Hobbit Story Pledge Challenge

For more than ten years, HASA has been providing ad-free, fee-free JRRT fanfiction that is owned and operated by the fandom, not corporate interests. Please support the site! There's a great Challenge going, see the website, http://www.henneth-annun.net/

Both authors and readers can participants in the challenge by writing stories related to the Hobbit (book or film) or pledging donations for stories written. Non-challenge donations or subscriptions are also welcome.

HASA is a great place for Tolkien fanfiction. Your contact information is not for sale to marketeers. There are no tests to take to join, all genres, characters, ratings and story lengths are welcome, and we get hundreds of readers a day.

Our current challenge is all about The Hobbit, but If you are more a Ring War or Silmarillion fan, there are plenty of opportunities to participate with those topics as well. Post your Tolkien story or use the drop down searches to locate stories about your favorite era or character.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. 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 reviewer, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!
Julie

HASA News January 2013

Hobbit Story Pledge Challenge

The Hobbit Story Pledge Challenge is almost midway, so there is still plenty of time to make a pledge or read the entries so far. Come and join us in the forum. You can find the rules for the Challenge and enter a story here.

Reviewed Stories January 2013

Since the previous Bulletin, 2 stories passed through review while there are currently 10 stories waiting for reviewers. Make an author's day and review a story!

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more different opinions are represented. Having more people involved also 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, please 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 be, 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!

The Celeblas by Archeress
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: Two people, One meeting, leads to finding… an heir hidden away.

In need of a wife by Linda Hoyland
Rating: General
Genre: Romance
Era: 3rd Age – The Steward
Summary: Aragorn walks beneath the Birches.

Make an author's day, review a story or post a comment.

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

January Birthdays

Is your birthday in January, 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.

Challenges

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?

Story Pledge Challenge

The Story Pledge Challenge is live!  

A reminder of how the Pledge Challenge works:

Authors write original works, enter them in the Challenge, and promise to not post the stories anywhere except HASA for the month of January. For each story entered, readers pledge to donate a certain dollar amount, anything from $1 per story to however generous they are feeling, to HASA at the end of January. They can put a cap on the total donations they will give so they don't break the bank.

If you'd like to give a total of $100, you can say "However many stories there are, I will donate $100 and divide that amount evenly," or "I'll give $1/$5/$10/etc. per story, up to a maximum of $100."

--(Correction)

These are the rules for pledging:

• The pledge is per completed story posted to the Challenge - you can't specify that you'll only donate for an Elf story or one with Gollum in it, for example)
• A minimum of $1.00 per story
• No minimum on the total amount you're willing to pledge

--

The Story Pledge Challenge in the Forums:

Entries

Pledges

General discussion

The Nuzgûl of the Month!

The January Nuzgûl: write something for the Story Pledge Challenge!

December Stories

All 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 December:

--- 1 Reviewed Story was published or updated.

--- 27 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!

HASA News: Challenges

In this week’s news: Birthdays and the January Story Pledge Challenge

Birthday Cards

There is a day to go in the December Birthday Cards, so if you're very quick there's still time! Or perhaps your birthday is in January? In that case you can find the January birthday cards here... Don't forget to put in a request for a drabble!

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at some older stories written as birthday cards.

January Story Pledge Challenge

The January Story Pledge Challenge is open! Find out more, enter the Challenge or pledge an amount to donate, and if you do, post to the Forum to tell people about it.

Don't forget: any story that you post at HASA in January and that is in some way linked to The Hobbit can be entered. All we ask is that you don't post it anywhere else until February. Enter the Challenge and help put HASA in the black for 2013.

Here are some suggestions to help you along:

Book-based - backstories, side stories, after-happily-ever-after stories:

• Belladonna Took – what about those adventures?
• How did Thráin end up in Dol Guldur?
• Where does the Trolls' loot come from?
• Was Legolas at the Battle of the Five Armies?
• Did Bilbo and Aragorn/Estel meet in Rivendell?
• How did Gandalf, Saruman, Elrond and Galadriel root Sauron out of Dol Guldur?
• What did Bard do to re-establish Dale?
• When did Balin get it into his head to try and refound Khazad-dûm?

Movie-based (SPOILERS!):

• Write the back-story for a deviation from the book (Azog, the Elves of Mirkwood paying homage to Thrór, why is Thranduil riding a moose, ...)
• A recipe-fic involving Rhosgobel Rabbit
• The White Council meeting in Imladris
• Anything to do with Radagast
• The tunnel path to Rivendell
• Stone giants, what makes them tick?
• Gollum killing the goblin with a rock instead of strangling it

 

Authors, here are the rules for stories:

• It must be a new story, never having appeared for the general public on any other web site
• It must be 500 words or more in length (combining drabbles is fine, length allowances made for poetry)
• It is posted exclusively to HASA in January while the Challenge runs

 

Readers, here are the rules for pledging:

• The pledge is per completed story posted to the Challenge - you can't specify that you'll only donate for an Elf story or one with Gollum in it, for example)
• A minimum of $1.00 per story
• No minimum on the total amount you're willing to pledge

 

The challenge starts January 1, 2013 and runs through January 31.

Thank you for reading at HASA. Have fun!

HASA How-to December 2012

How do I...

..enter a story in a Challenge?

1. Go to Open Challenges, and find one you would like to enter.
2. Just below the description of the Challenge, look for the "Enter this Challenge!" box. If you don't see it, check to see if you are logged in.
3. In the box you will see a drop-down menu with all of your stories that are eligible to be entered in the Challenge, plus a Challenge Placeholder.
4. Select the story you want to enter or else the placeholder.
5. Click "Enter".

You are now entered in a Challenge!

If you have entered a Challenge and have a Placeholder that you want to replace with a real story, this is what to do:

1. Be sure you are logged in.
2. Select "My Challenges" from the Challenges main navigation menu.
3. On the My Challenges page, locate the challenge and the placeholder.
4. Click "Edit Entry".
5. The page will refresh and you will see a drop-down menu with all of your eligible stories.
6. Select the story you want to have in the Challenge.
7. Click "Edit".
8. Your entry is updated.

A story may be entered in as many Challenges as are appropriate for it. It may only be entered once in a particular Challenge.

Challenge stories can also be entered for review. In that case all references to the Challenge should be removed before submission as reviewers are asked to judge the story on its own. Authors should bear in mind that some entries which are excellent in the context of a Challenge may not strike readers as a complete story when disassociated from that Challenge.

When your Challenge story is submitted for review, it will temporarily disappear from the Challenge listing until it has received the requisite nine decisions from the reviewers. After the review is complete, you will need to reset the status on the story so it will reappear in the Challenge.

Story Pledge Challenge

Keen an eye out for the Story Pledge Challenge in January…

Have fun writing and reading!

HASA Reviewed Stories December 2012

Since the previous Bulletin, no new stories passed through review while there are currently 8 stories waiting for review. Make an author's day and review a story!

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more different opinions are represented. Having more people involved also 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, please 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 be, 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.

 

Make an author's day, review a story or post a comment.

Year-end Donation Note

Thanks to everyone’s participation and support this year we know that HASA will start 2013 with a positive balance. That will be a great place to start for the January Story Challenge. (Watch announcements and in forums for updates.)

HASA is in its tenth year of providing ad-free, fee-free JRRT fanfiction that is owned and operated by the fandom, not corporate interests. Your contact information is not for sale to marketeers. There are no tests to take to join, all genres, characters, ratings and story lengths are welcome, and we get hundreds of readers a day.

Our PayPal account has three ways to donate:

• Monthly subscriptions - set up a monthly recurring donation in amounts from $5 to $25 dollars.
• Yearly subscriptions - set up a recurring annual donation in amounts from $15 to $50 dollars.
• "Just because" donations of any amount.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. 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 reviewer, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA News - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

December birthdays and links to the stories written or updated in November

December Birthdays

Is your birthday in December, 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.

Challenges

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?

Story Pledge Challenge

In January we will run another Story Pledge Challenge as a site fundraiser. No details on the theme for now, except that the Challenge will focus on The Hobbit.

A reminder of how the Pledge Challenge works:

Authors write original works, enter them in the Challenge, and promise to not post the stories anywhere except HASA for the month of January. For each story entered, readers pledge to donate a certain dollar amount, anything from $1 per story to however generous they are feeling, to HASA at the end of January. They can put a cap on the total donations they will give so they don't break the bank.  

If you'd like to give a total of $100, you can say "However many stories there are, I will donate $100 and divide that amount evenly," or you can say, "I'll give $1/$5/$10/etc. per story, up to a maximum of $100."

You can even put in very specific pledges, for instance, you can say you'll donate $10 for each story that focuses on Bombur, or very general ones such as giving $100 if there are 10 or more entries in the challenge, or something like that.

We will post more information about the Challenge in the next few weeks. Watch this space... (and the forums...)

The Nuzgûl of the Month!

The December Nuzgûl, Rivendell: Hidden Valley or Bulwark Against Orcs? can be found here, and will run until the end of the month.

Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop and join in the fun. If you've written a story for any of the previous months, don't forget to add it to the Playlist!

November Stories

All 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 November:

--- 1 Reviewed Story was published or updated.

--- 26 General Stories were published or updated.

--- No Beta Stories were updated.

(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA How-to November 2012

Last month I asked for topics for the how-to, and on LJ Juno asked for a current overview of HASA volunteers, so here it is. To keep it simple, I've only listed the main volunteer(s) for each section, not the backups (who are usually the same people in a different order):

Site owner/Tech support all sections/Members
Anglachel

Site News/About
Nath, Julie

Challenges
Jay of Lasgalen, Linaewen

Birthday Challenges: Imhiriel

Reviews
Jay of Lasgalen

Stories
Nath

Resources
Elena Tiriel, Jay of Lasgalen, Linaewen, Nath

Forums/Comments
Nath

Workshops/Playlists/Polls don't currently need enough attention to have a main volunteer beyond Tech Support.

So, that's HASA. Remains for me to thank my fellow volunteers for their - usually unseen - effort, and hopefully I haven't forgotten any people or sections…

*-* Nath *-*

HASA Reviewed Stories November 2012

Since the previous Bulletin, two stories passed through review while there are currently 6 stories waiting for reviewers. Make an author's day and review a story!

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more different opinions are represented. Having more people involved also 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, please 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 be, 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!

The Mandrake Child by WindSurfBabe

Rating: General

Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards

Genre: Drama

Summary: If only he'd been mean, she thought. If only he'd been resentful and harsh, she could have done her duty with a clear conscience, and the regret his death had brought would not have been.

Bearing the News by Virtuella

Rating: General

Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War

Genre: General

Summary: As the Third Age draws to a close, a message needs to be carried that five have become four.

 

Make an author's day, review a story or post a comment.

A short note about donations.

Our account is still positive. However, the funds from HASA's Story Pledge Challenge are running low. We can stretch them longer if we have more subscribers and "just because" donations. Right now subscriptions cover about a third of the hosting fee.

HASA is in its tenth year of providing ad-free, fee-free JRRT fanfiction that is owned and operated by the fandom, not corporate interests. Your contact information is not for sale to marketeers. There are no tests to take to join, all genres, characters, ratings and story lengths are welcome, and we get hundreds of readers a day.

Our PayPal account has three ways to donate:

• Monthly subscriptions - set up a monthly recurring donation in amounts from $5 to $25 dollars.
• Yearly subscriptions - set up a recurring annual donation in amounts from $15 to $50 dollars.
• "Just because" donations of any amount.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. 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 reviewer, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

November Birthdays

Is your birthday in November, 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.

Challenges

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?

The Nuzgûl of the Month!

The November Nuzgûl, Where was Glorfindel?, can be found here, and will run until the end of the month.

Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop and join in the fun. If you’ve written a story for any of the previous months, don’t forget to add it to the Playlist!

October Stories

All 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 October:

--- 3 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.

--- 21 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!

HASA News - Challenges

Birthday Cards

There is over a week to go in the October Birthday Cards, so there's still time to write or request a drabble!

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at some older stories written as birthday cards.

Nuzgûl of the Month

The October Nuzgûl, Those Who Refused The Summons, can be found here, and will run until the end of the month.

Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop and join in the fun. If you’ve written a story for any of the previous months, don’t forget to add it to the Playlist!

Thank you for reading at HASA. Have fun!

HASA How-to October 2012

How do I...

...?

As people may have noticed, the HASA How-to is a monthly repeating news item at HASA, LJ, our Yahoo mail group and our blog. It is intended to highlight or explain aspects of the site, though not as a rule as an answer to an individual question, although a question may result in a specific topic being featured in a How-to.

Usually, I select the How-to topic by looking at what was featured in the previous months and either continuing a certain theme, or by picking something that hasn't had any attention for some time – over the years, items re-occur, with revisions where needed.

So, if there is any topic you'd like to see in the how-to, don't hesitate, and let us know!

And now for something completely different: if your birthday is in October, don't forget to put in a request for a drabble here!

HASA Reviewed Stories October 2012

Since the previous Bulletin, three stories passed through review while there are currently 9 stories waiting for reviewers. Make an author's day and review a story!

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more different opinions are represented. Having more people involved also 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, please 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 be, 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!

Beginnings by Marta

Rating: General

Era: Pre-Trees

Genre: General

Summary: Once upon a time, before the silmarils and the kinslayings and all the rest, Feanor would have just been a young dad in love.

Maid of the May by Armariel

Rating: General

Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards

Genre: Humor

Summary: Gandalf tries a bit of matchmaking at the Tuckborough Mayfest...with somewhat unexpected results. Then again, maybe not so unexpected.

Renewal by Linda Hoyland

Rating: General

Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War

Genre: General

Summary: Aragorn enjoys a few moments of reflection at Cormallen. Written for a challenge.

 

 

Make an author's day, review a story or post a comment.

 

 

HASA News - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

October Birthdays

Is your birthday in October, 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.

Challenges

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?

The Nuzgûl of the Month!

The October Nuzgûl, Those Who Refused The Summons, can be found here, and will run until the end of the month.

Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop and join in the fun. If you've written a story for any of the previous months, don't forget to add it to the Playlist!

September Stories

All 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 September:

--- 6 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.

--- 34 General Stories were published or updated.

--- 3 Beta Stories were updated.

(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!

Site Funding Update

A short note about donations. Our account is still positive. However, the funds from HASA's Story Pledge Challenge will last longer if we have more subscribers and "just because" donations. Right now subscriptions cover about a third of the hosting fee.

HASA is in its tenth year of providing ad-free, fee-free JRRT fanfiction that is owned and operated by the fandom, not corporate interests. Your contact information is not for sale to marketeers. There are no tests to take to join, all genres, characters, ratings and story lengths are welcome, and we get hundreds of readers a day.

Our PayPal account has three ways to donate:
- Monthly subscriptions - set up a monthly recurring donation in amounts from $5 to $25 dollars.
- Yearly subscriptions - set up a recurring annual donation in amounts from $15 to $50 dollars.
- "Just because" donations of any amount.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. 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 reviewer, no better time than now to sign up. If you are an author, please consider donating a new story.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Julie

HASA News - How-tos September 2012

How do I...

... use the Forums?

In this How-to you will learn how to join a forum, how post to one and how to create one.

What are the Forums?

A forum is a group of discussion threads. The threads in a forum are organized around something - an author, a story, a topic, an event, etc. Here HASA members can discuss, debate, critique, or just hang out. Some forums are also available to the general public for reading.

There are seven forums at HASA:

• Challenges
• Members
• Resources
• Reviews
• Stories
• Workshop
• General

Some forums are started by admins, but many more belong to individual members, for example authors who want to have a place to discuss their stories.

Closed Forums

Closed forums are only accessible to people who have been authorized by the creator of the forum. A forum may be closed for several reasons: for instance, an author may use a closed forum to discuss a story she's writing with her beta(s), or it could be about an adult story or discuss mature themes.

Read-only Forums

Read-only forums allow anyone to read a topic without being able to post. For instance, most of the site announcements are posted in read-only forums; only site admins can post to these.

How to join a Forum

1. Click on the forum you would like to participate in. If it is an open discussion, you will see 'You are not a participant in this discussion,' followed by a 'Sign Me Up!' link in the "Participation" box in the navigation column.

1. If you click on a forum that is closed, you will see the message 'We're sorry, this is a closed discussion'. If you want to take part in the discussion, click the 'Request Forum entry' button. An email will be sent to the discussion owner who may give or deny access, and you will receive confirmation of the result by email. Be patient; it may take a while for the forum owner to get the email and respond.

3. For an open forum, simply click on 'Sign Me Up.'
4. You will now see 'You are a full participant in this discussion.' You can now read or post at any time.

How to post in a Forum

1. For any forum you wish to participate in, either by reading or posting, you must first join the forum as described above.
2. Click on the forum you want to post in. If you are not already a participant, click on 'Sign me up!'
3. Find the thread that you would like to post to and click on it.
4. If you find a post you would like to reply to, click the 'Reply to Post' button in the message information box.
5. Type your response into the message form. Don't forget to spell check!
6. Click 'Post Reply.'
7. Now, look over your post. If you want to change anything, click on the 'Edit Message' button in the message information box, and edit the post as you like.

How to start a new topic in a Forum

1. Go to the forum you are interested in. If you have already joined the discussion, you will see a button 'Add a New Topic Thread' in the Participation box in the navigation column.
2. Click the button.
3. Type in the subject for the topic. This is what will appear in the topic list when that forum is opened.

Make it clear what the topic is about. Starting a topic in Jane Doe's forum called 'About your story' might be fine now when Jane only has one story; when she has eight it will be confusing.

How to create a Forum

Anyone, whether you are a writer or a reader, can create one or more forums. Obviously, you can start a forum to discuss your stories, but there are many interesting forums here on a wide range of topics related to writing. The busiest forums tend to be in the Resources Forums because that's where people go to look for help with research and to picking each others' brains on obscure Tolkien facts.

The key to getting a forum going is post a lot in that discussion yourself. Forums that look active attract more activity. If no one posts a reply to you right away, post something new - a new chapter, a new idea, a note about something you saw and thought was interesting, etc.

Also, post in other forums - that's how other members get to know you. If you like someone's stories, that person may have similar interests and may like yours, and the conversation may interest them in your forum or your stories. If it is a general interest forum, just be sure you are posting something pertinent to the topic. If you are posting in someone's story forum, you should be there to talk about her stories, not advertise your own. It is considered poor manners to "hijack" threads to try to draw people to your own forum.

If you want feedback on a story, make it easy for those who might want to comment. You can do this by:

• Linking your story to your forum
• Asking specific questions in your forum introduction, the first message of your topic thread, or at the beginning or end of your story.

It is always easier to give a specific rather than general comment. Answering 'What did you think of it?' is much harder than 'Did Gandalf's motivations make sense?' or 'Is the Rohan scene too choppy?'

Now, how to create your forum:

1. Locate an "Add Forum" link or button. These are located:
• In the main Forums navigation drop down menu
• In the top title bar on a Conference list of forums (See example in the Stories Forums . Please note, you have to be logged in.)
• On the main "My Forums" page.
2. Click the link or button.
3. You will see the Add a Forum form.
4. Type in the forum name; short names are preferred and display better. There is a 50 character maximum for titles.
5. If this forum is in the Stories Forums, you might choose to title it by your name: 'Name - Stories,' by the name of the story itself or whatever descriptive name you want to use. If it is in Members, you can also use your name 'Name's Discussion,' or choose another title that you like.
   
   Keep in mind that if you title a story discussion by the name of one story, you may need to add another discussion or change the name of the existing one when you post other stories. It's easiest to use a general name for your discussion, and post a list of stories in the introduction (and edit that when you add a story).
6. Choose which conferences you want the forum to appear in. Available conferences are:
• Members
• Stories
• Challenges
• Resources
• Workshop (Note: you can only add to this conference when you are a member of a workshop)
7. Write your introduction. This serves the same function that a summary does for a story; it is a way to tell members what's inside, and interest them in entering. It can be as simple as 'This is a place to discuss my stories,' or as long and detailed as you like. If it is very long, it will mean that readers have to scroll repeatedly to get to the threads, which some may find annoying.
8. Choose whether you want other members to be able to link their stories to your forum, or whether only you may link to the forum.
9. Decide whether you want to receive emails when there is a new post in your forum. You can always change your mind later. We recommend saying "Yes".
10. Select whether your forum is for general or adult audiences. Please clearly mark forums or posts that contain mature content.
11. Select who may participate in your forum. Unless you have a reason (such as discussing a story in beta, or a discussion on adult topics) to keep people out, you should choose "Open to all HASA Members, General Public may read." You can always change it later.
12. Click "Add Forum".

If there is more you want to learn more about how the forums work, you can find the answer in the Forums FAQ

Have fun!

And if there is any topic you'd like to see in the how-to, tell us and we'll try to answer your question!

HASA Reviewed stories September 2012

Since the previous Bulletin, three stories passed through review while there are currently 9 stories waiting for reviewers. Make an author's day and review a story!

Member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in reviewing, the more different opinions are represented. Having more people involved also 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, please 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 be, 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!

The Mariner's Woe by EarendiltheMariner
Rating: General
Era: Multi-Age
Genre: General
Summary: Sailing the stars alone and ceaselessly for thousands of years is bound to leave a mark, and not even Earendil the Mariner is perfect, or immune to temptation. A somewhat dark, angsty take on Earendil. Time tarnishes even the brightest glory, and dims even the brightest star.

Alfirin by Certh
Rating: General
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Genre: Other
Summary: Part I of the Colours of Dawn series. Even in the midst of war a fleeting semblance of quiet may be found.

Speak No Truth, Offer No Comfort by Adonnen Estenniel
Rating: General
Era: 4th Age
Genre: General
Summary: There's a feminist loose on the streets of Minas Tirith, and she's causing a bit of a stir. Curious to see what the fuss is about, one of the King's guards visits the tavern where she holds court, and he receives quite the earful for his troubles.

Make an author's day, review a story or post a comment.

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

September Birthdays

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.

Challenges

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?

The Nuzgûl of the Month!

The September Nuzgûl, Don't Worry, Be Happy, can be found here, and will run until the end of the month.

Come on over to the Nuzgûl of the Month Workshop and join in the fun. If you've written a story for any of the previous months, don't forget to add it to the Playlist!

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:

--- no Reviewed Stories were published or updated.

--- 31 General Stories were published or updated.

--- 2 Beta Stories were updated.

(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!