CI5 Box of Tricks 2022 - True by JoJo

Title: True
Author: JoJo (

solosundance )
Artist:

krisserci5
Archive to ProsLib: yes please
Genre: Slash
Characters/Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Wordcount: 13,365
Warnings: none

Summary: When Operation Judas goes sideways and CI5 loses two of its own to the terrorist Herzl group, the whole Squad is devastated. Bodie keeps calm and carries on, while Herzl threatens bloody revenge against everyone from her jail cell. Grieving widow June Cook tells Doyle it’s all right for him to play cowboys for the rest of his miserable, selfish, life – because he doesn’t have anyone to lose. Thinking about it, Doyle decides this is probably true. But then again, that may be because he’s more than a little lost himself.

Notes: with acknowledgments to Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp, props to the Big Bang mods, many thanks to my kind artist

krisserci5, smooches to the lovely

murphybabe , and all power to the Ginsters

Link to Fic: Fic Master Post
Link to Art: Art Master Post (to come)

The CI5 Big Bang 2022 Artist Claiming Post

For our artists who follow DW, now is when you get to claim the story you'd like to work on for the Big Bang and here's how.

First read the story summaries. Not all the summaries have titles but they are all numbered.
Then, please comment to the post and let us know the following:

1. Your email address

2. Your top four story choices in order of preference

3. If you would be happy to provide art for a second story if we

have more writers than artists.

4. If you are willing to pinch-hit if another artist unexpectedly has to pull out.

While you will only be working on one or two stories, giving us your top four choices will hopefully minimize the odds of our having to re-contact you as we work through the comments matching artists with stories.
The comments on this post are screened, so your mods are the only ones who will see them. If you have any questions, you can let us know via comment. We will send you the rough draft of your story selection and your writer's email address ASAP.

So, here's the form:

Email:

First Story Choice:

Second Story Choice:

Third Story Choice:

Fourth Story Choice:

Willing to take a second story?:

Willing to pinch hit?:

And here are the Summaries!

1. Untitled

While on vacation (a week's suspension for losing his rag at Cowley) in a small seaside town, Doyle finds himself strangely drawn to an old wreck of a vintage motorcycle with a mysterious, and deadly, past.

Haunting? Possession? Bodie isn't sure what exactly is going on, but Doyle is acting

more than a bit unusual, even for him, ever since he brought that motorcycle back to

London. Doyle finally crosses a line that Bodie can't ignore; and he calls him on it.

Then the bike tries to kill Bodie;

When Doyle and the motorcycle disappear one day, Bodie tracks them back to the

same town where it all started, only to discover a local legend involving a certain vintage

motorcycle is about to reach its deadly conclusion;

(Bodie/Doyle, AU, elements of the supernatural)

2. No Way in Hell

Cowley sends Bodie and Doyle on a non-assignment to help a friend.

3. Untitled

When Operation Judas goes sideways and CI5 loses two of its own to the terrorist Herzl group, the whole Squad is devastated. Bodie keeps calm and carries on, while Herzl threatens bloody revenge against everyone from her jail cell. Grieving widow June Cook tells Doyle it’s all right for him to play cowboys for the rest of his miserable, selfish, life; because he doesn't have anyone to lose. Thinking about it, Doyle decides this is probably true. But then again, that may be because he's more than a little lost himself.

4. What A Day For A Daydream

Detective Constable Ray Doyle dreams about a good-looking bloke he sees often in his lunch café on his patrol route. One day the bloke is injured and Doyle is mistaken for his fiancé. This is a film fic, based on the film, While You Were Sleeping.

5. Untitled

Bodie is new to CI5. He has been placed in an undercover role in a semi Operation Susie to help locate the Home Secretary's estranged daughter who was abducted off the street. Working as Andrew Phillips, his undercover persona, he discovers several possible avenues which could all explain her disappearance. Finding her becomes slightly more complicated when a local pusher called Ray Duncan crosses his path from the first day and sets his heart and groin on fire. When the reason of her disappearance is found it is more

devastating than Cowley or Bodie originally thought.

6. The Death Knell of an Affair: The Shooting

After six months apart Bodie and Doyle's partnership is extremely fragile, especially since they had become lovers only a few months before Bodie left to help a former SAS friend. Now they working together again, but in a disastrous chase into a warehouse, Bodie shoots Doyle and kills him.

Fortunately, as the body is viewed Bodie, who knows Doyle's body so well realizes that the dead man is not Doyle. The hunt then begins for Doyle and after he is found alive but extremely hostile towards Bodie's lack of loyalty, their friendship as well as their partnership teeters on the bring of extinction.

Since Doyle is nearing 40 years of age so he decides to resign on his birthday, but he is assigned to be Murphy's partner for his remaining time. This situation causes Bodie's extreme jealousy to materialize and all the efforts by the two men to restore some harmony before Doyle leaves seems to be hopeless, especially since Colin Murphy's doing his best be the best friend that Doyle needs so badly.

Can the two former lovers overcome the hostility and mistrust that exists between them or will Doyle leave to go north and find a new way of life.

7. For the Win

Bodie and Doyle plan to spend the weekend at an elegant manor to attend the reading of a will - Bodie is a long lost relative! They're happy to find Sid Halley and Chico Barnes in attendance, as well. Murder, secret romances and family drama complicate matters more than anyone expected.

Professionals/Racing Game crossover

Entry tags:

housekeeping 2022

The 2022 Artist Housekeeping Post

Allo, BBers!

To give our 2022 Pros BB artists a heads-up on the way they'll be claiming their stories, here's an outline of the way we'll be proceeding with the art claims.

The artist claiming post will go up on Saturday, 9th July at 00:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).

That's 0700 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
0800 British Summer Time (BST) for the UK cousins and
0900 Central European Summer Time (CEST) for the European cousins.

If you're not in any of those time zones, you can use the Time Zone Converter – Time Difference Calculator (Classic) to determine the time in your location.

The claiming post will contain all the story summaries, under a cut, and without the writers' names. The post will be screened, so your friendly mods will be the only ones to see all comments. Artists should comment to the post, and include their first, second, third, and fourth choices for story claims. Artists should also let us know whether they are willing to provide art for a second story, in case any of our artists has to drop out unexpectedly.

The mods will do a first pass through the list, starting with the first comment, and assign each artist their first story. If your first choice has already been chosen, you will be assigned your second pick. We chose this method to ensure that:

every artist has a decent chance of getting their first or second choice, and…
artists who claim early will get their story assigned early, so they can get to work on art as quickly as possible.

Please note that once you have claimed a story, you'll be getting the rough draft of that story, so you don't have to work just from the summary. Let us know if you have any questions, either in the comments here or by emailing the mods at prosbigbangtwo@gmail.com. And huge thanks once again to our artists for volunteering their time and talent! :-)

Entry tags:

housekeeping 2022

Rough draft requirements reminder

Hello, BBers!

We're coming up for air, in just enough time to tell you about the...

Rough Draft Requirements Reminder

As we are now getting ever closer to the rough draft deadline on the 1st July we thought this was a good time to post a reminder of the rough draft requirements.

A minimum word count of 6000 words.
We're not going to be totally tyrannical about this. If you're only at 5,000 words, but it's clear you're well on the way to finishing, that works for us. But if you're only at 1,000 words, we have a problem. Talk to us and let us know how you are getting on. We don't bite.......... hard. ;D

A reasonably complete outline of any unfinished scenes
The outline can be as complete (massively detailed descriptions of every remaining incident in the story) or as brief ("insert sex scene here") as you like.

A reasonable confidence that you will be able to finish the whole story (10,000 word minimum) by the September 23rd deadline.
This last bit is the most important. Since it gets handed to an artist at this point, we'd like for the artist not to work on something that isn't going to get done.

A short paragraph-length summary/blurb that can be posted publicly on the comm for the artists to claim from.
This should give a good flavour of the story, but doesn't have to give everything away. You can see what people wrote for the last few years: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018. Please also include a warning if one applies (e.g. for subjects like death, rape or underage sex) or, if the story needs a warning but you are worried about spoilers, you can let us know that you choose not to warn.

Lastly, you don’t need a title at this point, we all know that sometimes this can be the very last thing that you write :D.

We will be putting a post up in a few days time detailing how to send us your rough draft and summary so please look out for that.

Finally, as always, if you have any questions about anything please get in touch by emailing the mods at prosbigbangtwo@gmail.com.

Entry tags:

check in post 2022

Weekly Check-In + Reminder

Allo, BBers!

How's it going? There's still some time left, but not as much as before - deadlines are ready to jump into the Capri and start revving the engine. :O

Speaking of which, don't forget: art is the spice of Pros life. How do I know? I took a look at the artists & vidders post.

You have a little over one week more to commit. Don't wait too much longer; it'll be here before you know it. And then who will capture B&D in the act? ;-)

Entry tags:

weekly check in post

Weekly Check In Post

Greetings, BB’ers, I hope this update finds you well!
So, how goes it with the writing guys? Are your plots in place, your scenes in sync and your characters, well … in character?
I’ll include a little pic of the two reasons we DO all this, which brings me to a timely reminder that the artists sign ups are OPEN!

Entry tags:

check in post 2022

Pros BB Weekly Check-In / Artists + Vidders Reminder Post

Hey there, BBers - it's your favorite time of the week... It's check-in time!

Welcome to all and sundry artists / vidders who have signed up so far! If you don't know what I'm talking about, then check out the artists / vidders sign-up post; it'll give the official bits on how to give your all for the lads art-wise. If you yearn to capture the broad expanse of Bodie's chest, or the cheeky curve of Doyle's - well, cheek (of your choice), then here's your opportunity and an appreciative audience. ;-)

And if you have any questions, come find your friendly neighborhood mods^TM. That's what we're here for!

More in general, to writers and artists/vidders alike: how is it going? Are the Bisto Kids seeing eye-to-eye yet? Or is Cowley about to suspend them both so he can pull an Operation Susie on them? (Or is the blank screen of your computer, and the seven earlier tries, mocking you? I raise my hand here.) Come share, and tank up on petrol in the Capri so you can take it out for a(nother) spin.

Let us know!

Artist and Vidders Sign Ups begin!

Artists and Vidders sign ups begin

It's that time! The writers sign-up post has been up for a while, and now it's the turn of all our fabulous artists and vidders.

Please give the rules a read before you sign up so you understand what is expected of you. The mods are excited to see who's joining us for the 2022 Big Bang.

Rules For Artists:

1. You agree to create at least one piece of art or one vid for a Pros Big Bang story.
2. Collaborations between artists are also allowed. Just let us know when you sign up if you are planning on working with a partner.
3. The art may be an original illustration, title banner, photo manip., or whatever else strikes your fancy. The vid may be a reflection of the story or a teaser to entice people to read. Have fun with your project!
4. You’re free to create what you will for the art or vid, but we suggest that you consult with your writer before doing anything too explicit.
5. On your assigned date, you will make a master post for your art at this comm (the mods will provide a template for this post closer to the time). The art itself may be posted to, and linked from, your personal LJ, Dreamwidth, AO3, The Automated Hatstand, etc. Please do not post your artwork anywhere prior to your assigned posting date and please do not cross-post it to any other community before the end of October.
6. If you feel you have the energy and willpower to create artwork for someone else's story, as well as writing your own, then please feel free to sign up as both an artist and as a writer.

Sign ups open on 1st May and close on 31st May.

On 9th July, a list of story summaries will be posted anonymously. You will claim the story that interests you on a first come, first served basis. Once you have successfully claimed a story, we’ll give you the author’s contact information and the rough draft/outline of their story from which to work.

The due date for your artwork/vid is 23rd September. Your work should not be posted on a public forum at this time, but you must provide us with either a working link to the art or vid, or the art or vid file itself.

An assigned, staggered posting schedule will happen in October.

To sign up, please comment below with:

● Artist/Vidder name:
● LJ username (if applicable):
● Email address:
● Art or Vid, or both (if you know):
● Would you prefer to work on slash, gen or het/have no preference?:
● If necessary, would you be willing to pinch hit?

If you would prefer not to put your email address in the comment then please send the mods an email at prosbigbangtwo@gmail.com. Questions happily answered by email or by comments here.

We'd love to have you on board, whether you've done this before or you're brand new to Pros or to a big bang challenge. Come on, you want to do this! It's a blast.

Thank you!

Entry tags:

weekly check in post

Weekly Check In Post

Greetings, Pros writers and welcome to another check in post! We do hoping that literary Gods are treating you well.
Don't forget that May sees the start of sign-ups for the artists among us, so if your passion is more along the lines of pencils and paint or photos and film, whatever your chosen art medium, as long as it can be displayed to a hugely appreciative audience, then YOUR FANDOM NEEDS YOU! Of course you MAY just be one of those crazy crazy people who enjoy writing a story AND making artwork in which case, we doff our caps to you, so everyone please watch this space!
Whether you're a writer, artist, cheerleader, beta reader or simply a happy Pro's reader, we always welcome your comments, questions and musings on all things Big Bang, so it just remains for me to wish you all a very lovely Spring! xx

Entry tags:

housekeeping 2022

Rough Draft Requirements Reminder

Hiya, BBers!

Howzit going? Hope all is well, and the words are blossoming forth from your fingertips. (And that Cowley has yelled at Bodie at least once. :D)
.
We now present to you:

Rough draft requirements reminder

As we are now getting to the midway point before the rough draft deadline on the 1st July we thought this was a good time to post a reminder of the rough draft requirements.

A minimum word count of 6,600 words.
We're not going to be totally tyrannical about this. If you're only at 4,000 words, but it's clear you're well on the way to finishing, that works for us. But if you're only at 1,000 words, we have a problem. Talk to us and let us know how you are getting on. We don’t bite..........hard.

A reasonably complete outline of any unfinished scenes
The outline can be as complete (massively detailed descriptions of every remaining incident in the story) or as brief ("insert sex scene here") as you like.

A reasonable confidence that you will be able to finish the whole story (10,000 word minimum) by the September 23rd deadline.
This last bit is the most important. Since it gets handed to an artist at this point, we'd like for the artist not to work on something that isn't going to get done.

A short paragraph length summary/blurb that can be posted publicly on the comm for the artists to claim from.
This should give a good flavour of the story, but doesn't have to give everything away. You can see what people wrote for the last few years: 2020, 2019, 2018.

Please also include a warning if one applies (e.g. for subjects like death, rape or underage sex) or, if the story needs a warning but you are worried about spoilers, you can let us know that you choose not to warn.

Lastly you don’t need a title at this point, we all know that sometimes this can be the very last thing that you write :D.

We will be putting a post up in June detailing how to send us your rough draft and summary so please look out for that.

Finally, as always, if you have any questions about anything please get in touch by emailing the mods at prosbigbangtwo@gmail.com.

Yay! Go, Pros. :D

Weekly Check in Post

Hi All!!!

Are you sitting at your or near the instrument of chaos? Sitting there knowing its the reason, the only reason you signed up, it made you do it, and are now pondering how to dispose of it and make the rest of us believe that it was an accident or, better yet, an act of god. . . lightening, perhaps.

There may be folks sitting happily typing away . . .sigh.

I know which group I am in, how about you?

Entry tags:

weekly check in post

Weekly Check In Post

Hello, BB’ers and welcome to your weekly check in post.

Some horrible things are going on in the world right now. May we take a moment of peace among ourselves, to let our art and our words overcome our terrors of the real world for just a while, and find some small solace between ourselves. For those of us still lucky enough to be able to participate in something as ordinary yet wonderful as a Big Bang, may we find ourselves eternally grateful.

As always dear friends, write with your minds, believe with your souls and love with your hearts xx

Entry tags:

check in post 2022

Weekly Check-in Post

Well spring has sprung, by date at least. Unless you live near me and spring was two weeks ago last Thursday.

Hopefully, your chores, cat feeding, slopping the hog and spring cleaning are not preventing you from tap, tap, tapping on the keyboard of your choice!!! {like I'd use one of those excuses}

Let us know if we can help or just need a natter!!!

Entry tags:

check in post 2022

Weekly Check-in Post: March 18

Sorry about the delay, BBers - I fell down the Black Hole of Income Production...

Well - here we are! Safely past the Ides of March (though we still live in far too interesting times), just past the green beer mountain (St. Patty's Day, if you celebrate), and only three and a half months left until that first BB draft is due.

So, a quick poll: how's it going?

Done. AND Cowley is pleased. (BWAHAHAHAHA - though there actually are a couple of people who may be done).
Well, I've got B&D in the same room, but they sure don't want to get together...
One hundred words, and proud of 'em!
I have six billion different starts, and none of them are going anywhere
BB? There's a BB?

Let us know which one you fall under. ~~Misery loves company.~~ Talking it out can help! :D

Entry tags:

announcements 2022

Pros BB Public Service Announcement

Hullo, BBers!

A bit of a serious note for you.

In the near term, we're making the Dreamwidth Box of Tricks comm the primary posting location for the BB, although we will continue to update the Livejournal version as well. You'll get all the BB goodness, wherever you go.

We've provided some steps for you to start following on Dreamwidth:

Set up an account on Dreamwidth (if you haven't already). It's as easy as signing up on LJ.
Sign up to follow the comm. Go to the Comm Profile page, and select Join Community at the very least. You came also select Watch Community or Post to Community, depending on whether you want to just read or also write comments to the community.

And it's as simple as that! If you have any questions or need some help, let us know and we'll assist as much as we can.

In the meantime, never fear: we will continue to update LJ for as long as possible, with the hope that this is merely us being overcautious.

This maintenance is for the comm. If you'd like to take some precautions for your own acct, Dreamwidth has set up some easy steps to import your own posts as well.

Entry tags:

check in post 2022

Weekly Check-in Post

And so it begins. . . our descent into. . . the constant wondering of how did I get committed to this undertaking. . . .

We are in this together and here to help. Yes, the fresh bloom is still on the blossom.

So if you need to toss ideas, or help, or to just natter . . . we're listening.

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writers 2022

Introducing the Box Of Tricks 2022 Writers!

Many thanks to all who have entered as writers for this years Big Bang, it’s great to see names both old and new! Here’s the list of though brave souls participating. I’m sure you’ll all join me me congratulating them and wishing them luck!

Creed Cascade
dawnwind
donato finnsmum1
Golden Bastet
JoJo
Klara3745
krisser
LilyK
longstrt
merentha13
shinykari
sweety_mutant
ubicaritas

So glad they are all here!!!!

Entry tags:

writer sign-up post 2022

Pros BB 2022 Writer Signups - LAST CALL

Hullo, BBers!

Just a reminder that Pros BB writer signups for 2022 are set to close on - Monday!!! at 11:59:59 PM !!!!!.

If you haven't left a comment at the Writer Signup Post, now would be the time to do so. Instructions and deadlines are listed there.

It's fun, it's a blast, it will wear your nails down to the quick! Toy around with the well-being of the Bisto Kids; have fun inserting our lads into all sorts of hopeless situations, to save them at the last minute. With lots of H/C, if that's what floats your boat. Oh, yes.... but I digress.

Threaten Bodie with a bomb. Threaten Doyle with Marge. Put them in antiquity, in the future, in the rest room. Older lads, younger lads. Casefic. AU. Curtain fic. Bodie-as-mercenary fic. Doyle-as-rent-boy fic. Evil Cowley fic. Weddings. MPreg. (No - forget that. No MPreg.) As long as it's Pros-related, the only limit is in your imagination.

And as always, if you have any questions for Your Friendly Neighborhood Mods, feel free to post below or email us at prosbigbangtwo@gmail.com.

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cheerleader sign-up post 2022

Calling All Pros Big Bang Cheerleaders

Here's the post for anyone not able to sign up for the 2022 Pros BB challenge as a writer, artist, or beta, but who still wants to participate.

We’d love to have you as a cheerleader!

In fact, even if you are signing up as a writer, artist, or vidder, we'd still love to have you as a cheerleader! :-)

A cheerleader is someone who participants can bounce ideas off. Someone who can pre-read a partial draft and give a sense of whether it's working. Someone who can break out the pom poms and, well, cheer a writer on to the finish. It's an important job; writers, artists and vidders need all the encouragement they can get, and those pom poms aren’t going to shake themselves! So join the lovely lads above and get shaking! (Leg warmers and leotards optional.)

If you'd like to be cheerleader, just pop your name in a comment below, to let people know they can call on you for encouragement if needed. You can also pop into the weekly check-in posts at anytime to offer encouragement, a shoulder to lean [or cry] on, or just to shake those pom poms like the fabulous cheerleader you are!

Get practicing those jumps, and GO PROS!

Pros Big Bang Beta Sign Up now open!

Here's your opportunity to sign up to offer your services as an editor/beta.

If you haven't done this before, here is how it works: you sign up below to volunteer and if someone needs you to read their story, they ask you to help. You and your writer set your parameters, such as read for plot only, or read for grammar, punctuation, or whatever you both feel comfortable with. Beta readers and editors are important to most writers so that they can present a clean and polished final version of their story.

If you are a writer who already has a beta and/or editor, they don't have to sign up. This is only for folks who want to volunteer to help writers who possibly don't have anybody to help them out.

So, sharpen your pencils, dust off that ol' Thesaurus, and try to remember all that interesting stuff you learned in Composition 101!

Thanks for volunteering!

User name/Pseud:
Email:
IM (optional):
What pairings/genres do you enjoy/are you willing to read:
What are your strengths as a beta reader?:
What kind of turn-around time can someone expect from you?: