Has anybody ever read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings before?
Did you know that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were friends? They didn't agree on everything, but they were. I thought it would be fun to write a post on the writer of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I don't know Tolkien as well as I do C.S. Lewis. But I thought I would talk about what I did know in this post.
If you haven't read the books, you might have watched the movies. They might be a little gory for some but I really enjoy them. I have to confess I have only ever read Tolkien's The Hobbit but I'm hoping to remedy that this summer.
I read somewhere that while Tolkien was writing his Lord of the Rings trilogy a sudden, unexpected and completely unwelcome character popped up out of nowhere. People called him the Ranger. Tolkien panicked, having no idea who the Ranger was, what he was doing, or what was going to be his fate. Aren't we all glad that he discovered who the Ranger was instead of removing him from the story! The Ranger was Aragorn, heir to the throne of Gondor. It's strange how an author's own characters can sneak up on him. Some may even wonder how that can even happen. Is not an author in control of the words?
Yes.
Usually.
But sometimes characters like the Ranger come up out of nowhere and demand a history, an identity. And the author panics because he has not made one and has no idea who this character is. I think only writers would understand it because only writers can experience it.
Characters like Aragorn are rare and unusual.
But certainly not impossible. I have been writing before and have had similar things like this come up in my writing. I still haven't written my way out of it yet, but I am trying! I hope it ends up as well as J.R.R. Tolkien's Ranger.
All right, now here's a question for you! Does anybody know what J.R.R. stands for? No cheating, now! If you don't know, then make a guess! This will be fun!