TheLotRClub

Our theme for November and December is Curiosity.

Curiosity is primarily defined as a strong desire to know or learn something. It is a characteristic we see in the youngest of children and is a concept we carry with us our entire lives.

Curiosity is a keen interest, a spirit of inquiry or inquisitiveness. It can be a child's first exploration of the world around them, a teenager's inquiry into affairs they are not meant to privy to quite yet, a traveler's interest in a new location or culture.

Curiosity can be a benign attribute, evoking encouragement or amusement in those it is directed towards.

But curiosity can also have a more sinister side, when unbridled inquisitiveness becomes intrusive or delves too deeply into secrets or situations better left alone. Sometimes our curiosity gets the better of us and we end up discovering something we were not meant to know. Or finding ourselves in awkward situations of having overstepped boundaries or betraying a trust. Curiosity can result in finding oneself in unsavory circumstances.There is yet another permutation of curiosity—defined as a strange or unusual object or fact.

Will your story invoke the unquenchable curiosity of a young hobbit? Or a Wood Elf's yearning for more understanding of the greater world? Are secrets uncovered by a solitary Dwarf that would have been better left alone?

Does your story take a character along a line of questioning that benefits them or leads to misunderstandings?

Did the residents of Hobbiton think Bilbo's mementos from his travels were mere curiosities of no consequence?

Whatever you decide to present - curiosity as a pursuit of knowledge, or as a prying irritation or even as an unexpected object or realization - please show some curiosity and review our rules for submission.

Send your entries to teitho.contest@gmail.com. The contest is anonymous and the entry can't be posted publicaly until the results of the challenge are announced. Please mind our rules when submitting your entries for the contest.

Happy writing and drawing!