I started the Tolkien Experience Project because one of the first things that comes up when Tolkien fans get into a shared space is the desire to bond over our experiences of Tolkien’s work. This is a wonderful impulse that draws us together as a fan and scholarly community!

When I tell people that my PhD Research focuses on the experience of young readers of Tolkien, they often ask if they can participate even if they are over the age of eighteen. Unfortunately, people older than eighteen fall outside of the scope of that research.

Instead of turning those people away, though, and missing the chance to hear about their significant experiences with Tolkien, I have created this side project. It will serve as a way for readers who cannot participate in my PhD research to still share their stories with the rest of us!

The basic format is that participants reflect on a set of five questions, and then respond to them in short-answer format. This means that answers can be one sentence, or a few paragraphs! The great thing is that there are no wrong answers, because you are just sharing your own experience!

The questions are:

1. How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?
2. What is your favorite part of Tolkien’s work?
3. What is your fondest experience of Tolkien’s work?
4. Has the way you approach Tolkien’s work changed over time?
5. Would you ever recommend Tolkien’s work? Why/Why not?

These questions are intentionally vague to allow contributors to talk about a variety of things. ‘Tolkien’s work’ is not meant to exclude adaptations, so feel free to share your experiences about movies, video games, board games, etc. All of these are important experiences in your fan history! If you want to use ‘part’ n question two to talk about a specific scene from a book, great! You could also use ‘part’ to talk about your favorite book in general.

Participants can take as much time as they need to answer these questions, then they send their answers to me using the Contact page on my website or by direct email. I usually respond directly to the participant once or twice to clarify what they would like to be called on the post and to fix typos, but the answers are largely unedited/unfiltered.

Once all of the information is finalized, I will schedule the post to appear on my blog in the order it was finalized. I post a new response every Tuesday at 8:00 A.M. (EST/EDT). Posting each submission as a separate blog post and limiting them to one each week allows time for visitors to see and respond to each participant’s experience. This was the best way that I could think of to respect the time and effort of each contributor.

The hope is that this will be a way to foster more community around our interesting, unique, and diverse experiences of Tolkien!

If you would like to participate, you can use the form on the Contact page to send your answers to me, or email me your answers directly!

For full transparency, I should mention that no participants ‘get anything’ out of the project other than the opportunity to share their Tolkien experience. I do allow participants to include a link to their blog or social media site if they wish, so that other Tolkien fans can follow them and create a larger Tolkien community.

I want to thank Donato Giancola for allowing me to use his stunning portrait of J.R.R Tolkien as the featured image for this project. If you would like to purchase print of this painting, they are available on his website!

The Tolkien Experience Project has been featured on:

• The Prancing Pony Podcast– mentioned the project in ep. 93
• The Tolkien Heads Podcast– interview in ep. 55
• The Hole in the Ground Podcast–  featured in ep. 1
• A Pilgrim in Narnia– blog post about the project

Below is a catalogue of previously published contributions:

• Tolkien Experience Project Launch
• Tom H’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (1)
• Rhiuial’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (2)
• Old Badger-brock’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (3)
• Olga Polomoshnova’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (4)
• Geoffrey B. Elliott’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (5)
• Joe Hoffman’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (6)
• BlueberryMuffins76’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (7)
• Richard Rowland’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (8)
• PL’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (9)
• Andrew Higgins’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (10)
• Julie Valdez’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (11)
• Jeremiah B’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (12)
• J.S. Klingman’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (13)
• Wayne A’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (14)
• Jeffrey Hawboldt’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (15)
• Silmarien Ingoldo’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (16)
• Jay Karpowich’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (17)
• Nelson Goering’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (18)
• Liam Chung’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (19)
• Nico Berger’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (20)
• Dom N’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (21)
• Beth H’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (22)
• Ina’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (23)
• Tanya P’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (24)
• Timothy “Timdalf” Fisher’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (25)
• Always1957’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (26)
• Shawn E. Marchese’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (27)
• Alan Sisto’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (28)
• RossRN’s–Tolkien Experience Project (29)
• grys03’s Experience –Tolkien Experience Project (30)
• Richard Rohlin’s Experience—Tolkien Experience Project (31)
• John David Cofield’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (32)
• Jane Patricia’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (33)
• WelCZa’s Experience– Tolkien Experience Project (34)
• Don Standing’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (35)
• Abner de Souza’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (36)
• Wesley Schantz’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (37)
• Miles S’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (38)
• Patricia Minger’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (39)
• Xenia M’s–Tolkien Experience Project (40)
• Onthetrail’s Experience –Tolkien Experience Project (40)
• Putri Prihatini’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (41)
• William J. Meyer’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (42)
• Becky Dillon’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (43)
• Artnoose’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (44)
• Marcel Aubron-Bülles’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (45)
• Marie Prosser’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (46)
• Paul Mitchener’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (47)
• Caity M.’s–Tolkien Experience Project (48)
• Brad Thompson’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (49)
• Alex B’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (50)
• Maria do Rosario Monteiro’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (51)
• Michael Flowers–Tolkien Experience Project (52)
• Cristina Montes’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (53)
• John Hancock’s Experience–Tolkien Experience (54)
• Megan N. Fontenot’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (56)
• Airin’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (57)
• Trevor Bowen’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (58)
• Sue Bridgewater’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (59)
• Troels Forchhammer’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (60)
• Dr. Sian Pehrsson’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (61)
• Brad M’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (62)
• Xavier Accart’s Experience –Tolkien Experience Project (63)
• Jean ‘Druidsfire’ Prior’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (64)
• Elyanna C’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (65)
• Thomas G’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (66)
• Lo’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (67)
• Michaela Hausmann’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (68)
• Arne G’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (69)
• Snippety Giblets’ Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (70)
• Will Sherwood’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (71)
• Marita Arvaniti’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (72)
• Dimitrios Kolovos’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (73)
• HT’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (74)
• Deborah Sabo’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (75)
• Peter Berg’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (76)
• Christian S. Trenk’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (77)
• Trotter’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (78)
• Anne-Laure J.’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (79)
• Ed Strietelmeier’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (80)
• Una McCormack’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (81)
• M.L. Corbier’s Experience–Tolkien Experience (82)
• Tolkien Experience Project Update!
• Roman’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (83)
• Dr. Sara Brown Joins Tolkien Experience
• Casey Hilsee’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (84)
• Prancing Pony Podcast Partners with Tolkien Experience
• Marie Bretagnolle’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (85)
• Maria Helena Barrera-Agarwal’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (86)
• Dana Marie’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (87)
• Ms. L’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (88)
• TEP #2-Janet Brennan Croft
• Nathan Pope’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (89)
• Paul Wulfrun’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (90)
• Phil Dean’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (91)
• Catherine Warr’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (92)
• SheilaMS’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (93)
• Josh Chaffin’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (94)
• Terence Aries’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (95)