Thursday, June 30, 2011

HASA is 9 on July 1st! Please read

July 1 is HASA’s 9th birthday. We're at -$368 which means we have 45% of April, and all of May & June to cover, and the July bill will soon come due. HASA depends on member & reader donations to pay hosting fees, which pays for the dedicated server we need to host our content -- all the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more. We shouldn't be running this far negative for this long. It would be best if we were positive. Please consider a birthday present to support HASA so our great stories can remain online and accessible.

Another way to support HASA is subscriptions. Currently we have four monthly and two annual subscriptions. It would be great if we could have more! I would be pestering you less. The monthly hosting fee for HASA is $150. There are now three ways to donate to our PayPal account, one time donations and monthly or annual donations.
Donation buttons are on the home page (one-time donation only), all story list pages and on the Donations page. 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 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

Saturday, June 25, 2011

HASA News - Challenges

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

Birthday Challenges

The June Birthday Challenge is still running, and it's not yet too late to put in a request!

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

Current and closing Challenges

There are no closing challenges this month.

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, why not 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?

The Nuzgûl of the Month: Or rather the Summer Nuzgûl, which will run until September 1. Come to the forum and join in the fun.

Other news - donations

We're currently close to three months' worth in the red, so please consider donating in June or July if you haven't done so recently. Every little bit helps, even if you can only give $5.

Thank you for reading at HASA. Have fun!

Monday, June 20, 2011

HASA How-tos - June 2011

This month's HASA How-to will explain some of the terms used in the Challenges section at HASA.

How do I...

... use Challenges (pt. 1)?

In this How-to you will learn what some words that are used in the Challenges section mean.

First, a brief description of the Challenges section. This is where the various Challenges issued by HASA members over the years are kept, and it contains several things:

  1. The text descriptions of all Challenges (Open Challenges, Closed Challenges)
  2. Any stories that have been written in response to the Challenge
  3. A way for authors to add more entries to an open Challenge
  4. An archive of closed Challenges (those whose time limit has run out)
  5. The Nuzgûl Hutch
  6. The Oliphaunt Pen
  7. Category and Keyword searches
  8. A link to the Challenge Forums
What is a Challenge?

Challenges are ideas for fics that people have presented to the group at large. Any HASA member can create a Challenge. This prospective Challenge must get a minimum of three people who say they will try to write a story for it. These are called 'pledges.' If at least three pledges are obtained, then the idea becomes a Challenge.

Most Challenges start life as Nuzgûl.

What is a Nuzgûl?

Nuzgûl are what many fandoms call 'plot bunnies.' They are ideas for writing a fic and they look sweet and harmless until they sink their long fangs into you and refuse to let go. If three people post stories for a Nuzgûl, it becomes a Challenge.

The name 'nuzgûl' comes from The Official Fan-fiction University of Middle-earth (OFUM), written by Miss Cam, in which of Middle-earth terms produce new creatures. Among them were the Nuzgûl. HASA has been overrun with them ever since, a plague or a blessing, depending on your viewpoint. Beware the bite of the undead plotbunny.

What is the Nuzgûl Hutch?

The Hutch is where you can drop off or pick up Nuzgûl. Any Challenge that doesn't find three stories before its deadline will live in the Hutch until five stories are attached to it. When there are three stories, the Nuzgûl becomes a Challenge.

After an author writes the story inspired by the Nuzgûl, the creature is said to be "defanged." Be warned, however, they do occasionally bite twice.

What is an Oliphaunt?

I stump round and round
Never lie on the ground
Not even to die
Oliphaunt am I,
Biggest of all,
Huge, old, and tall.
If ever you'd met me
You wouldn't forget me.

An Oliphaunt is a Challenge that is 'too big to die'. When a Challenge with at least three stories attached passes its closing date, it is honorably retired. If authors still wish to write stories for that Challenge, an Oliphaunt is created from the original Challenge. It lumbers along, picking up more stories as it goes. Not all Challenges become Oliphaunts because not all continue to attract stories.

What is the Oliphaunt Pen?

The home of the Oliphaunt, where old, successful Challenges go. Members may continue to adopt Oliphaunts and write stories for them which will be associated with the Oliphaunt but not shown with the original Challenge. The Oliphaunt is so named because after getting all those entries as a Challenge, it just keeps lumbering on. Feel free to root around in the Oliphaunt pen for some great story ideas.

What is a Placeholder?

A placeholder is an entry indicating that the author intends to write a story for a Challenge, but has not yet written the story.

To enter a placeholder, simply click "accept" on the Challenge of your choice, and use the drop-down menu to select "Challenge Placeholder," the first choice in the story drop-down list. In your "My Stuff" section, you will see a placeholder for the Challenge. You may later edit this entry from "My Stuff" when you have a story, or you may drop it if you decide not to continue in the Challenge.

What is a Prompt?

A prompt is the Challenge description, the starting point for any entry into the Challenge.

The purpose of the description is to prompt authors to enter and write a story for the Challenge. Well written prompts tell what the Challenge is for, how it came about and what the author needs to do to participate.

Have fun!
~*~*Nath*~*

Sunday, June 12, 2011

HASA Reviewed Stories June 2011

Since the previous Bulletin, 3 stories have been reviewed and there are currently also 9 stories in review. Make an author's day and review a story! New submissions are of course welcome as well!

As I type this, there are 9 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 different 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!

Night and Fog by Azalais

Rating: General
Genre: Drama
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: "They reached the west-shores of Anduin a little north of Sarn Gebir, as they had trysted; and there received horses and raiment that were secretly ferried over the River." What a lad from the Eastemnet saw one night in July 3018 on the banks of the Anduin.

Still Waters by Olorimë

Rating: Adult
Genre: Drama
Era: 1st Age
Summary: Finrod Felagund gets stranded in a storm, a mysterious elf comes to his rescue. His life will be forever changed.

A Seal upon thine Heart by Linda Hoyland

Rating: General
Genre: Romance
Era: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Summary: Many years after their first meeting, Aragorn and Arwen are reunited in Lothlórien. Sequel to "Stranger at the Gates". Dedicated to Julia. With thanks to Virtuella.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, stories

June birthdays, Challenges and links to the stories written or updated in May.

June Birthday Challenge

Is your birthday in June, 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.

Current and closing Challenges

There are no closing challenges this month.

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, why not 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?

The Nuzgûl of the Month!

This summer's Nuzgûl (three of them!) can be found here.

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!

May 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 May:

--- 4 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.

--- 55 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!

*~*Nath*~*