#odamaki

I don’t have enough followers so I know no one really reads this, but I feel the need to share this. I’ve written 4 fics so far, my first ever foray fiction. They’re stories I had in my head and the minute I sat down to write them they were pretty much fully formed. They’re short things (all less or just about 10K words) but they’re far more than I ever expected to write.

Right now I’m 8000+ words/25 pages into another fic, my attempt to write a much longer slow-burn/friends to lovers/post s-4 fic. I’m hoping it’ll end up much, much longer. It features the story of the Holmes family post Eurus (working title is “Like an Eroding Rock”) and more in particular, of Sherlock’s father. Things that happen in the fic have a big impact on John and Sherlock’s relationship.

This is the first story I try to write without having a clear flow and timeline and let me tell you - I’m stumped :)

I also have a lot of questions; will readers notice there are some themes that keep me occupied when it comes to the Sherlock universe, such as Mary and John’s broken relationship? Or John’s battles to ‘soften’ Sherlock, to investigate into the man’s feelings? And if the readers do figure out there are themes, will they tire of reading my thoughts on that?

And now that I’m writing a longer fic, how much into details should I go? I’m a pretty straight forward person and in real life. I stick to the relevant facts. It’s been years since I actually read a fiction book. My real world reading is mostly non-fiction. My only foray into fiction is, well, fanfiction. But I think about all the things I want to include in this story - the long journey, all of John’s thoughts. When does a reader tire of too many details?

I went back to @odamakilock‘s The Men Who Talked Between the Words today. I opened a random chapter just to get a sense of the story’s pacing, since it took so long to write and the plot is expansive, in terms of period of time. This story is one of the ultimate long, long slow-burn stories and let me tell you, Odamaki a master. There are cases and little details of Christmas mornings and John contemplating dating again in thousands of beautiful words (I teared up over the conclusion of the dating thing in less than 5 seconds). She (or he?) make it seem so easy - it’s such a long, detailed story but I remember how it held my attention over 30 long chapters.

So is it best to wait for my story to develop itself in my head, or sit and stare at the screen while I try to figure it out? Should I work on other stories in the meantime (don’t have any new ideas, to be fair). Should I have the first couple of chapters betad and published, and add more chapters as time goes by? I’m afraid of that because I’m sure things will change the further I progress with the story.

A doodle in honour of all the DOPE Sherlock fan fic I’ve been reading lately.  

Thank goodness for authors.

SOME RECS

The Men Who Talked Between the Words by: Odamaki

Drift Compatible by: J_baillier

Boyfriend Material by:  Poppy Alexander

Mr. Psychopath by: Zingiber

Word count: 439,746  Fandom: Sherlock (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade Additional Tags: Parentlock, Fatherhood, Pining Sherlock, Pre-Slash, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Awkwardness, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Babies, Sassy Mycroft, Sherlock Holmes and Feelings, Sherlock Loves John, John is a Hot Mess, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Awesome Molly Hooper, Past Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Jealous John, Slow Romance, Recovery, Unexpected Allies, Everyone Thinks They’re Together, Grieving John, Halloween Costumes, Remembrance Day, Friendship/Love, Counselling, Case Fic, Sherlock is a hot mess, Christmas, Christmas Morning, Unreliable Narrator, Friends to Friends with Feelings, Implied Drug Use, Sherlock Whump, Panic Attacks, Grieving is complicated, Parental Mrs. Hudson, Masturbation, Family, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Referenced Drug Use, Mycroft Being Mycroft, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Slash, Bisexual Character, Kissing, First Dates, Relationship Discussions, First Time Summary: John expected to be a father some day; he expected to have the house, and the wife and the nice suburban job. Sherlock never expected to have children, in part because he never expected to make it past 30. As it turns out, you don’t get a choice. Crammed into Baker Street with a baby, John struggles with single-parenthood and his own fears, while Sherlock treads the fine line between doing too little and saying too much.

COMPLETE.

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Rec: If you have seen any hype at all regarding this fic, absolutely believe it. This is an incredibly powerful story that covers a lot of ground pretty much in real time – it took almost exactly 4 years to complete, and covers 3 years in the characters’ lives. Although the fic was begun pre-series 4 (and thus Mary dies in a different way), it could very much be read as picking up post series 4 with John moving back to Baker Street with the baby. 

There is SO MUCh going on in this fic, from cases to family secrets, childhood trauma, therapy, medical emergencies, and coming out, but the main focus is on John and Sherlock figuring out this new way of living together ‘ä trois’. Yes, eventually they do get together but it’s slooooooowwwwww burn. Slower than that. Even slower. The slowest. Burns so good. And in doing so creates a huge emotional investment as we join in on the rocky and hard-won path to creating a family unit. 

The characterizations are brilliant, some of the most authentic I’ve seen, with breathtakingly accurate voices and robustly developed inner lives. The secondary characters in particular, from Molly and Wiggins to extended family members and OC’s, deserve a special shout-out. The writing is stellar and clearly comes from someone who loves the English language and knows how to use it to its best advantage.

This is, quite simply, a masterpiece by any measure. 

I find that I did, indeed, mess up on properly getting permission, being that it was a bit over a year ago, the author, quite correctly, feels that it would have been the right thing to do to ask again more recently, a lot of the (completely wonderful) story has been expanded upon during that timeframe and I should have checked again.

Sorry for the transgression.  The author has not asked me to take it down, but given the unfortunate feelings I have caused because of being presumptuous, I feel it is the right thing for me to take it down myself.  The story is not my creation, it never is, I just try to provide another vehicle for people to enjoy it and want it to be a positive thing.

If you have already downloaded chapter 1 of the podfic to a device, please remove it in respect for the fic author.

I will continue to enjoy the new chapters of the story as they are written and will strive to be better about communication with the authors of stories that I desire to create a podfic of.

Johnlock Love Letters

(AKA - JL3 Declarations of Love from fan fiction) #1046

My mom sent this photo of a puzzle my brother made for my cousin’s four-year-old and all I can think of is The Men Who Talked Between the Words 😭 @odamakilock