Welcome to the Burping Troll
Now what in the heck is this all about?
Frequently Asked Questions
1. WHAT IS THIS PLACE?
This is a private story archive housing the collaborative and independent tales written by The Burping Troll Adventurers, and set in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle Earth.
2. WHO ARE YOU?
We are a group of friends and writers who met on-line soon after the film "LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring" was released. Although our "Beginnings" were as a very happily frivolous form of role-play, we have since advanced into serious storytelling. Together we co-author tales of Middle Earth, which revolve around our cast of original characters and an inn called The Burping Troll.
3. WHAT EXACTLY IS THE BURPING TROLL?
The Burping Troll is our own creation, an inn and tavern which we have placed on the site of Frodo and Sam's March 6th campsite in northern Ithilien, on the road about 32 miles north of Henneth Annun. It is peopled with our own original characters, and events and situations involving those folk constitute the setting in which our stories are placed.
4. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TOLKIEN'S MIDDLE EARTH?
Everything. Our timeframe started in 3021, after the War of the Ring, a period in which we envision that people are at last slowly returning to northern Ithilien, which Tolkien called "the garden of Gondor". After King Elessar, the ruling authority is Faramir, now the Steward of Gondor and Prince of Ithilien, and peace is kept in these border lands by his Ithilien Rangers. As promised, Legolas has brought some of his elven folk from Mirkwood to bless the land with their presence. Though The Burping Troll and our main characters are original to us, we keep a keen awareness of the people, places and events that Tolkien detailed in his works, and frequently incorporate them into our stories. Some of our members have also written their own independent LOTR fan fiction, further exploring the professor's marvelous world.
5. IF YOU WRITE SO MUCH ORIGINAL STUFF, HOW CANONICAL CAN YOU BE?
Our goal is to be as true to the Professor's vision as possible. We do not alter established "facts" or characters of Tolkien's world in any intentional way. We endeavor to leave all the canonical pieces as he placed them. What we do attempt is to follow Middle-earth and its peoples into the post-war Fourth Age, which will reflect social and political changes as peace is wrought and kings Elessar and Éomer contend with their former enemies. Thus, we sometimes paint our stories onto canvases that Tolkien left mostly blank. For example, we have taken liberties such as creating tribes and cultural details for the peoples of Harad and Rhûn, whom Tolkien sketched with only the very broadest strokes. In so doing, however, we strive always to remain faithful to the professor's writings and to the historical snippets that he left us in the Appendixes, Unfinished Tales and elsewhere.
6. CAN I POST MY STORIES HERE?
Alas, stories hosted on this site are those written by members only. We are simply not set up to review, edit, critique and maintain work submitted by outside parties. For on-line publishing of your own LOTR fan fiction, we recommend the LOTR section of FanFiction.net: http://www.fanfiction.net/list.php?categoryid=382 - or the Henneth Annun Story Archives: http://www.henneth-annun.net/stories/index.cfm
7. HOW DO I BECOME A MEMBER?
We are a small group and wish to remain so. However, this does not mean that we are a closed group; we welcome membership applications, provided applicants keep the following in mind. First, we write primarily within the setting we have envisioned in Middle Earth, which involves the characters and situations of The Burping Troll. We work closely together, producing our stories through a collaborative process which requires that we read all that our members create, we offer and accept honest critiques as well as encouragement, and we cheerfully negotiate our way through multiple opinions to create one vision that guides each story, all with minimal bruising of egos. Thus the tremendous amount of work involved in helping each other write limits how many authors can contribute. That understood, you are welcome to ask for membership details by e-mailing:
8. IF YOU GUYS ARE SUCH A PRIVATE CLUB, DO YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR READERS?
Absolutely YES! We check the guest books, we share emails sent to the Webmaster address and we are always delighted to hear feedback from you. Knowing you are out there reading is manna to a writer's soul. We enjoy writing our stories, but we enjoy it even more if we can take other people along on our adventures with us! After all, we are exploring Middle Earth by the greatest vehicle of all - imagination.