User talk:Grey Shadow

Project news

• The peer review department of the Novels WikiProject is running well after the start in February, having 2 new articles under review: So You Want to Be a Wizard and To Kill a Mockingbird.
• Our article count has leapt again rising to over 11500. Do get stuck in and assist in improving this rising tide of narrative prose related material. A statistical count of articles can be found here.
• We have a new project page for Article Style Guidelines which has had a few editors work on it. Currently based on our existing article template it needs some extra eyes to hone any rough edges.

(n.b. also see debates below!)

• Also to accommodate this page the main navigation template has been slightly reorganised.

Member news

• The project has currently 229 members, 12 joined & 0 leavers since the last newsletter at the start of April 2007

Other news

• The Brothers Karamazov has been nominated for a featured article review.
• Uncle Tom's Cabin and Original Stories from Real Life were nominated for Featured Article.

Auto list news

• Our Auto Generated lists appear to have lost the editor who created and supported them. If any other editors have the ability and are willing to have a stab at producing replacement updates, please let us know.

Current debates

• Of crucial importance to our progress and the way we edit is a debate on the Main Article Template which is strongly recommended for every editor who can, getting involved with. We have worked with the existing template for well over a year now and this debate proposes making radical changes.

(n.b. also see the "Article Style Guidelines" mentioned in "Project News" above)

• On the project's general discussion page there is a thread on sourcing novel articles.

From the Members

Welcome to the twelfth issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk), Initiating Editor

Newsletter tip line has been created for members to link, doodle, shortly write news ideas, discussions they think are possibly interesting/important for the Newsletter.

feydey, Co-editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is Moby-Dick.

Newsletter challenge

Last month's Political thriller challenge was met by the user Loom91 (talk · contribs) with a nice stub.

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Louisa May Alcott's Work: A Story of Experience.

Project news

• This newsletter was unfortunately delayed till now - my apologes for that - I needed to respond to a whole host of image challenges that appears on my personal talk pages. So, if you have uploaded non-free book covers that are being used under fair use terms, please add your own "Fair Use Rationale" to the images.

Member news

• The project has currently 236 members, 7 joined & 0 leavers since the last newsletter at the start of May 2007

Other news

• The Brothers Karamazov (nom.) was demoted from Featured Article status for concerns over sources, structure, and coverage/focus.
• The 2007 Wikipedia Selection for schools, targeted around the UK National Curriculum, included 39 novels. Volunteers at Wikipedia had suggested articles considered valuable and relevant for inclusion. See here and the WP Signpost news.

Novel related news

Shantaram to marry Princess Gregory David Roberts, author of Shantaram, a reformed Australian convicted armed robber has just announced his engagement to Princess Francoise Sturdza of Switzerland, who he plans to marry soon. His life has changed dramatically for the best after the release of his first novel four years ago, which depicted his life in India after escaping from prison. A movie based on his novel is planned for production later this year, starring Johnny Depp in the lead role. [1]

Shannara series purchased by Warner Bros The film rights to The Shannara Series by Terry Brooks have been picked up by Warner Bros. They plan to first develop The Elfstones of Shannara, the second book in the series as the opening movie and writers are now being sought for the adaptation. The first book The Sword of Shannara, was published in 1977 and was the first fantasy book to reach, and then top, the New York Times Best Seller list. [2]

• both items courtesy of Boylo (talk · contribs)

Special: Year in review, first Newsletter in June 2006

• The Newsletter was started on 14 June 2006 by Kevinalewis.
• Issue I in June 2006 informed us that the project had 88 members with 30 of them having joined after 1 May 2006. A year later the project had 236 members.
• The Collaboration of the Month was not yet running in 2006.
• New articles by 23skidoo on the Simon Templar as The Saint novels were mentioned in project news.

Current debates

• The {{Infobox_Book}} was protected so only administrators can edit it and there is a discussion going on over the release field in the template as the {{Infobox short story}} has already had this changed.
• Spoiler warnings debate affects also novel articles.

From the Members

Welcome to the thirteenth issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk), Initiating Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Newsletter challenge

Last month's Work: A Story of Experience challenge was met by our new member Baby ifritah (talk · contribs) with a stub.

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Pity is Not Enough by Josephine Herbst.

Project news

• The demand for fair use rationales for book covers has generated a discussion among wikipedians and also WP:NOVELS members. See the discussion here it has some potentially very important ideas to consider and possibly contribute to.

Member news

• The project has currently 247 members, 11 joined & 0 leavers since the last newsletter at the start of June 2007

Other news

• The French and Francophone literature portal was created in June.

Novel related news

• The Novel - (author notes by kind permission of Gregory David Roberts)

What is a novel? What are the elements that must be found in any piece of writing for it to be considered a novel? I think it fair to say that traditional definitions of the word “novel” work along these lines: A novel is a fictitious prose story of book length. In my view, a novel has six basic elements: 1) It must have a society of characters; 2) They must be undergoing transformations; 3) And those must be in the course of a sustained prose narrative; 4) The sustained prose narrative must be impelled by a plot; 5) And it must be unified by clearly discernible central themes; 6) And to the extent possible, it must be universalised by a complex architecture of allegorical and symbolical sub-strata. If I write those six basic elements into a single definition, I come up with this: A novel is a society of characters, undergoing transformations, in the course of a sustained prose narrative, which is impelled by a plot, unified by clearly discernible central themes, and universalised by a complex architecture of allegorical and symbolical sub-strata.

• item courtesy of Boylo (talk · contribs)

Current debates

• After lengthy discussions about the {{Infobox_Book}} it has settled down at a possibly permanent layout. Any suggestions are still of course welcome.
• Also the important book cover debate mentioned first above.

From the Members

Welcome to the fourteenth issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk), Initiating Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is Live and Let Die (novel).

Newsletter challenge

Last month's Pity is Not Enough challenge was quickly written by our two eager Novel's WP members Imasleepviking (talk · contribs) and Yllosubmarine (talk · contribs) from the US.

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Sinclair Ross' As For Me and My House.

Project news

• During July we passed the 13,000 mark for articles tagged as within the scope of the WikiProject.

Member news

• The project has currently 248 members, 8 joined & 0 leavers since the last newsletter at the start of July 2007

Other news

• Book cover images are discussed at large on WikiProject_Novels/GeneralForum.

Novel related news

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, is released worldwide in July.

Current debates

• On {{Infobox_Book}} we have new debates on ISBN format and coding ideas. Also we have the possibility of making or asserting COinS usage, for those who know more about this please get involved.

From the Members

Welcome to the fifteenth issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk), Initiating Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is The Plague.

Newsletter challenge

Last month's As For Me and My House challenge was getting left so I Kevinalewis (talk · contribs) had a pop at it. Please add anything you can find about this important work of Canadian literature. .

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Jules Verne's 1897 novel The Sphinx of the Ice Fields.

Project news

• During August we signed up to the WikiProject advertising facility {{wikipedia ads}} initiative.
• Our tagged articles now number over 14,000 and more are being added every day. In reality the article count for our project scope is likely to be much higher so the more who can get involved and assist the process of improving the quality of the articles the better.

Member news

• The project has currently 261 members, 7 joined & 0 leavers since the last newsletter at the start of August 2007.
• A number of editors have signed up to our "task forces" without signing to the main project so the figure could be slightly higher.

Other news

• Although many editors are doing sterling work actually working on writing and maintaining articles we could always do with more volunteers to assist with the project wide tasks.
• Our Collaboration of the Month is in need of more suggested articles for our attention and more votes for those already proposed.

Novel related news

• The eagerly awaited Fatal Revenant by Stephen Donaldson is ever closer now, due for release October 9, 2007 in the U.S., October 18 in the UK. As the second part of the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever#The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant it should seal the character of this trilogy as the closing set from this classic sequence of fantasy novels.

Current debates

• One experienced editor has requested feedback on guidelines such as WP:FICT and WP:WAF. Check out his comments first and get your views felt.

From the Members

Welcome to the sixteenth issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk), Initiating Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is The Firm (novel).

Newsletter challenge

Last month's The Sphinx of the Ice Fields challenge had quickly a short line about it by New Babylon 2 (talk · contribs).

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Susan Cooper's Over Sea, Under Stone, which currently is only a redirect.

Project news

• The Articles-Images in danger of deletion noticeboard page was created for the project. The page can be used by project editors to alert each other where articles or images are under challenge in some way in Wikipedia.
• Project members are still more than welcome to make use or comment on the Novels WikiProject peer review department.

Member news

• The project has currently 274 members, 13 joined & 0 leavers since the last newsletter at the start of September 2007

Other news

• Reminder: the ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned after 1 January 2007, and 10 digits long if assigned before 2007. ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 can both be used in the book template, see related discussion here. In either case just prefix the number with the string "ISBN".
• Enthusiastic Novel's WP members are welcome to edit the list of missing works available in The Literary Encyclopedia — a part of WikiProject Missing articles, an effort to use outside sources to determine what articles are missing from Wikipedia.

Novel related news

• Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea is undergoing FA review.

Current debates

• The genre "Plausible fiction" is discussed here.
• The revival of the so-called automated lists is suggested.

From the Members

Welcome to the seventeenth issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk), Initiating Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is The Handmaid's Tale.

Newsletter challenge

Last month's Over Sea, Under Stone challenge had quickly a short stub about it by Applejuicefool (talk · contribs). It did need some rapid work to expand it, but there you go.

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Angus Wilson's The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot.

Project news

• A fairly quiet month in November. However we had a fairly successful COTM with the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland article with 85 modifications made. The success of which I will leave to your assessment.

Member news

• The project has currently 290 members, 8 joined & 0 leavers since the start of November 2007

Task force news

• The Fantasy task force has got off to a really good start with now 13 members. Do cooperate one with another and make it really work for us.
• If any group of editors sees a need for a new "task force" then let us know. Also we can link a WikiProject in as a task force (as Australian task force), this has the benefit of reducing the level of effort dissipation and also advertising interest areas in more than one location.

Novel related news

• The slightly controversial novel series in the fantasy genre, the The Sword of Truth series by American writer Terry Goodkind reaches its conclusion with the publication of the final novel Confessor. It is controversial for its espousal of the writer's objectivist philosophy.
• Slightly old news now but Madeleine L'Engle (born November 29, 1918), the American writer best known for her children's books, particularly the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet and Many Waters, has died of natural causes on September 6, 2007 taken from the Portal:Literature - news section

Current debates

• Some discussion is going on about the "Activation of Members". To which end a "clearing house" of jobs and volunteers is being trialled at Novels Job Centre. Have a look and see what you think.

From the Members

Welcome to the nineteenth issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk), Initiating Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is Sons and Lovers.
• New suggestions always welcome!

Newsletter challenge

Last month's challenge (The Barracks) was completed by WikiProject Novels participant Blathnaid.

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Maria Edgeworth's Belinda (hint).

Project news

• Welcome to a new calendar year (for most of us!)
• During 2007 we have seen membership grow from just below 200 to just below 300. Also our tagged article count now runs at about 16,000 considerably up on this time last year. It highlights the message given from last year that there is much work to do improving and caring for this corner of our "wikiworld". Sadly our Auto-list editor moved on and we sorely need an able replacement. On a more positive note we have seen the establishment of task forces, style guidelines and peer review. Our latest outreach initiative is the Novels Job Centre.

Member news

• The project has currently 299 members, 9 joined & 0 leavers since the start of November 2007
• n.b. this graph copy has been included as a "one off" example just for this newsletter to let you see the addition to our membership page.

Task force news

• The Australian task force (i.e. WikiProject Australian literature) is always welcoming new participants interested in Australian fiction.

Novel related news

• The 2007 Costa Books Awards were announced on the 3rd January by Joanna Trollope. The two novel awards were the "2007 Costa Novel Award" A. L. Kennedy - Day and "2007 Costa First Novel Award" Catherine O'Flynn - What Was Lost

Current debates

• Infobox Book has an inquiry about the Country field.

From the Members

Welcome to the Twentieth issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk), Initiating Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is Nausea (novel).

Newsletter challenge

Last month's challenge (Belinda) was completed by new member User:Nick mallory.

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Beryl Bainbridge's award-winning Master Georgie.
• All 2007 challenges were met, congratulations to all writers. Click show for the complete list.

Project news

• We have had a solid month with an increase of project tagging work. We now have a bit of a backlog of assessments needed.

Member news

• The project has currently 305 members, 6 joined & 0 leavers since the start of January 2008.
• The member page has been reorganized with it being noted that many member are largely inactive. However this is not unusual for WikiProjects and we have a very loyal core of editors who work diligently away often without recognition.

Other news

• Many book cover images were tagged for deletion because of missing or incorrect fair use rationales in January. Several notes on this subject were placed on the General Forum.

Task force news

• There is a new 19th century task force. if this is an area of interest for you join in and help out.

Novel related news

• 23 January, 2008 - The Nestlé Smarties Book Prize is discontinued as of 2008 Guardian
• The Jaipur Literature Festival, was held on the 23 - 27 January 2008, and is India's biggest festival of literature. British Council news site
• Margaret Truman Daniel, president’s daughter and popular author of mysteries, Dies at 83 on the 29 January 2008 NYTimes "Margaret Truman Daniel" obituary

Current debates

• The short story taskforce talk page has a discussion relating to the (non)inclusion of articles on stories by well known authors. Find the debate here.

From the Members

Welcome to the Twenty First issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk), Initiating Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is Rabbit, Run.

Newsletter challenge

Last month's challenge (Master Georgie) was completed by member User:Nick mallory again. Although is worth mentioning that much of the current content is the work of User:Yllosubmarine.

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Wright Morris' award-winning The Field of Vision.

Project news

• An election has been proposed to elect a council that will govern the whole project for a month or more, if you would like to debate this, go to the general discussion forum here

Member news

• The project has currently 312 members, 7 joined & 0 leavers since the start of February 2008.

Other news

• Last months collaboration brought few improvements it would be nice if more got involved with the one for this month.

Task force news

• "Featured short stories?" discussion on the Short story task force talk page.

Novel related news

• Penguin is planning to offer audiobooks that are free of digital copyright protection technology. (Guardian)
• Double Booker prize nominee, novelist Julian Rathbone dies on 28 February, aged 73. (Guardian)
• Mystery writer and romantic novelist Phyllis A. Whitney died on 8 February, aged 104. (Wikinews)

Current debates

• The debate on "studying literature" is now taking place here. Please have a look and add to the debate.

From the Members

Welcome to the Twenty Second issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk), Initiating Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is The Betrothed.

Newsletter challenge

Last month's challenge (The Field of Vision) was completed by member User:Elizabennet as a fairly basic "stub" if anyone knows more to enhance it, please do.

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Norman Douglas' perhaps most famous work South Wind (LE).

Project news

• Elections are now taking place for coordinators of the project for the next three months. Any editors interested in seeking a coordinator position, or who want a say in who is selected, should indicate as much here.

Member news

• The project has currently 381 members, 69 joined & 0 leavers since the start of March 2008.

Other news

• The project's long-time lead coordinator, Kevinalewis, has announced he is not standing as a candidate for another term in that capacity. We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to him for the extraordinary work he has done for this project.
• To Kill a Mockingbird was promoted to Featured Article status on April 3. This brings our FA count to 13!
• It has been suggested that WikiProject Sword of Truth be merged into WP:NOVELS, perhaps as a task force.

Task force news

• Two inactive projects were converted into task forces, so Chronicles of Narnia task force and Lemony Snicket task force have been created. People interested in the aforementioned subjects are encouraged to support the new task forces. (Thank to Wassupwestcoast for the tip)

Novel related news

• The science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke died on 19 March aged 90.

Current debates

• There is a discussion regarding further task forces for other genres of fiction now taking place here.

From the Members

Welcome to the Twenty Third issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk), Initiating Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is A Farewell to Arms.

Newsletter challenge

Last month's challenge (South Wind) was completed by member User:Blathnaid with a nice starting stub.

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Kate Christensen's 2008 PEN/Faulkner award winner The Great Man.

Project news

• The project coordinators' election has concluded. User Yllosubmarine was strongly supported and has promised to be "willing to get some things in motion". Best wishes from the newsletter.

Member news

• The project has currently 380 members, 1 joined & 2 leavers since the start of April 2008.

Other news

• Nero Wolfe is up in peer review.
• Grey Griffins has been nominated for GA status.
• Want to see what wikipedians are reading or want the Wikipedia community to know what you are currently reading? Then check out Wikipedia:What I am reading at the moment.

Task force news

• WikiProject Sword of Truth has been proposed to be merged with WP:NOVELS.
• The project has currently 9 task forces.

Novel related news

• The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie will be released on June 3.
• On March 26th, 2008, Brandon Sanderson commenced work on the completion of A Memory of Light, the twelfth and final novel in The Wheel of Time series by the late Robert Jordan.

Current debates

• Discussion on assessing novel articles.

From the Members

Welcome to the Twenty Fourth issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

feydey (talk), Temporary Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is Pride and Prejudice.

Newsletter challenge

Last month's challenge (The Great Man) was completed by our member User:MeegsC .

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Amy Tan's novel The Hundred Secret Senses.

Project news

• The project coordinators' election has concluded. User Yllosubmarine was strongly supported and has promised to be "willing to get some things in motion". Best wishes from the newsletter.

Member news

• The project has currently 380 members, 1 joined & 2 leavers since the start of April 2008.

Other news

• Nero Wolfe is up in peer review.
• Grey Griffins has been nominated for GA status.
• Want to see what wikipedians are reading or want the Wikipedia community to know what you are currently reading? Then check out Wikipedia:What I am reading at the moment.

Task force news

• WikiProject Sword of Truth has been proposed to be merged with WP:NOVELS.
• The project has currently 9 task forces.

Novel related news

• The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie will be released on June 3.
• On March 26th, 2008, Brandon Sanderson commenced work on the completion of A Memory of Light, the twelfth and final novel in The Wheel of Time series by the late Robert Jordan.

Current debates

• Discussion on assessing novel articles.

From the Members

Welcome to the Twenty Fourth issue of the Novels WikiProject's newsletter! Use this newsletter as a mechanism to inform yourselves about progress at the project and please be inspired to take more active roles in what we do.

We would encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

feydey (talk), Temporary Editor

Collaboration of the Month

• This month's Collaboration has been selected by popular vote and is Pride and Prejudice.

Newsletter challenge

Last month's challenge (The Great Man) was completed by our member User:MeegsC .

• The first person to start the article is mentioned in the next newsletter. This month's article is Amy Tan's novel The Hundred Secret Senses.