Henneth Annûn Story Archive

This is the repository of the Challenges issued by various members, 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

Challenges are ideas for fanfiction that others 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.

Any HASA member may enter any Challenge.

If you are not a member but would like to enter, join now! It's free, it's fast, it's easy. Start with a Challenge entry and see what other fun you can have on HASA!

1. The Challenge will stop accepting entries. If you have a placeholder, you can substitute a completed story for that placeholder entry, but you may not add any other stories.
2. Closed Challenges that have failed to garner three stories are converted into Nuzgûl and put into the Nuzgûl Hutch for authors to pick up at their leisure. If a third story is added, the Nuzgûl is converted back to a Challenge, but will be closed to additional entries.
3. Closed Challenges with the minimum three entries that have authors requesting to write additional stories can have an Oliphaunt created to hold those entries.

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 readable stories for a Nuzgûl, it becomes a Challenge.

If a Nuzgûl began life as a Challenge and was converted due to lack of entries, it will close upon conversion back to a Challenge. If the Nuzgûl has never been a Challenge, it will be converted to an open Challenge, given a due date, and will accept more entries until that date.

The name 'nuzgûl' comes from The Official Fan-fiction University of Middle-earth (OFUM). The author and Course coordinator, Miss Cam, maintains that misspellings of Middle-earth terms produce new creatures, which she then puts up for adoption. HASA has been overrun with these ever since, a plague or a blessing, depending on your viewpoint. Some members delight in siccing Nuzgûl on the unsuspecting. Beware, as it can be hazardous to your free time.

The Hutch is where you can drop off or pick up one of the pesky creatures called 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.

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 can continue to attract stories.

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.

A placeholder is an entry indicating that the author intends to write for the 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.

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.

1. Go to Open Challenges, and find one you would like to enter. There are a variety of Challenges available to offer the widest participation for authors of all tastes, talents, and experience level.
2. Once you have found the Challenge you are interested in, read the description and check the requirements: closing date, and in some cases, word limit. Even if the Challenge is closed, remember that you may still write for it as a Nuzgûl or Oliphaunt.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Select the story you want to enter or else the placeholder.
6. Click "Enter".

You are now entered in a Challenge!

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.

1. Be sure you are logged in
2. Go to the Challenge forum "The Hutch: Home of the HASA Nuzgûl"
3. If you do not yet belong to the discussion, click the "Sign Up"button.
4. Click "Add a New Topic Thread" button.
5. Enter your Nuzgûl idea in the forum.

Start by registering the Challenge:

1. In the "Prospective Challenges" forum, create a new topic to discuss your challenge idea. Use the forum to create interest and identify those who are willing to write in response to your challenge. If you can find five people to agree to write for your challenge, e-mail the Challenge Manager with the text of the Challenge, its duration, and request that it be posted in HASA's Challenge section.
2. Once the Challenge accepted, the Challenges Manager will enter the Challenge into the database and keep a check on its progress. The originator of the Challenge may upon occasion be asked to clarify his or her prompt or some aspect of the prompt.
3. Challenges that fail to acquire the three-response minimum by the closing date will be moved to the Nuzgûl Hutch for others to freely use.
4. If you would like your Nuzgûl to go directly to the Hutch, there is a The Hutch: Home of the HASA Nuzgûl forum in which you may put it. The Challenges Manager will enter it into the database as soon as possible.

No problem! All you have to do is find your entry and then pick a different story.

1. Mouse over the Challenges button in the main navigation menu.
2. From the drop-down menu, select "My Challenges"
3. You should now see all of your Challenge entries
4. Locate the Challenge and story you need to change.
5. Click the "Edit Entry" button.
6. Use the drop-down menu at the top of the table to select the story you do want to enter
7. Click "Edit" to complete the process.

Your entry has now been corrected, and the new story should automatically appear in your list of Challenges.

If at any time you decide you don't want to be in a particular Challenge, you may do so.

1. Mouse over the Challenges button in the main navigation menu.
2. From the drop-down menu, select "My Challenges"
3. You should now see all of your Challenge entries
4. Locate the Challenge and story you need to change.
5. Click the "Withdraw Entry" button.
6. The page will refresh and your entry will be removed.

Withdrawing from a Challenge does not delete your story. Only the entry form associating the story with the Challenge is deleted.

This occurs when the story status is set to "Private". Go back to your new chapter through "My Stories" and make sure that the status is set to "Public". The Challenges area filters out all "Private" status chapters, allowing you to work on a chapter in the system without allowing other people to see it before you're ready.

If you are looking at HASA's Public Archive and see that your entry is not showing up, this is probably still a status problem. There are two possible places where a story's status may need to be changed:

1. Is your story set to "Beta"? Only fics with the status of "General" or "Published" can be seen on the public Challenges section. Go back through "My Stories" and change the status from "Beta" to "General".
2. Is your Challenge entry set to "HASA Members Only"? Challenge stories must be set to "Members and Public" to be shown on the public Challenges section. Go back through "Manage My Challenges", select the correct entry, and click "edit". Select the appropriate status from the drop-down menu.

If the problem persists, please contact an admin.

If you make a duplicate entry in a Challenge (or accidentally adopt the same Nuzgûl twice - it is the same thing), it is very easy to remove the duplicate.

1. Mouse over the Challenges button in the main navigation menu.
2. From the drop-down menu, select "My Challenges"
3. You should now see all of your Challenge entries
4. Find the duplicate title in the list of entries.
5. Choose "Withdraw" for one of the two.

Withdrawing one of the entries removes the duplicate entry, but does not affect the story or the other entry.

You can withdraw from a Nuzgûl adoption the same way you withdraw from a Challenge; just click Withdraw on the list of Challenges from My Challenges in the Challenges section.

For the specific requirements of any given Challenge, refer to the text description provided by the authors of the Challenge. There is no predetermined limit on how long a work must be to meet a Challenge,* although some Challenges lend themselves to shorter works (e.g., the poetry of Denethor), whereas others lend themselves to longer ones (e.g., write an AU story that hinges on some specific plot derailment).

All Challenges have time limits, and in order to write a story to answer a given Challenge, the story must be entered before the date listed.

*Unless the author of the Challenge has set a limit on pages or words. In any case, please refer to the text description provided.

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

Once entered, your story remains a part of that Challenge unless you choose to formally withdraw it. Beta, General, and Reviewed stories are all eligible to be entered into Challenges. The Challenges system is intended to encourage authors to write new things. We don't want to discourage anyone from putting their best effort into it by restricting what else you can do with the story.

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 context of the Challenge may not strike readers as a complete story when disassociated from the 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.

Yes, absolutely! Why let the Challenge Managers have all the glory? Join the fun, torture friends and strangers - suggest a Nuzgûl or Challenge.

Certainly, just enter as you would for any other Challenge. Wheedle all your friends into it, too. The more, the merrier!

Have you ever come to the right place!

Go to the Prospective Challenges forum and post your challenge idea. Now inveigle someone else into writing it; better yet, ensnare 5 or 6 authors.

It can also be added to the Nuzgûl Hutch if you just need to throw an idea out there.

This is a holdover from the first verison of HASA.

This was done when the entries are all expected to be short. It was more convenient to the reader to click on one listing with multiple 'chapters' then to click each entry when there are multiple very short entries. The author's name should be included, either at the beginning or the end of the story. A few examples are the Memorial Day onlist Challenge, or any Drabble Challenge.