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| When Winter Fell by Lindelea | 11 Review(s) |
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| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 12/18/2025 |
| Lin! About the explanation, this is one of the things that I love about your writing. You make wonderful stories but they are also always find a niche in the Professor's world. You make sure that it does fit into the world. It is what I think fan fiction is all about. We are playing in Tolkien's world. As for the prologue, wonderful as always. You paint such a vivid picture of the world of Hobbits. I love the passage about how Tooks generally do not find themselves in libraries except when it is raining and that would be the children playing on the ladders! LOL! Must dash! (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: MM! I'm glad the explanation makes sense and suits the purpose behind posting it. I try really hard to write "true to cannon", and I also hate having to do any extensive revising. (I'd much rather be moving ahead than looking behind. Good thing I'm not Gandalf, or Bilbo and the Dwarves might have become the Trolls' supper!) Yes, I think you're exactly right – we are playing in Tolkien's world, and long may playtime continue! I once heard someone describe fanfic as "playing in Tolkien's sandbox". It really feels that way sometimes! Even when I'm writing something angsty, because I am always writing towards a good outcome, I find respite from real-world problems in the process. That said, I seem to be incapable of writing a story with a sad ending; bittersweet is about as far as I can go in that direction. Contemplating a story that leaves me sad paralyzes me, and I can't write anything at all for several days. Thus, I've put my "Marcho and Blanco" story on hold until I can figure out just how to end it on a high note. It's my own fault, too, because Tolkien doesn't say what happened to the brothers. The notations made 20-some years ago on my timeline of Shire people and events, as to their birth and death dates, must have been my own invention after seeing how their founding of the Shire fit into surrounding events in the Tale of Years. (Deep, dark secret: I was once a small child playing with my brother on the rolling ladder of a floor-to-ceiling library in someone's "great house" on a rainy day. The novelty and downright fun was well-worth the scolding we got afterwards.) Thank you so much for reading and for taking the time to share your thoughts! I come away feeling encouraged and energized. (And believe me, any energy that comes my way these days is very welcome!) (((hugs))) Lin | |
| Erulissé | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 7/29/2025 |
| "H-how did you know?' Bilbo stammered, forgetting that he was talking to a mad hobbit, for Isengar was making a wonderful amount of sense with his shrewd guesses." I love this line, it seems to me the first moment, truly just a split second of a moment, where Bilbo (and the reader) has an inkling that Isengar isn't 'crazy'. Poor Isen truly reminds me of an old seafaring Captain, not a Hobbit who is still relatively 'young' (not old). I absolutely love this scene because he seems truly like a normal uncle who's enjoying a chance to rib his nephew for a bit, but also provide some quality entertainment and ideas. Author Reply: You probably told me you'd left reviews on this story, but I just discovered them the other day, and so now that I'm back at the laptop, I'm enjoying the chance to hear your thoughts. You're right in noting that Uncle Isen is not as old as Bilbo perceives him to be! Why, at this point in his life, Isen is not yet 50 years old – thus, still somewhat younger than Bilbo was at the beginning of The Hobbit! But then, elementary-aged children tend to see newly minted teachers (in their 20s?) as ancient, while teens may think of anyone over the age of 30 as "old"... And so it makes sense that in this story, from Bilbo's perspective, Isen seems old, at least early on, before his healing at the hands of Bungo and Belladonna begins to have an effect. The way the timing works out in how I've set up his story, Isen would have been a fairly young tween when he ran away to Sea (as in "said to have gone to Sea in his youth"). Thus, he missed some valuable developmental experiences that he would have had as a tween in the Shire. Hopefully some of Isen's tweenishness when he's with Bilbo (a little later from this point in the story) is understandable – Bilbo and his parents, with their understanding and acceptance, allow Isen to fill in some gaps, bringing him additional mental and emotional healing along with the more visible physical healing that also takes place. (Thanks for listening!) | |
| nancylea57 | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 3/23/2014 |
| are you aware that chapter three seems to be missing? Author Reply: Oh, my! Those silly chapter numbers... evidently they've been misnumbered for a long time, and you're the first to notice! You take the prize for sharpest eyes today. Thanks for the good catch! I'll put it on my list of fixes. | |
| Inkling | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 7/22/2007 |
| Hi Lin--when I saw you'd updated this, I realized that a) I'd fallen way behind on the chapters and b) I was hazy on what I had read. So I'm doing a quick read-through (very quick, before I start MEFA categorizing tomorrow)... And as usual, am noticing things I don't remember at all...like "Master Bag." Clever use of Merry's nickname from that Rider in ROTK, and most appropriate here! Also the spidery handwriting of Bilbo's mother...a family trait, it seems! Anyway, nice to see it back... Author Reply: Hi back at you! And welcome back. Y'know, I have to admit, sometimes I'm hazy on what I've written and have to go back and read before adding a chapter! (Especially if there's a detail nagging at me that's not mentioned on the outline.) Bless you for helping with MEFA categorizing! I've noticed that a couple of the kids in our family have handwriting that eerily resembles our mom's... even though it didn't start out that way. How does that happen? *g* Thanks! | |
| Cuthalion | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 11/16/2005 |
| Very good! I can see Isumbras in front of my inner eye, and he makes me grin. It must have been a great adventure he survived by hair's breadth... and I simply love this Bilbo, trying to escape the well-meant (and rather insistent) advice of his grandfather. Bilbo and escaping from books - ha! Author Reply: It must have been a very great adventure, to sail the Seas with Men and Elves. At least I hope it is plausible that Men and Elves would both be sailing the ship together! I think Bilbo must have been quite a lively lad in his youth, from hints in his meeting with Gandalf at the beginning of "The Hobbit". Thanks! | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 10/26/2005 |
| Aha! So, Isengar (whom you mistakenly called Isumbras in the last paragraph or so--I'm NOT the only one who does this, I see!) was brought home by Gandalf, and one wonders what his story was! And young Bilbo is not only being readied for his own future as scholar and copyist, but beginning to realize that nature stays much the same.... Wonderful beginning. Author Reply: O thanks for the catch! Yes, you're not the only one. I do it all the time. I have had fits with Thain Peregrin - Thain Paladin, Ferdinand - Ferdibrand, and now Isen - Isum! Author Reply: And let us not forget Beregond - Beregorn. And he's my favourite character from the ranks of Men! Aargh. | |
| Anso the Hobbit | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 6/10/2005 |
| Here we have the possible cause for Bilbo getting fond of books and reading and writing! I hope you`ll continue with this! :) Author Reply: Could well be the possible cause, you're right! Am hoping to continue with this one as well. Think good thoughts! | |
| Inkling | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 6/6/2005 |
| Your synopsis sent me scurrying to the Appendices…I’d forgotten there were two bad winters: the Long and the Fell. And what’s more, I’d forgotten that Bilbo was even alive during the Fell Winter, let alone 21 years old! Herein lies the start of an interesting tale, methinks…or two tales (another Thain/Thorn parallel structure?). I’ve always wanted to read more about the Fell Winter and the White Wolves… And Isengar…I’ve always wondered about that cryptic comment in the family-trees…just how does a hobbit “go to sea,” anyway? It’s not like he could join the Merchant Marine or something! Tolkien certainly left us no lack of great material to work with! Author Reply: something like Thain/Thorn or Healer's Tale, yes, with two stories going at the same time, though one will be told mostly through journal entries, I think, unless I feel too constrained and break out into omniscient narrator mode. Don't know yet. We'll see! You're right about Tolkien; what a wonderful gift! Author Reply: p.s. for years I thought Isengar went to sea and never returned, but then how would they have a death date for him? So finally worked out this scenario, where he went to sea in his youth, but returned, or was returned, to the Great Smials. Have figured out an entire "history" for him, now just to see if it works on paper as well as it does in my head. I see you finished Frodo's story, and here I am with no time to read! (Computer going in the shop and so we are all feverishly completing what projects we can, while we can...) | |
| Elena Tiriel | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 6/6/2005 |
| Well, this is a promising start... I like Bilbo's mad uncle already! (So, are you ever going to write what happened to him? Seems like an interesting plot thread... but your stories have so many already! LOL! You make the Shire an interesting and intriguing place!) - Barbara Author Reply: The way the outline looks, we'll learn something of what happened to him. Not sure how detailed it will be, or if the Muse will be moved to write his story... His fate, however, is entwined with Gandalf's impressions of Bilbo, and so, I suppose, that will make all the difference in the future of Middle-earth. But doesn't JRRT seem to like to work that way? Chance encounters turn out to be guided by a master "hand". Interesting perspective. And thanks! Layers upon layers... JRRT certainly created a wonderful world to work with. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: Prologue on 6/6/2005 |
| I like Mad Uncle Isengar. (Does his name change at the end?) (It must be awful, really, to return home from your adventures, injured in body and treated as mad by your family. At least Bilbo has his own home after his trip with the dwarves, and doesn't have to put up with being patronised all the time.) I think Bilbo is about to Learn A Lot. And get the writing habit, too. Interesting start. Author Reply: Thanks! Poor Mad Uncle Isengar, another tragic figure, and yet Bilbo will learn much from him. We'll be learning more about him as the story progresses. It must be difficult for the Old Took, to see his youngest son, so changed. Wonder if he blames himself for the quarrel that resulted in his son running away? | |