Cloudy with a Chance of Fanfiction

[dasmims]

I really want to finish the fics I write. I have so many ideas, there are always new ones, I take notes and write some scenes and plot but they never get finished. I took part in a fic exchange that really helped me with it, at least for this one fic. Now I've got my hopes up I might find a way to manage that with my longer projects too. But I really don't know how to work on a long term project consistently. Maybe I should start slowly? And start with shorter fic ideas I have laying around?

Or maybe I'm overthinking it (as usual) and should just do the thing. but how

It's difficult though, or at least I find it difficult, to sit there on my own trying to figure everything out with zero feedback or anyone to discuss my ideas with. I have tried discussing my ideas with friends in the fandoms I try to write for. They are mostly excited about the chance of fanfiction but not exactly helpful in figuring  out plot points, beta reading etc.

The big exception are my Emergency! friends, they are enabling gremlins and they know it. The thing is, E! is one of the less inspiring fandoms for me, and I'd love to know people from other fandoms like I do among the E! folks.

Comments

[sanguinity]

Joan in the future sounds like a lot of fun.

For "pure untrammeled angst" values of fun, sure! The first 8K are here: Persistence of Memory. I have another 10K or more stashed in my WIP folder.

"Watson is - god bless him - not normal."

Absolutely not. As asocial as he is, Holmes wouldn't be inviting Watson into his life and his work unless he was something extraordinary. And of course there's plenty of evidence in the text as to the shape of his extraordinariness...

but of course he can't mention the time traveller once he writes that down.

No wonder he had so much trouble writing that case! And now of course I'm imagining ACD!Watson reading it and being all wtf?? trying to make out the shape of the parts Holmes left out. Somehow, I don't think he's going to come up with "time-traveling doctor from the future". :-D

acd!Holmes getting actual help with his drug problem + facing someone (Joan), who is not afraid to call him out on his bullshit.

Excellent! And what does Joan get out of this encounter?


What is the idea here, for why they grew apart?

Easiest just to excerpt from Ch. 1:

It had never been my selfishness that drove me from him, but his own sudden refusal to permit me to share the risks of his work. In one of our last cases together, I had received a trifling wound when a stray bullet grazed my thigh -- a wound which, out of all proportion with its severity, had unnerved Holmes deeply. During the following months, Holmes barred me from accompanying him on cases, holding to his prohibition even after I had recovered completely. We argued bitterly over that decision, but we may have yet resolved the matter amicably had not my enforced absence from his side left him vulnerable to Baron Gruner's attack.

We both went mad in the aftermath. The gravity of Holmes's injuries should have been all the proof he needed of his folly, and yet he seemed to consider them a vindication of his decision. For myself, I could forgive neither him nor myself for my absence. Our arguments that autumn made those of the summer appear to be mild disagreements. I am ashamed to confess that by the time I was able to think clearly again, I was married. Holmes did not stand up with me for my wedding; indeed by that point we were barely speaking to each other, save for his dismal prediction that the marriage would not last eighteen months. It had required years for us to mend our relations and rebuild the old affection that had once animated us. Years, and a studious avoidance of the issue that had first driven us apart.

And would you say it's finished with the re-written chapters?

Fingers crossed, yes. Although there's a coda that's talking to me, that may need to be written.

Oh! While I'm linking things, this is a Holmes-pov short stand-alone fic set during the later chapters of the story: From Allegany.


I, um, didn't really mean to give you a reading assignment! Only read the linked stories if you're curious; please don't view them as obligatory.

[dasmims]

No wonder he had so much trouble writing that case! And now of course I'm imagining ACD!Watson reading it and being all wtf?? trying to make out the shape of the parts Holmes left out.

The last scene is supposed to be acd!Watson finding the written account of the Blanched Soldier, reading it and asking Holmes about it. Holmes pretends like him writing down his own case is nothing out of the ordinary.

And what does Joan get out of this encounter?

Joan could use a glimpse behind the curtain or at least a different pov, not only on how Sherlock's mind works, but also how she works and her relationships with the people around her. This is the chance to learn about Sherlock Holmes, not only from him in a way that he can curate, by looking at someone, who is very similar to the one she knows but not the same. The same goes for herself and the other people around her.

One of the bigger things for this is Joan disliking the mores and laws of the time, but learning that she's equally hung up on the mores and laws of her time and the society she was raised in. It's been a long time since I watched Elementary, but I could never shake the feeling that Joan would profit a lot from a bit of introspection and understanding her socialisation better.

a wound which, out of all proportion with its severity, had unnerved Holmes deeply.

Seems like Dr. Watson isn't aware how serious Holmes was, when he said that he doesn't know what he would do, should something happen to his Watson.

These first two paragraphs remind me of a Star Trek fic I read a while back, with a very similar theme. Taking very common elements of a certain relationship and amplifying it to the point of catastrophe - Holmes trying to keep Watson safe, unspoken feelings, Holmes acting on what he's thinking instead of talking about it and Watson reacting to what's happening instead of talking about it - and then trying to resolve it again, which requires them to work through those points, is always fascinating. And it's never done in a short form.

Although there's a coda that's talking to me, that may need to be written.

Good luck with the coda. Those can be tricky to include, but it's wonderful when everything works out. I tend to write several versions of scenes, cause I have certain phrases in mind, and then I have to delete most of what I've written, cause I can't use them all in one combined scene.

I'll read your recs, once I've got the time for it. They look interesting for sure!