You can’t have a story without a plot. It all starts with a fluffy little creature known as a plot bunny. Like their cousins the dust bunnies, they lurk in corners just ready to jump out and make you wonder where they came from.

Sometimes, though, it’s difficult to feed these bunnies and make them grow.

Look no further, for we have provided the basics. You can find it all in our Writing Workshop artical, Plots. Come and learn, discuss and grow.

Remember, you have to be a member of SF3 to post discussions, but don’t let that stop you from looking.

How do you write a convincing romance between two characters? Do they immediately identify with one another, or do they take a little longer to drift together? Go and discuss it on the Romances thread--http://fanfiction.shurtugal.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1548. Remember, you must be a registered user on SF3 to participate.

As mentioned in the April SFF Newsletter and the SFF New Categories thread on SF3, this summer we are changing the submission rules for SFF. Part of this change will involve splitting stories between "General" and "Validated" authors. The standards for General fictions will be very low--must be readable English of a certain minimum length and not contain content we don't allow--while the standards for Validated fictions will be much higher.

Achieving Validated status is a very high honor--it shows that you not only have creative ideas, but that you also are adept at developing your plot and have a firm grasp on writing mechanics. And you don't have to wait for a moderator to approve your story--you get to skip the queue and have your fic immediately posted to the public.

To be able to submit to the Validated category, you must APPLY. Please note that even currently validated authors must apply in order to remain validated after the upgrade. Current validations will expire on June 1st, BEFORE we upgrade

To determine whether you may achieve validated status, the moderating staff will consider all of your stories currently posted on the site. Members with a strike on either SFF or SF3 may NOT apply to be validated until all strikes expire (you may contact Lindsey if you don't know how many strikes you have).

To qualify for validation, you must meet one of the following:
A) One story, twenty chapters or longer, that has been updated within the past three months
B) One story, ten chapters or longer, updated in the last three months AND one story, ten chapters or longer, updated in the last year
C) One story, ten chapters or longer, updated in the last three months AND five stories, two of which have been updated in the last year
D) One story, ten chapters or longer, updated in the last three months AND five poems, three of which updated within the last year
E) One story, ten chapters or longer, updated in the last three months AND one script, ten chapters or longer, updated within the past year

The ENTIRE submission (not just the required number of chapters) must conform to the criteria listed on theNew Writing Workshops forum on SF3--we are looking for consistency. We will also consider other stories you have posted, but they will not weight as heavily into our decision.

To apply, you must submit the following form to Lindsey at shurtugalfanfiction (at) gmail (dot) com:

As many of you know, we've been working on a major site upgrade for several months and we're finally approaching the finish line. 

We will be changing both some of the usability of the site as well as a number of site policies, so it is VERY important that all members are well-informed about what to expect. 

There is information about the upgrade posted on our forums - you do NOT need to be a registered member of the forums to read the information.  Please read this information and ask us any questions you have now before its too late. 

This morning, subscribers of the SFF Newsletter should have a little treat in their inboxes--the April issue is here!

Not a current subscriber?  You can subscribe at any time (How to Subscribe).  Back issues are also available if you missed one (click here).

Brisingr Spoiler Challenge
April 8 to May 8

Warning: Spoiler for Brisingr! (If you haven't already read the spoiler that was announced on Alagaesia.com and don't want to know, read no further!)




By now, most of you have probably heard the news: Eragon is going to meet a god in Brisingr. But what we don’t know is how it will happen. Will it be a Dwarven god or a forgotten god of another race? Where and why will this meeting take place? And how will the elves, who don’t believe in gods, react to the news that they do exist after all?

It’s your job to tell us!

The challenge: write a story about Eragon’s meeting with a god. You can describe the setting, the reason for the god’s appearance, and the characters’ reactions—be creative with it!

All the usual requirements apply—it must be readable (mostly correct grammar/spelling) and no less than 500 words. This time around, NO multiple entries are allowed—but you may write more than one chapter. Entries should be posted in the challenge category by May 8.

Questions? Contact me (QueenMindi) or Lindsey.

It happens to us all. We have a great plot, a great character, but we just don’t know what his mom decided to call him.

There are many ways to choose a name for your new baby and some of them are discussed here in the To Create a Name Thread.

As always you have to be a registered member of SF3 to participate, but you can go and just read through the topic if you choose.

A new Featured Fiction poll has begun.  Visit this thread on SF3 to check out the nominations and to vote: http://fanfiction.shurtugal.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2360

And remember, you can e-mail me at shurtugalfanfiction (at) gmail (dot) com at any time to nominate a story!

As the previous post indicates, we are currently making some changes on SFF as we prepare to do a major site upgrade.  The biggest change that most of you have probably seen so far is that we have removed the "Fictions in Progress" category and added the "General Fictions" and "New Fictions" categories.

If you are submitting a new story to SFF, you MUST submit it to the New Fictions category (under the appropriate subcategory).  Because the upgraded version of the site is slightly different than the current version, we need to edit certain tags, if you will, that are attached to your story so that your story shows up correctly after the upgrade.  After a few days or so, we will edit your story in the New Fictions category to give it the correct tags, and then move it into the General Fictions category.  

The only reason there are two separate categories for this is so we can keep track of which stories have already been labeled with the correct tags.  Please do not try to move stories in or out of the General Category- your story may not show up correctly after we upgrade.

If you're confused or have questions, please feel free to send me an e-mail at shurtugalfanfiction (at) gmail (dot) com.  More information about the upgrade will be included with the April edition of the SFF newsletter (click here for information on how to subscribe).

Edit to clarify- you may add new chapters to stories in any category.  Its just brand new stories and stories moving around that are problematic.

You've been waiting for months. Years, even. When will they upgrade? you've thought.

The answer is soon. VERY soon. And it's because of that fact that you'll start to notice minor changes here and there as we prepare for the big changeover. We'll try to keep you posted as we go along so you don't panic--look for newsposts from Lindsey OR subscribe to the newsletter, hint hint (you've got until April 10 to subscribe in time to receive the April issue).

The first major change you're going to notice is a category shift.  Want to know more about what that means?  Go read this thread on SF3.

Well, since this week's poll ended in a tie, we have two featured stories right now- Requiem Of The Past by shadowjhunter and Du Víkjadin a Shur’tugal by Mickinell.

If you have enjoyed a story on Shur'tugal Fan Fiction (any genre- we'd love to see some more poems and Original Fictions featured!), please nominate them.  Send an e-mail to me at shurtugalfanfiction (at) gmail (dot) com with the name and author of the fic (or PM me on SF3).  Voting is always done on SF3 in the Featured Fiction forum- http://fanfiction.shurtugal.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7

I've been getting reports that the number of spam reviews is rising, so here is another public service announcement for all members:

Reviews are a place for you to discuss an author's story.  You should be giving the author feedback as to whether you liked the story and what they could be doing better.  You absolutely should not be using reviews as a way to advertise your own story.  Not only is it completely inappropriate (even if you also leave a "real" review), but its going to make that author even less likely to ever read your work because, really, who likes a spammer?  Authors are much more likely to read the stories of a person who posts a legitimate, substantive review than someone who is just self-promoting.

All SFF members are reminded that spam reviews should be reported to a moderator, who will remove any spam content and give a warning to the poster.  Repeat offenders will be subject to the three strike system.  

Spam is bad.  Be courteous to your fellow authors, because you wouldn't want the same thing happening to you.

As always, you can reach me at shurtugalfanfiction (at) gmail (dot) com.

I am so sorry guys for not posting a new thread of the week in so long. I wish I had a dramatic excuse like I got my appendix out or my cat died, but truth be told, I just forgot. Even the mods are apt to forgetfulness. Anyway, the new thread of the week is the Co-Writing  thread. What is co-writing you ask? Well it is this cool thing that you do to interact with your fellow authors. Basically, you guys write a story together. You either can trade off chapters or trade of paragraphs. Anything you want really to get your story written.

On the co-writer thread, you can post the story idea you want to share with someone, or find one that interests you. It’s fun and helps you interact with people on the site.

This is a friendly reminder to authors new and old that you may only submit ONE chapter of a particular story at a time.  Submit your first chapter, wait until it is approved by a moderator, and then submit the next one.

I know it may seem like a hassle, but there are a couple of reasons why we beg for your patience.  First, if one author has 10 chapters sitting in the queue, it'll take us a lot longer to validate everyone's stories, which isn't fair.  Also, if you have a problem in one chapter, it's very likely you have it in every chapter-, so its a lot easier for us to address the problem one at a time. Finally,the site REALLY does not like it when we accidentally validate chapters out of order- if we approve your second chapter before your first (and especially if we accept the second chapter but not the first), your story may not display properly on the site and it may even cause your account not to function correctly.

If you are new to the site, please visit fanfiction.shurtugal.com/help.php to see all of our rules and tips for submitting to the site.  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me (Lindsey) at shurtugalfanfiction (at) gmail (dot) com.

The Create-a-Holiday Contest

Every year in March, millions of people worldwide celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, even though it's only a nationally recognized holiday in Ireland. In honor of old Saint Paddy, we've decided to hold a Create Your Own Alagaesian Holiday contest. Your holiday can be for whatever you want (for example, honoring a person or event), and it can be celebrated by whichever groups you wish (everyone, elves only, humans only, et cetera). All you have to do is write a one-shot that features your holiday in some manner.

The one-shot should be written in story format—you cannot simply describe the holiday, you must write about some of the characters celebrating it! It should also follow the submission rules—at least 500 words, mostly correct grammar and spelling, etc. To all you scriptwriters—this is another no-scripts-allowed challenge, sorry.

Please post your entries in the Create-a-Holiday challenge category between March 17th and March 31st. If you have any questions, contact QueenMindi or Lindsey.

Entries will be judged based on quality of writing and creativity of the made-up holiday. Winners of the challenge will receive an awesome banner, as well as having their winning story featured!

*hands out four-leaf clovers* Good luck!

Did you get your copy of the SFF Newsletter today?  If you did, come share your comments with us on SF3.  Didn't get it, but want to?  Send an e-mail to sffnewsletter (at) gmail (dot) com and specify whether you want to receive the plain text version or the HTML formatted version.

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we are now accepting registrations for the SFF Newsletter!  If you would like to receive this FREE monthly publication in your e-mail inbox, please follow the instructions below.  Have comments or suggestions?  Post them in this thread on SF3 (please don't e-mail the newsletter account unless you are subscribing/unsubscribing).  The March issue will be sent out shortly, so if you want to receive it, send us an e-mail today. 

To subscribe:  Just send an e-mail to sffnewsletter at gmail dot com.  Your subject should be "HTML Format" or "Plain Text" (whichever format you prefer to receive--choose HTML if you can see pictures and links in your e-mails).

We'd like to congratulate our Story of the Year award winners and thank everyone who voted! 

2007 Story of the Year Winners

Best Overall
Revan, Everlast:  The City of Fire

Best Inheritance Fic (General)
Mickinell, The Courtship of Selena

Best Inheritance, Book III
QueenMindi, Turn Around

Best Original Fiction
Revan, Everlast:  The City of Fire

Best Script
iWriter, The Flaws and the Flawed

Remember, nominations for Story of the Year come from the previous year's Featured Fictions...so we can't have SotY if you don't nominate folks for Featured!  Visit this forum on SF3 for more information on Featured Fiction.

New Thread of the Week on SF3!

They are everywhere and they get on some people's nerves. Other people love them to death. They are scripts. So, here is the new thread of discussion: Script writing

Remember, in order to participate in discussions you must register. It’s free. We look forward to seeing you!

I also forgot to add last week that if you have any ideas for a featured thread that you as authors want to see, please PM or email me me. I don't want to feature a bunch of things you guys don't care about.

As many people have probably figured out, Shurtugal Fan Fiction is all about writing. Shocker, right?

 Anyway, most people posting on this site strive to improve their writing so one day they just might be the next Tolkien, Austen or whoever they are aspiring to be. For now, though, they are trying to figure out how to make Arya and Eragon compatible without drastically changing their characters. It can be a struggle.

What a lot of members don’t know, or don’t realize, is that there is another section of Shurtugal Fan Fiction that will help them do just that. It’s the Shurtugal Fan Fiction Forums or SF3. On there, there are plenty of threads dedicated to teaching and discussing the art of writing.

So, in order for people to find such tools, we have started the Thread of the Week. Each week, a thread will be featured and a topic restarted for people who just want to know and talk about writing.

The first week’s thread is titled, Keeping it Real : Giving a Hard Line Review So--go read the thread and share your thoughts. What did your favorite review ever say? What phrase will make you scream if you get it in another review? Come & discuss.

Not sure what story to review? The Review Train can offer you a place to find a story in need of a good review and to get a good one yourself.

Remember, in order to participate in discussions you must register. It’s free. We look forward to seeing you!

Voting is now open for the Story of the Year Awards.  All registered members of SF3 are eligible to vote, and voting will go until February 28.

For more information about the Awards and for the threads for each of the five categories (make sure to vote in all of the categories!) go to the Story of the Year Awards forum .

Good luck to all of the nominees!

February contest: Calling all artists!

Feb. 10 - March 2

A picture is worth a thousand words, they say—well, here’s your chance to prove it! The challenge: choose a favorite fan fiction from SFF written by someone else and illustrate a scene from it. Is there a certain scene that speaks to you or inspires you in your own writing? Descriptions that make you see the scene so vividly, it’s like a movie playing in your head? Here’s your chance to share them!

Creatively, you can do whatever you want with your entry. It can be a drawing, a painting, colored or black and white, charcoal or watercolors. If you think you can draw a winning entry in Microsoft Paint, go right ahead. Photography, however, is out for this one.

You can submit as many entries as you want, but only one of your entries can be based off a fan fiction you wrote yourself. The point of the contest is to branch out a little!

It’s probably a good idea to contact the author of the fan fiction you are illustrating. Let them know about the contest if they aren’t a currently active member, and make sure it’s all right with them. You don’t have to do this, but you should anyway, just to be on the safe side.

Post your entries in the Fan Art section of SF3. To do this, you will need to Register (it’s free) if you haven’t already. Upload the picture file on a site such as Photobucket, then provide a link in the contest thread. In the post, please credit the author of the original fan fiction and provide a link for anyone who hasn’t read it.

Please keep all art pieces PG. This means no graphic nudity, sexuality, or violence.

Entries should be posted by March 2nd. The prizes are still to be announced. Have fun, and encourage your friends to participate too!

Every couple of weeks, the readers of Shur'tugal Fan Fiction nominate their favorite stories to become the new Featured Fiction of the site. As a final tribute to the fabulous authors whose stories were voted Featured Fiction in 2007, we are introducing the Story of the Year Award.

We will be giving out five awards for 2007: Best Inheritance Fiction- Book 3, Best Inheritance Fiction- Other, Best Inheritance Script, Best Original Fiction, and Best Fiction of 2007. Every story that was voted featured fiction in 2007 (stories that were featured for winning a challenge are not eligible for the award this year) has been listed under the appropriate sub-category below.

Voting will begin on SF3 on February 11th and end on February 28th. Winners will be announced on February 29th and will receive a custom banner. You must be a registered user of SF3 (Shur'tugal Fan Fiction Forums) to vote. We are giving you one week to look over all the stories and strongly encourage you to review every story on this list. These are all fantastic stories, so if you haven't read them all, go do it now! Links to the threads where you can vote for each category will be posted here when voting begins.

And here are the nominees:

Best Inheritance Fiction- Book 3:
Into Oblivion: From Rider to Shade by Skydragon
Echoes by Elven Rose
Turn Around by QueenMindi
Book 3: Empire by Redneck_gal
The Tiranni by Mayarider
Fricai un Skulblaka by Elderwind


Best Inheritance Fiction- Other:
The Courtship of Selena by Mickinell
Evil's Crypt by fricai_andlat
Eldest- Tales from Uru'baen by JJ Apples
Discordance by Mikal
Murtagh by Lya


Best Inheritance Script
Net of Pearls- The Story of Selena by Eowyn Shadeslayer
The Third Book by Argarelle
The Flaws and the Flawed by iWriter


Best Original Fiction
Sword of Fear by Teen_Writer14
Everlast: The City of Fire by Revan
The Wynafeld by brisingr_shurtugal
Two Ravens- Over the Sea by Alzyran Ravens


Best Fiction of 2007
All of the stories listed above.

If you think a story is missing from the list, or has been miscategorized, please notify Lindsey by February 10th at shurtugalfanfiction (at) gmail (dot) com so we can double-check our records and fix the problem.

We are proud to announce the two new additions to our moderating staff- Dragonflame_05 and Eowyn Shadeslayer! They were selected from a pool of very qualified applicants and will be a great addition to our team. Both moderators are currently training so that by next week they will be able to fulfill all the duties you expect from the mods.

As for anyone who didn't make mod this time around, we do hire every couple of months, so keep watching here for announcements. 

As a side-note: if you haven't already, check out our message boards (SF3) at fanfiction.shurtugal.com/forums.  We post site news there first, plus we have tons of resources for authors and plenty of fun discussions. Check it out!

We are proud to announce the results of the Christmas Carol contest:

First place- Away in a Palace by iWriter

Second place- Christmas Joy by Elvish Arya

Third place- Can't We Have Just a Little Snow by Sage the Tiger

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who entered! 

We are proud to announce the results of the Mary Sue Contest:

1st Place: Sued by Dragonflame_05

2nd Place: Alalëa and Baen by Alzyran Ravens

3rd Place: The Last Dragonmaiden by One and Only 

Congratulations to our winners and everyone who entered- we got a lot of really great entries in this contest, so check them all out!

Also, remember that the Christmas Carol contest ends tomorrow, so get those songs in! 

Readers and authors- do you find that reviews just aren't cutting it?  Do you want a place to have more in-depth and detailed discussions about a fic?  

Then visit the Talk with the Author forum on SF3.  Every author on SFF can make a "thread" to discuss all of their stories with your readers.  You can talk about anything from the best/worst parts of your latest chapter to posting announcements to your readers if you think you won't be able to update your story for a while.  

 We've also recently created a Fan Art forum , where any Shurtugal.com visitor can post their original and Inheritance- themed artwork.

You must be a registered member of SF3 to post in either of these forums- click here to register (its free!) For those of you who haven't been to SF3 yet, check it out- you're missing out on socializing with your fellow authors, discussing the Inheritance series, and getting help with your writing.

It's Christmastime in Alagaesia, and Eragon and his friends are all feasting their hearts out on roast turkey and candy canes. But what would Christmas be without those cheesy jingles on the radio?

 That's where you come in. The challenge? Write a little Christmas carol such as your average Alagaesian might be caught singing in the lead up to that special day. Make it catchy, camp and most of all make it fun! The only rules are the standard poetry guidelines – it needs to be 100 words in length or more. Also note that plagiarism is a big no-no here; you're allowed to be cliché, but rip-offs of traditional Christmas songs won't be accepted.

You've got until Saturday 22nd of December to get them in, so get cracking!

Happy Halloween, everybody!

Aaaand the winners are:

Haunted Redemption: The Haunted Husband by Medwyn

Creepiest Haunting: Do You Miss Me? by Carnoc

Best Emotional Haunting: Haunting Hope by Gloucester

Funniest Ghost: I, Angela by GlassPearlElf

Congratulations! Your stories will be Featured in the coming week. Contact Lindsey to claim your prize--a customized SF3 rank and a spiffy banner!

Be sure to leave a review for the winners and all of the amazing entrants. You guys made it hard to choose--great job!

The Halloween Haunting Contest

10/1/07—10/30/07

By now, there’ve been a lot of deaths in the Inheritance trilogy. Brom, Garrow, Ajihad, King Evandar... and there are probably a lot more deaths to come.

But what is Halloween for, but the haunting of ghosts? This new Halloween-themed contest challenges you to write a one-chapter fan fiction, portraying any dead canon character (they do not have to have died yet! This can be set in the future) haunting any live canon character. Does Morzan’s vengeful ghost haunt his sons Eragon and Murtagh? Does Brom come back to give a last message to Eragon? The haunting can be scary or touching or funny, however you want to portray it.

The rules are the same as always: the entry must adhere to SFF’s submission guidelines, be at least 500 words, and be placed in the correct category under “Challenges” between October 1st and 30th. Winners will be announced on October 31st. You may submit more than one entry.

There ARE prizes for this contest—they will be announced sometime in the following week! In addition to a prize, the winning entries will be featured and advertised on both SFF and SF3.

Any questions? Email me (QueenMindi) at crzywritermel@hotmail.com.

And above all—have fun!

The contest has ended, and since there were only two entries... they are both winners!

Dear DF by Dragonflame_05 is a humorous column with brutally honest (and slightly biased) advice.

Dear Dragon by Carnoc has more serious advice for the unfortunate characters.

Be sure to leave a review for these two great advice columnists!

September EOTM:  Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs

This month’s EOTM is one that gets even the best of the Grammar Gurus sometimes—homonyms, homophones, and homographs.  These are the “similar words”—while they share one trait (spelling, pronunciation, or meaning) they differ in another.  For example, “bare” and “bear” are homophones.  They sound the same, but they have different spellings and meanings.  “Row” and “Row” (as in “row” the boat and get in a “row” or fight) are spelled the same, but are pronounced differently.

We’d like you to focus on learning the correct forms of these three in particular:

Their/they’re/there

Their – belonging to them (as in “their horses”)

They’re – they are (as in “they are/they’re so sweet”)

There – directional (as in “over there”)

Your/you’re

Your – possessive, belonging to you (bring “your” book)

You’re – you are (“you are” to bring your book)

Its/it’s

Its – possessive, belonging to it (the cat curled “its” tail)

It’s – contraction of “it is” (It’s annoying when people confuse homonyms).

As always, remember that there is a thread on SF3 where you can receive more information (and, this time, see a HUGE long list of homonyms, homophones, and homographs).  Spend this week learning more about our three chosen EOTMs and learning to correct them in your writing.

Welcome to another One-Week Flash Challenge!  

This week, we challenge you to write an advice column that would appear in an ordinary newspaper in Alagaësia. What would the characters of Eragon and Eldest angst about that they needed advice with? What would the response be?  

The challenge starts on Sunday, September 2nd, and will end on Monday, September 10th. To participate, simply submit your stories into the new Category in the Challenge group, “Advice Column”, within the time limit. There is a word minimum, as usual, which is of 500 words. Remember to stick to proper grammar and spelling, as the challenge too will be subject to our usual Rules and Regulations.

You may do more than one column, if you wish.  

There is no prize for this competition, although winners will be announced. Just roll with it and have fun!

This month's EotM is going to take a break from punctuation rules and take a look at something even more basic: paragraphing. Where you split up your story into separate paragraphs is very important because it allows your reader to understand what you're trying to say. Plus, its really simple; there are only two rules you need to remember.

Rule #1: Only one person speaks at a time!

There should only be one speaker per paragraph. As soon as a new character begins to talk, start a new paragraph. This makes your dialogue entirely easier to follow. Here are a few examples:

“Let's go over to the lake,” Eragon suggested. Arya frowned. “No, I don't think I want to do that.” “But why not?” “I can't swim very well,” she replied.

Why its wrong: you just had an entire conversation in one little paragraph. While this dialogue is fairly straightforward so that you can guess who says what, not all dialogue is. Especially problematic is the “But why not?” line, which has no describing phrase attached to it. Did Eragon say it, or did you just misplace the quotation marks and its really Arya's line? Instead, do it this way:

“Let's go over to the lake,” Eragon suggested.

Arya frowned. “No, I don't think I want to do that.”

“But why not?”

“I can't swim very well,” she replied.

Hurray! Notice how each character's dialogue goes in a separate paragraph. Also notice that the phrase about Arya (“Arya frowned”) is in the same paragraph as her quote (“No, I don't think I want to do that”) rather than up in Eragon's paragraph. A lot of writers think you aren't allowed to start a new paragraph until the next quote starts, but you can and should make a paragraph break earlier if it will make the paragraphs make more sense.

Here's example number two:

“I'm going to kill him.” For a long moment, Arya stared at Eragon, disbelieving. He didn't really just say that he was going to kill Murtagh, did he? He was obviously upset about the attack last night, but Murtagh was not acting under his own will and should not be blamed for what he had been forced to do. It was much more likely that Eragon was simply acting irrationally based on his emotions and not thinking this out very clearly. “I don't think that would be a very good idea,” she said.

Okay, so not only do we have two different people talking her, but there's a lot of junk in the way. When deciding where to break up this blob into two paragraphs, figure out of the narrative is talking more about Eragon or Arya. Here, while Eragon is the subject of the narrative, its Arya's internal dialogue that we're hearing. The narrative explains why she responds the way she does and should be paired up with her dialogue, not Eragon's. So we should have:

“I'm going to kill him.”

For a long moment, Arya stared at Eragon, disbelieving. He didn't really just say that he was going to kill Murtagh, did he? He was obviously upset about the attack last night, but Murtagh was not acting under his own will and should not be blamed for what he had been forced to do. It was much more likely that Eragon was simply acting irrationally based on his emotions and not thinking this out very clearly. “I don't think that would be a very good idea,” she said.

You can also break this paragraph into three paragraphs, one for each of the quotes and a separate one for the narrative. This is up to you, but separate paragraphs make your writing much clearer so I always encourage you to go and break it up further. In that case, it would read:

“I'm going to kill him.”

For a long moment, Arya stared at Eragon, disbelieving. He didn't really just say that he was going to kill Murtagh, did he? He was obviously upset about the attack last night, but Murtagh was not acting under his own will and should not be blamed for what he had been forced to do. It was much more likely that Eragon was simply acting irrationally based on his emotions and not thinking this out very clearly.

“I don't think that would be a very good idea,” she said.

Rule #2: One topic per paragraph

Alright, so dialogue is simple enough, but what about when you're just writing a whole bunch of narrative? I've seen a lot of stories come into the queue that are just one giant block of text, which is not only hard to read, but its pretty scary, like the entire story is going to hit you all at once. To break up that blob of words, make separate paragraphs for each topic you're talking about—a paragraph should be one concise statement, not a jumble of ideas and phrases. Here's an example.

The forest was starting to thin: rays of sunlight were beginning to break through the trees and Eragon could finally make out the path ahead of him. There were even some wild flowers growing here, punctuating the mass of dark green and brown with brilliant spots of orange, purple, and white. According to the map, not very far ahead should lie the village of Ahmehnar, where Eragon would finally be able to find a proper bed to rest in. Maybe even a pub with some well-cooked food, Eragon hoped to himself. Every now and then he thought he heard the sounds of woodsmen at the edge of the forest chopping up firewood, and his excitement would start to grow until he realized that it was just a woodpecker in a distant tree or some animal running through the bushes. Finally, Eragon could actually peer through the trees and realized that he must have gotten turned around somewhere in the trees. There was no village here. Confused and disappointed, Eragon and his horse broke through the trees into a large meadow. A meadow that was not at all mentioned on the map. “What's going on here?” he asked the meadow. The meadow did not respond.

There are several different things going on here, so above each paragraph I've labeled it with its topic.

Topic 1: The thinning forest

The forest was starting to thin: rays of sunlight were beginning to break through the trees and Eragon could finally make out the path ahead of him. There were even some wild flowers growing here, punctuating the mass of dark green and brown with brilliant spots of orange, purple, and white.

Topic 2: The village of Ahmehnar

According to the map, not very far ahead should lie the village of Ahmehnar, where Eragon would finally be able to find a proper bed to rest in. Maybe even a pub with some well-cooked food, Eragon hoped to himself. Every now and then he thought he heard the sounds of woodsmen at the edge of the forest chopping up firewood, and his excitement would start to grow until he realized that it was just a woodpecker in a distant tree or some animal running through the bushes.

Topic 3: Lost in a meadow

Finally, Eragon could actually peer through the trees and realized that he must have gotten turned around somewhere in the trees. There was no village here. Confused and disappointed, Eragon and his horse broke through the trees into a large meadow. A meadow that was not at all mentioned on the map.

Topic 4: Eragon speaks

“What's going on here?” he asked the meadow. The meadow did not respond.

And that's it. Paragraphing is not hard, and most of you do it perfectly, but it is a problem for newer writers, which is why its this month's EotM. Like all other EotMs, the first week is a warning week in which your story will be rejected for having this type of error, but on August 7 we will begin handing out strikes to authors who submit a story with this problem.

There are plenty of resources available for the author who needs help with paragraphing. You can ask a moderator for help, get some advice on the SF3 forums , or find yourself a Preferred Beta (recommended!).

As, I am sure, most of you know, the last book in the Harry Potter series will be coming out this weekend.

There are already spoilers popping up on the web, and I'm sure we'll have cases of some of our users here on SFF reading the book faster than others and wanting to share/discuss what they've learned.

While this is not a HP site, a good portion of you (including most of the moderating staff) are HP fans, so we're putting a spoiler policy into place.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (other than simple "I liked it" or "I'm not reading it" sort of comments, completely unrelated to the plot) may not be discussed ANYWHERE on the site EXCEPT on the special SPOILERS THREAD in SF3. (This ban extends to the normal "Harry Potter" thread in the SF3 Book Discussion forum) In this new thread, ANYTHING can be discussed, so don't go there until you have finished the book.

If you post a spoiler, not only will it be removed by a moderator, but you will receive a strike AND, in exception cases (like you post of list of all the people who die or something along those lines) you may be banned from the site.

After reading all of the submissions, we are proud to announce the winner of the Murtagh Quotes Challenge!

Runner ups were argetarrow with "Lost on the Quest" and Eowyn Shadeslayer's "I Cannot Give You What You Seek." We congratulate both of them for the awesome jobs on their fics.

The first place, however, was conquered by Jarazelle Arthesis, with her story "Curious?." Congratulations! You will be contacted very soon by Fan Fiction staff about how you to get your prize Shurt.

Thank you so much, again, to everyone who participated, and congratulations for your creativity and hard work! Keep an eye out for upcoming challenges!

Summer Contest: Murtagh/Arya movie quotes
6/16/07 to 7/7/07

Murtagh turned back to Arya. “It never would have worked out between us, darling,” he said, with affected remorse.

Arya gave him a look of disgust.

“Eragon….” Murtagh paused, looking at his brother. There was so much that could have been said in that moment. He chose the easiest one.

“Nice hat.”

Wait a minute. Sound familiar? It should! That’s a line from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. So what’s it doing coming out of Murtagh’s mouth?

That’s where this brand-new summer contest comes in! We’re daring you to write a fanfiction featuring Murtagh and Arya, and a line from one of the well-known movies provided below. However silly, weird, or random the line, your job is to find some way to include it in dialogue between Murtagh and Arya, and make it sound realistic.

The catch is, you may not include characters from the source movie, which would make it a crossover. The only thing you can cross over is the line of dialogue. Otherwise, this must read like a typical Inheritance-based fiction. Scripts are allowed, though not encouraged.

In addition, the story should adhere to SFF’s basic guidelines—grammar and spelling should be correct, and the story should be at least 500 words long. See our submission guidelines here.

Only one submission is allowed per person, although you may do more than one chapter with different quotes in each chapter, if you wish. Please do credit the quotes at the beginning or end of the chapter, so that we (a) know where it’s from, and (b) won’t get sued for plagiarism.

Movie List:
1. Star Wars, episodes I, II, III, IV, V, and VI.
2. the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
3. Pirates of the Caribbean 1 or 2
4. The Princess Bride
5. Spider-Man
6. James Bond

Good luck! And remember, the point of this is to be creative. Have fun choosing the most bizarre of your favorite lines and putting Murtagh and Arya in weird situations to make it sound right—whether Arya is sobbing that Murtagh is “breaking her heart” (Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith style), or Murtagh tells Arya he “cannot give her what she seeks” (courtesy of Aragorn and Eowyn from Lord of the Rings).

The winner of this contest will be awarded a Shur’tugal.com t-shirt, also known as a Shurt, as a prize! So what are you waiting for? Get writing!

(Also, be sure to scroll down to check out the winning submissions for the Obituary Challenge!)

Proudly we announce the winners of our most recent one-week challenge: the Obituary Challenge.

"Tempered Steel," by Eowyn Shadeslayer ranks number one on the Serious Obituary category.

For Best Ironic Death is Dragon_Girl_of_the_South's "Death of a King."

Finally, as best comedy work, The_Dream_Dancer's "Fare Thee Well!"

Thank you to everyone who participated!

Another contest will be launched tonight, so keep an eye out and your inspiration stirring!

It's time--moderators will now begin striking fictions submitted to the queue with this month's EOTM (commas).

A few gentle reminders:

1.  We don't do EOTM to be mean or vindictive.  The point of EOTM is to help you improve your writing style (and, admittedly, to alleviate a bit of our frustration at seeing the same mistake 1000 times a day).  Please keep that in mind.  We genuinely want to HELP.
2.  You can find out more specifics about the comma errors we're including in our EOTM and how to fix them in this thread on SF3.
3.  Please don't forget about the Preferred Betas.  Use of Preferred Betas can erase strikes!  You can contact betas on SF3 or e-mail moderators for help getting in touch with a beta.

Since the Newsflash Challenge was such a success, the weekly challenges are hopefully going to become more frequent. This week's is (*drumroll*) the Obituary Challenge! 

The Obituary Challenge is similar to the Newsflash Challenge…only now, we’ve gone past the front page of the newspaper. Now we’re in the Obituary section. Who has recently died in Alagaesia? Was it celebrated, or mourned? It’s up to you to tell us, in a short notice informing us of the death of any character in Alagaesia!

The character does not have to have already died at the end of Eldest. You can kill off Eragon or Arya if you want to. Or you could simply write up Ajihad’s death notice as it would have appeared in the Varden Times. You can even include an elegy (a poem about someone’s death) or a dedication from the mourning family of the deceased. The only requirement is that it should be 200 words minimum, and submitted under the appropriate category on SFF (“Obituary” under the “Challenges” section). The rest is up to you and your creativity.

As the previous challenge, there are no prizes. The challenge will end Friday, June 15 (next Friday) which gives you a week to write it. So don’t hesitate—have fun with this! And good luck!

We got a lot of entries to our one-week Newsflash Challenge, and now its time to announce the winners.  Even though these were the three that the mods liked the best, all of them are worth reading.

Rather than listing a first, second, and third place, I'll list the top three in no particular order, along with a more descriptive award for their entry.

Funniest Article:
Wake up Call by Dragonflame_05

Best Newspaper Reporter:
Carnoc (especially Magic Use May Cause Cancer )

Best Interview:
Newsflash by Saphirekid2

Congrats!

And on a related note, due to the popularity of this contest, we will probably run more short contests in the future.  Keep an eye on the SFF news for updates.

Are you looking for a beta? Are you offering to beta but can't find a story? Do you wish you could advertise your story or betaing talents? Look no further. SF3 proudly presents the "Beta Reader" forum!

This forum is for advertising your story or your beta service and making it available to authors and betas just like you! Simply follow this link and use the template to create your own advertisement to find a beta or story.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at anda_dalle (at) yahoo (dot) com or you can PM me at SF3.

Please DO NOT e-mail shurtugalfanfiction@gmail.com in the next month.  I will be going on vacation, and all e-mails sent to that account will receive a nice automated reply telling you to e-mail someone else.  Save some time and contact one of the people listed on the Help page instead.

If you have a question specifically for Lindsey and don't mind waiting until July for an answer, you can still e-mail shurtugalfanfiction and it will eventually be answered.  But most questions should probably go to Durza, Mickinell, or Dragonfire0729.

Another month has come and gone, and now that June is here, it’s time for a new Error of the Month.  This month’s error is comma use.  Remember—the first week we’ll just be issuing warnings, so take advantage of that week to hone your skills and brush up on your commas!

While it’s true that some comma use is the author’s stylistic choice, there are a few rules that everyone should always follow.  Additional clarification on the rules below (including the exceptions to each) can be found at the thread on SF3.

Rule 1:  Commas should be used to separate the items of a series composed of three or more words or phrases.

Examples for Rule 1:

Eragon, Arya, and Nasuada are all characters in the Inheritance trilogy.

Eragon and Arya, Murtagh and Nasuada, and Saphira and Greenie are common ships in fanfiction.

Rule 2:  Commas should be used to separate nonessential items from the essential parts of a sentence.

Examples for Rule 2:

Eragon, only a young boy, was unfamiliar with fighting techniques.

Oromis, an aging man, was often tired at the end of training.

(To check yourself—see if the phrase could be put into parentheses or taken out altogether.  If so, it needs to be set off with commas.)

Rule 3:  Commas are used to separate introductory items from the rest of the sentence.

Examples for Rule 3:

While you’re up, would you mind to bring me a drink?

To fully develop your skill, you must practice.

(These sentences could have been just “Would you mind…” or “You must practice,” but we have added the introductory material to help provide context and make more sense.  That’s why we use the comma.)

Rule 4:  Commas aren’t strong enough to connect two sentences without a conjunction.

INCORRECT:  Eragon was tired and wanted to stop for the night, Arya felt fine and insisted they keep moving.

FIX by adding a conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so) or replacing the comma with a semicolon.  Usually the conjunction is your better bet.

Rule 5:  Commas are used to set off the name of a person being directly addressed.

CORRECT:  Eragon, will you hand me that sword?  (Eragon is being directly addressed)

INCORRECT:  Eragon, will hand me that sword.  (Eragon is not being spoken TO, he’s being spoken ABOUT.)

CORRECT:  I think, Eragon, that you will be safe here.  (Again, we’re talking to him)

Well, today is the deadline and, with but three stories submitted for the challenge, we see ourselves forced to cancel it. Our most honest thanks to those who participated!

If you go to the Categories page, you may notice that a few things have been changed.

All currently in-progress stories (includes Poetry, Scripts, Original Fiction, Before the Trilogy, etc.) have been moved under Fictions In Progress .  This is mostly to help reduce the clutter of the Categories page and make it easier to find the category you're looking for.

A new category has been created for fictions recommended by the SFF moderating staff.  This is completely separate from Featured Fiction (which are user-nominated and -voted fics), but does include several Featured Fics as well.  Older fics (aka, "the classics") have also been included under this category.  If you're new to the site and looking for good stories to read, this is the place to start. 

 To nominate or vote for Featured Fics, check out: SF3>Featured Fiction

 To read our new Recommended Fics, go to:  Categories>Recommended Fiction

A reminder to all of you that the Eragon movie script contest is still going on! We only have a few entries right now - why not try to beat them? If your script wins, you will receive a brand-new Shur'tugal T-shirt (also known as a Shurt)! May 20th is the deadline, so there is still time to enter.

If you still wish to enter, the guidelines are here: http://fanfiction.shurtugal.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1499.

Good luck and have fun!

First, congratulations to everyone on doing so well with our last EotM. I know many of you put in a lot of effort learning new writing rules and editing your stories, and it has really paid off—our site is better than it ever has been, and its because of you all.

Remember, for the first week of May, we'll be enforcing this rule, but you won't get striked for it.  We begin striking on May 7th, so be sure to use the helpful links at the bottom of this post before then if you're having problems. 

We can break this rule up into two parts:

What you should capitalize within a quotation.

What you should capitalize in your describer phrases (remember, these are phrases like “she said” or “Eragon asked”).

It's simple, I swear. We'll start with...

Capitalizing Quotations:

Okay, so let's take the quote:

“We're going to take a walk in the forest.”

No matter where you put the describer phrase—before, after, or somewhere in the middle—no matter what: the first word (“We're”) will always be capitalized and nothing else will ever be capitalized. If you don't know which part of your quote to capitalize, remove all the describing phrases and just write the quote out all by itself. Wherever you would normally put an upper-case letter, that's where you put an upper case letter, and that's it. So, we can write:

“We're going to take a walk in the forest,” Eragon said.

Eragon said, “We're going to take a walk in the forest.”

“We're going,” Eragon said, “to take a walk in the forest.'

Or even:

“We're,” Eragon began, “going to,” he continued “take a walk,” he articulated, “in the forest,” he finished.

Notice that “We're” is the only thing in quotes that is capitalized no matter what we do. Simple?

Capitalizing Describer Phrases

This is also fairly simple, but a lot of people get really confused. Here's our sample describer:

she announced in an agitated voice

Here is your simple rule for describer phrases: if your describer comes right after a period (or if its the first word in a new chapter or paragraph), you will always capitalize the first word (she); if not, you capitalize nothing. The period thing is really important, so if your punctuation isn't right, you're going to have problems. So let's pretend our sample is the beginning of a new paragraph:

She announced in an agitated voice, “I don't care where you're going.”

“I don't care where you're going,” she announced in an agitated voice.

“I don't care,” she announced in an agitated voice, “where you're going.”

Simple enough? Let's make it more complicated, because your stories don't look like this and this is where people tend to get confused. Now we have a longer quote:

“I don't care where you're going,” she announced in an agitated voice. “I have my own life and my own priorities. You can do whatever you want to do without me by your side.”

She announced in an agitated voice, “I don't care where you're going. I have my own life and my own priorities. You can do whatever you want to do without me by your side.”

“I don't care where you're going.” She announced, in an agitated voice, “I have my own life and my own priorities. You can do whatever you want to do without me by your side.”

Take a look at that last one in particular. Notice how we changed the punctuation around so there is now a period before “She” and a comma after “voice.” This would mean that the describer phrase is describing the second sentence (“I have my own life...”) instead of the first (“I don't care...”). There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, just make sure that's what you mean to say.

And that's that. Once again, any questions can be referred to me at shurtugalfanfiction (at) gmail (dot) com . I'll even read over stories for you within 24-hours. Otherwise, you can find help on the SF3 forums or hire a Preferred Beta trained in writing Dialogue (these are the same people who did dialogue punctuation, so if you found one you liked you can still use them).

Have you received a strike for making an Error of the Month mistake?  Now you can earn it back by using a Preferred Beta!

If at least three of your chapters are certified by a Preferred Beta, you can earn back one strike you received by violating Error of the Month.  Sorry, other strikes cannot be earned back this way.

 For more details or to find a PB, visit the Preferred Beta thread on SF3 or e-mail Lindsey or Mickinell.

Just a reminder that we have begun striking for Error of the Month offenses.  (You can find complete details about the current EotM, Dialogue Punctuation, below).

Also, I'd like to make a general announcement: if you are about to submit a story to the queue, but afraid that you've done something wrong and are afraid to be striked, PLEASE e-mail a moderator. 

The purpose of the queue is not to trip you guys up, its to help you.  The queue should not be the first place you send your story to get read-- having a beta (especially a Preferred Beta), getting advice on SF3, asking a mod to check your story over for you, or even just having a friend or teacher read it are great ways to get feedback. 

Just remember that some methods are better than others-- only Preferred Betas and Moderators are guaranteed to get your story through the queue because they are all trained specifically for that purpose.  Please utilize these resources--they're there for you.

As always, my e-mail is shurtugalfanfiction (at) gmail (dot) com.  I guarantee that I will return your story within 24 hours unless I post in advance that I will be unavailable.  :) 

This month's EotM is dialogue punctuation, otherwise known as When should I use a comma? In other words, we're not worried about how you tell something is a quote (all of you are awesome with using italics and quotation marks); rather, we're talking about how you tie your quotes into the rest of your story.

For the month of April, we will reject any and all stories that use incorrect dialogue punctuation. In addition, starting on April 8, we will give authors a strike if they submit a story with this error.

If you want to make sure you have written your story correctly before you submit it to the queue, there are a number of options for writing support on SFF. We recommend one of the following:

-Request a Preferred Beta —an author on SFF who has been certified by the Moderating Staff for correcting dialogue problems

-Ask for help on the Error of the Month: Dialogue Punctuation thread on SF3 . Post questions or portions of your story there, and a moderator or preferred beta will answer as soon as possible.

-E-mail your chapter to a moderator directly. Be sure to include your name and what you want us to check for.  You can find the list of all current moderators on the Help page .

Punctuating Dialogue Correctly:

For example, take this sentence:

“I'm going to take a walk in the forest.” Eragon said.

Notice how the phrase Eragon said describes the quote “I'm going to take a walk in the forest.” Whenever you have a sentence like this, you don't use a period to separate them—instead, you use a comma to show that they are connected. So, our sentence should read:

“I'm going to take a walk in the forest,” Eragon said.

You would also use a comma if the sentence was the other way around, so that the describing phrase comes first and the quote second. For example:

Eragon said, “I'm going to take a walk in the forest.”

You use the same punctuation if you're writing thought-speak. The only difference is that you use italics instead of quotation marks. For example:

Let's fly there. Saphira suggested.

You have the same sentence structure, in which a quote should be connected to its describing phrase. So, just like you did above, you change that period to a comma:

Let's fly there, Saphira suggested.

That seems simple enough, right? Of course, there is one catch: if your quote ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, you don't change it to a comma. A question wouldn't be a question without a question mark. So, say you had the sentences:

“Where are we going?” Arya asked.

and

“I can't believe it!” Angela exclaimed.

Neither the ? nor the ! would be changed to a comma. Only periods get changed.

The best way to check for this error in your stories is to go through and look at the punctuation you use before and after your quotes. If you see a period, check to make sure that you don't have a quote right next to a describer phrase; if you do, change the period to a comma (if you don't, your sentence is fine the way it is).

If you have any questions about this Error of the Month, you can visit the Error of the Month thread on SF3 or contact me at shurtugalfanfiction (at) gmail (dot) com . 

How many of you have had your story rejected but you have absolutely no idea why?

Starting on April 1st, we will begin our "Error of the Month" program.  Instead of throwing a bunch of obscure writing rules at you all at once, we will focus on one major writing mistake at a time so that you can understand it and learn how to fix it.

On the first of each month, we will announce the featured writing rule and then link to a thread on SF3 that will further explain the rule, different ways to identify and fix it, and then allow you to post replies with specific questions about that rule so that you understand it.  We will also hire new Preferred Betas each month that specialize on the current Error of the Month so that if it still doesn't make sense, there will be a number of authors that specialize in that subject that can help you out.

The first week of each month will be an adjustment period.  This means if you send a story to the queue with the Error of the Month in it, we will reject it but  no further action will be taken.  However, after the first week (April 8th), we will begin striking on the first offense any time we see a fiction with this error in it.  This isn't to punish you--we know everyone makes mistakes--but we want to make sure everyone is aware of the Error of the Month and makes an effort to learn how to fix it.  

Each month will feature a new error (although we may repeat some err