116 replies to this topic

[clinkeroo]

Have sent you a very private message.

The plot thickens.

My God....

...so much death....

[Joyce Carrington]

Don't tease us like that!

[clinkeroo]

Back from work.

Before I went to sleep last night I sent JIM the only acorn of an idea I had, a character.

Note to others: Planting acorns in JIM's head is akin to Hillary Clinton investing in cattle futures, you get back a thousand fold.

This morning JIM had grown a giant beanstalk...um...er...let me rephrase. This morning the sad little character sketch had somehow grown into a full-fledged story with detailed chapter outlines containing clever hooks, more than a few laughs, plot twists, and handfuls of dead people just waiting to have their stories told by a band of intrepid writers.

I think we might bat it around some more, like a couple of fat, bored cats with a nearly dead mouse. Flesh it out a bit, figure out how much to throw out to the public (all the better to tease you with, dear Fenna,) and proceed from there.

JIM thought it would be a good idea to possibly tie into CBn's big ten-year anniversary. I for one, think that would be grand. It also gives us a long timeframe to work with to allow people to be creative without a pressing deadline, and eventually it would allow us, as editors, to shape the stories, along with the authors, into a semi-coherent mass.

For now, let us just say that it is a "quiet" little story about suffering.

So roll up, roll up for the Mystery Tour, step right this way.

[Joyce Carrington]

All right then, I'll be patient.

Anything for a bleak story.

[Jim]

Let Project Mayhem commence.

Keep watching this thread. Once we have worked out what and how (or at least, a workable "how"), it'll be time for the who.

[Harry Fawkes]

Sounds great.

Will keep watching this thread for further info.

You guys really know how to up the excitement around here.

[Greene Planet]

Sounds great.

Will keep watching this thread for further info.

You guys really know how to up the excitement around here.

Agreed!

[MHazard]

Thanks Jim and Clinkeroo. I'm looking forward to this one!

[Jim]

Still having a bit of a think about this.

[Mr. Blofeld]

I'd like to toss my hat into the ring, if I may; I've got a ripe story idea, and I'd like to share it.

[Trident]

Ah, nice to see this one pop up again! Particularly intriguing concept that I would like to hear more about, very much so!

[clinkeroo]

I personally like your original outline, JIM. We could go from there unless you have some new thoughts.

As to the first function of this forum, what do you have, Mr. Blofeld?

[volante]

I'm in need of some Bond chat.
So, I'm in lets talk (there's no Bond 23 stuff - so why not)
I don't see why we cannot come up with the twists and turns of a plot that Mr. Fleming would be proud of.

[Mr. Blofeld]

I personally like your original outline, JIM. We could go from there unless you have some new thoughts.

As to the first function of this forum, what do you have, Mr. Blofeld?

So sorry I missed your reply, clinkeroo; here's my idea:

What if... there was a story cut from the For Your Eyes Only story collection, and this story later became (in heavily altered form) the PTS of Thunderball? My idea is how this story would have worked, as well as how it could have tied up some loose ends in the Bond literary canon.

Bond has been sent into France to eliminate Col. Jacques Bouvier, an officer in the French Armed Forces suspected of having passed information to the Russians that cost the lives of several British Service operatives. He trails Bouvier to a cafe in Paris, but before he can get to Bouvier, Bouvier goes into the lavatory, and a tall foreigner with a crag-like face (the SMERSH man from Casino Royale) follows him in; Bond runs in seconds later, but the man has Bouvier at gunpoint. He castigates him for his failure, then blows Bouvier's face off, and Bond rushes at the man before he can get away. The two tussle and lose their weapons, with Bond noticing that the SMERSH man seems to be a figure somewhat weakened by age; the two eventually wreck the washroom in the course of their fight (as in Casino Royale the film), before Bond finally drowns the man in a toilet.

A day later, Bond reports to the local station head on the bungled assignment, and requests a leave period; during this time, he sneaks off to Bouvier's funeral, where he sees something that piques his interest. Recalling from Bouvier's dossier that Jacques Bouvier was a man of incredible vanity (and thus could not help but monitor the results of his actions, resulting in his detection as having passed sensitive information), he sets into motion a plan to invade Bouvier's country manor... and discover his widow's secret.

A few days later, in the dead of night, Bond is in the shrubbery near Bouvier's home (this is where the story begins, in media res). With the help of a grappling hook, Bond gains access to the top floors of the mansion, where he discovers, to little surprise, that Bouvier has been alive all along; he had managed to slip into a utility closet near the washroom (which had been around a corner), and switched places with a man of similar height and build, wearing an identical suit and with the same blood type (and crudely-burned fingerprints) as Bouvier, who had been sent by the KGB as a sacrificial lamb. The Russians had wanted to ferret Bouvier over to their side (due to all of the secrets he knew) all along, and so had planned to fake his death; the SMERSH man sent had no knowledge of this, and, in fact, the KGB had given him a faked photograph with which to identify Bouvier, as the assassin was getting on in years and they had wanted to retire him before he became any more of an embarrassment to the state. Bouvier, however, could not resist attending his own funeral, and so took the place of his own wife at the service; Bond noticed this when the widow limped slightly (the real Mrs. Bouvier had no limp, but Jacques Bouvier did, from a riding accident), as well as when the "widow" opened the car door for herself.

Bouvier had snuck back to his mansion to remove certain valuable possessions of his, and Bond catches him rifling through a drawer for his new Soviet papers. The two brutally fight, with Bouvier pleading for mercy, stating he has children (who have been spirited away to a safer location), but Bond is infuriated that the man shows no remorse for his deeds. The fight spills over into a parlor area, and Bond finishes Bouvier off by strangling him to death with a poker. He discovers the trove of papers Bouvier had stupidly hid behind a portrait which proves Bond's theory, and determines to report back on this to his superiors, happily considering that "with the coarse nature of his work, there always came a softer side; the rough with the smooth".

[Bryce (003)]

I'm game for any of this.

I've got a good PTS notion that *could* kick things off, yet be just that. A kick off, then the REAL/Main story could go from there.

*flips two pence into the ring*

[clinkeroo]

I'm game for any of this.

I've got a good PTS notion that *could* kick things off, yet be just that. A kick off, then the REAL/Main story could go from there.

*flips two pence into the ring*

Bryce,

Could your idea be done as a period piece...say 1962, or possibly 1971?

Oh yeah, and a tease for those who might want to be involved, and those who would like to read:

"The noble truth that is suffering"
"The noble truth that is the arising of suffering"
"The noble truth that is the end of suffering"
"The noble truth that is the way leading to the end of suffering"

[clinkeroo]

Mr. Blofeld,

Criminey, that description is practically a story unto itself. Has an almost ACD Sherlockian feeling to it. You can see the two story idea threads (the Bouvier idea and the assassin idea) twisting together.

Thought: is there another way of hiding the corpse's id other than blowing its face off. All these crime scene shows have really beaten the face blown off/face skinned/body burned beyond recognition thing to death. The man from SMERSH must have been told to disfigure the corpse even if he wasn't in on the plan, I'm sure he could get...creative.

Sounds like you have it pretty well thought out though, you should go for it.

[Bryce (003)]

Bryce,

Could your idea be done as a period piece...say 1962, or possibly 1971?

Ummmm....Yeah, it could be. It just involves a contemporary Naval base, but it could be retroed to a degree for either year. I'd need to do a little historical reseach, but I know the location first hand. '71 might be better, but '62 can work as well.

Well, off the boards and back to wikipedia.

I'll let you know Clink. Cheers.

[Trident]

I'm game for any of this.

I've got a good PTS notion that *could* kick things off, yet be just that. A kick off, then the REAL/Main story could go from there.

*flips two pence into the ring*

Bryce,

Could your idea be done as a period piece...say 1962, or possibly 1971?

Oh yeah, and a tease for those who might want to be involved, and those who would like to read:

"The noble truth that is suffering"
"The noble truth that is the arising of suffering"
"The noble truth that is the end of suffering"
"The noble truth that is the way leading to the end of suffering"

Period? And Zen? This certainly promises to become unique.

[Joyce Carrington]

Deary me, I'd forgotten all about this '13 Deaths' idea.

What a joy it is to rediscover it. Still extremely interesting.

Clinkers, Jim, take the lead - we'll follow.

[Vodka Martino]

A small thought.

I like to see the character of Bond expanded on in fanfic. Not so much changed mind you, just give me more insight into Bond than I had before. Bond taking a shower the same way he has a million times before won’t interest me. At this point if you wrote, ‘Bond showered.’ We’d all know exactly how he did it. No need for anything more. Give me a new detail about Bond: his shoe shining routine (when a service isn’t available, of course), how Bond interacts with his tailor, how he organises his desk, that sort of thing.

James Bond slipped out of his sweat soaked, tattered clothes and, naked, crossed over to the long Cheval mirror against the wall. His face was filthy and he hadn’t shaved in two days.
His now weary grey-blue eyes fell down to the scars on his body.
There were many but the 'freshest' and most prominent were the two ugly puckered ones on the left side of his chest; dangerously positioned a few centimetres away from his heart. One was the size of an old ten Pence coin while the other beside it was slightly smaller.
Entry and exit wounds, and only seven months old...
Bond shivered as if someone, somewhere had just stepped over his grave...

Nice. Very nice.

[Mr. Blofeld]

Mr. Blofeld,

Criminey, that description is practically a story unto itself. Has an almost ACD Sherlockian feeling to it. You can see the two story idea threads (the Bouvier idea and the assassin idea) twisting together.

Thought: is there another way of hiding the corpse's id other than blowing its face off. All these crime scene shows have really beaten the face blown off/face skinned/body burned beyond recognition thing to death. The man from SMERSH must have been told to disfigure the corpse even if he wasn't in on the plan, I'm sure he could get...creative.

Sounds like you have it pretty well thought out though, you should go for it.

Thank you, but I'd like the assistance of someone who could help me with the period details; I'd also want someone to help me keep the descriptions as Fleming-esque as possible. Perhaps you could assist me?

[Trident]

This venture would be an extremely ambitious and demanding project. Effectively a mosaic, set together from pieces of which the main architects don't know the exact shape. Pieces that have to be modelled by their creators to fit into spaces the exact form of they also don't see yet.

Truckloads of work, especially for those pulling the cart along the path and holding the whole show together. If I can be of assistance let me know.

[clinkeroo]

Thank you, but I'd like the assistance of someone who could help me with the period details; I'd also want someone to help me keep the descriptions as Fleming-esque as possible. Perhaps you could assist me?

Just throw whatever bits you might need assistance on onto this thread. I know we've been talking a lot about the 13 Deaths idea lately, but Hitch's original concept for this discussion area was to give fan fiction writers a chance to discuss their ideas in a relaxed (sometimes inebriated) atmosphere with their contemporaries.

If you throw something onto this thread such as "How do you say, "Pick my boxers out of my bum" in Spanish?" Then one of us who is knowledgeable in such things could answer. What was a good seafood restaurant in the New Territories during the 1980's? We can figure that one out too. If you’re worried about a particular graph, or whole story section, sounding Fleming-ish enough, just post it here and you'll most likely get several responses.

We are the sad dysfunctional family members of Bond fan fiction, and we are more than happy to help one another.

[clinkeroo]

Truckloads of work, especially for those pulling the cart along the path and holding the whole show together. If I can be of assistance let me know.

Careful what you wish for .

JIM and I had some initial ideas about how to keep things in order, but we haven't discussed anything lately. There are some key elements of the plot that we wanted to isolate to certain chapters so that the majority of the writers could still be surprised about the ultimate outcome. We have 13 stories being told by 13 characters, all of whom die. They will all witness some element of the story, either as a bystander, or as a participant, but their own personal story will be their own, or their creator's if you like, to tell. JIM and I might tell the writer what their character is, and what they see or do to contribute to the central plot, and how they die, everything else from there will be up to the writer. Their personality, their back story, everything else they do will be up to the individual authors.

We will need some assistance, but until we have the chance to hammer things out a little more, I can't really say much. If we go with JIM's original outline, there will be surprises for everyone.

[terminus]

Sounds like an interesting project. A bit SWLM-esque in that it's a Bond story not told from Bond's POV.

[volante]

Fasinating concept.

I hope I'm lucky enough to get a part.

If not, anything I can do to assist - count me in