Amber Dunton

Part of me agrees, which is part of the reason I get so tired of people bashing BBC Sherlock just because they never got together and they strayed too far from the canon. Like, which is it? Should they get together or should they stick to canon? Some argue they did neither, some argue they did both, but at the end of the day, it's an adaptation. If you want the original Holmes stories, read them or listen to an audiobook. The purpose of an adaptation is to change the original story in some way to suit a different medium or different messaging, and while the argument certainly exists that BBC Sherlock strayed from either or was inconsistent at times, I don't think yelling into the void that "it isn't truly Sherlock Holmes" means anything.

I do think the original has so much subtext that, due to the censorship of queer people from public life at the time it was written, it can certainly be read as Doyle's original authorial intent for them to be gay. I do think, however, that part of the adaptation philosophy has build on the original works' queer subtext in order to have a well-written queer relationship that stays in the realm of adaptation and not fanfiction.

Either way, whether or not they are gay, or queer-platonic, or two bros who solve crimes, a central part of the story is the relationship between Holmes and Watson, which is where I believe the three adaptations that are slated to release this year with no Watson, will fail.

I low-key felt so strongly about this that I wrote a full-length play adaptation of A Study in Scarlet, and part of my adaptation strategy was painting Watson as an unreliable narrator due to period-typical homophobia and queer censorship, and using the queer subtext rampant in the entire original novel, not just between Holmes and Watson, as a basis to make an period piece that is so intrinsically queer, that removing the queerness would remove the story. (If you are an ACD/Sherlock Holmes or general theatre fan, I would love some readers, message me!)

Tl;dr: whether or not you read the original novel's queer subtext in the context of period-typical queer censorship as them being explicitly gay will determine the adaptation strategy, and, imo, unless building upon the original queer subtext from the get-go, which I am a fan of, making them gay partners will read as fanfic.

Use: Google Docs

Why: you can duplicate things so easily and rename and it autosaves(!!!)

How: make different documents (I also used a few Google sheets) to brainstorm, character map, plot map (Google sheets— mine was very complex). Every time you go to edit (I suggest writing straight through for plays, if you don’t know what to put write “insert xyz here,” just have a “full” draft) duplicate the document (v important). This way you can see the past versions and you never lose writing. I recommend 0.X for rough drafts, 1.X for the first versions, and 2.X+ for every version that goes through a workshop.

Format: I like 12 pt. courier new for drafting scripts in 8.5x11. Put the document in single space but put 1-2 spaces between lines (will explain in a moment). Title page has no page numbers and the text should be centered in the middle of the page about 1/3 down with one line in between each line of text.

Ex:

[TITLE (yes, all caps)]

A [genre; adaptation of source work (if applicable) by original author]

A [length] play -or- A play in [#] acts

[insert a line)

By [firstname lastname]

(!) Version [series.document | #.#]

For the first pages of the script, (character breakdown, scene/setting/staging notes, casting notes, epigraph) center the title of the page at the top (all caps). Put any section headers in all caps left aligned. Between text in the same section put one space. Between sections put two spaces.

Ex:

CAST OF CHARACTERS

[space]

JANE DOE— a young woman troubled by her family’s past.

[space]

JOHN DOE— her husband.

[space]

[another space]

UNCLE RICK— Jane’s weird, space-obsessed uncle.

[space]

AUNT TANIA— his wife, a woman of color.

[space]

[another space]

NOTE ON CASTING

[space]

Characters should be read as age flexible, though Uncle Rick & Aunt Tania should read as older than Jane & John.

[space]

Race should not be a determinate in casting, except where explicitly stated (ie, Tania as a woman of color).

Okay! Now for the fun part— scenes! Act/scene heading goes at the top of the page, centered, in all caps. If your play doesn’t have acts or scenes, skip this. ACT [ROMAN NUMERAL], SCENE [#]. If you have a prologue and epilogue, the title goes in all caps, but do not write the act number (it is understood). The setting for the scene (the big chunk of stage directions setting up the scene) goes one line below, italicized, in brackets. Skip a line, then start the dialogue. Dialogue is written as [CHARACTER NAME]: (parenthetical stage direction) [dialogue]. A slash “/“ in a line of dialogue means the next character starts their line during the preceding character’s line. Brackets [xyz] are the rest of the character’s line, unsaid. If the next text is a stage direction (italicized, centered, no brackets, character’s name in stage directions goes in all caps), skip one line. If the next text is another character’s dialogue, skip two. If writing stage directions in a character’s line skip one line, write the stage direction, skip another line, continue the character’s dialogue (no need to write the character’s name again). At the end of the scene, in the stage directions at the end, just note the scene shift and start the next scene (with a header) on the next page.

Ex:

ACT II, SCENE 4

[space]

[interior, the living room of the Doe home. JANE sits in the armchair while JOHN paces across the carpet, holding a cigar]

[space]

JANE: You know what the doctor said about / you smoking those damn things.

[space]

[another space]

JOHN: (interrupting) I know what the damn doctor said, Jane. A little smoking never / killed anybody—

[space]

JANE stands up from her chair.

[space]

[another space]

JANE: You know damn well it did! Uncle… / R[ick]—

[space]

[another space]

JOHN: Oh damn Uncle Rick!

[space]

JOHN puffs on his cigar, hard.

[space]

We both know it was the alcohol that killed him. (softer) A cigar on New Year’s won’t kill me, Jane.

[space]

Jane walks towards Rick, dejected, but with love in her eyes.

[space]

[another space]

JANE: (quiet) [It] might kill me, though. And I [can’t]…

[space]

JOHN puts the cigar down in the ashtray and pulls JANE into a hug. He kisses the top of her head.

[space]

[another space]

JOHN: Happy New Year, Jane.

[space]

They kiss.

[space]

I’m glad it’s you.

[space]

JANE tugs on JOHN’s tie to pull him down for a kiss. They kiss. JOHN wipes a tear from JANE’s cheek. Lights fade as scene shifts to RICK’S STORAGE LOCKER.

I'm holding a real, print copy of the play I started writing as a senior in high school, and I'm like actually going to cry 😭

In a way, it's like so crazy because it was just like a capstone project I did so I could graduate, and it turned into so much more???

It might just be crazier that it's not even that crazy at all.