I went to the office today to fill out my new hire paperwork. Why wait until the last minute, right?
I met the other staff accountant (my roomie!!!), filled out that paperwork on the couch in my office, and basically had a good morning.
Seriously.
Pinch me. I can’t believe this is real.
——
I’ve been reading MASSIVE amounts of fan fic, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. I mean, what else do I have to do all day?
I’ve been writing MASSIVE amounts of fan fic, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, either.
But it surprised me when I wound up with two books about fan fic on my Kindle.
AO3 was having a ‘fundraiser’ of sorts where if you bought a copy of this non-fiction book about fan fic (Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the World, by Anne Jamison - AO3’s affiliate link), they’d get a cut of the action. I was kind of ‘eh’ about it until I saw that Atlin Merrick (whom I absolutely adore) was quoted in it. I’m struggling to read it, but I’m not sure why.
It reads (a bit) like it’s written by a Sherlock fan fic writer. There are word choices that seem to fit the Sherlock fandom very well… I don’t know if anyone else would notice, but I’ve been picking up on them. I think that’s kind of why I’m distracted. I keep looking for things that may or may not exist. And, I’m so lazy that I’m not even looking to see if she’s a Sherlockian, which is making it all very interesting.
It reads like an academic essay about the lure of fan fic and why it’s taking off, which is what it is. It delves into Star Trek slash (the ‘start’ of fan fic as we know it), and mentions the Sherlock fandom since it’s been around forever. (Remember, there was ACD canon long before Moffitt’s.) AM’s little bit was right in the beginning and she writes in the same voice she delivers her Johnlock in. I loved it.
And, sadly, that’s as far as I got. I’m just not interested in that kind of heavy writing right now.
But, while I was on the reading about fan fic train, I picked up “Fangirl” by Rainbow Rowell. That was a quick read and it was fun.
I read so many reviews where people bitched that the characters weren’t fleshed out, where the main character didn’t have anything to lose… and honestly, I guess I’ll never be a book reviewer, because I didn’t see any of that.
Maybe it’s because I read so much fan fic? Maybe because I write fan fic?
We get lazy - there’s no reason to flush out the characters because we already know who they are. If I say “Sherlock Holmes”, you don’t necessarily need to be familiar with the BBC show to know who I’m talking about (although it helps.) It’s obvious that the main character is a fangirl of the fictionalised “Harry Potter” franchise, and that she’s a relatively famous fan fic writer in that realm.
In terms of needing to be fleshed out? She’s an antisocial, socially inept, college freshman who lives in a fantasy world. (Even without the fan fic, I was very much the same girl my freshman year, so I identified with her right off the bat.) She’s not close to her twin anymore. She never really gets close to her roommate until the very end. She even struggles to get close to her potential love interest(s). She’s distanced from everyone because she’s so invested in her fan fic world and THAT’S ultimately what the book is about. So, no. I really didn’t give two shits about the people she’s surrounded with.
What does she have to lose? I think a lot more than you’d assume.
On Facebook, I’m open that I write Sherlock fan fiction, but I don’t generally say WHAT I write about.
Here, of course, there’s a little amount of anonymity, but I’m starting to share what I write because certain friends have asked for it to be here. I’m also keeping a running list of all the comments I get in an entry that gets updated every time something hits my inbox.
On AO3, I hide behind a pseudonym and an avatar of Benedict Cumberbatch.
I’m not comfortable telling people outside my circle that I ship male/male relationships, whether they’re platonic, romantic, or merely fuck buddies. For the record, I also ship male/female relationships like EverLark and Shenny, but not nearly as many. Mostly because my favourite things have strong male leads and secondary female characters.
And I’m DEFINITELY not comfortable telling people that I read m/m fan fic in a majority of kinks. (And no - not all kinks are kinky. I don’t do AUs like Wing!lock, Ballet!lock, etc., I’m never going to read mpreg, alpha/beta/omega verse stories, and forget tentacle porn… No. Just. No.)
Telling people I write M/M fan fic? I’d rather die a horrible, painful, drawn out death than tell people I what I write. Maybe it’s my age. Maybe it’s because telling people you enjoy gay relationships to the point where you obsessively write about them is a little uncomfortable?
To circle back - it’s scary telling people you write slash. An eighteen year old girl who writes slash coming out to friends in college? I’d never do it.
I get it. I get her.
I don’t need a heavy plot.
I don’t need character development on lesser characters.
The story is about the girl, her relationship with her fandom and her first year of college and how she eventually ties the two together.
The fallout from the new series 3 trailer has been intense, so cue the adorable David Tennant and a bunny.
From the Mary Morstan hate, to the Harold hate (John’s stache has it’s own name. Shut up.), to the jumping out of the cake jokes, the BBC has killed us all.
Dude. Seriously. The shit on tumblr right now has reached Hellatus levels of crazy. I am loving every minute of it… even the stuff I’m not completely cool with.
All I can say is - the entire fandom seems to believe that Sherlock spent his years after the fall watching/checking in on John whenever he could, generally via Mycroft’s CCTV access, and we WERE WRONG. We were so. fucking. wrong.
I think it’s actually kind of brilliant that he doesn’t realise* John’s moved on with his life. It seems so perfectly in character despite every thing we saw in series 2. I mean, like without John to ground him, he reverts back to series 1 Sherlock, and I think that’s great. (*Let’s save the Aspie!Sherlock conversation for later. I don’t really care either way.)
Some of the clips we’d seen before this were obviously taken out of context and seeing them placed in the narrative flow also destroyed about a thousand different head canons. The way Sherlock smiles in the restaurant? Maybe it’s because he does see John (and Harold), but I think it’s more the high after the deduction. (Hell yeah, bitch. Your wife’s going into labour. Called it. I’m back, fuckers!) Maybe I’m wrong… who knows.
I’ve watched it a zillion times already and I’ve already read half a dozen fan fics based on the trailer… I don’t know how I’m going to survive until January.
I seriously don’t.
Sherlock returns on the first and I start my new job on the second… it’s a double whammy from hell and I’m not the most patient person in the world… and I still don’t have anything to do during the days to distract myself.
and there was much screaming, flailing, and rewatching
Because I’m so excited - and someone asked for a sneak peek - here’s day 4 of the 30 Day Johnlock OTP Challenge. It’s still a draft, so be gentle.
4 - One gets sick (a 221B)
“JAWN! JAWN! Lestrade just called! They pulled another headless body out of the Battersea Power Station! We need to go before Anderson contaminates the crime scene!” When John didn’t come running, Sherlock headed up to the older man’s room.
He opened the door carefully, took one look at the feverish doctor and decided that he’d stay home. John needed him. “Sh’lock? Gimme five minutes. I’ll be right down.”
Sherlock watched as he tried to sit up. “Don’t move, John.” He was at John’s side in two quick strides, and placed his hand on John’s forehead. “You’re burning up. What should I do?”
“Hot broth and paracetamol. There’s a can of chicken broth in the cupboard where I keep the teabags. All you have to do is empty the broth into a pot and and bring it to a simmer. You should know where to find the paracetamol.” He smiled weakly.
Sherlock reached out, brushing John’s fringe off his face. “I’ll be back. You just rest.” He pressed a kiss to John’s forehead before he left the room.
This case easily rated an eight on his scale. He really wanted to be at the crime scene, but John was more important than The Work. While he waited for the broth to warm, he texted Lestrade: “John’s sick. Staying home until he’s better.”
worst incomplete sentence in the history of forever
You burned up a sun to say good-bye to her, Ten. You could have manned up and finished the damn sentence! I suppose we should take comfort in the fact that your meta-crisis regeneration, Ten!Two, was finally able to complete the sentence for Rose… Jackass.
(I’m in a mood. J finally got to see me break down and watch how I’ve managed to spend my entire unemployment crying on the couch and feeling sorry for myself instead of doing the dishes and important shit like that. Bipolar’s a bitch. I wish I could take anti-depressants to get out of the funk I’ve been almost permanently in since February, but that would just make everything worse.)
——
So… My Johnlock is finished. 54K words of horrendously ridiculous, terribly out of character, makes me want to vomit, Johnlock. I can’t figure out how to end it, so I’m going stop writing it for now. Maybe I’ll print all 200 pages and work on it in a bit. Pen and paper tend to help when I need to do serious revisions.
But the big news is, I got some really constructive feedback on PARIS! and have found someone to beta/proofread my new Cabin Pressure stuff. *happy dance*
One more chapter and ZURICH! is done. I’ve received a few comments that people want more, but… I don’t know. This Cabin Pressure fan fic was always meant to be a trilogy - first, we get Martin’s story, then Douglas’, and then finally, Marlas happens in all its fluffy goodness. There were four (and then five) chapters written in total, but I’m torn as to whether or not I add an epilogue. I could - there’s enough left in those chapters to cobble something together.
I’m not going to lie - it’ll be sad to leave this AU (Is it an AU? I don’t even know any more. Maybe?), but I think it’s time. I have plenty of other things to write about regarding Cabin Pressure, but this trilogy has come to its natural resolution… *sigh* I’m going to miss them.
In other fan fic news, I’m still cranking away on the Johnlock… 53K words or something ridiculous like that because I can’t put it down. I NEED to finish it. I’d like to finish it before NaNo ends tonight, but I don’t know if I can.
—-
I was looking into a service called “TheTelly” - it basically lets you rent a slingbox that you can dial into and watch UK channels (overly simplified description of their business model.) I have other ways to watch Sherlock without TheTelly, but I thought it might be worth a try. So I started to look into it, and then I had questions. I had a rather nice email chat with a guy named Robert and then, in my final email, I joked that I would clean their corporate office’s toilets if they would sponsor me for a tier 2 visa. Then, he tells me to call him.
Um, OK. I did, but I still had some questions, so it was legit.
It turns out he’s a British ex-pat, living in Illinois, and he wanted to know why I wanted to move so badly. Then he spent 22 minutes (I looked at the phone) trying to talk me out of moving there. The VAT, the cost of petrol, culture shock, blah blah blah.
I know my reasoning sounds stupid, and even a tad bit immature, because, well, it boils down to “I just want to move there.” There’s no real thought behind it. Just the knowledge that it’s time. And I’ve always listened to my gut when it comes to things like this. Even though Ohio didn’t work out in the long run, it was worth all the shit.
I’ve been thinking about this move for a long time, but I’ve never had the balls to do it… well, I’ve grown a pair.
After his ‘sales pitch’ to emigrate to somewhere else in Europe, I came to the sad realisation that I couldn’t afford their services and then found several things wrong with his website… Of course, being a bug finder doesn’t get me a discount on their services. *pout*
Oh well, TheTelly’s not the only one that can provide me a slingbox I can dial into. I happen to have one in Belguim I can access… (BECAUSE I HAVE AWESOME FUCKING FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!)
Silly BBC, did you really think I was going to wait to watch it in the US?
If spoilers weren’t such a huge deal, I could be patient, but shit… I was seeing Doctor Who anniversary episode spoilers SECONDS after whatever it was happened in the show. Thank Dog that was aired simultaneously across the world. Could you imagine what would have happened if we had had to wait to watch it? (Well, besides the common everyday uproar that BBC America sucks some hardcore hairy wanger.)
So, yeah, that.
——
REALLY excited about Wednesday’s job interview. I’ve got to start prepping for the it. I don’t want to let this one slip through my hands…
