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All Work and No Play by Lindelea	24 Review(s)
Mirkwoodmaiden	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 10/24/2025
Lin! Review pt 2. "‘Comfort me not with wizards!’ was spoken by Denethor in “The Siege of Gondor” in The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien, when Pippin tried to reason with him during the dark hours as they watched over a stricken Faramir." Nice touch that Pippin should quote Denethor...though a bit worrisome. (Thinking about earlier discussions about how the relationships that Pippin had with Denethor and Merry had with Theoden. I think Merry got the better out of that bargain. :-) (((hugs))) MM Advice needed. in Ch. 37 Eowyn has a nightmare where she wants to die (as is stated on ROTK: Here is the text: "Eowyn looked around the battlefield and saw nothing but dead bodies. She scanned the entire boundary contained by the ruin of the Rammas Echor and saw no one left alive. “You have all died and left me here.” She grabbed for a sword that lay in the hand of a fallen Gondorian soldier and tried to end it all right there, but the sword blade transformed itself into a red ribbon and would not cut. “Why have you all left me to look after beds for no one. Why?” She screamed. “This is not my life, This cannot be my life!!” My question is should I place author notes at the top of the chapter to warn people? It needs to be there in the story because she is truly this low but I also don't want to upset anyone. Thanks! MM Author Reply: MM! In the interest of smoothing the way for Chapter 37, here's my advice (and pardon me for being long-winded or too detailed; I'm feeling foggy today, probably the sudden change in the weather): What I typically do when a chapter has material that could be triggering is to place a warning at the top of the chapter. I wish I'd thought of it earlier, actually. I should probably look back through a couple of the older stories with an eye to providing some buffers/warnings/summaries. Thus, at the top of this chapter, your warning might say something like: Trigger Warning: This chapter describes (Provide a brief summary of chapter) and includes a potentially upsetting description of thoughts of self-harm. Finish the trigger warning by telling the reader your solution and giving them the choice to read or skip. For example, you might arrange for the reader to skip the entire chapter, promising to put a summary at the top of the next chapter. Alternatively, you might use formatting tricks to set off the "problem" text (see next paragraph) and tell the reader in your warning text what part of the chapter to skim over/skip. If this is the chapter where Éowyn meets Faramir and you don't want readers to miss the whole chapter, you might put the dream part in italic font – in the warning at the top of the chapter, you'd inform the reader to skip the part(s) in italic font. Or if part of the chapter is upsetting but the rest is not, and the upsetting part can be separated from the rest, you can tell the reader in your warning to start or stop reading at the "break" (in my chapters, breaks are indicated by a line containing only three asterisks *** ), depending on where the upsetting material occurs in the chapter. In A Took by any Other Name, I ran Chapter 5 by Nilmandra to ask her if it was too graphic for the site. It was too graphic for her (ouch), but she helped me with the site features to make the chapter work. There's a setting when you publish a chapter (which I've seldom needed to use as I try to keep everything PG13 or under) that pops up a protective wall of sorts warning that the chapter contains material of a serious or graphic nature and asking the reader to check a box to verify that they are an adult. In addition to invoking that function, I put the following note at the top of the chapter: Warning: This chapter contains material of a violent and graphic nature. If such disturbs you, all you need to know is that Esmeralda, Diamond, and finally Estella, clarify the treatment of Orcs of their captives, according to Diamond's understanding from having overheard Pippin's nightmares over the years. I think that providing a brief summary like this can help the reader avoid that FOMO feeling. (fear of missing out, just in case that acronym is unfamiliar. Even with the amount of time I've spent online over the past decades, I still run across acronyms here and there that I have to look up.) In A Matter of Appearances, I hit on the idea of placing a note at the top of the web page warning sensitive readers not to read the chapter, and promising to put a summary of the problematic chapter(s) at the top of the next chapter to be published. Here's the series of notes that resulted as I figured out this strategy: Chapter 25 Note to the Reader: We now enter the territory of true horror, and sad to say, this chapter split itself in half. The next chapter is, if anything, worse. If you are sensitive, please skip this chapter, and chapter 26. Firmly PG-13. Chapter 26 Note to the Reader: Still horror, but the tide is beginning to turn by the end. If you are sensitive, please skip this chapter. Firmly PG-13. There will be a short summary at the beginning of Chapter 27, so you won't miss any plot points if you choose to skip the horror. And thank you for your patience. Chapter 27 This chapter is milder than the previous two, but still PG. Summary, as promised: In Chapter 25, Woodruff, having come down with a high fever, interrupted Ferdi’s burial, insisting that she be lowered into the grave to check for a heartbeat. While in the middle of this endeavour, she fainted and was borne away, and the burial resumed. Meanwhile, Sam’s part of the muster found the club-wielder’s back trail and began to follow it in hopes of finding the rest of the ruffians, and Farry. Eventually they found that there were two ruffians at the Three-Farthing Stone, and so they split up to pursue both trails. At the same time, Farry was being used as a visual aid in a lecture on how to cut up kidnap victims (lecture only, demonstration to follow). The lecture continued in Chapter 26, and upon its conclusion the youngest ruffian was ordered to take certain “tokens” from Farry, to be left where hobbits would find them and bring them to Farry’s father. The plan was to distract the Thain with grief and horror, affecting his ability to lead a muster, allowing the ruffians to make their escape. However, the young ruffian, finding a stray lamb stranded in some thorn bushes, was at the chapter’s end considering a substitute for the requisite items... Anyhow, I hope some or all of this helps. Woo-hoo, Chapter 37 is on the way! Please convey my thanks to your beta-hubs. (((hugs))) Lin Author Reply: Ah. I found an example of where I used a "break" symbol as mentioned in my earlier reply. At the top of Chapter 39 in A Matter of Apperances is a note that reads as follows: A/N: A little bit of housekeeping here, tying up a loose end or two, and since EF did the research for me I have gone ahead and written the details into the start of this chapter. There is a bit of uncomfortable detail in the first half of this chapter, where Sam and Tolly finish their vigil just outside the Bounds, preparing to take the word back to Tookland that the last of the ruffians have been dealt with. If you do not wish to read the details, please skip to the second half, which begins immediately after the three-asterisk (***) break. Take heart. The celebrations are about to begin. With the conclusion of this chapter we leave death and horror behind.

Mirkwoodmaiden	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 10/24/2025
Lin! Finally, Ch. 37 is off to the editor (commonly known as my husband! :-) ) so I have a free day to read! Oh dear! Farry certainly does seem to be cut from Tookish cloth. Well done discussion between the three cousins. Poor Pippin does seem beset by worries. (((hugs))) MM P.S. Chapter 37 should be up by tomorrow! Author Reply: MM! I will await the appearance of Chapter 37 with bated breath! Free days to read are precious (deliberately not said in Gollum's voice). I am glad to hear from you and hope you're enjoying this story. It has worked out to be much less angsty than some of my previous efforts (there's still some angst, of course, despite the temptation to write fluff and more fluff and nothing but fluff...). Of course, the angst in these early chapters is more or less left over from the previous stories leading into this point on my timeline. I'm having way too much fun with young hobbits in the later chapters... I love writing scenes where Merry and Ferdi draw on their shared experience (they're only one year apart in age) in dealing with Pippin. I'm so glad you liked the discussion here. Alas, poor Pippin. Y'know, I loved the brave-carefree-cheerful-resourceful tween so much in the book, I probably wouldn't have made him Thain if Tolkien hadn't already done so. The best I could do was to emphasize how much hobbits hate having to take leadership roles, as a norm (though there are exceptions, like Lotho), and how seriously leaders like Merry and Pippin and Sam take their roles as a sacred duty to keep the Shire and Shire-folk free and relatively untroubled. Whew, I'm feeling much too philosophical at the moment. I need to polish up Bill's next chapter and post it while I'm still in the mood to type and the cats are still feeling mellow and leaving me in peace (at least for the moment). (((hugs))) Lin

Krackenmire	Reviewed Chapter: 23 on 9/1/2025
Nice! They'll reach Rivendell in a chapter or two, right? They're time in Rivendell ought to be certainly interesting. Will you write some chapters for Jewels about Pippin's time in Gondor? That should be entertaining. In Pearl Took's story "The Singer", it was mentioned that Aragorn knew of the magic in Tooks' eyes. Can you write a drabble story set in Pearl Took's universe about when Aragorn learned about the magic? Maybe a story in which the Big Folk got in trouble and Pippin used his magic to free them all? Ooooh, that would be funny. And very shocking for the big folk. snicker Author Reply: It may take rather more than a chapter or two to reach Rivendell (there's a key event that happens in this part of the story that did not happen during the original Travellers' journey), but hopefully those intervening chapters will be interesting in themselves. For its part, Rivendell was a challenge to imagine, considering how much has changed since Frodo was there with Sam and Merry and Pippin and Bilbo. But hopefully it'll ring true. And, of course, new characters will be added to the travelling party at that point. I can't promise to write a story set in someone else's universe (it's hard enough to fulfill my desire to be true to Tolkien's vision), but I will think about it. Your story idea sounds intriguing (and potentially humorous). Author Reply: I forgot to answer your question about Jewels... Actually, Pippin's time in Gondor is a separate short story that I'm hoping to post on September 22 in honor of Ring Day. (I just have to finish it, first...) So while Jewels will mention in passing the holiday in Gondor, the details of the journey will be found in a separate story so as not to swell Jewels to unwieldy proportions. Thanks!

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 8/30/2025
Well, very apropos title. Poor Pippin-lad! Not the best thing to do--to almost drown the entire company! At least Haldoron is willing to dispense with authenticity to make certain this will not happen again! Author Reply: Poor Pippin-lad. When I was first working out who should fall in over his head (Pippin's son? or his namesake?), it seemed to work out as the final version tells, especially considering Pip-lad's later troubles with excessive heat. After all, once you've had heat exhaustion or heat stroke, you're more susceptible to heat-related illness, or so I understand. Cheers for Haldoron! He doesn't face the same constraints as Ferdi who, even though he's Farry's uncle, is technically lower in status than the son of the Thain. Ferdi is conditioned (not only by the society he grew up in but by all his years of experience) to respond in a certain way, and even at this early point in their journey, Haldoron is recognizing that fact and intervening when he sees fit. What he's learning is how to lead Hobbits without condescending to them. I suppose that might be called cooperation? Thanks! Author Reply: (Or maybe I mean "interact with" rather than "lead"?)

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 8/30/2025
Those were serious words from Ferdi. And Holodorn is definitely learning more of the true nature of Hobbits. This is proving important for all of them. Author Reply: Ferdi's cousins have sometimes joked that he's half-pony, and he certainly lives up to his reputation here. I think I wrote this chapter immediately after writing several chapters of Bill's story, so I was feeling very sympathetic to a pony's point of view. Yup, this journey was intended as a learning experience in more ways than one, and I think it will more than live up to those expectations... even for those who are not actually walking with them. Thanks!

Fimbrethil	Reviewed Chapter: 23 on 8/30/2025
'If that is your wish, then I will not tell you such a thing,' young Pippin Gamgee replied with a straight face, but at Faramir's snicker, he covered his mouth with his hands and chortled.” lol. Yet so many of the jests I've overheard from Bilbo, years ago, or your cousin the Thain, more recently, might as well have been spoken around a table filled with Guardsmen...' Oh dear, you are probably right, especially from Peregrin. But then,' Ferdi put in quietly, 'I've no doubt they would have been at pains to offer such banter as Men would easily understand so as not to offend their listeners.' Oh. “Mister Frodo did not describe the country they travelled through in glowing terms,' Pip-lad said, causing the Man to look sharply at him in renewed surprise. The Mayor's son continued to remind him more of a scholar than a careless young Hobbit, especially when he shared insights he'd gleaned from hearing his father read aloud and discuss the account in the Red Book. As a matter of fact, Elessar himself had not described this part of the journey in glowing terms, either, when he had gone over the maps with Haldoron. Nevertheless, the Ranger-guide held his tongue and left the talking to the Gamgee teen, curious to hear what the lad might say. 'What sort of terms did my cousin use, then?' Ferdi asked. 'Forbidding was one,' Pip-lad admitted, but then amended, 'No, not forbidding... Let me think... Threatening, he wrote.' 'Somehow threatening sounds worse than merely forbidding,' Ferdi murmured to Haldoron. But Pip-lad hadn't quite finished. 'Sombre...' he said, tilting his head in thought. 'And sullen... even unfriendly! Ominous... I think that's what made me think of forbidding.' 'Lovely,' Ferdi said under his breath, but the Gamgee lad heard him and chortled again. 'No,' Pip-lad said cheerily. 'I'm quite sure that Mister Frodo did not use the word lovely, not at this point in the journey!' Pathless, as well as wet and cheerless, or so Elessar said, Haldoron thought to himself.” heehee. “Not at all,' Farry said, but he was not playing the game the other teen had initiated. Instead, he turned and gestured to Haldoron, saying, 'If you wouldn't mind, Haldor... I should think that Aragorn took the lead here. It was, after all, his short-cut.' Lol and heehee. “Thainly was his tone and bearing – unconsciously so, but in that moment, the Man could hear the echo of Thain Peregrin's voice speaking through his son's simple-seeming request. Though only a teen, Faramir had his father's knack of conveying an order with such grace and tact that he might have been conferring an honour or asking a simple favour.” humhum. This adventure will change the Walkers, but especially those four hobbits, much too. They are going to go to the trolls! And maybe a sing a song? Happy Labor Day and/or Last August Weekend! Author Reply: Happy Labor Day to you, as well! I am spending my Labor Day very pleasantly – reading fanfic and writing reviews, along with writing replies to reviews of my own chapters. Thanks so much for hitting the highlights in your review! I think you're right – this journey will be life-changing for everyone, with lots of opportunities for growth and learning. What would a visit to the Stone Trolls be without a song, indeed? Again, thanks for reading and pausing to share your thoughts. I do appreciate it.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 8/26/2025
Haldoron does well to take the lead here and nudge them on. Get on with it, silly Hobbits! Author Reply: Hobbits seem naturally to be more "talkers" than "doers" most of the time. Ah, but then there's that seed of courage said to be found deep in the heart of the fattest and most timid hobbit... Thanks! I really appreciate the lovely comments you've left on the chapters of this story. (It's late, so I will answer more reviews after a night's sleep.)

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 8/26/2025
Ferdi has recieved his marching orders, and now appreciates the depths of responsibility he has been granted by his younger cousin, the Thain. I believe he will follow Strider's course as well as he can. Bless all stubborn--and competent--Hobbits. Author Reply: His stubbornness will stand him in good stead, I think, helped along by his competence. And I think his conversation with Pippin was an eye-opener, to say the least. Thanks!

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/26/2025
Poor Ferdi--he's contemplating so many foolish things right now, and is perhaps realizing he is, in his own way, realizing he is as foolish one of the Tooks as are the Thain and the Thain's son and heir. Author Reply: Poor Ferdi, indeed. I always used to hate preparing for camping trips. Once we got to the campsite and set up, I was fine – even wishing we could stay longer! (At least until we ran out of food and clean underwear.) But then, that was camping. As in staying in one place, in the woods, by the ocean or a stream. Resting in a camp chair and reading a book whilst the wee hobbits ran wild and free, more or less, returning to our campsite when they got hungry or when twilight started to come down. The longest backpacking trip I ever made was across the Teton range, much shorter than walking from Bree to Gondor by way of Imladris... and my hiking partner, an experienced backpacker, pretty much did all the planning since she knew what we were doing much better than I did. Thanks!

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/24/2025
He's learning more of the nature of his smaller companions than he'd looked to know. Gimli and Legolas will add experience to this exploit that will be appreciated by the two Men involved. Author Reply: He's definitely getting some "insider knowledge". Bergil will provide additional insights, I'm sure, as will Gimli and Legolas. Thanks!

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