Welcome to Box of Tricks!

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Back at Close Quarters in July 2009, a number of us had a few discussions about how great it would be to see more long Pros fic again. After the con, callistosh65 and I started thinking about running a Pros Big Bang Challenge. A lot of musing later, and here we are, getting ready to open sign ups for Box of Tricks, the first of what we hope will be an annual Pros Big Bang Fanfiction Challenge.

For those of you who haven’t seen a Big Bang Challenge before, it’s a collaborative effort between writers and artists. Writers sign up to write a story with a minimum word count. Later in the process, artists claim a story based on an anonymous story summary and produce at least one piece of art to go with it. The art can be an illustration, a manip, or even a vid.

Since we’re a small fandom, and we want to encourage maximum participation for this first time out, we’re setting a minimum word count of 12,500. Remember, that’s a minimum. If you want to write 20,000, or 50,000 or even 100,000 words, we’re not going to complain. In fact we’ll cheer you on.

Writer sign ups will start on January 28, and run for a month. Artist sign ups will also start on January 28, but won’t close until May 28. Stories and art will be due in August, and posting will begin in September. (A more detailed schedule can be found in the ci5_boxoftricks user info).

Even if you don't plan on signing up, do feel free to join the community. You can help by cheerleading, providing prompts, and generally joining in the festivities.

So fire up that word processor, sharpen your pencils, fine tune your Photoshop skills, and get ready for Box of Tricks!

ETA: A big thank you is due to norfolkdumpling for designing our lovely banner and icon, and for assisting us mere mortals with setting up the comm layout. Bravo, ND!

A Pros Big Bang Trailer

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To get everyone's appetite whetted for the challenge, here's a trailer for the Pros Big Bang.

Big thanks to my co-mod, callistosh65, ancastar, and the Sweetie for taking a look at this and making it even more fun.