Writing conflict is so hard and so not my strong suit, but I finally wrote the Gimli-friend-breakup that has been building in my subconscious for three years. It's so extremely specific to my characters and my universe, but I'm really glad to have it written at last, so if you're interested:

Landslide

Not even mountains can last forever – and sometimes all it takes is one wrong choice to bring everything crashing down. Even dwarves - stone-strong and solid - are not immune to crumbling. And it seems they never talk about the things that end when you create a new beginning.

Or: Gimli’s friends attempt to join him in Aglarond and find it little to their liking.

How do people who invent whole worlds do it? There’s so so much more going on in my head than I can write down, from thousands and thousands of years apart, so I can barely keep track of it—and the only way seems to be to write it down, but all I have are snippets here and snippets there, and no way to piece them together!

Oh, and also I’m so blocked I can hardly write a word.

In other totally unrelated news, if anyone wants to talk about the relationship between Thranduil and Laerwen, or what happens to Eleniel after she sails, or Alma’s sex life, feel free to ask.

HELP I NEVER MEANT TO DIVE HEADLONG INTO ELVEN POLITICS.

When did I become a person who has Elf Feelings All the Time? I haven't even read the Silmarillion. It should be illegal to have Elf Feelings All the Time if you haven't read the Silmarillion. And yet somehow it is happening to me.

Also I seem to have adopted the elves that nobody likes. The Greenwood royal family are under my protection now, even though I made up half of them entirely and invented the personalities for the existing half. *shrug emoji*

Also, I felt like sharing this with all of you, because I told it to a friend of mine and like it so much. Laerwen is a burnt marshmallow. That is all.

HELP ME I DIDN'T MEAN FOR THIS TO HAPPEN

The OCs were meant to be one-off bit-part characters whose only purpose was to fill in the gaps in the characters' lives! Then they were just supposed to be a background cast who showed us that hey, other elves and dwarves exist and occasionally enriched the canon characters' experience!

They were NEVER meant to shove my computer into my hands and yell, "WRITE MY WHOLE LIFE STORY. NOW."

And now I have a two-page outline of these two dorks' entire life story (WHICH SPANS THOUSANDS OF YEARS HELP ME) and two more pages (and counting) of a moment within said story, and no audience for it because who reads Tolkien fanfiction for the OCs??? So this is all for me, in a fun private torment.

SOMEONE SEND HELP.

EDIT: Oh, and sidenote, this is made extra worse because I now find myself needing to know the entire timeline of Greenwood/Mirkwood/Eryn Lasgalen and the two generations of its rulers - AND I NEVER WANTED TO DIVE INTO THE LORE THIS DEEPLY NOOOOOOOO