tone of the story in a way
I can only admire.

And perhaps because in her other fiction-writing incarnation, she is an
accomplished poet, her style has that fluid, clean feeling I get from
those who have an intuitive sense for the weight and propriety of a
particular word, thus it feels as if every word is used to its best
advantage. She can therefore cover vast swaths of temporal and psychic
space in a very short space, yet we never feel as if we are missing
anything--she homes in on what needs to be shown and quietly covers the
rest over in artful silence.

If you're looking for Aragorn, or for stories from unusual and lively
original characters, you should definitely try out Alawa's stories.
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Author: Aliana · ID: 208 · Races: Men [73]: General
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-11-16 23:55:30
I greatly envy the authors who have a unique tonal style that doesn't
sacrifice precision for content; Aliana has that sort of style and uses
it to great effect. Like other authors I've mentioned in my reviews,
this seems to come from an intuitive sense for both the meaning of a
word but also how it fits with others. What's unique about Aliana's work
is her ability to characterize without need of a name or a face--she has
a knack for capturing the emotional heart of the matter and giving it
expression without having to rely on these sorts of mundane trappings.

Her work is reflective, highly emotionally colored, yet it's not
overwhelming, and there's usually a lovely bittersweet flavor to them
when she's not putting her readers through the oppressive bleakness
appropriate to a siege. She's great when using a retrospective
perspective, cutting in and out of memory and the present without any
difficulty or rough transitions. Her work is well worth reading,
particularly for fans of Gondor and the Houses of Healing.
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Author: Altariel · ID: 181 · Times: Fourth Age and Beyond [31]: General
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-11-16 23:55:47
The queen of brevity strikes again--I always have absolute faith that
Altariel will manage somehow to find the most economic way to express an
idea or an emotion. Whether drabbling or writing short pieces (or even
novels), she doesn't waste a single word. Her style is very clean and
eloquent, and when she gives us an image, it remains with the reader.
You can't mistake her work with anyone else's, I dare say.

Here, she manages to draw on other works we're familiar with to give
depth to her pieces; but even if we aren't familiar with them, there's
enough there that the stories can stand on their own, and very well at
that. Her Faramir is always well characterized--she knows how to capture
mood but also a lively intelligence that doesn't need to be direct to be
pointed. She also shows the complexity of his own emotional heritage
very well--his balance between Denethor and Finduilas, as it were, and
the way that trauma has affected him, all while avoiding excess. Any
work by Altariel is worth reading, and then reading again.
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Author: Altariel · ID: 181 · Genres: Drama [107]: Fixed-Length Ficlet
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-11-16 23:56:04
The queen of brevity strikes again--I always have absolute faith that
Altariel will manage somehow to find the most economic way to express an
idea or an emotion. Whether drabbling or writing short pieces (or even
novels), she doesn't waste a single word. Her style is very clean and
eloquent, and when she gives us an image, it remains with the reader.
You can't mistake her work with anyone else's, I dare say.

Here, she manages to draw on other works we're familiar with to give
depth to her pieces; but even if we aren't familiar with them, there's
enough there that the stories can stand on their own, and very well at
that. Her Faramir is always well characterized--she knows how to capture
mood but also a lively intelligence that doesn't need to be direct to be
pointed. She also shows the complexity of his own emotional heritage
very well--his balance between Denethor and Finduilas, as it were, and
the way that trauma has affected him, all while avoiding excess. Any
work by Altariel is worth reading, and then reading again.
-----------------------------------------
Author: aervir · ID: 614 · Genres: Drama [107]: Fixed-Length Ficlet
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-11-16 23:56:17
Drabbles can be difficult to write--framing is always an issue, and the
more one tries to capture, the harder it is to find a way to express it
compactly while still showing the essential relationships. Aervir
manages to put two characters into comparison here by finding a common
theme that governs how the drabble unfolds, and she ends on a question,
reflected in the title. Very tight writing to get all of that in such a
small space in an effective manner.
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Author: AmandaK · ID: 321 · Genres: Alternate Universe [22]: General
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-11-16 23:56:35
It's always good to see a well-done alternate universe story. The
category can cover for so many minor errors or timid tamperings, and
short AUs are always viewed somewhat suspiciously by me as I wonder how
much the author can really develop in that space. However, AmandaK does
work out a scenario where we do see the drastic alteration of Boromir's
character as the Ring consumes him. She also doesn't flinch from the
darkness of the story but plays it out to the end through a short
epilogue. In that, she takes advantage of the genre's basic premise and
gives us a satisfying meditation on what might have happened had Boromir
successfully claimed the Ring, even though events are not the central
focus but character.
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Author: annmarwalk · ID: 177 · Races: Dwarves [12]: General
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-11-16 23:56:52
Annmarwalk is very good at describing a single scene or moment.
Depending on her aim, the characters' interior feelings may be the
object, or it may be some particular, lushly described thing in the
world that comes into focus, prompting a character's reaction. Her
'palette' as it were is bright--I find her at her most vivid describing
the profusion of color (emotional or physical) that surrounds joy and
lingering over it. But she always adapts herself to the character,
too--we can see this in her dwarf-centric stories very clearly, which
brings out another thing that seems to be important to Ann--craftmanship
or craftwomanship, as the case may be. The productive arts seem to show
up in key places as something more than simply coloration.
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Author: annmarwalk · ID: 177 · Races: Men [73]: Fixed-Length Ficlet
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-11-16 23:57:09
Annmarwalk is very good at describing a single scene or moment.
Depending on her aim, the characters' interior feelings may be the
object, or it may be some particular, lushly described thing in the
world that comes into focus, prompting a character's reaction. Her
'palette' as it were is bright--I find her at her most vivid describing
the profusion of color (emotional or physical) that surrounds joy and
lingering over it. But she always adapts herself to the character,
too--we can see this in her dwarf-centric stories very clearly, which
brings out another thing that seems to be important to Ann--craftmanship
or craftwomanship, as the case may be. The productive arts seem to show
up in key places as something more than simply coloration.
-----------------------------------------
Author: annmarwalk · ID: 177 · Times: The Great Years [56]: General
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-11-16 23:57:23
Annmarwalk is very good at describing a single scene or moment.
Depending on her aim, the characters' interior feelings may be the
object, or it may be some particular, lushly described thing in the
world that comes into focus, prompting a character's reaction. Her
'palette' as it were is bright--I find her at her most vivid describing
the profusion of color (emotional or physical) that surrounds joy and
lingering over it. But she always adapts herself to the character,
too--we can see this in her dwarf-centric stories very clearly, which
brings out another thing that seems to be important to Ann--craftmanship
or craftwomanship, as the case may be. The productive arts seem to show
up in key places as something more than simply coloration.
-----------------------------------------
Author: annmarwalk · ID: 177 · Genres: Romance [51]: General
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-11-16 23:57:37
Annmarwalk is very good at describing a single scene or moment.
Depending on her aim, the characters' interior feelings may be the
object, or it may be some particular, lushly described thing in the
world that comes into focus, prompting a character's reaction. Her
'palette' as it were is bright--I find her at her most vivid describing
the profusion of color (emotional or physical) that surrounds joy and
lingering over it. But she always adapts herself to the character,
too--we can see this in her dwarf-centric stories very clearly, which
brings out another thing that seems to be important to Ann--craftmanship
or craftwomanship, as the case may be. The productive arts seem to show
up in key places as something more than simply coloration.
-----------------------------------------
Author: annmarwalk · ID: 177 · Races: Dwarves [12]: Fixed-Length Ficlet
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-11-16 23:57:50
Annmarwalk is very good at describing a single scene or moment.
Depending on her aim, the characters' interior feelings may be the
object, or it may be some particular, lushly described thing in the
world that comes into focus, prompting a character's reaction. Her
'palette' as it were is bright--I find her at her most vivid describing
the profusion of color (emotional or physical) that surrounds joy and
lingering over it. But she always adapts herself to the character,
too--we can see this in her dwarf-centric stories very clearly, which
brings out another thing that seems to be important to Ann--craftmanship
or craftwomanship, as the case may be. The productive arts seem to show
up in key places as something more than simply coloration.
-----------------------------------------