Sunday, October 28, 2007

BIRTHDAY DRABBLES



The following members have birthday this week. If you're in the drabbling mood, why not write them 100 words as a birthday card?

Raksha the Demon requested "I'd particularly like something about the relationship of Faramir and Gandalf, but anything Faramir will do (except slash, no thanks)." (October 31)

The November thread is up. If you have a November birthday please request a drabble here.




This week's focus:

FORUMS



One of the best ways to get involved at HASA is through our forums. People are discussing research questions and stories as well as having fannish squees regularly there.

Some useful forum links (you must be logged in for all of these):

"On Our Minds" displays the ten most recent posts in forums open to all HASA members. It's a good way to catch up on what you've missed, though the page can move quickly when lots of forums are active at once.

If you've been out of touch for longer than a few days you might want to use the "One Month of Posts" page. This page has just what it sounds like: a list of forums that have been posted to in the last month, beginning with the most recently updated.

Workshops are specialized writing communities. They allow you to share stories you aren't ready to post to the whole site, and many have interesting forums attached to them. Explore workshops to find a group of members interested in similar topics.

Now, here are some of the most recently-updated threads in HASA forum. Don't be shy. If any interest you, why not jump in?

HASA Birthday Cards Forum
Subject: October 2007 Birthdays

Aliana's fics (and occasional randomness)
Subject: Fallen, the Fourth

HASA Birthday Cards Forum
Subject: New Birthday Drabbles Volunteer

Here's hoping this week finds you having many interesting discussion about all things Tolkien. Because, really, you were trying to cut back on sleep anyway, right?

Until next time,
Marta

PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please email HASANews@henneth-annun.net.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Announcement: Recently-Updated Stories

BIRTHDAY CARD DRABBLES



The following members have birthday this week. If you're in the drabbling mood, why not write them 100 words as a birthday card?

RAKSHA THE DEMON (October 31) requested "I'd particularly like something about the relationship of Faramir and Gandalf, but anything Faramir will do (except slash, no thanks)."




PARTY TIME! QUICKIE CHALLENGE



The challenge to write a story in a pub or at a party is now closed. As there were less than five entries, it here.

The following stories were written for it.

"Orc-Men Treacherous and Vile" by Afriendman (Warning: Adult)
The story of the Squint-Eyed Southerner, servant of Saruman. Rated Adult for profanity, gore, and the eating of human flesh (so far). Black humor, some satire of modern life.

"Brotherly Love" by Jay of Lasgalen
A series of five drabbles for the HASA Quickie Challenge for a story set in an inn or at a party. This is both.




RECENTLY UPDATED 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 is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA hilights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. The current story is

No Living Man by Elana
In which the Witch King learns that, for an inhabitant of Middle Earth, the knowledge that no living man can harm you is no reason to get cocky. AU. Humor.

Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and check out the currently featured story?

Many talented writers are publishing every day. Check out these stories just added to HASA:

Reviewed Stories

Valour Without Renown by Forodwaith
The War of the Ring cost Hama's daughter everything she holds dear. Can she find the necessary strength to rebuild her life? An attempt to write of the War from the perspective of a very ordinary inhabitant of Middle-Earth. No explicit violence, but scenes dealing with the aftermath of war.

Glimpse of Glory by Linda Hoyland
All she has to do is ask, and the Ring will be hers, by the Ring-bearer's own will. What thoughts coursed through the mind of the greatest Elf in Middle-earth when Frodo made his offer? 100 words as counted in MS Word. Written for a challenge.

~*~

General Stories

Wild Roses by Nieriel Raina
GREENWOOD PRINCE SERIES: They have always been friends, despite the pranks he pulled on her. Nearing adulthood, Celin decides she can't take it any more, and ends their friendship. Will Legolas realize that he loves her? Can Celin ever love him back. (Work-in-Progress.)

Light From the West by Armariel
Companion piece to "Bear Me Away!" and "Anemone" which recount Frodo's adventures in the West. In "Bear Me Away" he speaks of reading letters to Sam through his star-glass. Here are excerpts from those letters. (Work-in-progress)

~*~

Beta Stories
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view these stories.)

Amid the Powers and Chances of the World by Azalais
A mortal woman is brought to Rivendell for healing in the summer of 3018, and thus becomes entangled with both Men and Elves in the events of the War of the Ring. How will destiny and choice shape the lives of the two Kindreds? October 2007 update: The Dead watch the road that leads to the sea, and Legolas watches them. (Work-in-progress)

What Enemy is This? by Agape4Gondor
Haldir and Legolas - will their friendship stand the test of an elleth? Turned from drabbles into a full fledged tale. All sorts of adult themes throughout. Slash and HET. (Work-in-progress, Adult.)




MID-MONTH NUZGUL



Because the only way to get stories to read is for someone to write them, and that requires our fangy little friends.

The Only Thing to Fear....

Fear of flying. Fear of heights. Fear of spiders, snakes or other less savory creatures. Fear of the dark. Fear of small places. Those are all silly fears, of things that are really nothing to be afraid of.

Right?

Right! Still, most people suffer from one or another such irrational phobia. Would the heroes of Middle-earth be any different from us? I don't think so. But what secret fears might they be hiding?

The Challenge: give them fear! Maybe Boromir is truly creeped out when he finds ants in his bedroll. Or Aragorn has sweaty palms and a heart thudding in his throat when he is forced to venture once more into the darkness of Moria. Perhaps Pippin was secretly nearly wetting his pants when sitting high on Treebeard's shoulders. Or...

You get the idea.

This nuzgul is just in time for Halloween. Why not give us a drabble (or three) about your favorite character getting completely weirded out by his private tormentor? Could be fun, right? And with one more entry, this nuzgul becomes a full-out challenge and so it will be viewable from the public side of the site. Which is always nice.

If you don't feel the tickle of little fangs in your ankle yet, there are many more potential stories just waiting to be written. Read all of HASA's many story prompts in our Nuzgul hutch.

Do you have a suggestion you'd like to see added to the hutch? Submit it using the "Submit a Story Suggestion" form.

Happy reviewing!
Marta
PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please email HASANews@henneth-annun.net.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

BIRTHDAY DRABBLES



The following members have birthday this week. If you're in the drabbling mood, why not write them 100 words as a birthday card?

Peregrin Ionad (October 8) said "I'd love any thing about the Sons of Elrond, Legolas and Aragorn, but I'm not adverse to the hobbits, Faramir, Glorfindel or Thranduil either!"




REVIEW MYTHS DEBUNKED



The volunteer team has put together a series of common myths about the HASA Review Process. Check it out today, and feel free to comment if you'd like to discuss any of these points, or just have a question.




This week's focus:

RESOURCES



The HASA Research Library is a very useful resource for writers as well as for online discussions on book canon. You can find entries on characters, settings, events, and items, containing cited quotes about the item you are trying to find more information on. This portion of the site is available to both members and non-members here.

Would you like to get involved with Resources? If you like researching and want to help develop this section of HASA you can contact the Resources & Research Library through the contact form.

What's new in Resources:

Timeline Events:
Theoden adopts Eomer and Eowyn and raises them in Edoras.
Saruman attempts to kill Frodo at Bag End.

Character Biographies
Leod
Belladonna Took

Places
Dome of Stars
The Sammath Naur

Things
Bilbo's Mithril Coat
Aeglos (weapon)

Good luck researching your story! If you enjoy this section of the site please feel free to thank the researchers, listed at the bottom of every entry.

And always remember, grasshopper: the path of wisdom leads through proper citations. *grins*

Marta

PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please email me.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

HASA Announcements for October 6-13

HASA FUNDING UPDATE



HASA is fully funded through the end of the year. Thank you for your generous donations! If you would like to support HASA, Challenges is still looking for a volunteer to help run the Birthday Cards forum.

If anyone would like to make a donation toward next year's site expenses, you may do so at

http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm




BIRTHDAY CARDS



No members with birthdays this week have requested drabbles, though some have requested drabbles for later in the month. If you have an October birthday, feel free to request a drabble at the Birthday Card Forum.




This Week's Focus:

CHALLENGES



OCTOBER CHALLENGES BULLETIN

Birthdays!
The following members have requested birthday drabbles for October.

31, Rasha the Demon: : I'd particularly like something about the relationship of Faramir and Gandalf, but anything Faramir will do (except slash, no thanks).

Peregrin Ionad: I'd love any thing about the Son's of Elrond, Legolas and Aragorn, but I'm not adverse to the hobbits, Faramir, Glorfindel or Thranduil either!!

Post your request at the Birthday Cards Forum.

Please create your story and add it to the birthday card workshop. This lets others put drabbles they write in an easily accessible location. Enter your story in the challenge for OCTOBER drabbles. All birthday stories will also now be listed in a master playlist. There are instructions on how to do all this at the top of each thread in the Birthday Cards Forum; if you need help with the workshop, just ask the Workshop Manager, Gwynnyd.

A Quickie Challenge: Party Time
September 22 is the date of Bilbo's and Frodo's famous birthday party. And September 29-30 is the night that Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Sam spent in Bree. In honor of these two events, write a story that involves either a bar/pub/common room of some sort, or a party. Or both. Whatever else you want to include is up to you.

The catch? This is a "quickie" challenge, so it will only run for two weeks. Drabble, poems, one-shots, anything like that. (Challenge closes October 17, 2007.)

New Challenges
Make a suggestion in the prospective Challenges thread. When five people
accept, you have created a new Challenge

Old Challenges
New Members 2006 - 2007 October 29 2007
This is a challenge for new members. By definition, a new member is any member who has been a member for fewer than four months or who, at the time of reading this, has written three (3) or fewer Tolkien fanfics.

Choose one of the following - there are choices from any Age, from "The Hobbit," from "Lord of the Rings," from "The Silmarillion", from "Unfinished Tales", and three choices from the Peter Jackson "Lord of the Rings" - movies. Write a story on any of these prompts. There are no page limits.

Keep a New Year’s resolution.
Wander over to the Nuzgul pen and adopt one today.
Review one story weekly.
Browse the Resources.
Leave a comment monthly.
Celebrate Bilbo’s and Frodo’s birthday by giving a mathom to HASA.

HASA Challenges Team

*******

Happy writing!

Fangedly yours,
>:-E Marta

PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please email HASANews@henneth-annun.net.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Announcements for September 31-October 6

BIRTHDAY DRABBLES

The October birthday drabble thread is up! If you have an October birthday, please add your request to the Birthday Drabble Forum.

By the way – we’re looking for someone to help manage the birthday drabbles. You’d set up the monthly thread, add people’s requests to the top post of the thread, and setting up and closing a challenge each month. If you’re interested in helping out, please email HASANews@henneth-annun.net.




From now on, every month that has five Sundays, for the fifth Sunday we’ll have a quick challenge. Quickie challenges are different from normal challenges in that you don't have to promise to write a story idea; you just write it, and if five stories are written the challenge will be made public.

The big difference is that, as the name suggests, QC's don't last for months. In fact they'll only run two weeks. Write drabbles, poems, one-shots, or anything else you have time to come up with in the time frame. I find it quite fun and liberating not to have to perfect something for months. And it's exciting to know other people are writing at the same time.

This month’s challenge is: Party Time!

September 22 is the date of Bilbo's and Frodo's famous birthday party. And September 29-30 is the night that Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Sam spent in Bree. In honor of these two events, write a story that involves either a bar/pub/common room of some sort, or a party. Or both. Whatever else you want to include is up to you.

Enter this challenge @ here.
Deadline: October 17




That’s it until next week!

Marta


PS- Do you have something in particular you would like included in next week's announcement? If so, please email me.