Sunday, September 26, 2010

HASA news - Challenges
Intro

In this week’s news: current and prospective Challenges, and the Nuzgûl of the Month.

Birthday Challenges

The September Birthday Challenge is still going on, so there is still a bit of time left to make a request or write a birthday drabble.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at the stories already written this year.


Current and closing Challenges

September 2010 Birthday Cards - closes September 30

Prospective Challenges

Challenges are born from Prospective Challenges, and the Prospective Challenges Forum is where you’ll find out what other people would like to spring on unsuspecting authors... If you have any ideas you want to share, head over to the Challenges Forum or be inspired by what is already there and pick up an older idea instead?


Nuzgûl of the Month

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don’t bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

And to make that dive into the hutch that little bit(e) more attractive, have a taster of what is in there:

The Nuzgûl of the Month!
October’s offering is from the Oliphaunt Pen, rather than the Nuzgûl Hutch: Show me feär.

Think you want to write it? Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop, be inspired, see how many others you can inflict this idea on, and perhaps even turn it into a Challenge.

There are still a few days left on the September bunny Elven Divorce, so feel free to join in the fun, even if it’s with no more than a drabble...


Thank you for reading at HASA. Have fun!


~*~

Nath

Thursday, September 23, 2010

HASA How-tos - September 2010

This month’s HASA How-to tells you how to make a story out of your Birthday Challenge gift posts, and put the story into the Birthday Workshop.

How do I...
...put my Birthday Challenge forum posts in the Birthday Workshop?

Once you have made your birthday request and the first entries have been posted, it’s a good idea to already create your story in the Birthday Workshop so that gift writers can add a drabble there as well as in the Birthday Challenge Forum. Here you can read how to do this (please make sure you are logged in before you follow the links):

1. Create a story in the same way you normally would. (See the FAQ if you’re not sure how to do this). Give it a name like [Your_name]’s 2010 Birthday stories.
2. Create a chapter for each of the gift stories already in the forum. Use the title of the story as the title for the chapter. If there's room, add the author's name to the title, otherwise, make it the first line in the chapter. A chapter would end up with a name like [Title by Author].
3. Make sure that the status for each chapter is set to ‘publish’ and that the story itself is set to ‘General’.
4. Go to the Birthday workshop. If you are not yet a member of the Workshop, you will need to sign up to the Workshop to perform the final step below.
5. Add your story to the set of stories in the Workshop.

Now that the story is in the Birthday workshop, the authors of your gifts can add more chapters to your story as they like.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

HASA Reviewed Stories September 2010

Since the previous Bulletin, 6 stories have been reviewed and there are currently also 8 stories in review. Reviews couldn’t exist without authors and reviewers. So Thank You all for your work. BUT... we always need reviewers!

As I type this, there are 8 stories waiting to be reviewed (remember to log in before you follow the link).

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more opinions are represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone. If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check out a story?

Or, if you are a writer, take the plunge and submit a story for review (and when you do, remember: Put one in, take one out.

By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do for the other authors who have a story in review what you'd like other reviewers to do for you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read.

Becoming a reviewer
If you're not an active reviewer, but think you can spare a bit of time... – even if you just review one or two stories in a month, every review is welcome. If you are logged in, you can sign up here if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.

Daunted by the idea of reviewing? Don’t worry, reviewing at its simplest comes down to asking yourself: “Would I recommend this story to someone?” Then, whether the answer is 'yes' or 'no', you can make a choice from the capsule reasons to clarify your decision. If you want to, you can add a few more words to convey what you (dis)liked about the story, but just the capsule reason is perfectly fine as well.

And remember: even if you think you're too critical or not critical enough: your review is only one of nine, and all points of view are welcome. Not every reviewer has to review every story and in the end it does all level out to a balanced judgement.

Reviewed story spotlight
These stories have passed through review since the previous bulletin. Congratulations to all authors; well done!


Falling Leaves by lindahoyland
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: Multi-Age
Summary: A series of drabbles concerning trees.

Eight Elven Cloaks by Virtuella
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: Galadriel has a special commission for her handmaidens. As eight Elven cloaks are sewn in a bower in Caras Galadhon, the members of the Fellowship are evoked in turn, and blessed.

A Treasure Restored by Larner
Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: For some years Faramir of Gondor has had in his possession two books that had apparently come to Gondor from the far north, and now he believes they should go to the new King, perhaps as a wedding gift of sorts. Follows some elements from my story, Or Perchance, when the Last Little Star.... ...

Bibliophile by Imhiriel
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 4th Age
Summary: Éowyn is reading about a tragedy of the First Age, until her husband provides a more pleasurable pastime. Drabble.

To the Sea by Mirefinwe
Rating: General
Genre: Poetry
Era: 1st Age
Summary: Fingolfin's lament for his wife. Should be conceived of as written in Sindarin.

Shoulder the Sky, My Lads by Marta
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: In Rivendell, Gimli and Boromir spend some time below stairs.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

HASA news - Birthdays and stories

September birthdays and links to the stories written or updated in August.

September Birthday Challenge

Is your birthday in September, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at stories written for previous requests.

August Stories

All of us writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In August:

--- 7 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 55 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 1 Beta Story was updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

~Nath ~

Friday, September 3, 2010

Please Read, our account is negative

After paying August fees, our account is at -$48.00. The $150 bill for September will be due soon. HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction & it depends on member & reader donations to pay hosting fees.

The hosting fee pays for the dedicated server HASA needs to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more.

If you haven't donated yet to help support HASA, please consider doing so; any support will be timely and greatly appreciated. HASA gets a lot of traffic and offers many great stories and features. If a fraction of our members and regular visitors can donate just $5 each we'll be able to keep this site accessible to all.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donate some time. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for comments, authors who would dearly love an email complimenting them on their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be created, and forums begging for discussions. If you are a reviewer, check out a story today. If you aren't a reviewr, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie