Box of Tricks

Well, Folks - The 8th annual Professionals Big Bang is sadly over, and we'd like to thank you all for making it such a success! Whether you wrote a story, made artwork, served as a beta or cheerleader, or just read and enjoyed, thank you so much for participating. Such a wealth of exciting new fiction and art to read and enjoy!

Here’s to next year and thanks each and every one of you for making this challenge so enjoyable.

With best wishes, your mod team.

The Professionals Big Bang mods are pleased to announce the final posting schedule.

It all begins on Sunday!!!!!!!!!

Date------------------Author-----------------Artists

Sunday.....1 Oct........Merentha 13...........Mella, Loxleyprince


Wednesday..4 Oct........Fictionwriter & Moth2fic...Loxleyprince


Saturday...7 Oct........Agent Talis...........Brune_arci


Monday.....9 Oct..........Airelle 1.............krisser


Wednesday.11 Oct........Spaceknight...........Firlefanzine


Friday....13 Oct..........Krisser...............Agent Talis


Sunday....15 Oct..........lbc...................krisser


Wednesday.16 Oct........Lily K................SCFossil


Friday....20 Oct........Snow White............krisser


Sunday....22 Oct........Snailbones............Macklingirl


Tuesday...24 Oct........Murphybabe............Merentha13


Friday....27 Oct........Jojo..................Allegra


Sunday....29 Oct........Fiorenza_A............Gevanne


Tuesday...31 Oct........Golden_bastet.........krisser

Just a reminder ...

...the deadline for writers' final drafts and artists' rough drafts is the 23rd of September. That's next Saturday - less than a week from today. O:



As always: if you have any questions, email us at prosbigbangtwo@gmail.com.

Well, folks, that dreaded moment is quickly approaching -- we're a little over a month out, omigodI'mnowhereneardone and it's time to go over what happens in that month. This is not under a cut because it's all important.

So here we go:

I. The Deadlines

Friday 23rd September

Writer's final draft is due
While you'll still have a few days to tweak and polish, we'd like the writers to have complete, finished stories by this point.

Artist's rough draft is due
As the artists have less time to work on this than the writers, we only need to see a rough draft of their art at this point. What we're looking for is an indication that the artist is on track to finish in time for their posting date.

Artists and writers should all send their drafts to the friendly mods. [who really haven't pulled all their hair out yet] Further information about sending us these drafts will be posted closer to the deadline.

Tuesday 27th September

The posting schedule is sent out to artists and writers.

Saturday 1st October

Posting begins. Woot Woot Woot *\\\\o////*

II. What You Will Be Posting

Writers

In a publicly accessible location of your choosing: your story.
You may post in your own LJ, in an LJ you create specifically for this purpose, in an archive, like AO3, or on a website.

We only require that the story is publicly accessible, and that you do not post your story before your assigned posting date.

In the ci5_boxoftricks LJ: a post with a link to your story.
We'll be supplying templates for what your posts should look like nearer to the posting dates.

Artists

In a publicly accessible location of your choosing: the art for your claimed story, with any commentary you'd like.
You may post in your own LJ, in an LJ you create specifically for this purpose, in an archive, like AO3, or on a website.

We only require that the art is publicly accessible, and that you do not post your art before your assigned posting date.

In the ci5_boxoftricks LJ: a post with a link to your artist's post.
We'll be supplying templates for what your posts should look like nearer to the posting dates.

Writers and artists

Just a quick reminder that like last year both writers and artists will be making their own master posts to ci5_boxoftricks. But of course, as in previous years, writers and artists who would like the art included within the story should feel free to arrange to do so.

III. Some extra reminders / notes

We'll be supplying templates for what your posts should look like nearer to the posting dates.

We will also be asking you about any dates in October when you would not be able to post so put your thinking caps on.

If posting in LJ, there is a limit of 65,000 characters per post. This generally works out to an average of 8,000 to 10,000 words.

A new 2017 Pros Big Bang Collection has been made available here (yeah, there). To find out more about AO3 take a look here and here. To be clear you are not required to post your story / art at AO3 but if you are interested in posting at AO3 we still have some invite codes left so drop us a line if you would like one.

And we ask that both artists and writers do not cross-post their stories and art to any other community before the end of October.

IV. And finally

As always if you have any questions, drop us a comment or an email (the address is prosbigbangtwo@gmail.com) and watch out at the comm for future posts.

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 2017 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!

Pros Big Bang signups opening soon! Yeah!!!

This is your reminder that author signups for the Eight annual Professionals Big Bang opens on Wednesday, February 1! Just about a week away! Are you ready?

While you wait for the signup post, you can read (or reread)
Last year, participants produced 11 stories, for a total of 342,081 words of fiction, with accompanying art! Link to Fic: 2016 Big Bang entries.

You can also check out the prior years:

Link to Fic: 2015 Big Bang entries
(18 stories, for a total of 536,800)

Link to Fic: 2014 Big Bang entries.
(16 stories, for a total of 492,416 words)

Link to Fic: 2013 Big Bang entries
(11 stories, 435,414 words),

Link to Fic: 2012 stories
(19 stories, 678,220 words),

Link to Fic: the 2011 stories
(16 stories, 585,646 words),

Link to Fic: and the 2010 stories
(23 stories, 695,123 words)!




That means that in the past seven years the participants in the Big Bang (that's you!) have written (and illustrated) 114 stories with a total word count of 3,765,700 words! Will we make it to 150 stories? Will we make it to four million words? If you sign up, you can make this happen!