The final installment of JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth saga was published 69 years ago. Hobbits — and readers — finally reached Mount Doom, and the fantasy genre was altered forever.
Before Tolkien, fantasy was often relegated to fairy tales and children's stories, lacking the intricate plots and detailed settings that define the genre today. He set a new standard for world-building, introducing a truly immersive world in Middle Earth, complete with its own languages, history, and mythology. And his characters established many fantasy archetypes and tropes familiar to us today.
Of course, the themes Tolkien's work focused on were more mature, too. The exploration of heroism, friendship, mortality, and the corrupting influence of power, all elevated fantasy into a sophisticated literary form.
The fantasy genre, once viewed as escapist or juvenile, became a respected domain for exploring profound human experiences.
So what exactly can we, as writers, learn from the great Tollers* and his high fantasy masterpieces?
*That's what his friends called him. And we like to think we'd have been friends.
On Writing
Why do we love Tolkien so much? Well, The Lord of the Rings speaks for itself.
But we're also huge fans of Tolkien's writing process.
Tolkien often embraced freewriting. He would start with small, spontaneous ideas that would later evolve into complex narratives. For example, the iconic first sentence of The Hobbit came to him while grading student papers.
Tolkien built his characters and storylines organically, frequently discovering the plot as he wrote, similar to how a painter gradually adds layers to a canvas. He didn’t worry about the details at first, but let them emerge through the writing process.
Get more details in "How to Write Like J.R.R. Tolkien."
On Living The Writer's Life
It took Tolkien 14 years and a very intensive writing process to complete the writings of Middle Earth we know and love today.
Depending on how fast you write, that might sound like an incredibly long time ... or a very short period. Either way, the reality is this: You can't take 14 years out of your life to stop living and immerse yourself in your fantasy world. Both have to co-exist.
Tolkien is a wonderful example of this.
We're lucky to have a great peek into Tolkien's life via his written correspondence with loved ones. These letters provide a fantastic look at how Tolkien balanced writing with chores and family life, as well as his "day job" as a professor.
Another interesting thing about Tolkien is that his success was within his lifetime, something that didn't happen for many authors we consider classics today.
Tolkien's letters give incredible insight into how he dealt with the commercial success of Lord of the Rings — and how he struggled to write through it.
Read more in "4 Writing Lessons from J.R.R. Tolkien You Really Don’t Want to Hear."
Additional Reading on JRR Tolkien
- LITERARY BEEF: WHY DID TOLKIEN HATE DUNE? “In fact I dislike Dune with some intensity…” Yes, Tolkien actually wrote that.
- ESSENTIAL WORLD-BUILDING SECRETS FOR FANTASY WRITERS: Learn the secrets of fantasy greats like Tolkien and George RR Martin.
- HOW TO WRITE LIKE JRR TOLKIEN: It’s easy to picture J.R.R. Tolkien sitting down and cranking out one fantasy masterpiece after another. After all, that’s how we read and experience his stories today. But the reality was much different.
- 4 WRITING LESSONS FROM JRR TOLKIEN YOU REALLY DON'T WANT TO HEAR: Hidden within Tolkien's personal letters is a treasure trove of writing advice writers definitely don't want to hear.
