#britpicker

Having recently read a fanfic in which Sherlock and John catch trains to various parts of southern England exclusively from London’s Waterloo station, even when this is not the usual/logical route, I’d like to share this for writers who might not be familiar with the whole business of trains in/to/from London.

Let’s start with the history of how and when rail services came to London. This article explains how and why we have so many terminal stations (short version: because when they were built, the railway companies were privately owned and all needed their own terminus in London).

The main terminal stations are Waterloo (south), Paddington (west), Euston (north-west), King’s Cross (north-east), St Pancras (East Midlands and Eurostar), Liverpool Street (east), Fenchurch Street (south-east) and Victoria (south). There are others (see the article linked above and my husband’s comment below).

As we know, within London and the suburbs, these termini are linked by the London Underground (aka The Tube) network. There is also the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) - a driverless system - and other overground rail services. Here is a map of it all from Transport of London (TfL). Baker Street is served by five tube lines: Bakerloo (brown), Metropolitan (maroon), Jubilee (silver), Circle (yellow), and Hammersmith & City (pink). It’s also only a five-minute walk from Marylebone (the nearest terminal) which itself is just behind the Landmark hotel, which we know as the exterior for The Restaurant Scene.

Aside: I think Sherlock is unlikely to catch a bus unless directly related to a case - they’re just too slow for him. But you can find bus maps and all kinds of other TfL mappy delights here.

If you have characters using public transport in the UK, your best bets for accurate research are:

Google Maps (in public transport mode)

National Rail (see the page footer for all the useful stuff)

Transport for London

All these also have apps available.

I’m happy to do Sherlockian Britpicking (my day job is copy-editing) if that’s helpful for you.

If you want to go the full Howard Shilcott, I still very much enjoy reading the rail enthusiasts’ forums posts about the myriad tube-related continuity errors in TEH. I’ll let you Google those for yourself. 😉

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I have put together a working doc with all the things I've picked up from Brit-Picking over the years and some tidbits of British culture that are important to get right when setting your fics in the UK.

If you follow the link you'll be able to read and feel free to also comment on the doc

- let me know if I've got something wrong or said something that strongly does not apply to another part of the UK

- let me know if you'd like to add something to it - let's collab and get your knowledge in there too :)

- let me know if you'd like more info on any part or would like me to include some other part I haven't thought about

Hope this can be helpful!

Things differ widely due to configuration of homes, region, culture, background etc.

BUT, as a Londoner by birth and by heritage living in a terraced house, these are what we call rooms in my house:

Front room (aka living room, which I sometimes call it when talking to people outside of the family)

Kitchen (we used to have a separate dining room and kitchen before they installed a new kitchen and knocked the separating wall down. We however called it a breakfast room and not a dining room, apparently the extra room we use as a “study” is supposed to be a dining room. I don’t think however I’d write a “breakfast room” into a fic. To answer your question about dining rooms, it could be either/or. It’s up to you. But someone is unlikely to have a dining room if they live in a flat. In some flats the kitchen and living room is one open space, and in some houses - like my next door neighbour - they might have a living room and then a lounge-type area in that space with the kitchen, if that makes sense.)

Aforementioned study

Toilet

Bathroom

Bedrooms

In terms of bathrooms: Some houses here have separate toilet rooms and bathrooms, my house is one of those. We refer to the toilet room as simply “the toilet”. So if I was to refer to my plant in the toilet, I’m talking about the plant on the shelf behind the actual toilet, not a plant submerged in the toilet lmao. My toilet room does not have a sink in and you have to nip next door to the bathroom to wash your hands.

A bathroom is literally a room with a bath in, and it may or may not also have a toilet in. I suppose one might also refer to a room with a shower instead of a bath a bathroom too, but I guess could also be called a shower room (or maybe a wet room if applicable?) If you were going to the toilet, you’d say “I’m going to the toilet/loo” regardless of where the toilet is, even if it’s in a bathroom. if you say you’re going to the bathroom you are saying you’re going to that room to carry out an unspecified task lol

I’m a Chinese trying to translate a Johnlock Fanfic I love from Chinese to English, thus in need of a Britpicker/Beta, since in Mainland public school we learn US/UK English altogether, I cannot tell these two languages apart sufficiently, not to mention my grammar/spelling. 

I’d appreciate immensely if anyone is up to this? Not a terribly long fic tho. It’s an AU setting, no explicit content nor anything NC 17 I feel, but it’s not all-age-appropriate either? Maybe a bit of violence, not graphically described. It’s quite a beautiful fic. Though it doesn’t have an ideal happy ending, some character death but the main ship lives.

This is my very first translating project since now I’ve just graduated from uni and is having a summer in social distancing. I’ve gone to the first chapter, around 2.3k words.

BETA/BRITPICKER SIGN UPS - NOW OPEN!

Fancy helping out one or more of our lovely writers with their ridiculous fic? Then why not sign up as a beta or britpicker?

What does a Beta do? A beta will normally help with spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure.

What does a Britpicker do? A Britpicker will help to ensure that your British characters, locations, terminology, cultural references, etc, are portrayed correctly.

Just a little shout out to any 1D fic writers that I’m happy to help anyone that needs it with britpicking! I’ve lived in the UK my whole life, and in several different cities, I'm comfortable with any pairing as long as it includes at least one of the boys and don’t have any major triggers or squicks so if you need a hand, feel free to message me. I can also help with general plot and pace too plus cheerleading if that’s of any interest to you.

Hi everyone, I’m currently writing a fic, my first one in a couple years. It’s been a long time since of written, although I have been doing some work as a beta. That being said, I could definitely use some help. I haven’t completed the fic yet, but would love help as I go. I’m looking for a beta/cheerleader and maybe britpicker. Honestly, the more help the better. I have read so much fanfic, and want to contribute some of my own work to the community. The main pairing will be Larry, with all the boys making an appearance, and it will be a mostly light hearted (although definitely some angst) one shot with lots of misunderstandings. If you would be interested in helping in anyway, please send me a message! If not, please considering reblogging to get the word out. Thanks so much!