BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Marvellous Midyear Fic Exchange 2016

ukaunz · July 18, 2016 3:51 am

I have set up an AO3 collection for this exchange, as well as a parent collection for all the forum fic exchanges. Please don't add your fics to it until the author reveal this Sunday. You will be given instructions on how to do it then.

Thanks

Schmiezi · July 18, 2016 4:51 am

ukaunz wrote:
I have set up an AO3 collection for this exchange, as well as a parent collection for all the forum fic exchanges. Please don't add your fics to it until the author reveal this Sunday. You will be given instructions on how to do it then.

Thanks

Great! I'll add the Christmas exchange collections to the parent collection soon!

SusiGo · July 18, 2016 7:20 am

Two Holmes Are Better Than One

What an entertaining story, dear unknown author! This is definitely something I would like to see. Confronting two Holmeses and two Watsons and two Moriartys with time travel is hilarious and I would love to read a sequel. Nice touch with "Mark Moffat".

Kudos for the "ejaculations" and the WHOOSHING and the funny little moments when the heroes are confronted with the peculiarities of their respective eras.

My fav piece of dialogue is definitely this:
Come!” cried Holmes. “The game is afoot!”

“On,” corrected Sherlock.

“Afoot,” frowned Holmes as they walked out the door together.

“Nobody says afoot anymore. You’re simply drawing attention to yourself.”

“Nobody says ‘the game is on’ either, Sherlock,” John rolled his eyes and followed after them both with Watson. “Loser.”

SusiGo · July 18, 2016 7:43 am

kgreen20 wrote:
Yes, please!

Oh, and one more thing:

kgreen20 wrote:
Thank you so much, whoever wrote "Two Holmses Are Better Than One"! I enjoyed reading it. I look forward to the days when it will be posted on Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own (I assume that you have an account on at least one of those sites).

I realize that you were under a deadline, and that for that reason, you had to do a lot of streamlining while you were writing that story. But now that it's finished and posted, and now that the date on which all of the authors' names will be announced is approaching, I should really like to see it fleshed out, if you're willing and if you have time. For example, I would so love to see actual scenes of the modern-day Sherlock and John meeting the Victorian Mrs. Hudson, the Victorian Inspector Lestrade (and maybe Inspector Gregson, while you're at it), and the Victorian Mycroft, as well as more scenes in which the Victorian Holmes and Watson meet the modern-day Mrs. Hudson and the modern-day Detective Inspector Gregory Lestrade (and maybe Donovan and Anderson, while you're at it--I dare Sergeant Donovan to call the Victorian Holmes "Freak"! <evil grin>). And I would also love to see how the Victorian Holmes and Watson react when they meet the modern-day Mrs. Hudson, and her reaction toward them; likewise, I'd love to see Mycroft's reaction when he first meets the Victorian counterparts of his younger brother and Sherlock's flatmate. And how about some dialogue when the 2 Dr. Watsons are sharing their war experiences? (Scenes as opposed to narrative summaries will be needed for those suggestions.)

Again, great story! I love it! Thanks again.
One more suggestion I forgot to add to the above reply. As we all know, both Dr. Watsons are writers. The Victorian Dr. Watson wrote accounts of Holmes's cases for The Strand, and some of his longer stories were made into book form. The modern-day John writes accounts of Sherlock's cases for his blog. Surely, the 2 Dr. Watsons would want to share their accounts with each other, and with the 2 Sherlock Holmeses. The Victorian Dr. Watson would want to share, at the very least, A Study in Pink (and maybe some of his other stories as well) with the other John and with the modern-day Sherlock, and John would want to share his blog with the Victorian Holmes and Watson. What do you think?

This is the first time I am commenting on a comment. And this is not a mod's note but my own personal opinion.

I am shocked. Someone has invested a lot of time and imagination to write you this fic, kgreen. All your wishes have been fulfilled. The comments are the only gratification the authors get. And if I look at your comment I see about 90% of further wishes, suggestions, proposals what could be added and what could have been included. I am trying to find words for this but I am frankly baffled. The only positive things you have to say is that you enjoyed reading it and that it is a great story and that you love it. You do not mention a single scene you liked, not a single sentence that made you laugh. Asking more after getting so much is a bit not good, if you ask me.

Last edited by SusiGo (July 18, 2016 7:44 am)

Schmiezi · July 18, 2016 8:06 am

Two Holmes Are Better Than One

Dear unknown author,

I am not finished reading your wonderful fic but I feel like you need some positive feedback asap. :-)

Your fic does by no means feel like you wrote it under pressure or like you need to add scenes. It is perfect the way it is. You as the author chose which scenes to describe in detail, where to add dialogue and which scenes to leave out, and you did a great job doing so.

Thumps up for all the ejaculations and fainting Watson. ;-)

You manage to give both Watsons different voices. I love how you used different writing styles to do so.

Well done!!!

ukaunz · July 18, 2016 9:52 am

Kgreen, I would have to agree with Susi's comment above. Your response to the fic that was written especially for you – for free – doesn't come across as particularly grateful. Asking for "more" is one way to indicate that you enjoyed the story, but could also sound like you weren't satisfied. You seem more concerned with what was left out than all the wonderful things that were put into the fic. This is not really the time for unrequested "constructive criticism." (Although the author might appreciate your constructive feedback, at this point they haven't asked for it.) I know it can be hard to think of things to write in a comment/review; perhaps you could point out specific aspects of the story that you liked, rather than listing all the things you wish were included? Don't forget, it's pretty rare that anyone gets paid to write fanfic, the authors do it because they enjoy writing and positive feedback is a nice bonus

kgreen20 · July 18, 2016 2:35 pm

Well, since my review, such as it was, made everybody angry, I have deleted it. Unfortunately, that meant deleting the praise along with the request. Hopefully, the author had a chance to read it before I removed it just now.

Schmiezi · July 18, 2016 2:42 pm

kgreen20 wrote:
Well, since my review, such as it was, made everybody angry, I have deleted it. Unfortunately, that meant deleting the praise along with the request. Hopefully, the author had a chance to read it before I removed it just now.

Well, Susi summed up all your praise in her post. So don't worry about that. :-p

kgreen20 · July 18, 2016 2:46 pm

Well, Susi may as well delete her post, too, since I have deleted mine.

At any rate, the story was well done, and I liked it.

SusiGo · July 18, 2016 3:28 pm

I think the best solution would be to write a new comment.

nakahara · July 19, 2016 11:52 am

Two Holmes Are Better Than One

Hmmm, words can´t convey how I enjoyed this story. I love both BBC Sherlock and Granada Holmes very much and so a story depicting their meeting through the means of time-travel was an absolute joy for me. It was also so well-written and structured that I couldn´t stop reading until I was finished with the whole work. The very first scene of Sherlock and John discussing time-travel pulled me into wonderful Sherlock´s world and didn´t let me go until the fight with the two Moriartys was over at the end. Wonderful imagination and lots of humour were a big asset too and made this story into an admirable gem.

I adored many of clever references to both Holmes universes that were hidden into the story:

Mark Moffat! Hilarious!
Watson´s fainting upon the first glimpse of the visitors from another universe. LOL!
Watson´s narration in the Strand-style. Very strong ACD feel there.
Sherlock and Holmes smoking obssessively and giving each other advice where to buy best drugs. So funny!
John´s and Watson´s exasperation of them and their gradual fraternising.
Sherlock and Holmes bickering over the word „game“, not noticing that they are speaking about two different things (game as a playful activity/game as an animal being hunted).
two Moriartys quarrelling. Best scene ever. BBC Jim was so crazy and so vain here and yet absolutely IC with his character from the show.

I also liked the sci-fi segment of your story, dear unknown author. The mysterious time-travelling ball, the moments when Sherlock and John first entered Victorian London and were overwhelmed with the smells and sights, similarily the entrance of Holmes and Watson into our overly noisy, electrified era... those were very strong scenes and carried a wonderful sense of enchantment and elation over the unknown... and they were nicely ballanced with the humorous domestic segments into a wonderful and coherent whole.

I love the fact that your story was the last one in this exchange. It was like having the most delicious dessert after the already perfect meal. Very beautiful work there. I really wouldn´t mind a sequel to this and read something more from the shenanigans of our two lovely Holmeses, because they are really better than one, I give you that!

SusiGo · July 19, 2016 11:55 am

Ukaunz, can we please give an extra award to nakahara for writing the most beautiful comments? (Mine made my cry).

Last edited by SusiGo (July 19, 2016 11:56 am)

Lilythiell · July 19, 2016 11:58 am

Seconded!

nakahara · July 19, 2016 12:01 pm

Schmiezi · July 19, 2016 12:14 pm

Thirded. ;-)

Vhanja · July 19, 2016 3:12 pm

Fourthed. I was amazed by nakahara's gracious review of my story.

ukaunz · July 19, 2016 9:16 pm

I was just thinking of something along the same lines before I saw the rest of the comments

I certainly concur that the award for the most beautifully articulated reviews should go to nakahara.

But thank you to everyone who read and reviewed not just their own, but other stories too

(I know some people are away on holidays at the moment and intend to come back and read more!)

Last edited by ukaunz (July 19, 2016 9:18 pm)

SusiGo · July 19, 2016 9:34 pm

Yes, I am happy for all the generous comments on the fics, too. The exchange has been a lot of fun. But nakahara deserved a special mention IMO.

nakahara · July 20, 2016 10:41 am

Thank you for the little "award".
It was a pleasure to read and comment on all the lovely fic that were posted in this exchange, so writing comments and praising the authors was very enjoyable for me.
All the authors deserve big kudos for their efforts and their talent!

dioscureantwins · July 21, 2016 4:33 pm

A Case Of Identity, or: Life is a Masquerade

Hello dear author,

I actually feel quite some trepidation at commenting on your story as the subject is one I tend to avoid when reading fanfic. I had big problems with S3 and on the whole I've rather big problems with S3 fix-it fics as well. So, reading Schmiezi's request I'm very glad ukaunz didn't assign it to me for I wouldn't have been able to come up with such a nice and proper story as you did. Your Sherlock characterisation is spot on and I love Mycroft in this. Of course he has to give the big brother threatening speech. He is, after all, Sherlock's big brother.

Very nicely done.

Last edited by dioscureantwins (July 21, 2016 4:35 pm)