Discovered in a Livejournal

I've been having a think about what to do with discoveredinalj this year, and suddenly remembered years ago when we had some guest challengers through the year. I thought it might be fun to do this again now, if anyone's up for it. *g*

It involves:
- letting me know you want to do it, and being given a month/time period for it to run
- deciding on a challenge,
- either making a banner for it or arranging one somewhere, or asking me to sort one out
- posting the challenge on its opening date, and responding to people who sign up for it (if necessary)
- keeping an eye on the challenge! *g*
- closing it all the day after it ends.

I'll do the technical bits, like adding the banner to the comm etc., and making the tags, and will be here to help if you need anything - otherwise it's over to you (and I shall look forward to joining in... *g*)

The only stipulations are that challenges have to be open to all characters (e.g. no Bodie-only, Doyle-only, B/C-only), and please abide by the comm description and rules from the user-info page, including This is a slash community, although it is gen-friendly.

Would anyone like to have a go? You can volunteer for any time during the year, up to mid-November (when it'll hopefully be time for me to organise the 16th Christmas/winter/solstice/let-there-be-light challenge *g*) Go on - it's good fun, I promise!

I thought we might have a mini impromptu challenge for a little while - something a bit loose, but something that might help with inspiration or a general desire to write Pros at any moment of the day!

Writers, artists and readers and watchers can all participate - and participate now! As soon as or whenever you see this, come to the comm and either:

a) ask for a prompt, to which you can write a fic/drabble/create art/whatever you like right now (-ish *g*), and then post it

b) post to the comm (or comment here if you're shy) asking for someone else to write/draw/create something specific that you just feel like reading now, or have wanted to see for ages, or have a yen or a lust for...

c) come to the comm and respond to someone's request!

Whichever you choose to do, do it as soon as you can after seeing this challenge/banner/post/etc - it's all about sudden inspiration and instant gratification! It could be a fully-fledged story, or it could be a drabble, a snippet, just a moment in the lads' lives... it could be a work of art, a work in progress, a half-thought-of dream... let's see if we can prompt lots of Pros-y posts on lj over the next week or so!

As ever, the trailer information and posting guidelines are on our user info page - apart from those posting requests, anything Pros-y goes... *g* No deadline for now - just whilst we're waiting for the next challenge to be ready! *g*

My flist has been full, this summer, of people off wandering the world and wandering through time as well - visiting castles and stately old houses, old friends and family, going on nostalgic seaside trips and even rediscovering the joys of camping not done since they were kids - and so I thought we might try to capture that love of history in our next challenge - Discovered in Scraps from the Past.

Our lads have had quite colourful histories, both in canon and fanon, not to mention living and working in the ancient and venerable city of London, coming from other places with their own strong pasts, protecting any number of visiting dignitaries from attack in the grand old buildings they insist on holding meetings in, and generally being as involved and tangled with the olden days as we all are. Prosfic written over the last thirty years has even had the lads themselves as Greeks, Romans, Victorians, Edwardians and ages in between, before and after. And of course who knows what tiny scraps of information about the lads' past might come to light in unexpected ways... *g*

Discovered in a Scrap from the Past could be any past - the lads' own, someone else's, the past of a building the villains are lurking in, of their latest case, or the past that is tucked away in Cowley's desk drawer beside his best bottle of twenty year old scotch... It could be the past inspired from one of the twenty pictures around, or the pictures in the challenge banner, or you can request a historically-inspired prompt in the comments below, or just wing it with your own imgination.

If you would like to play then feel free to post any time up until midnight in your own time zone (but no later than midnight in Pago Pago) on 30th September. You can, of course, post as often as you like, too - and it can be anything - challenge responses don't have to be stories, they can be drabbles, poems, pictures, vids, thoughts, wonderings - anything you've been inspired to!

As ever, please use the challenge trailer (at the end of your story and under a cut) which can be found on the user info page - simply cut and paste and fill in the information. If you'd rather include a link to prosficspoilers than specific warning information then that would be fab (the kind people there will provide information for anyone who may want it).

So - would anyone like to play?

It's been a while since we had a new discoveredinalj challenge, but I thought that we should celebrate the longest day of the year (hurrah the shortest day, Southern Hemisphere! *g*) and what better way to do it than off camping with the lads? So, partly inspired by various recent camping photos from cornishcat and kiwisue, partly by a reminder from jaycat92 of LC's answer to an interview question - "I've been camping quite a bit - make of that what you will!" - and partly just by the idea of our two lads together in a very confined space, our new challenge is...

Discovered Whilst Camping

Of course you don't have to put the lads in a tent, as ever make what you will of the challenge theme, but if you would like a camping prompt then please comment below, and if you don't need a specific prompt but might still join in, then it'd still be lovely if you commented below, just to build up our anticipation... *g*

If you would like to join in then feel free to post any time (and anything - challenge responses don't have to be stories, they can be drabbles, poems, pictures, vids, thoughts, wonderings - anything you've been inspired to!) up until midnight in your time zone (and no later than midnight in Pago Pago) on 31st July - and of course post as often as you like, too...

As ever, please use the challenge trailer (at the end of your story and under a cut) which can be found on the user info page - simply cut and paste and fill in the information. If you'd rather include a link to prosficspoilers than specific warning information then that would be fab (the kind people there will provide information for anyone who may want it).

So... would anyone like to go camping with the lads? *g*

It's finally the 1st of February, and the moon is full, which means that in a fortnight's time, on the 14th of February, millions of people will be out celebrating - not Valentine's Day, but Chinese New Year, the beginning of the Year of the Tiger. This will apparently be a year of adventure, a year of risks - incident, opportunities, change! I thought we might celebrate with them, because the lads would surely have known all about it - they both seem to have eastern interests of one kind or another, and of course they live in London - home to a vibrant Chinatown.

But what would they have been doing - how might they have got caught up in it all, in the excitement and fireworks and bangers and feasts and fortune cookies and lights and lanterns? Who do they know? Where have they been? What are they thinking? Our lads at Chinese New Year...

Chinese New Year celebrations actually continue for fifteen days, culminating in the Festival of Lanterns, so this Discovered in Chinese New Year will run until 28th February - midnight Pago-Pago time, as usual. Feel free to post any time from 14th February until the 28th, to join in the celebrations.

Please comment below to take part - you don't have to, of course, but it's nice to know who might play and what we might have to look forward to. Comment as well if you'd like a prompt to set you on your way and inspire you to creation - as usual stories, art, vids, poetry, thoughts, games, puzzles - any creation at all is welcome!

Don't forget to post fic with trailers rather than headers (format on the User info page), to wear your warm vests, cos it's still cold out there, and to take a handkerchief with you... and have fun!

Would anyone like to light a lantern with us...?

1st A Colouring Book	2nd Othello	3rd Slime	4th A Skateboard	5th Atari 2600
6th Simon	7th Jackie Annual	8th Rubik's Cube	9th A Walkman	10th Action Man
11th Pacman game	12th Spit the Dog	13th A Star Wars figure	14th Stunt Kite	15th Magna Doodle
16th Raw Power	17th A Cabbage Patch doll	18th The Beano Book 1978	19th A Satsuma	20th Trivial Pursuit
21st Worzel Gummidge stories	22nd A tube of Love Hearts	23rd A Matchbox Car	24th Fruit and Nut Bar	25th
26th Doctor Who Annual 1978	27th Felt Tip Pens	28th Dolls House Furniture	29th Top Trumps	30th A Plastic Toy
31st Chocolate Coins				1st Handkerchieves
2nd Mastermind	3rd Slinky	4th Shoot Magazine	5th A Frisbee	6th Plasticine

Oh, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to! - but I must... This is the final post of the Discovered in a Christmas Stocking Challenge, and hasn't it been brilliant? Thank you so much to magenta_blue who did a fab job making a banner and icon that made me giggle whenever I saw it, and to everyone who's participated, who's created, and read and viewed, and commented and just enjoyed it all - Pros is just the best place to be at Christmas time!

I'll link posts to the Calendar above as usual, so that you just have to click on someone's userpic to be taken to their creations and contributions, and the challenge is archived on the User Info page as usual too... And I am planning to catch up with the Dialj Bounds, one of these days... For people who've written fic - don't forget to send your stories to our ProsLib archivist, at proslib at gmaildotcom, and perhaps archive yourself to The Automated Hatstand...

And that must be all for this year... Although there might be another wee challenge along shortly - maybe even very shortly *g* - so do keep your eyes peeled...

Ah, le weekend - and even better, le loooong weekend! Three whole days off, one final hurrah before the summer is over and we're meandering gently into autumn...

To celebrate, and to keep us going through September, we are (of course! *g*) offering a challenge - we'd like you to tell us your version of what the lads might get up to on the August Bank Holiday.

Of course there's a twist - we'd like to know what they get up to on the Bank Holiday, but just on the Bank Holiday - from midnight Monday morning to midnight Monday night, Bank Holiday Monday only... Just one day in the life of the lads...

Of course a lot can happen in 24 hours...

There are prompts for anyone who'd like one - if you would, then please comment below - and if you'd like to take part without a prompt, well as always that's fine too, though it would be nice to hear from you as well so we know what we might be looking forward to!

Posting for the challenge opens right now and closes at midnight on 30th September 2009 - somewhere in the world... *g*

( Trailer and Archiving Reminder )

It's still summer here, and we've had holidays, we've had weddings, and it's finally time for those immortal words...

We welcome World Service listeners to the Oval, where the bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey. (Try reading it out loud for that heeee moment... *g*)

Yes - the sport of gentlemen (and Bodie) - cricket!

We thought we'd try something a wee bit different for this challenge too - something fast-paced, hard-hitting (no, it is based on cricket, really...), that will work best if lots of people join in... a Prosfic Test Match series!

I know, I know - the Ashes are half over - third test started today at Edgbaston... but that's okay, we shall take it one match at a time, and see if there's a winner by the end of the series. (Don't worry, you don't actually have to write about cricket - unless of course you want to imagine the lads in their cricket whites, with that long mark where they've been rubbing their balls on their trousers... *g*)

( How to Play the Game )

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot…

Sounds pretty much exactly like a day in the life of CI5 if you ask me… and thus the next dialj challenge – Discovered In A Sky Rocket.

There are two possible parts to this challenge!

Either:

Once more, post-as-you-please-on-the-day of the challenge, any creation based around Guy Fawkes Night (and I know there is some fic out there – yeay!)

or:

Firework Drabble Challenge
If you fancy something more in the way of inspiration, request a prompt below and you will be given the name of a firework/s on which to base a drabble/s (or fic, if you feel so inclined)! Eg. Golden Lion or Giddy Aunties In A Spin (no, it’s an actual firework *g*). We thought it might be nice to have some little bursts of Pros, especially since there isn't much time between Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night...

As usual, please sign up by commenting below if you’d like to take part (although we certainly won’t reject surprise last-minute contributions either!)

I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot…