Ain't it Great to be a Nerd!

I have been wanting to share this exciting and fun information on Bouquets for a long time, but the enormity of explaining it and refinding the sites bored me to the point of procrastination.  I have, however, been roused to action by having to give the information to a good friend of mine, and thus, it made perfect sense to take the oppertunity...  the oppertunity to teach you how to write in the Elven script from The Lord of the Rings.

To be specific, it's Quenya, a form of Tengwar. There are other forms, obviously, but this is used throughout the book and is fairly simple to learn. Actually, don't be surprised if after a couple of hours practice you can fluently write it, if not read it. It's really not that hard.

Firstly, here's a site that can help you get the actual alphabet and process of writing down-pat. It's simplistic in comparison to some of the fully frustrating omplicated sites. I would definitely recommend that you read all the information, and write down the alphabet and word combinations plus any simple rules for using them on a piece of paper or something so that if you're practicing, you have a quick reference point.

http://www.starchamber.com/paracelsus/elvish/elvish-in-ten-minutes.html

You will probably find, the more that you read on this topic, that there can sometimes be different ways of doing things, especially writing the vowels, as some people are very flexible with the whole "vowel sits on top of a stem" concept. Really all I can say to help you out of confusion is that you might like to just decide to write it your way and be done with it. If you're confused by what I just said, don't worry about it. If you come across this, you'll know what I mean.

This second link is to a page that gives you the punctuation. You might like to scroll down to the subheading DOT MARKS and read only from there to LATIN SCRIPT PUNCTUATION. Everything before and after this point is not relevant and is seriously confusing. This isn't scary, really - just basically your full stops, commas, questions marks, and end of stanza marks.

http://at.mansbjorkman.net/teng_punctuation.htm

Alright, having read all that, my greatest recommendation is that you summarise the information on a sheet with your alphabet and start practising. I practised by translating the first chapter of Watership Down by Richard Adams... yeah I know... into Quenya in my notebook. I just kept my alphabet and rules sheet beside me and after about a page, I didn't need it any more, and after three pages, I am now officially a fluent writer of Elven Script!

I really hope that you don't find all this information daunting, because once you've summarised it onto a sheet you can realise how simple it is. It won't take you too long and then you will be able to code everything in the single most tasteful and cool way ever. It is awesome.