The Lord of the Rings discussion project

[azalea]

Originally posted by Nurvingiel
Fair enough Artanis. I have no idea how to go about this really, so my mind is a blank slate. (I very large blank slate, mind you. )
How do you think we should write our analyses?

I detailed how the intros should be done in the first post in this thread (I know it was a long post, but it does have some good info! ). That should answer your question. It seems that several people didn't actually read it, from some of the responses I've been getting! If you'd like more info, you can ask about specifics, or PM me.
Don't worry guys, if no one takes the first one, I'll do that instead of The Pyre of Denethor and The Houses of Healing. It will be a bit different than the ensuing intros since it's not part of the narrative, but it'll get us started, and maybe give people some idea of how to do an intro, as I know a lot of you haven't done one for the Silm project.
FYI, the Silm project intros kind of varied from member to member. I tried to post the guidelines to make this one more uniform (and a bit easier, IMO). As Artanis said, those lengthy ones in the Silm project are fine for that project, but more necessary there because of the subject matter. Here they can be simpler and more understated, while still providing the fodder for discussion that we need.

[azalea]

Originally posted by Nurvingiel
You know, I should be fine by just using Azalea's guidelines. I won't worry, I just really want to do a good job!
I don't mind reading a long discussion, especially about Tolkien.

Oops, cross post.
Don't worry, you'll do fine! Trust me, whatever you might leave out, you can be sure the rest of us will bring it up for discussion! We won't care how lame an intro is, we just want to discuss the chapters.

Edit: Yea, Brownjenkins, glad you're going for it!

[Artanis]

Originally posted by azalea
I detailed how the intros should be done in the first post in this thread (I know it was a long post, but it does have some good info! ).

Oopps! Your guidelines escaped me! And that's a shame, for they were good!

[crickhollow]

I can't believe i missed this thread , though I knew it was on its way. This is terrific!

Can I have either Chapters 2&3 or chapters 9 & 10 of Book V?

[azalea]

I had asked for a boardwide announcement about it, but I think the admins are preoccupied.
I put you down for Book V, ch. 2&3. If you want the other one, let me know, and it's yours if no one else has claimed it by then.

[crickhollow]

schpanks.

[Fat middle]

Originally posted by azalea
I had asked for a boardwide announcement about it, but I think the admins are preoccupied.
I put you down for Book V, ch. 2&3. If you want the other one, let me know, and it's yours if no one else has claimed it by then.

zorry. I forgot. Cannot now. Later.

BTW, could you please, write the text you want?

[azalea]

Originally posted by Fat middle
zorry. I forgot. Cannot now. Later.

BTW, could you please, write the text you want?

I did -- it's in the mod forum.
Just say "A project has started in the Lord of the Rings books forum. We will be discussing the book in detail, chapter by chapter (similar to the Silmarillion project). Please see the thread in that forum for details, and sign up to introduce a chapter, if you want to."
I would say leaving it up for a week would be long enough.

BTW, I forgot to mention the mechanics of it for those not involved in the other project. What we do is on the day your chapter is due, you start a new thread for it, titled something like "LotR discussion: Book 3, ch. 3&4" or whatever it is. Then I will stick it to the top of the forum for two weeks. Then I'll release it when the next section is due, but people can still make comments in it if they wish.

[jerseydevil]

Yes - I still want to do it and I'll do those chapters.

[azalea]

Great! I'll edit the assignment post to reflect that.
Now- Valandil asked if a map might be included, something about there being one in the Silm forum. Valandil, could you detail that again? I forgot exactly what it was, but it sounded like a great idea. And when he does that, maybe someone here would be able to post it for us.

[Nurvingiel]

JD's our go-to guy for hosting images. But we wouldn't want to impose...

Glad you're on board JD! This project is so exciting.

So who wants to do the forward? Would you care to do the honours Azalea?

[azalea]

If no one has taken it by tomorrow evening, I'll take that as one of mine instead of section 32.
At this point, we have (aside from section 1) all the sections taken for the first few months, which is good, and only two (aside from section 1) not taken in the first three books. That's fine if they're not all assigned by the time the project starts, because it'll leave some for latecomers, and if one isn't assigned by the time the section before it is posted, I'm sure we'll have plenty of people willing to do the intro. I know I certainly wouldn't mind.\

Edit: Thanks to whoever made the "assigned tos" a different color than the chapters, that was a good idea.

[Earniel]

There are enough maps of Middle-earth on the internet already, I don't think we'll have to put it on a website of our own to use it for the project. We can just link to some like these:

Middle Earth map

Another map of Middle-earth

And a third one for good measure

[Valandil]

Originally posted by Eärniel
There are enough maps of Middle-earth on the internet already, I don't think we'll have to put it on a website of our own to use it for the project. We can just link to some like these:

Middle Earth map

Another map of Middle-earth

And a third one for good measure

Are there any that show the progress of the characters, chapter-by-chapter? THAT was the kind of thing I was hoping we could do, to supplement our discussion!

[Valandil]

Azalea,

I've emailed Dunedain about this project. He said he wasn't able to come to the boards for a bit longer, but definitely wanted to do something. Can I ask for these for him tentatively and let him confirm? Or do you want all requests made first-hand?

33. Book V, ch. 9&10: The Last Debate and The Black Gate Opens

36. Book VI, ch. 4&5: The Field of Cormallen and The Steward and the King

[crickhollow]

I got your PM, Valandil, so Azalea, go ahead and put Dunedain down for The Passing of the Grey Company and the Muster of Rohan, and put me down for The Last Debate and The Black Gate Opens

[azalea]

I'll be happy to do that, Crickhollow, but I want to say, as my co-moderator in this forum, feel free to go into that post and edit it to reflect new assignments if you want to.

[Earniel]

Originally posted by Valandil
Are there any that show the progress of the characters, chapter-by-chapter? THAT was the kind of thing I was hoping we could do, to supplement our discussion!

Ah, you mean like a map that shows the road the Fellowship is following and how far they are each chapter. I don't know if we can find anything like that. That is, I haven't looked yet.

[Nurvingiel]

Each person could update the map as they finish a chapter. We could all save one of the maps Valandil posted to our computers, then edit them in paint, outlining their progress to our chapter.
As each chapter goes up, we'd have a new map to add to.
Then we could start a website for the sole purpose of hosting the images. I will do this, I just need a good free webhost that isn't Bravenet - they stink at images.

[azalea]

That would be great, Nurvi! Thanks. Although, I'll need some step by step instructions to do what you're talking about. I understood some of it, but not all. I'm tech illiterate.

PS: Looks like I'm up to do section 1. That means The Pyre of Denethor and The Houses of Healing is up for grabs. I'll make the change in the assignment post. Meanwhile, start reading, everyone (if you're reading along, that is)! Your assignment: read the Foreword and the Prologue by next Friday. I'm actually going to TRY to get the intro posted before then, so we can get started, but I'll need at least a few days.