Sunday, August 28, 2011

HASA news - Challenges

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

Birthday Challenges

There are a few more days to go in the August Birthday Challenge, so there's still time to write or request a drabble.

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, Oliphaunts and Nuzgûl

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.

Older ideas can also be found in the Oliphaunt Pen and the Nuzgûl Hutch... Why not take on an Oliphaunt or let a Nuzgûl bite you?

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, and will run until the end of this 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!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

HASA how-tos - August 2011

This month's HASA How-to takes a closer look at stories at HASA.

How do I...

... find something to read?

In this How-to you will learn a bit more about the various kinds of stories at HASA and how to find a story if you’re looking for something specific (a character, a time period, a location etc.).

How to find all stories

There are three kinds of stories at HASA: General and Reviewed status stories are available to all site visitors, and you have to be logged in to read Beta status stories.

Reviewed: These are the stories that have been evaluated by the reviewers' pool and have been judged as excellent stories by the majority of the reviewers.

General: This is a catch-all category. If a story is not Beta and it is not Reviewed, but the author wants it available for others to read, it will be in General.

Beta: These are works in progress by HASA members that the author doesn't yet want the general public to read. Remember: you can only see these when you are logged in, although Beta stories that are entered in Challenges or linked in Playlists can also be read by the general public.

How to find a specific story

There are a number of ways to locate stories on HASA:

Story Sort Bar: The most popular way is to use the story sort bar at the top of every HASA page. Create a custom search by selecting an author, era, genre, character and/or status. The stories are sorted by most recently updated.

Recommended: You can look up stories that have been recommended by HASA members over the years. This is useful if you are looking for a particular kind of story, for instance a gap-filler that deals with family dynamics, or a story that combines humor and economics as a topic.

Keyword Search: Most story pages have a Keyword search form in the side navigation column. This form searches the titles and summaries of stories, but not the story text. Here are some tips for an effective keyword search:

  • Each line may contain one or more search words.
  • Do not use commas - use spaces to separate terms.
  • Separate lines are used as an OR search.
  • Words in the same line are used as an AND search.
  • Partial words will also be searched; for example, "owyn" will find both "Eowyn" and "Éowyn."
  • If you are unsure about spelling, use only part of the word.

How to save a search

Often, you want to read a set of stories that have similar characteristics, such as all having a particular character, all by the same author, all poetry or romances, etc. You also want to know when there is something new or updated with that kind of story. If you bookmark a single story or author, or create a playlist, you can track existing stories, but you may not know when they have been updated. You won't know about new stories. What do you do?

You create a saved search.

  1. Set up a sort filter using the drop down menus in the story sort bar.
  2. Click Go.
  3. On the search result page, you will see a form "Save Search to Your Library".
  4. Type a unique name into text box.
  5. Click "Save".
  6. The page refreshes and your search is added to the Saved Searches list.

To get to your saved search:

  1. Click on the "Stories" button in the top navigation menu.
  2. When you get to the Stories home page, look in the navigation sidebar for "My Library".
  3. In My Library, click on ;the link that says "Saved Searches".
  4. Your searches appear in alphabetical order in the sidebar menu, ordered alphabetically and stamped with a date when it was created.
  5. Click a search name to rerun the search.

Have fun reading and exploring!

If there is any topic you’d like to see in the how-to, please let us know!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

HASA Reviewed Stories August 2011

Since the previous Bulletin, 6 stories have been reviewed and there are currently also 9 stories in review. Make an author's day and review a story!

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!

Treed by The Lauderdale

Rating: Adult
Genre: General
Era: 4th Age
Summary: Her father searches for her in vain. Her mother mourns her death. Now one young Elf's only hope of survival lies with the monster who took her, and in her own desperate will to live.

Woman of the Secret Shadow by Armariel
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 1st Age
Summary: The tale of Thuringwethil, messenger and consort of Sauron...and the mother of all vampires.

Lost & Found by Tanis
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Summary: Legolas doesn't know he's lost, but neither Aragorn nor Gimli can find him.

Three Sides to the Same Story by Starlight
Author:
Rating: General
Genre: Poetry
Era: 1st Age
Summary: Gwindor/Finduilas/Turin, one of the saddest stories in the Silmarillion canon.

The Good Earth by Linda Hoyland
Author:
Rating: General
Genre: General
Era: Multi-Age
Summary: A series of drabbles written for "xx" challenge featuring the natural world.

Eowyn's Wedding by Armariel
Rating: General
Genre: Poetry
Era: 3rd Age - Post-Ring War
Summary: What the title says.:)

Sunday, August 7, 2011

HASA news - Donations

HASA depends on donations to meet hosting costs. While this means that we come ‘begging’ about once a month, the good news is that a little can make a great difference!

We currently have six Monthly subscribers who together donate $40 every month to HASA. We also have two Annual subscribers who together donate $30 per year. Together, these regular donations provide $510 towards hosting every year, and cover 28%, just over 1/4, of HASA's annual bill.

Think of that! It takes just 8 people donating a few dollars every month or every year to cover more than a quarter of the site costs.

HASA is starting its tenth year of providing ad-free, fee-free JRRT fanfiction that is owned and operated by the fandom, not corporate interests. 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. Your contact information is not for sale to marketeers.

Currently, our account is at - $283. If you are one of our regular visitors, please consider setting up a subscription. $5 = one day of hosting. Economic times are tough. If you can't spare money, then please give something just as valuable - your time. There are stories that need reviews, a story comment can really make an author's day, we have forums for discussing any topic and, of course, you can post your own works for the enjoyment of everyone.

Thanks for enjoying HASA!

Nath

Monday, August 1, 2011

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, stories

August birthdays, Challenges and links to the stories written or updated in July.

August Birthday Challenge

Is your birthday in August, 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 (including the new Oliphaunt 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: here, and will run until the end of August.

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!

July 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 July:

--- 9 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.

--- 64 General Stories were published or updated.

--- 5 Beta Stories were updated.

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

Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!