brainofck

Husband took a peek at The Empty Hearse and was annoyed. He feels like it was all "nudge nudge wink wink" and inside jokes and meta. He said, "There wasn't a single part of it that wasn't fanservice of some kind." Which he found especially irritating because it's only the seventh episode of the show. (I think he only watched the first 20 minutes or so.) "It's 'The French Mistake' except instead of having 10 seasons they have 7 episodes." (That's not a spoiler. It's not The French Mistake. He was just complaining it was too meta.)

Interestingly, Husband has never been a big fan of Sherlock. He thinks the stories are too implausible. (And no, we won't say, "Oh, like ACD's stories weren't.") Basically, his feeling is they do "a few interesting things with the characters" but mostly it's not that great. Also, at least initially, he was very unhappy that Sherlock was being portrayed as a sociopath, since in ACD SH is more of an eccentric gentleman, outside of the drug use and depression.

Anyway, after he said that, my first thought was, duh, that's because the whole SHOW is fanfiction. The ACD stories, to the extent they were about Holmes, were actually ABOUT the cases. The evidence, Holmes' deductions, maybe his disguises. Certainly, it was about how awesome Holmes was for his near magical ability to comprehend tiny clues. But Sherlock might as well be called Sherlock and John are Friends. They do fun stuff together, running around solving crimes, and yes, Sherlock is still a genius. But this is the (modernized) flip of ACD. In ACD they were clearly friends and fond of each other, but that was secondary. In Sherlock, they solve crimes, obviously, but that's background to their relationship.

Regarding slash, I've always said, that's what fanfiction is for. Well. Go Mark Gatiss, you got your pre-slash fanfiction made into an awesome show!

Should I write Blade-Constantine-Hellboy fic? Mix in a little Hansel and Gretel...

BBCOne put out an original dramas trailer (link goes to youtube) this morning.

It has the TINIEST bit of Sherlock in it. Tumblr EXPLODED. Dear Lord, the poor deprived Sherlockians.

On the other hand, the tiny bit they did give, was absolute gold. If they don't want us to think John and Sherlock are a couple, then they need to find some other way for Sherlock to express his feelings of friendship for John, because JHC. I don't ship my ships as part of the show. Slash (and het ships) belong in fanfic, and I kind of get annoyed when people project them onto the actual scripts. But dear LORD...

Just. Considering how aware they are on that show of the relationship since the very beginning. If nothing else, some writer is trolling MF and BC. :D Like, she rubbed her hands together over the keyboard and went "Ehehehehe" before she started typing...

Uisgich: Okay, so I'm a little confused ...is that a bad thing?
CK: :D No.
CK:Mostly thinking about BC's interview after Top Gear.
CK:And some great comments I saw about his feelings about fandom's tendency to turn all deep, meaningful relationships into sex.
CK:(There were other great comments about how actors should not get caught up in fandom, but that was different.)
CK: Anyway, someone said, look, these actors work really hard together, as a team, to create this on screen relationship. They put a lot of work into it. So it is understandable that they might get annoyed when people view it through the lens of a sexual relationship.
Which is why I see the writer with her evil laugh...
CK: I totally see how that could get to you, as a performer. On the other hand, I tend to agree with the other person who said, look, fandom is for fans, and people who aren't part of it should just ignore it - including people like EVERY TALK SHOW HOST THAT TRIES TO EMBARRASS ACTORS WITH FAN ART. I'm looking in your direction, Graham Norton. I mean, it's great when actors are into it, like the Supernatural cast, but that doesn't mean that every person involved in a show is going to want or need to be part of fandom.
Uisgich: That's true. And I agree that GN should keep his nose out of fandom. But is has to go the other way. SPN is really fandom friendly, but there are an increasing number of incidents where Dean/Cas fans bring that relationship up at cons. Jensen refuses to engage, where as Misha seems to encourage it. Very muddy waters!!
I like the image of the Sherlock writer gleefully rubbing her hands and cackling, though :)
CK: She's like, "I'll make BENEDICT say it! BWAHAHAHA!"
Uisgich: =snickers=
CK: Did you see what Simon Pegg did? Via Twitter? With The World's End wrap gift to MF? THAT was funny. Simon Pegg is a very bad man.
Uisgich: Nooooo ...
me: http://gazeofbrainofck.tumblr.com/post/59728599430/amygloriouspond-little-martin-gets-his-wrap
Uisgich: Yes, he's a very bad man!!
CK: I think AA eats it up. She probably ships it. Sherlock and John, Martin and Simon. :D


I was just thinking, though. I suppose I'm going to have to find way to stream Sherlock in real time, because I will want to cackle at tumblr's antics, and I don't want to be spoiled. Gah. I was planning to just be cool about it, and I haven't really cared about seeing a show in real time in AGES. Suddenly, I have so much empathy for British consumers of American shows!

I finished the first big chunk of the Khan thing, then hated it, then stopped for a month. Finally got restarted this week on the second section, when I figured out that the best way to deal with the thing I couldn't get past was just not to write that. Bam. Out of there! Moving on.

This week I really got rolling. I have looked up hand anatomy, made John braid a little girl's hair, researched British infantry rifles (also uniforms) and NATO ammunition, and when John found out Sherlock had been shot four times, he kicked out their dinner guests and ripped off his (Sherlock's!) clothes.

My Brain. Let me show you it.

ETA: Rereading what I wrote yesterday. Sherlock just tells John about getting shot. I like not showing Sherlock's training to the reader, just letting the augmented humans reappear suddenly after a long absence. But in my head there's interesting stuff going on when Singh starts shooting people, and I'd like to have that in the story. I had an alternate POV in the previous section, provided by an OC, another augmented human who would have been part of the training. I could use her again and it would fit.

Maybe write it and decide where I want to put it. Maybe I could put it out of chronological order somewhere.

I paused for thought and was staring vacantly into space thinking when my eyes landed on the 8000 this morning.

Also, I realized I was at the logical ending of a Part 1 or Chapter 1 or whatever. So I test posted it. I'll read it from the screen and see what I think.

I did smooth over the biggest problem with this first part this morning. It had been bugging me since I wrote it. It clunked and didn't have a good context. I think all fixed now. I'll see how it feels when I read it.

CK: Meanwhile, this morning I was writing from the POV of my original character - I am avoiding Sherlock's POV for the moment, so I need someone else who can be around Sherlock when John is not.
CK: The POV character is the psychic. This morning I was writing about the procedure, and the psychic woman was freaking out, and so was Sherlock, and at the very end he was trying to help her calm down, and I totally accidentally wrote this: "They would be better. Better than Singh. She reached out to the fading consciousness of Sherlock Holmes then drifted into darkness."
zats_clear: oh wow
CK: I facepalmed so hard when I realized it I nearly broke my glasses.
zats_clear: ahahhahahahaha
zats_clear: roflmao!
CK: IT WAS ACCIDENTAL!!!!!
zats_clear: subconscious
CK: Well, she didn't follow him into shower, so...
CK: :D
CK: Which, now that I think about it, was actually possible with what I wrote this morning. THAT is makign me laugh out loud right now.
CK: Because when they come to take Sherlock away, he's trying to make John laugh, so he refuses to put on any clothes and swans off in a sheet. And the doctor is really mad at him because he shows up all...
CK: post-coital...
zats_clear: *cries*
CK: as it were, having not showered, and the doctor's all like TAKE A SHOWER DAMMIT!
CK: OMG LOL IRL!
zats_clear: your subconscious is a dangerous place
CK: I guess so.
CK: Also, yesterday, I was thinking about fic on the way home and forgot how to park my car.
CK: Luckily, no bad result except Husband swore because SUDDEN STOP.
CK: Oops.

For amise, in case she finds them helpful.

Basically, I pulled up the Sherlock Homes/John Watson tag on AO3, then ordered it by Kudos, then started reading, skipping things that didn't sound like my taste. Link to kudos list on AO3 here.

However, the best of this very good lot, in my opinion, roughly in order of how much I liked them, though I'm bad at ranking things and big chunks of them are probably tied with each other.

Amenable - classic angst + porn + happy ending, Holmes/Watson style.

The Real Meaning of Idioms - a very sweet texting romance where John gets hit by the clue bus.

Two Coffees, One Black, One with Sugar, Please - Sherlock convinces John to do a sleep study with him. End result, John and Sherlock end up sleeping together. Sleeping. That's it. John's realization that he's accidentally become Sherlock's boyfriend is a thing of beauty.

Indecorous - This is actually a threesome with Mary Morstan, in which Sherlock is in love with John, and extremely interested in his sex life with Mary, but also asexual. How they work these two (three?) relationships together. I love this one, can't believe I left it off my first draft.

Let me Kiss You (So Sweet and So Soft) - Sherlock just starts kissing John and John can't figure out what the hell is going on. I love this one.

and stand there at the edge of my affection - Sherlock asks John to help him write a love letter. Short and adorable.

Shadows on the Wall - John is psychic, and living with Sherlock is quite difficult for a lot of reasons.

DNA - This might be my favorite SH/JW story, except for the unbelievability of the premise. Everything else about it is perfect, including Sherlock's reaction when they finally get together.

Lab Book - Sherlock seduces John. He's been studying how.

A Finger Slip - John and Sherlock "meet" when John is studying for his A-levels and he dials a wrong number when texting Molly. This is mostly friendship, with a growing overtone of romance. Cute, suitable even for The Barbarian, if I edit some of the cursing. Told entirely in dialogue. And I will spontaneously laugh about the Beyonce thing for no reason just… "John? What does this mean?!" :D This is WIP, on chapter 21, but I would say you could go ahead and read it. It's not stopped in a terribly cliff-hangery spot or anything.

Just a Kiss - I like this one especially for the second kiss. HE DELETED IT! *snickers*

What to Do When Your Flatmate is Homocidal - Fantastic Sherlock voice in this. And JOHN is the homicidal one. Hilarious, but it goes on and on and there are places where it begs believability, but it is *supposed* to be ridiculous, so sometimes maybe our senses of humor clash. It is WIP, but most of the chapters are really stand-alones, especially as you get deeper in, so I doubt that you'll get to chapter 30 and feel like you are in the middle of a story that got left behind.

And Hell Followed With Them - I found this independent of the kudos list. I put it here because I liked it, despite its many obvious flaws. Zombie apocalypse fic. John Watson WALKS BACK FROM AFGHANISTAN (apparently the Chunnel was a real bitch, what with the zombies), with Commander James Bond, a tech specialist (read Q), and John Porter. They meet up with Sherlock Holmes, an agent of the last remnants of the British government who is trying to root out a slave trader – Moriarity. This is most definitely WIP, and I await future chapters with baited breath.

Two Two One Bravo Baker - I rec'd this recently in its own post. Mycroft sends Sherlock to Afghanistan to investigate a particularly horrible atrocity of war. Capt. John Watson becomes Sherlock's liaison and his unit is Sherlock's escort in country. Abundantyqueer is a great writer, with her own special quirks, but I definitely rec this story. Biggest problem with it, in my mind - there is LOTS OF HOT SEX, and the pillow talk is UTTER FAIL. I love her take on John's military service - she has a whole separate two-part essay on AO3 explaining and justifying her decision to not make him a doctor, but a soldier.

Evidence of Human Life - John goes overboard, Sherlock follows him, they make it to an island, where Sherlock proceeds to go insane with boredom. Unique premise, interesting execution, believable behavior by both John and Sherlock.

Ones I don't know how to rank, because I read them so long ago:

Off on the Wrong Foot - Stamford hooks John up with an apprenticeship with Molly Hooper, rather than a flatshare with Sherlock Holmes. They get in a fistfight over a body in the morgue, Sherlock steals John's wallet, and it is ON.

Left - a story where everyone has a special ability except left-handed people. I remember liking this but not much more about it.

The Whore of Babylon was a Perfectly Nice Girl - I remember liking this one, but not a lot about it. The flipped version of BBC Sherlock. He's NOT a virgin. Definitely not.

The two I'm not sure how to rank, because I don't usually do sick-fic, and have very mixed emotions about it:

Synthesis - Sherlock receives a serious head injury and almost completely loses the ability to communicate. I liked this story a lot, because it has not-only the hurt-comfort component, but the characters are both still clearly there, working through the problems of Sherlock's new handicap together, and there's actually a decent case in the background of the recovery story. I also loved the way the writer chose to end it.

Electric Pink Hand Grenade - Sherlock has unusual, stunningly severe migraines. I liked parts of this. I suspect it is so highly ranked on AO3 more because it is a migraine story than because of the quality of it. I don't know. But I did like it.

Let's Make a Bed Out in the Rain

I passed on this many times, despite its large number of kudos, because of the stupid name.

Charming Sherlock POV. I liked it a lot.

Just cracked 4800 words this morning.

It's been so long since I posted anything, I'm tempted to post in chapters. On the other hand, I have started to be very annoyed by people who post in chapters. I don't now. It's a me thing. Looks like an attempt to manipulate stats on AO3, is why. Plus, I've gotten well out of the habit of posting WIP, because I'd rather not have a mishap when something doesn't get finished FOREVER.

Meanwhile, I've been encouraged to "buck up and finish" the Sharpe/Aragorn Project.

Am I that much between fandoms that I might actually tackle that next?

It's a strange time in Brain...

Look! I found an icon. A good one for almost-Khan Sherlock, too. Though if anyone notices Khan/Sherlock icons in their journeys around the internet and you want to point me in that direction...

The last fiction I posted was in October, prompted by Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day. I had the frantic attempt to reach 50k during NaNo back in November. And I have not written anything since November 30, 2012.

It's been a long, gloomy winter. My mood has been very poor, but I've been reading like a maniac. I exhausted Cap/Iron Man, moved on to 007/Q, and then got sucked into Sherlock via the wonderful and tempting trope of Q and Sherlock being brothers. For personal fannish reasons I was inclined to resist Sherlock/John, but I caved pretty spectacularly once I got started.

This spring, Brain slowly started thinking to itself again, but nothing remotely writable. Entertaining to me, however, but also weird that the restart of Brain made it so clear that everything had shut down over the winter.

Then, on Monday: there's Benedict Cumberbatch, being all evil in Star Trek, and Brian was like, "Of course he's going to do those horrible, crazy things, John's part of his frozen crew."

On Tuesday and Wednesday: I prod Wikipedia for Khan's back story,* then spend 48 hours trying to figure out how Sherlock Holmes would become the benign dictator of Asia and the Middle East. Not to mention a war criminal. (I can hear Sherlock now. "BORED!" It's much more Mycroft's thing, assuming he would ever bother to do his own legwork.) But I complained to Zats that although I could easily make Sherlock a super-soldier, and I could with a little work make him a war criminal and dictator, I couldn't get John and Sherlock to talk to each other in my head.

This morning: I woke up and knew exactly what to do. I popped open my template document, fixed it for Sherlock instead of Stargate, and wrote 500 words like breathing. John and Sherlock are chattering away, like Jack and Daniel used to do. I could have kept going, except that I have other things to do today.

I predict 5000 words by the end of the weekend. The last three days have been so wonderful. I didn't realize how much I missed that why-am-I-working-not-writing feeling.

So, I have questions.

1. Was I depressed because I wasn't writing or not writing because I was depressed? Seems like a VERY LONG SAD this year, if it was SAD. Actually, I should go back and check. Did SAD reach into May last year, too?

2. Was I not writing because I was depressed, or was I not writing because I was between fandoms? Stargate is long, but I started writing it after immersion, and with immersion, the Stargate cannon is manageable. Bond ought to be the same - but I had trouble writing mission-fic, how the hell was I going to write a plausible Bond story? Avengers fandom is huge, but why not launch from MCU? Lots of other people didn't hesitate. Sherlock is just beyond my reach. I'm like Lestrade. Completely amazed by Sherlock, but a complete idiot at deduction and how it works. Then, Trek? Really? I admit that I am not really a fan of Trek. I've watched masses of it - every episode of TOS when I was a kid (though not as an adult), and most of DS9, Voyager, Next Generation. I actually adore Enterprise. I've seen most of the movies, too. I remember about 10% of it and have been mostly MEH about the whole thing, with the exception of Enterprise and the fourth movie, with the whales and the transparent aluminum. A reboot? Really? I can't understand why people are so shocked at "recycled" Star Trek plots. What do they expect from a reboot? Anyway, so I was between fandoms, but Brain, why would a Trek crossover suddenly be the magical fandom solution?

Brain. I will never understand you, you ridiculous sack of chemicals. I just hope you are more sane when you come out the other side of menopause, is all I'm saying.

*Dear Lord, please at least give them some credit for just ignoring the name rather than trying to make BC do the role in blackface. Just appalling. Why would they write a script like that deliberately THEN go get an actor and do the makeup like that?!