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4 Writing Lessons from J.R.R. Tolkien You Really Don’t Want to Hear

Annie Cosby

March 22, 2024 | 4 min read

By Annie Cosby

The mastermind behind The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien is celebrated as one of the greatest fantasy authors of all time.

His work has inspired generations of readers and writers alike, including Ursula K. Le Guin and J. K. Rowling, shaping the landscape of modern fantasy literature. In addition to his iconic novels, people are fascinated by Tolkien's writing habits and how he managed to be so prolific within one human lifetime.

The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, published by Tolkien's son, Christopher, after his death provide a fantastic peek into the writer's personal life. Spanning more than six decades, the letters offer a chronological narrative of Tolkien's life and work. From his humble beginnings as a scholar to the towering figure of fantasy literature, Tolkien's correspondence reveals the evolution of his ideas and the challenges he faced in bringing his vision to life.

Hidden within these experiences is a treasure trove of writing advice writers probably don't want to hear. Let's explore four of these gems that challenge conventional wisdom:

1. Sometimes you have to cut the grass.

One April letter from Tolkien reads:

"I managed to get an hour or two’s writing, and have brought Frodo nearly to the gates of Mordor. Afternoon lawn-mowing. Term begins next week, and proofs of Wales papers have come. Still I am going to continue 'Ring' in every salvable moment."

The man had just 1-2 hours of writing a day and some "moments" and still managed to generate half a million words for the Lord of the Rings trilogy alone? Yes, even literary greats had to deal with the real world on a daily basis.

In fact, Tolkien had many other responsibilities that pulled him away from his writing, such as work as a translator and professor. (He also helped during the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary.) But he didn't let that stop him.

P.S. Do you use generic working titles for your writing? It can't be more banal than using "Ring" to describe the sprawling fantasy epic that is Lord of the Rings!

2. Build the background.

Tolkien famously wrote extensive backgrounds to enrich his world-building. In one letter, he advises his son that "the tale should be more like a web than a chain." Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this web was Tolkien's fictional languages, including entire language families like Elvish and Dwarvish.

As a philologist, Tolkien was deeply familiar with the intricate nuances of words and their etymology. Tolkien's assertion is that delving into language creation not only enriched the world-building process but also lent authenticity and depth to his fictional cultures. Some of his languages even came before his books!

Now, we're not saying you need to create 15 different Elvish dialects. But we are saying that the richer the world-building, the more engaging the story. Tolkien is proof.

3. It's not that deep.

If you're familiar with C.S. Lewis's relationship with Tolkien, you might know that Tolkien famously (and publicly) disliked allegory in literature. He and Lewis, though good friends, often butted heads about it.

Tolkien particularly hated when readers interpreted The Lord of the Rings as an allegory for World War II or other contemporary events. He vehemently denied any intentional allegorical elements in his work, saying:

"I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history – true or feigned – with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."

Some scholars say this dislike of allegory relates to why Tolkien disliked Dune, writing in a private letter in 1966:

"It is impossible for an author still writing to be fair to another author working along the same lines. At least I find it so. In fact I dislike Dune with some intensity, and in that unfortunate case it is much the best and fairest to another author to keep silent and refuse to comment."

Thought it's just as likely Tolkien didn't like Dune for other reasons — like its treatment of religion (he was a devout Catholic) or political and societal commentary.

4. Success doesn’t make this easier.

One of the most poignant aspects of The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien is Tolkien's reflections on the impact of fame and the pressure of literary success.

Many writers imagine a future level of success where this whole "creating intimate worlds and releasing them to the public for consumption and ridicule" thing gets easier. But Tolkien is evidence that it doesn't work like that.

After the commercial success of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien struggled to complete anything, revising the same stories over and over. (Sounds like he needed a Freewrite.) Tolkien is said to have worried that fans would be unsatisfied by stories not set in Middle Earth. He even wrote a few pages of a LOTR sequel before shelving it. When he died, Tolkien left behind a treasure trove of unpublished work.

At the end of the day, Tolkien's legacy serve as a reminder that true creativity must stem from a sincere passion for one's craft, rather than the pursuit of fame or fortune, in order to be sustainable.

Whether you're a longtime fan of Tolkien's work or a newcomer to the universe of Middle Earth, Tolkien's writing life has left behind a legacy rich enough to inspire and enchant any writer.

What's your favorite aspect of Tolkien's legacy?

Annie Cosby

Writer

Annie Cosby is the Marketing Manager at Freewrite, a former fiction editor, and the author of seven books — and counting. Her work deals with Celtic mythology and has twice won the YA Indie Author Project in Missouri.

The Set Up

The 2024 study recruited 293 writers to write an eight-sentence “micro” story. The participants were split into three groups:

Writing by human brainpower only
The opportunity to get one AI-generated idea to inspire their writing
The opportunity to get up to five AI-generated ideas to inspire their writing

Then, 600 evaluators judged how creative these short stories were. The results confirmed a widely accepted idea but also offered a few surprising findings.

Prompts from AI Can Jumpstart the Creative Process

Right off the bat, the reviewers rated the AI-guided stories as being more original, better written, and more enjoyable to read. (Interesting to note that they did not find them funnier than the fully human-inspired stories.)

This actually isn’t that surprising. Most writers know the “blank page dread” at the beginning of a project. Even as I write this, I can’t help but wonder, “If I had been tasked with writing an eight-sentence story, what the heck would I have written about?”

Many writers share this sense of needing to pick the “right” story to tell. And that uniquely human concept of perfectionism can end up actually inhibiting our creative process.

A prompt, then, can help us quickly clear this mental hurdle. To test this, I’ll give you one, courtesy of ChatGPT: “Write a story about a teenager who discovers a mysterious journal that reveals hidden secrets about their town, leading them on an unexpected adventure to uncover the truth.”

Can you feel your creative juices flowing already?

Since its release, AI has been celebrated for its ability to assist in idea generation; and this study confirms how effective using artificial intelligence in this way can be for writers — some, it seems, more than others.

AI-Generated Ideas Helped Less Creative Writers More

It doesn’t feel great to judge a writer’s creative prowess, but for this study, researchers needed to do just that. Prior to writing their short stories, the writers took a test to measure their creativity.

Researchers found that those considered less creative did substantially better when given AI-generated ideas — to the point where getting the full five ideas from AI “effectively equalizes the creativity scores across less and more creative writers.”

This isn’t the case just for writing. Another study by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship WZ also found that AI tools most benefit employees with weaker skills.

So is AI leveling the playing field between okay and great writers? It seems it may be. But before we lament, there’s one more finding that proves using AI isn’t all perks.

AI-Aided Stories Were More Similar — And Needed to Be Credited

The researchers took a step back to look at all the AI-supported stories collectively. And what did they find?

The AI-assisted stories were more similar as a whole, compared to the fully human-written stories.

Additionally, when reviewers were told that a story was enhanced by an AI idea, they “imposed an ownership penalty of at least 25%,” even indicating that “the content creators, on which the models were based, should be compensated.”

This leads us to that all-important question about AI-assisted work: who owns the content?

According to Originality.AI, an AI and plagiarism detector, “When there’s a combination of AI and human-generated elements, the human elements may receive copyright protection if they meet the requirements.”

So right now, if a writer uses AI to generate ideas — but writes the content themselves — they retain rights to the work.

However, Originality.AI even admits that “the legal system is having a hard time keeping up” with the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence. Time will only tell what AI regulations will look like in a few years.

What Does an AI-Assisted Literary Future Look Like?

The researchers from the University of Exeter Business School study raise an interesting point about what the future landscape for writers may look like. If droves of authors begin using AI to come up with ideas, we may end up with a lot of well-written yet dime-a-dozen stories.

So will human beings choose the easier, but less diverse, path? Or will we stick to fighting through writer’s block armed with nothing but our own brain?

Or, a third option: can we somehow learn to harness AI to supercharge our writing process without sacrificing the wholly unique creativity that infuses human creation?

That’s one question that even ChatGPT can’t answer.

Editor's Note: Artificial intelligence may have already transformed writing, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be in control of your own words. Read Astrohaus Founder Adam Leeb's statement on AI and privacy.

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While AI has capabilities that range from coding to image generation, the model that excites — and terrifies — writers is the LLM. It won’t be long before we see the world’s first blockbuster novel, written entirely by an LLM. What does this mean for art, and writers in particular? Is it all doom and gloom? The answer is, of course, more complicated than yes or no.