#course you could argue that it takes a while for book!frodo to realise just how grave the situation at hand is but from the very

[jiangwanyin]

no one talk to me i am thinking about sam "i don't rightly know what i want: but i have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the shire" gamgee and gollum who "has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end" being frodo's companions right until the last minute and playing an essential role in destroying the ring just like sam himself and gandalf knew they would

[happilykrispypirate]

For 60 years

Summary: Legolas x reader. You and Legolas have been best friends since the day you met when you travelled with Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarves.

Warnings: None

Masterlist

You had joined the fellowship, Legolas was of course both happy and unhappy you joined.

Happy, you were with him. He can make sure you don't get hurt.

Unhappy, he was afraid you were going to get hurt.

Nevertheless you ignored his protests and went with them.

You had stopped and Boromir was training Merry and Pippin to fight with a sword which ended in them tackling him to the ground earning a cheerful chuckle from everyone.

Gimli was bragging about how many battles he had fought in and how skilled he was. To be honest you were getting fed up and a little irritated.

Of course you loved Gimli as a friend, he was quite a funny dwarf but it's THAT time of the month.

"You know dwarf I've lived longer than you times 6. I've killed more than you have in your lifetime and than you ever will but do you see me bragging about it to everyone? No." You snap.

Gimli throws his head back as he chortles, "I atleast don't make up false stories, lass. You can't even lift a sword. I could put you down in a split second."

This time it's Legolas' turn to laugh, "You have met her right?"

"How about a little wager? Boromir is an excellent fighter. If she can beat him I owe you a sack of gold. He beats her, you owe me a sack of gold." Gimli says.

"You're on." Legolas smirks.

You give Legolas a look, "Yes I will share the gold with you." He says and you smile.

You walk over to Boromir, "I'll go easy on you." He says and you smirk.

He takes the first swing. You duck and swipe his feet out from under him.

He lands on his back, you knock his sword into the air, you catch it and hold both swords to his neck.

"I underestimated you." Boromir smirks in a way that gives you chills.

Not the good type.

You smirk and flip the sword into the air and you turn around. The sword lands right next to Boromir's head.

You sit back down next to Legolas who hands you half of the coins.

"Thank you." You smile looking at him.

"No problem." Legolas smiles looking at you, and just behind his head you see Gandalf handing Boromir a few coins who puts it in a little sack.

"What are you two betting?" You ask making Legolas look at them.

"Nothing." Gandalf says. You shrug it off thinking it's not important.

"Let's get going. I think we're well rested." Frodo says.

You walk over to your horse and mount it. You trudge off behind Gandalf.

"Those were quite some moves back there." Boromir says a while later walking next to you.

"Oh thank you." You say in a monotone.

"You know, if I'm honest I didn't think a class as beautiful as you could fight that well." He says, you internally cringe.

"Oh uh." You stutter unsure of what to say, of course you know what you want to say but you don't want to go that far.

You turn around and see Legolas glaring at the back of Boromir's head.

"So my lady, are you spoken for or not?" Boromir says making you look back at him.

"My personal life has absolutely nothing to do with you. I'm not interested in an arrogant man who only seeks one thing." You say.

"You are mistaken, you truly are beautiful but I see more than just that I-" you cut him off.

"I do not care what you see. I am smart enough to see right through your lies. Men like you only seek one thing and you cannot find that here. If you were smart enough you would move from my side." You snap.

Boromir groans and then moves forward, you smirk.

Legolas walks next to you and holds up his hand, you smile and give him a high five.

"That's my best friend." He says and your heart sinks.

Yes, you have feelings for Legolas, you have had them for 60 years. You doubt he has any for you.

As those words left Legolas' mouth, he felt his chest tighten. He didn't want to say those words, he has loved you for 60 years and never got the guts to tell you. He doubts you feel the same for him.

-

"Finally a peaceful night's sleep," Merry says as he lays down in his spot.

"These woods are well protected so you will sleep peacefully." Gandalf says.

(I know he isnt in this scene but this is not the movie nor the books so I dont have to follow the original storyline.)

"As if that's going to make me feel better." You mumble under your breath.

"Are you going to sleep?" Sam asks you as he sees you sitting on a big rock.

"I will be fine Mr. Gamgee, please sleep. You need it." You say with a small smile.

Sam smiles slightly and then lays down.

"You need it too." Legolas whispers trying not to disturb the others.

"I don't need sleep." You whisper back.

"Yes you do, you haven't slept for days." He whispers.

You sigh and grab his hand leading him further away. You sit down leaning against a tree stump with Legolas towering over you.

"I can manage without sleep." You say.

"Yes you do." He says and sits down next to you.

"I'll keep watch, you go to sleep." You say.

"I won't go to sleep until you do, and there is no need to keep watch. This place is safe." He says looking at you.

You ignore him and look at you twiddling fingers. Legolas sighs, "Fine, I'll help you keep watch."

"I don't need help and you need rest." You say.

(I'm seriously getting tired just writing this and it's like 3pm rn)

"You're my best friend I don-" He gets cut off by you standing up and walking away, "Where are you going?"

"Don't follow me."

---

"Come on, Legolas just give her time."

"Give her time she hasn't spoken to me for a whole week! I tried talking to her but she just walked away." Legolas exclaims.

"Maybe you just said something wrong." Pippin says.

"I don't know what I said. I didn't even finish my sentence before she stormed off." Legolas says.

"What did you say?" Merry asks.

"She was arguing about me not going to sleep and deciding to stay awake with her. I told her she was my best friend-" Legolas was cut off by everyone slightly wincing.

"Oh ouch. That's probably why." Gimli says.

"Because I told her she was my best friend?" Legolas asks confused.

"Yes, have you seen how she looks at you?" Aragorn asks.

"She looks at me no differently than I look at her."

"Exactly, you two are so smitten with each other. You can't keep your eyes off her." Gandalf says.

Before anyone could say anything else Legolas storms away looking for you.

-

You stare out at the land before you and sigh deeply. "I can't believe I was so stupid! Fell in love with my best friend. Of course he only sees me as a friend." You groan out loud.

"I don't see you as a friend." A voice says startling you. You turn to see Legolas.

You quickly try to walk away but he grabs your wrist and pins you to the wall.

"No, don't walk away." He says, "Please don't go."

"What is it you want?" You ask.

"I wanted to talk to you. I've been trying to this past week but you kept walking away." Legolas says.

"I didnt want to talk to you." You say.

"Why?" He asks.

"I didn't want to talk to you knowing you see me just as a friend. I love you, have for the past 60 years! And I just-" you were cut off by a pair of lips on yours.

You soon realise it's Legolas'. Without hesitation you respond immediately, your lips move in sync and both your hands travel to his hair.

His hands leave your wrists and he plants them on your waist. He pulls you closer, deepening the kiss.

The kiss ends and you two are left staring in each other's eyes. "You don't know how long I've waited to do that." Legolas says.

"I'm guessing just as long as I have, so 60 years." You say and smile.

Legolas chuckles, "Let's go back inside. The others are probably wondering where we are." He says and intertwines your fingers.

"Mhmm, I wonder who's going to win the bet." You say.

"What bet?" He asks.

"A few weeks ago I saw Gandalf and Gimli place coins into a sack so I assume they made a bet on us." You say.

"We'll see now won't we." Legolas says. "I'm not ready to go back yet, let's dance." You say and drag him to the dance floor.

Your arm wrap around his neck and his wrap around your waist.

"Look!" Merry points towards you and Legolas.

"My- they actually did it." Aragorn says.

"After 60 years." Gandalf says and then holds his hand out to Gimli.

"What did you bet?" Sam asks. "I said he they would get together before Aragorn is crowned and he said after." Gandalf says.

"Bloody, stupid, idiot." Gimli rambles on earning a laugh from everyone else.

"They look so happy." Frodo says.

"They do." Pippin says.

"I love you." You say to Legolas.

"I love you too." He smiles and leans in to kiss you.

[kierongillen]

Hi Kieron, long time reader, third time questioner here. You've posted previously that you research, plan and essentially 'story/worldbuild' for quite some time before putting hand to keyboard. My question is, how do you know when you're ready to start writing? Are you like the Alexander Hamilton of character development wherein you're "never satisfied" or do you suck it up and write for story and passions sake?!

Okay, I’m just going to have a ramble on this one.

Well, “never satisfied” is an inescapable part of doing any art. Whatever you do, it’s never enough. So get used to that.

Research and Worldbuilding aren’t 1:1 things, it’s worth remembering. It’s also worth remembering there are many philosophies on this one, and much of what follows has exceptions.

At least in part to the Tolkien-derived fantasy sorts, there’s been a swing to “All worldbuilding is terrible. Just make it up as you go along” as a philosophy among the more credible writers. I have some time for that.

The problem with getting in love with the worldbuilding is that worldbuilding is simultaneously i) a lot of work ii) not actually writing a story iii) possibly actually causing you to write a worse story due to the amount of effort you’ll take to cram all your carefully wrought worldbuilding in, which inevitably distorts your story.

(I say “Inevitably.” That’s not true. Let’s say there’s a pressure there, and it can be seductive.)

Point ii) is the main one. Worldbuilding is, I suspect, best done with a sense of direction.

I was on a panel at NYCC a couple of years yet, with Marjorie Liu. She was talking about Monstress, and how hard it was for her to get started on it. She had so much of it, but no story. Fundamentally, she realised it was that her lead wasn’t there. She didn’t have a character. She had a middle-earth but no Frodo. You can’t do anything before you have a Frodo.

I visibly had a head-banging moment on the panel, as I realised that was the problem with the project I was then working on. I had an intricate setting I was very fond of, and a story structure to explore it, but there wasn’t a Frodo. I needed a Frodo.

(This was the project I put on the back burner when I had the idea for Spangly New Project.)

Point being, always be aware of why you’re doing it. Also be aware that with all the worldbuilding in the (er) world, you’ll set fire to some of it when writing the book. Some of the best bits of writing is when you’re exploring a setting, and the more you front load that before you really know what you want the setting to DO the more you’re doing work which you will either i) bin or ii) distract you from what your story is actually about. If you’re writing Fiction, keep your Frodo in mind.

(It’s also worth noting that while I’m implicitly talking about Fantasy/Sci-fi settings, worldbuilding is in all projects.)

Research is a different beast. Research is abstractly infinite. For a modern period, there’s more resources than any individual would be ever familiar with. Worse, there’s as much takes on it as evidence. You research any singular event in (say) World War II and you’ll have all these historians takes on it, plus whatever commentators outside it and so on. Whichever Truth you go with, some people will think it’s untrue.

(It’s different for hard facts, of course, but even then you’ll find that historically speaking, many facts are less hard than you’d hope.)

There is a school of writing which basically argues you should do no research and look up facts as and when you need them. I have some sympathy with it, and any writing will involve that. Hell, even something as ludicrously over-worked as THREE involved me looking up a bunch of stuff, not least as I forgot it. Also, Professor Hodkinson going “Er… no” a lot.

It’s also worth noting that excess research has many of the perils of excess worldbuilding. The more you know about a period, the more likely you are to be tempted to include it, for no reason at all, or hang your stories off things which someone simply won’t know or care about. I fall into this one a lot, I suspect, but I do try to mitigate it.

However, the “no research, just write” philosophy does cause its own problems, as exemplified by Mitchell and Webb.

If you’ve done no research and just look for facts you have no idea of anything, you can end up with the above. If you’ve got no idea what the questions you should be asking, you’re fucked.

(It’s also worth noting that the ability to edit the truth is also necessary in any complicated story. What is a fact worth defending? If you’re writing a military or spy book, or anything with a complicated chain of command, I guarantee that many dozens more people would be involved in any given decision. Almost everyone narrows that down, as to render a story vaguely comprehensible. Look at Uber, where we basically get a handful of high ranking people on each side. Everyone does that.)

My research is normally driven towards a single goal - getting a feel for a setting and finding my story. Often I have a core suspicion of what my story will be as I start (in fact, it can be hard to angle your research without it) but there’s a freedom to change that based on what you discover. In the case of the 455 special, I suspected I’d do a story about one of the two latter day sacks of Rome, but I didn’t know which. My research was, to some degree, about “auditioning” whether the gothic or the vandal sack would express what I was trying to express better.

(There is also the negative research - as in, finding that the story idea simply can’t be made to fit the period at all.)

When you’ve got the idea of what the story *is* would be the point I would suggest starting writing. The 1920s special has been problematic, for reasons I’ll probably go into in the issue notes, as while I had it conceptually nailed down to start with, the specific execution was elusive. I read enough until that clicked into space, and then I could abstractly start writing it (using research to fill the gaps). 

Really, the deadline is the greatest motivator. Research and Worldbuilding is also a form of procrastination. “Oh, I need to write something now. I better give it a shot” is as basic as it gets.

The other thing you ask about - planning stories - is a sufficiently different topic to save for another time, I think.