BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Secret Santa Fic Exchange 2014

La Jolie · December 19, 2014 5:51 pm

Well, eight out of thirteen participants in this year's Secret Santa are, apparently. I'm not sure whether the same ratio applies to the rest of the forum, but it is remarkable, I think.

SusiGo · December 19, 2014 5:55 pm

The ratio surely does not apply to the overall number of members, but among the active members there are indeed quite a lot of Germans. Probably we are seeking asylum here because in Germany Sherlock - and Benedict - still are not as popular as they deserve.

La Jolie · December 19, 2014 9:44 pm

I agree - of course there's a reason why we congregate here.

But I do get the feeling that the number of German members on this board is far greater than that of, say, French or Spanish members (and out of proportion to the overall sizes of the respective populations). Are we a nation of Anglophiles?

Last edited by La Jolie (December 19, 2014 9:46 pm)

silverblaze · December 20, 2014 8:21 pm

Northern European countries tend to be a bit more Anglophilic than southern ones.

SusiGo · December 21, 2014 11:08 am

Play it again, Sherlock

What a lovely fic on a grey December day. Not fluffy - I am not so much into fluff - but very romantic. Convincing scenario because even with Mary out of the way there are still hurdles to cross for both of them. My favourite part was the one about the chair and the coat hook. Lovely symbolism here. Thank you, unknown author, for giving me a warm feeling today.
P.S. Nice nod to Casablanca, btw.

silverblaze · December 21, 2014 12:53 pm

SusiGo wrote:
[...], but among the active members there are indeed quite a lot of Germans.

Maybe that's why the stories are taken so seriously here. No, I'll stop teasing.

Play it again, Sherlock
Another beautiful fic. I loved the clear prose style and the subtlety of the storytelling. What they feel is not spelled out, but implied to be under the surface, I really loved that about it. Sherlock's discomfort is done really well, it's easy to imagine him being like that. I also liked the fact that Sherlock simply continues the conversation once they are out of the cab, and finishes John's sentences in his head. The piece with the sheet music and the violin was just beautiful.

La Jolie · December 21, 2014 2:28 pm

Tease away, Silverblaze. I think we can all do with from time to time!

Play it again, Sherlock

Love it!
I'm SUCH a sucker for Musical Sherlock, and this was so well done. Sherlock would totally, totally resort to music rather than words to express his feelings. I love how John sits there with the score in his hands and tries to figure out what the piece will sound like, but how he has absolutely no chance of knowing until Sherlock himself plays it to him. It's both a great scene in itself and such a wonderful metaphor for their relationship, and especially for Sherlock always being so (literally, here) hard to read until his actions start speaking for themselves.

I love how this isn't fluffy but still very intense and very romantic. The two of them standing there in the rain, oh boy. THAT'S what their relationship is about, for me. It's not about cuddling. It's about letting yourself get wet because other things matter more. I'd like to see that take on the two of them together continued!

Btw, I'm not sure I should do it, but I enjoy guessing who wrote what, and while most of the stories so far have left me baffled as to the authorship, I'm fairly sure I recognise the clear, unadorned prose and the subtle way of putting things (as - justly - praised by Silverblaze) in this one. So if I'm right, well done yet again, anonymous author!

Last edited by La Jolie (December 21, 2014 2:30 pm)

silverblaze · December 21, 2014 3:08 pm

Yes, we're almost at the end, may we have a few guesses? I think I recognised the style of the first fic, the other ones are a lot harder for me, but it's fun to guess anyway.

Schmiezi · December 21, 2014 3:26 pm

You can guess right away, I'd say.

One little information for you: my winter holidays have started. That means that the last few fics will definitely NOT be posted at 6 in the morning.

La Jolie · December 21, 2014 3:46 pm

Schmiezi wrote:
You can guess right away, I'd say.

Oh, let's please NOT start guessing aloud until we've read them all, shall we? It's always a mistake to theorise before you've got ALL the data.

Schmiezi - I think six thirty or even seven will do just as well.

silverblaze · December 21, 2014 5:02 pm

La Jolie wrote:
Oh, let's please NOT start guessing aloud until we've read them all, shall we? It's always a mistake to theorise before you've got ALL the data.

But that's only true if you want to be absolutely correct. I just want to have some fun. And I don't want to guess every story because then I'll be giving myself away. Most stories I really don't have a clue, btw, I'm just surprised at how good some of them are.

stoertebeker · December 21, 2014 5:52 pm

I've been finally able to catch up with the stories...

How Sherlock Holmes met Greg Lestrade
As Greg Lestrade is one of my favorite side-characters, I very much like stories about the time when he and Sherlock got to know each other. There are so many scenes in all three series where you can see the special relationship between those two men.
I like the idea, that Sherlock quitted his drug habbit in favour for solving crimes for NSY. I was especially impressed about the deductions in this story, as these are always so hard to write. It all sounded very plausible. Kudos!

All they needed
A Johnlock story were the fireplace in 221b plays an important part? Oh yes, there were instantly some fantasy in my mind Thank you unkown author, this was a wonderful story (although Mary is once again the baddie). There was a lot of humour in the story that I liked, e.g. Sherlock's list ("wife has not killed someone recently") and the appearence of Mrs. Hudson was priceless!! I actually liked Mycroft as a matchmaker, maybe a new career path when the spy-business isn't fulfilling any more?

BILLY, PSYCHOPATHS AND STUPID IDIOTS
I liked Bill Wiggins in HLV and he had a great appearance in this story. Maybe he should take other courses in the council though . Again, very much wonderful humour in this story! I liked the idea of the second chapter as a quick summary of what had happened to Mary, very clever.

Play it again, Sherlock
That was so sweet and romantic! I liked the idea that John would need a lot of time to get over the events that happened and that Mary's disappearance (nice idea to just left that part in the open) reopened old sores for John. The picture of the abandoned coat hook, chair and John was indeed beautiful, just as Sherlock expressing his feelings through music

We do have a lot of Johnlock stories this year, don't we? Regarding the guessing who wrote which story: I'm afraid, I am not familiar enough with the different styles of writing to recognize them. I did wonder though, is it recognizable for a native speaker if the author of a story is a native or a foreign speaker? Because of the style of writing, the wording or something?

Last edited by stoertebeker (December 21, 2014 5:54 pm)

silverblaze · December 21, 2014 7:07 pm

stoertebeker wrote:
Regarding the guessing who wrote which story: I'm afraid, I am not familiar enough with the different styles of writing to recognize them. I did wonder though, is it recognizable for a native speaker if the author of a story is a native or a foreign speaker? Because of the style of writing, the wording or something?

Language mistakes that are inappropriate for the general language ability are a dead givaway that this person is either a nonnative speaker or dyslexic, (but dyslexic people make very specific types of mistakes). When a native speaker makes mistakes, the pattern is different, they might write words phonetically or use slang or shortened grammar. Usually, when native speakers make language mistakes, the general quality of their text is really poor as well, with poor interpunction or allcaps etcetera.
A non-native speaker might, for example, change subject and object, something a native speaker would never do, or say 'when' when they mean 'if', or use a wrong verb tense or declination, or use words with the wrong connotations (see the penis discussion in the other thread). When they're poor at English, or language in general, they will mess up the word order in a sentence, another thing a native speaker wouldn't do.

We don't have much native speakers this year, do we? We have the Boss, anyone else who's a native speaker?

stoertebeker · December 21, 2014 8:26 pm

silverblaze wrote:
We don't have much native speakers this year, do we? We have the Boss, anyone else who's a native speaker?

NotYourHousekeeperDear and SilverMoonDragonB are native speakers too, I think.
I just wondered, how much difference there is in a fic between a native and and a good non-native speaker because I can not tell the differences, I think. But on the other side, I don't count myself as a good non-native speaker

SusiGo · December 21, 2014 8:37 pm

I think the main difference is in the usage of idioms, knowing which language register to use, etc. Good non-native speakers (and those with good betas) do not make many grammar mistakes but their texts probably sound less natural. They know what is correct but they do not always know what a native speaker would say or write in this context. At least this is the experience I have made when translating texts into a foreign language.

La Jolie · December 21, 2014 8:49 pm

stoertebeker wrote:
I just wondered, how much difference there is in a fic between a native and and a good non-native speaker because I can not tell the differences, I think. But on the other side, I don't count myself as a good non-native speaker

And you've just answered your own question. It depends on the point of view - a native speaker (with an average or above-average grasp of their own language) will have no problem spotting the mistakes that a non-native speaker may make; but then there are non-native speakers that make very few to no mistakes simply because they speak/write the second language so well. And a non-native speaker would of course only spot the mistakes that they recognise as such themselves - meaning they'd probably spot it if a story was written by someone with a worse command of the language than they have themselves, but not if it was written by someone with a similar or better command of it.

I think you, as a German reader of an English fic written by a German writer, would probably spot any Germanisms in the fic very easily, because they're the sort of mistakes that you'd make yourself or that you remember your teacher always warning you against; while a French reader might not recognise them as such, but maybe merely wonder at an odd turn of a phrase or an unusual preposition.

Schmiezi dear, could you list not only who wrote for whom, but the actual titles of the fics as well? Because when I went back through last year's entries, that information was sadly missing in the final revelation, and it was SUCH a bother having to go back through the entire thread to match the names of the prompters with the actual fics...

Edited to say that I agree with Susi - getting the tone and the idioms right is just as difficult as getting everything technically right, in a foreign language.

Edited again for some of it being A Bit Not Good.

Last edited by La Jolie (December 22, 2014 12:27 pm)

NotYourHousekeeperDear · December 21, 2014 10:22 pm

PLAY IT AGAIN, SHERLOCK
What a beautiful and romantic story. I really loved how the author revealed the chemistry between the two characters by actually minimising the dialogue, but showing it in the actions of the two and the general atmosphere of the piece. Lovely work.

In terms of the general discussion- I am a native English speaker which is lucky because there is absolutely no way I would be able to speak and write another language half as well as you guys! i think all you non native speakers are unbelievable- I almost never notice it in reading posts and I certainly couldnt detect it in these stories which have all been so beautifully written.

Harriet · December 21, 2014 10:32 pm

I think it's a bit weird to pick people out for their background

silverblaze · December 21, 2014 10:37 pm

I don't think so. It can be very informative. Especially when you're working in a second language.

Harriet · December 21, 2014 10:38 pm

Well, I don't see the point of it, anyway.