Sunday, December 30, 2007

HASA Announcement: New Quickie Challenge

BIRTHDAY DRABBLES



The thread for January Birthday drabbles is up. If you have a January birthday and haven't done so already, post your request here.

Imhiriel has a birthday this upcoming week. She requested,"I'd like to get drabbles from the PoV of something that normally has no voice - a tree, a building, an heirloom, a landscape, a constellation etc. - time or place don't matter, but the more unusual the PoV, the better."

The following drabbles were posted this week:

--- "Waiting" by Vilwarin for Imhiriel
--- "The Kindly Airs" by Dwimordene for Imhiriel




FUNDING UPDATE



HASA is currently only funded through the end of January. If you would like to donate money toward future months' site fees, you can do so here.




QUICKIE CHALLENGE



This Sunday is the fifth Sunday of December, which means it's time for another quickie challenge. In honor of New Year's Eve, this challenge focuses on remembrances. Write a story, drabble, or poem about a character remembering a past event. When you post the story, make sure you enter it in the challenge here and comment in the forum here.




REVIEWS



There are currently nine stories in review. If you have been a member of HASA for thirty days, you are welcome (and encouraged!) to become a reviewer. Here are three sample summaries to pique your interest:

----- "As he leads Tuor to Gondolin, Voronwë learns of love, of fate, of fear... and most importantly, of hope. Contains mild slash, but is ultimately true to canon."

----- "What is seen of the Ringbearer from four different points of view."

----- "The War of the Ring is over, but memories remain. A vignette about life, death, and a date's irony."

HASA members, to see if there's a story you'd be interested in reviewing, check it out. (You'll need to be logged in.)




And that's it! Have a good week.

Marta
(HASA Admin.)

PS - If you have an announcement you'd like included for next week, please email me.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

New Forum Posts

BIRTHDAY DRABBLES



There haven't been any birthday requests for December yet. If you have a December birthday, you still have some time to make a request:

Birthday Drabble Forum




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:


"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. (You must be logged in to see this link.)




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,
Arandil

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

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Recently-Updated Stories

BIRTHDAY DRABBLE REQUESTS



Still no December birthday requests! If you have a birthday birthday and would like a drabble, why not post a request at

http://henneth-annun.net/forums/messages.cfm?confId=0&forumId=482&messageId=51332

If you're unsure how it all works, send up a red flag at that same forum, and Imhiriel the Challenges Assistant who works with birthday drabbles will be glad to help you.




This week's focus:

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

"A Creature of Fire by daw
[Summary]

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 --- http://www.henneth-annun.net/stories/story_reviewed.cfm
Of Like Passion by Adaneth
The fiends have been slain, and the Men and Dwarves of Dûnhebaid are hoping for peace and prosperity. Yet monstrous foes make other irritations seem trifling. Out of that shade, quarrels are like to bloom . . . and Lindon takes steps to deal with the interlopers. The Dûnhebaid Cycle, Part III.

My Oaths Will I Keep by Encaitariel
A story of Gildor Inglorion, following In This Far Land. Beren, son of Barahir, comes to Nargothrond.

~*~

General Stories --- http://www.henneth-annun.net/stories/story_general.cfm
West of the Moon, East of the Sun by Armariel
A sequel to "Light from the West"...the story of the reunion of Sam and Frodo in the Undying Lands. (WIP)

Unto the Ending of the World by Nath
Dark AU, diverging from the end of the Two Towers: Sauron regains his Ring in Ithilien, and a very bleak world emerges. (WIP)

~*~

Beta Stories --- http://www.henneth-annun.net/stories/story_beta.cfm
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view these stories.)

A Reason for Hope by Lady Donalwen
A-U. Arwen and her firend Doni are returning home to Rivendell from Lothlorien when they are attacked by a band of orcs. The attack leaves them both unconscious and when they wake up in Rivendell, they find that they have been switched; Arwen is mistaken for Doni and sent to Dale as a lady's maid while an unconscious Doni, mistaken for a dead Arwen, is laid to rest and later rescued. (WIP)

The Sins of the Fathers: Tirion by Mirefinwe
Three Ages in the life of a city.




For your mid-month nuzgul, I'd like to point you to the drabble challenge currently going on at the there_n_back LiveJournal community. Lots of HASA-ites are participating. Every day, an illustration from a Tolkien calendar is posted to the community, and members respond with drabbles about the illustration. It's a good way to write if you don't have a lot of time.

The illustration is posted each day at

http://there-n-back.livejournal.com/

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(at)henneth-annun(dot)not.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Updates to Resources

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?

No birthday drabbles for December have been requested. If you have a December birthday please request it here.




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 at http://www.henneth-annun.net/resources/index.cfm.

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 at http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/contact.cfm.

What's new in Resources:

Timeline Events:
History of Gondor: Overview
Azaghal and the Dwarves of Belegost defeat Glaurung in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad

Character Biographies
Amdir
Beruthiel

Places
Dunharrow
Dome of Stars

Things
Laurelin
Telperion

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 HASANews@henneth-annun.net.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

HASA FUNDING UPDATE



No website is truly free. HASA does not display ads or charge for memberships, but there are still costs associated with running the website. The website depends on member donations to pay its monthly hosting fee of $150.00.

Currently available funding: $372.83
To provide funding through: February 2008

If anyone would like to make a donation, you may do so at

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




BIRTHDAY CARDS



No members with a December birthday have requested a birthday drabble yet.

Post your request at the Birthday Cards Forum

http://www.hennethannun.net/members/challenge/threads.cfm?confid=5&forumid=482.

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 DECEMBER 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.




New Challenges



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




Old Challenges



X takes the Ring - AU Challenge March 25 2008
I have seen a few stories over the years where for instance Galadriel takes the Ring when Frodo offers it to her. But what would happen if others were to take it, for any reason, good or evil? Aragorn? Boromir, Gandalf, or Pippin perhaps? Or Sam abandons Frodo at Cirith Ungol and goes on alone to try to destroy the Ring...

It wouldn't have to be a member of the Fellowship; maybe Barliman Butterbur finds a golden ring in the room the Hobbits used… or Bilbo loses it on one of his walking trips in the Shire…

These could be anything, serious, funny, dark; from drabbles to multi-chapter AUs, and anything in between.




'Tis the Season to Be Filking....



Every year several HASA members try to write Arda-themed filks of Christmas carols and other winter holiday-themed songs. It's great fun. If you do this feel free to post them at HASA so we can all admire your work. If enough people write these we'll start a challenge for them.




Happy (Yule) 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.