BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Secret Santa Fic Exchange 2015

Yitzock · December 2, 2015 5:53 pm

Well, that Tunalock thing was fun to read. Hilarious. I realize it's one of those fandom meme things, I just never understood where it came from.
Also, I'm going to assume Sherlock and Mycroft are not related in this since they are two very different species. Still fitting for the characters, though. I just accept it as one of those fandom oddities.

Dorothy83 · December 2, 2015 10:51 pm

of course they are related. In a universe where Sherlock is a tuna, anything can happen!

Dorothy83 · December 2, 2015 11:13 pm

I've finished my fic, ready to send, but I can't figure out how to convert to BBCode. Can anybody help me? How do I convert and then test that it works? I tried to follow the tutorial but had no success. My brain isn't working right now.

nakahara · December 2, 2015 11:22 pm

Hello, Dorothy,

BBC code cannot be saved, it is only there for you so you can check if the text will look all right copied into forum.

So you just copy and paste your HTML text into the converter, click "convert" - and in this moment you should be able to copy the converted text into an open dialogue window here in the forum to see if it looks allright. I did it by pulling the text into a dialogue window of the forum.

Dorothy83 · December 3, 2015 12:28 am

Ok - what converter did you use? ThanKs!

Lilythiell · December 3, 2015 12:39 am

Check the second page of the thread, dear

Dorothy83 · December 3, 2015 12:44 am

Just did, couldn't find anything, probably because it's late and I'm tired. I'll try and have a look tomorrow but I'm quite confused.

Lilythiell · December 3, 2015 12:47 am

My bad, it was on page 1.
You've got everything here

silverblaze wrote:
Found it!

For anyone who's new: you can't just copy paste your word file (or pages or whatever you're using) onto the forum, it needs to be converted to bbcode, which is a form of shortened html. Otherwise, your formatting goes to the dogs; you'll have no line breaks, no bold and italics etcetera. Basically, it'll be unreadable. So last year, we had these converters.

This is the technical thread with a few options: http://sherlock.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=5799

This is the two step method, I used eventually, thanks to Susi:

What you do is, after you've finished writing your story (or while you're writing it) you make sure that you write all your bold, italics and underlined text with the html commands. Those commands can be found here.
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_formatting.asp

Then you can convert to html here:
http://document.online-convert.com/convert-to-html

You save the html file and now you can convert it to bbcode with this converter:
http://www.seabreezecomputers.com/html2bbcode/
Note: do NOT use the source code to paste into the converter, you need the normal text from the html file.

The bbcode cannot be saved, it's the html that you need to send to Schmiezi, however, you need to convert to bbcode in order to check whether it works on the forum. This can be done as follows:

Start a new topic, create a title, and check your text with the preview function so no one can see what you're doing.

When everything looks as it should, you can send your html file to Schmiezi so she can copy paste it into the converter without having to do any editing herself.

Dorothy83 · December 3, 2015 12:48 am

Thanks! Schmiezi, the fic is coming tomorrow!

Lilythiell · December 3, 2015 12:52 am

Anytime

dioscureantwins · December 3, 2015 8:10 am

God rest you, Dr Watson.

What a lovely fic. Of course Mycroft takes care of John. Anything to keep his little brother happy.

dioscureantwins · December 3, 2015 8:12 am

Tunalock.

Absolute perfection from first to last.John being not literally armed made me LOL.

dioscureantwins · December 3, 2015 8:34 am

A Singular Gentleman.

A wonderfully festive AU full of good humour. Lovely.

Lilythiell · December 3, 2015 9:10 am

Tunalock.

This is not my cup of tea, but I enjoyed it nonetheless -strange that Mycroft and Sherlock are not related, but why not? Them being of different species could explain why they are so different and peculiar compared to other people.

Last edited by Lilythiell (December 5, 2015 3:08 am)

mrshouse · December 3, 2015 9:54 am

A singular Gentleman

Oh, I really liked this one!
The first thing I have to spend big compliments on is the wonderful use of language, which had a considerable impact on setting me into the right mood for this Victorian and nobility settled AU.
The next thing to highlight would be the very careful yet so warm and heartfelt way the special bond between the two young men has been treated. The scene with the almost-but-in-the-end-not-kiss had a lot of (b)romantic suspense and was one of my favourites.
Wonderful use of all my favourite side-characters: Mrs. Hudson (she could never be just any servant without anything of importance to say, could she?), Molly (could somebody please marry her? I'm sure she's a good party here!) and of course the one and only Mycroft (I always have a very weak spot for him featuring. He found all the right words to handle the situation and dealt wonderfully with the delicate topic of same-sex-love).
My last kudos go to a participant that might be underestimated: the music. I could almost hear it playing. And it took a very important part in bringing the men together.
So, thank you very much, unknown author!

Last edited by mrshouse (December 3, 2015 9:56 am)

silverblaze · December 3, 2015 10:11 am

mrshouse wrote:
@Silver, tunalock is a "thing" in a couple of johnlock fanfics. You can imagine where it goes from here.....

I don't think I can, and believe me, I'm trying. Something to do with spawning? Just when I thought this fandom couldn't surprise me anymore. Anyway, what a peculiar meme. Does anyone here know why it has to be a tuna?

Or is this what happens when a ship sinks?

A Singular Gentleman
What a beautifully written fic! I'm always so impressed when an author takes some relatively mundane events: a horse ride, a party, and manages to infuse it with drama and beauty. I just loved the fact that it was Victorian. We're really transported into the world of Victorian upper classes. This must have taken quite a bit of research; the culture really feels as if it was from that time, including the dialogues. I also really loved the descriptions of the violin play. I mean, how does one describe the sounds of music? It's so hard to do IMO.

I always have a soft spot for Mycroft and I loved this version of him. The cold and ambitious politician who just weaves his ways through elegant parties with important figures. And then we see a piece of his humanity when he lets Holmes and Watson off the hook. Very well balanced.

What a great diversity in fics, already so early. A little h/c, tunalock and now Victorian.

nakahara · December 3, 2015 1:10 pm

A Singular Gentleman

A story as pleasant, warm-hearting and harmonious as a soothing caress. It marvellously transported me back into Victorian times with their stiff social hierarchy and pervasive formality, because every dialogue and description of mores valid in those times was very vivid and precise, as if we were looking into a real noble manor through some magical window into the past. Despite the strickt manners, I loved it how every character had a rich inner life and pasion lurking underneath the surface, the author was really skillful in insinuating more, an ocean of meaning, with a few simple gestures and words her heroes made. A depiction of young budding love between teenage Sherlock and John was sweet beyond words and very convincing and almost brought tears into my eyes.I was even surprised that I was not bothered by the fact how every other character tried to teach Sherlock something, finding him lacking in so many things - the trope I usually hate. Probably, because it was used very tastefully and with restraint here and this added to a very life-like psychology for Sherlock´s character.

A wonderful gem shining in a snowy Christmas night, adorned with a hautingly beautiful violin music.

nakahara · December 3, 2015 8:58 pm

Reread the story again and it emits even more tenderness than the first time around. Teenage-victorian form really suits Sherlock.

Last edited by nakahara (December 3, 2015 9:10 pm)

SusiGo · December 3, 2015 9:12 pm

A Singular Gentleman

Dear author,
thank you for this lovely fic. I love convincing period Johnlock fics so this is just my cup of tea. It is not easy to recreate this sort of style so special kudos for it. As already mentioned, the love story is tender and a bit shy and told in heartwarming way. And it as a very likable yet in character Mycroft.

My personal favourite passage is this:

“Indeed it will not, my dear Holmes. You and I will continue, as we have until now, in all respectability, as companions or friends –“
“-and nothing more,” finished Holmes, wrecked.
“-‘in the eyes of the world’ is how my sentence was supposed to end,” Watson snapped.

Thank you very much for a lovely reading experience.

Yitzock · December 4, 2015 1:27 am

Well, it took me all day to read it between studying, but I finally finished A Singular Gentleman and I am here with my thoughts.

This was an interesting AU, it was like a Sherlock/Downton Abbey crossover.

mrshouse wrote:
My last kudos go to a participant that might be underestimated: the music. I could almost hear it playing.

I had the same experience. The writing helped me to imagine the music. I don't think I was hearing any particular tune I could hear before, but I could still hear the music in my head as I read that passage.