Well.

a LOTR fanfic idea by LonelyStar on 2015-01-08 06:40:00 UTC Reply

I don't have the time (way too many plot bunnies) and I don't think that I could do this idea justice, but perhaps someone here will be willing to take up the challenge:

Summary: A girl from the modern world is inexplicably dumped into Mirkwood. She has only basic wilderness survival skills, doesn't know the language, and she's scared of spiders. This is going to suck.

Longer explanation: A more realistic take on the Girl-Falls-Into-Middle-Earth cliche. The main character ends up in Mirkwood, and while she has some survival skills, it basically amounts to 'anything you could learn as a Girl Scout', and her combat skills cannot be more than 'knows recreational archery' and/or 'has some martial arts training'. She doesn't join the Fellowship, and this should be a mostly OC story (or focus on minor characters in the books). It's mostly a story of a lost, scared girl struggling to survive in an unfamiliar land and adjust to the loss of everyone she knew and loved, not an epic adventure story like Tolkien's masterpiece.

So, how does it sound?

Well. by Lily Winterwood on 2015-01-08 07:17:00 UTC Reply

Good Girl-falls-into-Middle-earth fic has been done in that sense, with Don't Panic by Boz4PM and (I think?) Time Will Tell by Bombur Jo.

I've tried doing it for Mirkwood too but that didn't go well, but I'm sure it can be done. Since Mirkwood isn't really on the route of the Fellowship the closest she'd get to the Quest is if she rides to Rivendell with Legolas. I think doing Girl-Falls-Into-Middle-earth for Mirkwood would actually be interesting if someone took the time and effort to research and extrapolate to create an interesting world for the Wood-elves of Mirkwood. There's a lot that isn't covered in the books, so there's a lot to discover. Especially if she isn't turned into an elf or something and there's discussion of turning her over to the Lake-men or the people of Dale. Then you can do even more world-building, since there isn't a whole lot about the era between reclaiming the Lonely Mountain and the War of the Ring.

That's kinda the point. by LonelyStar on 2015-01-09 07:15:00 UTC Reply

The idea with the story is to not get anywhere near the quest. The point is to use her newbie-ness to explore the parts of Middle Earth that the canon story couldn't touch. She doesn't get to meet Legolas up close and personal (or at least, he's a minor character), but she does get to explore the land of Middle Earth that currently isn't embroiled in a war on which the fate of the world rests. Also, I think that Dale is a pretty cool place.