In which adversity is good for me

[impulsereader]

or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

I am still struggling with Sherlock's parents and this scene. I have given a great deal of consideration to the idea that since I am struggling so mightily I should simply drop it and move on, but I really think it needs to be there.

So, I adopted the view - THROW A GRENADE AT IT - and promptly discovered that my brain is completely capable of taking absolutely anything literally. It gave Sherlock's father a live grenade to play with.

I don't even know.

But - it sort of seems to be working.

So - this is teaching me something. Up until now writing has been all sunshine and roses and happy magical typing which somehow produces funny and interesting things which I enjoy reading, and which at least a few other people also enjoy reading (thank you all, by the way) - fantastic.

Now I'm learning what to do when the typing isn't quite as magical as I might like it to be. It means I'm writing long hand for the very first time (oh gosh, I just remembered and had to modify - for the first time since high school when I was unknowingly writing ST:TNG fic during class [before the internet, or at least my being on it - biggest mary sue ever - seriously, ever]). Somehow this scene makes my eyes skitter away from the monitor when I try to get to work, so pen and paper work better. I'm also spending a lot of time writing out a lot of the same sort of thing over and over - but just slightly differently - as I work out what this needs to look like.

So I'm learning and becoming a better writer. This is the positive thing to focus on as I wrestle this scene into existence. I'm also learning by being forced to think more about the characters of Sherlock's parents instead of allowing them to remain cardboard cut-outs which will serve no purpose other than to trip up Sherlock emotionally. Oh, and to give myself a moment of indulgent praise - I am not hiding from the fact that I need to work on this - I haven't gone haring off to write other things which would be much more fun to work on instead - which I am perfectly capable of doing - but I haven't! This is very encouraging. The end is in sight and I will finish this section so that I can move on to the much more entertaining Baker Street Interludes!

Comments

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

Did you do what I suggested?

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

I haven't actually finished it yet, it's still taking shape - extremely slowly. But what I very much think is going to happen is that I'm going to play the scene with Sherlock's father dominating with mental manipulation and John countering it as best he can - and then your suggestion is the zinger we exit on. This way it plays as a fact that everyone but John is well aware of - very much 'the elephant in the room' if you look back, and then an effective final reveal of, 'oh, that's what this was all about - that's what every conversation this family has is actually about'. bugger.'

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

Glad I could be of use!

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. Thank you for the input. If there's one thing I'm learning, it's that lots of possibilities swirling around in my brain tend to fit themselves together into something that transcends anything I had expected or planned.

I'm currently watching Julie Walters on Graham Norton and really thinking I need to fangirl her and look her up on Netflix.

[pargoletta.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wonder if this is why I write fanfiction while working on my dissertation*. Two completely different kinds of writing can bump up against each other and play off of each other, and somehow the tricky bits in each one seem to unravel each other.




*Although, for the record, during the moments when I'm actually writing a chapter, fic writing tends to go out the window, and I tend to fixate on one or another kind of entertainment media. For instance, I wrote my third chapter while mainlining Cabin Pressure and Law and Order: UK. But I digress.

[northernwalker]

I find that I end up writing my first drafts longhand, then editing as I type them.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I think if I had to take the time to type up things I'd written longhand on a regular basis I would go mad. I just don't have the time. I find I like taking notes on things - I've outlined Silver Blaze with plot points for reference while I'm typing - but I'd simply never have enough time in the day to write longhand and then transcribe it.

I'm pleased to find that writing longhand actually does accomplish something, as there are times when lugging a computer about simply isn't possible and a notebook which fits in my purse is perfectly wonderful. But I still get more out of simply typing - have I mentioned typing seems to be quite a magical experience for me? :-)

[natsuko1978.livejournal.com]

I second this as a way of working. I think the line from brain to arm to hand to pen to paper gets first thoughts down so much easier. (Also no annoying red line squiggles when you make spelling mistakes and typos.)

Also you can write longhand anywhere - on public transport, in cafes/bars/restaurants, in the bath, in bed, watching TV with an ease that even a laptop doesn't always allow.

And moving from one working method to another for that first edit helps as well, I think. When I am reading and typing out that first draft, I think it's easier to notice where I need more action or explanation or dialogue.

Also I must be one of the few people left who can handwrite faster than I can type. :( There's a reason my default icon is a fountain pen.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

I love your default icon! It is very lovely. As a side note, when you eventually get around to doing more with those Sherlock screen shots over at your icon journal - well, I'm really looking forward to that! Your Gladstone's Collar contributions are fantastic - icons and playlists and covers, oh my!

ahem, back on topic.

Thanks for weighing in. As I continue to (hopefully) learn and grow, this is a pretty hot topic in my head at the moment. I think a lot of the appeal in the typing is the speed. I learned to type, and to do so quickly, in order to get a job and a paycheck. The fact that it now allows me to do this is basically blowing my mind. I've likened it a few times to some invisible entity feeding a ticker tape directly into my brain which I'm simply transcribing - at times writing/typing is more than a bit scary for me.

But, as you say, life is odd, and computer time can be limited or oddly regulated for the most bizarre reasons. Being able to noodle around productively on paper is a very valuable skill which I intend to foster - despite the fact that I continue to attract not entirely positive attention. *cough. I'm on a train. You are not real. cough.*

thanks again!

[natsuko1978.livejournal.com]

Have you seen my latest efforts? But yes, must get around to an icon post. And soon. :D

You must cultivate the ability to ignore those who think you're weird. Thank God I grew up as a Londoner. :)

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen your latest icon efforts apart from what 221b_hound has been pimping - do tell, or post to draw me over!

I do try. I would rather just move to London, or at least move to somewhere in England which would allow me to visit London at the weekends...sigh.

[natsuko1978.livejournal.com]

Just the Collared John above and the Collared Sherlock I've used here. As far as I know they have yet to be pimped. :) Other than this pimpage.

I'm trying to do the whole band. Having trouble finding any decent photos of Tad to use, however.

[djarum99.livejournal.com]

When I find myself stuck it usually has to do with what needs to be between the lines, what the characters are saying without saying, what fits within their overall arc, what might best convey all of that and more to the reader. Usually, I've written a scene and it sucks, but I can't make myself delete it and puzzle out the answer in front of the monitor or with a pen in my hand.

I drive. Country roads and my mp3 playlist for whatever I'm writing. I have to stop writing to get on with writing. Captain Jack used to speak to me most clearly on a route that took me past a large pond populated, oddly enough, by two pairs of swans. Everyone has to find their process, I guess.

Offer still stands if you'd like to talk about Sherlock's parents, but it sounds as though you've found them :-)

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Thank you again. I'm still working them out. The problem is that John and Sherlock are really enough for me. I could - and will - write them just knocking about the flat saying whatever is magically being whispered into my ear and flowing onto the keyboard. What the heck do I need these other characters for? :-)

But just making Hannibal physically threatening and Viola nervously fluttering is a straight out cop out on my part as an author. There is more there and I need to work out what it is, and it's actually exactly as you describe, because not one of these characters is saying what he feels or means in this scene - not one of them. Family at its most Holmesian, really.

I'm also being lazy because I wrote a few really delicious lines that I don't want to give up so I'm still sort of trying to write around them, but what i really need to do is pull them out completely and then see if there's a place where they fit organically once the characters have come to life.

I walk with my mp3 player. :-) Oh, and I think I found a ship for Pirate!Sherlock... http://www.etsy.com/listing/97028320/vintage-model-ship-wooden-sailboat-large?

[djarum99.livejournal.com]

Lovely model, and just to make you crazy here's a link to the Pirate King's wonderful site - it will tell you much more than you need to know about pirates and their ships.

"Killing your darlings" in terms of pulling out those delicious lines is another familiar stuck point. I keep a running document for every fic I write to house them, so they aren't distracting me and demanding to stay put, and can be incorporated with discretion later on. They do seem to always fit somewhere, sometimes in the most unexpected places.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Well, that's exactly what I need - absolutely too much information about pirates - thank you!

The same night Pirate!Sherlock was finally gelling in my head I stopped at Target because I had three kid birthdays to shop for and I wanted a quick glance around - though I only buy book-related presents - and in celebration I bought myself a little foam build-it-yourself pirate ship, because, of course, it was Little Sherlock who was busy distracting me. :-) Now I'm definitely on the hunt for something a little more appropriate for grown-up Sherlock. Etsy has surprisingly few options which seem to fit. :-( I do like that one, though. I can picture little people running around on the deck, which is a plus. :-)

I guess good lines will eventually prove useful somewhere. Good writing will tell?

[djarum99.livejournal.com]

Grown-up Sherlock might like some of the things available at this online store that benefits the Historical Seaport organization in Grays Harbor, WA. They own the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain, both replica vessels that offer battle cruises, among other things. I sailed on the Lady Washington out of Bremerton a couple of years ago, and would love to do it again. I have the posters of her hull and sail plans, and they're intricate and lovely, the bones of a ship. They also have marlin spikes and belay pins and a gorgeous tall ships calendar and hats, lots of hats :-)

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Both grown-up Sherlock and I are suckers for a good cause. :-)

Tea bricks as currency - that is fascinating!

[djarum99.livejournal.com]

Tea bricks as currency - that is fascinating!

Isn't it? The tea is actually quite good, too :-)

And now I want to go on a San Juan Island camping adventure with the crew of the Hawaiian Chieftain. How cool is that? I don't even like camping, much, but the volunteer crew members were so interesting to talk to, people from all over the world and with such diverse backgrounds. Don't call them pirates, though. They don't like it.

I must make a tea icon.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

A tea icon is a perfectly wonderful idea. John approves.

Tea perseveres somehow. After a bit of thought I'm not surprised at all that in brick form it is still good. :-) I've been meaning to rec this in general, but it's a WIP so I was instinctively holding off - but today I hit the bit of it when John is introduced to tea, and so I'm going to stick it in here as a wonderful Sherlock crossover with Greek/Roman Mythology http://archiveofourown.org/works/442464/chapters/755891

Are you possibly actually going on this trip? I would be both jealous and pleased that you would be the one doing the camping and reporting back.

[djarum99.livejournal.com]

No trip for me this summer, I'm afraid. The next two months are booked out with my work schedule and weddings and family and community events, plus a week of training that I'm dreading. My agency is putting me up in a four star hotel in Seattle (the good part) but the training is in a modality of therapy that I'm not excited about at all. Not my cup of tea, as it were :-) I will definitely look into pirate camping for next summer, or at least another battle cruise.

I will check out your fic rec - thank you!

[bradspyjamas.livejournal.com]

Can I admit that Little things was born out of me haring off from the last chapter of another fic of mine that I just can't get down on paper? Oh, I guess I can since I just have!
Since I've finished all 60 chapters of Little things I'm going to follow your example and stop hiding from it :)
And this story looks as if it's going to be fabulous, I've just read all the snippets and I'm so looking forward to seeing the whole thing.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so glad. I'm still all surprised that I've got anyone at all interested in reading his, so winning over someone new is quite nice.

I'm quite glad also that you went haring off! I'm enjoying Little Things and can't quite decide if I want to catch up or keep a bit of a lag...

I've no idea if your mind works the same way mine does, but if following my example, do beware - I ended up stuck with that grenade! It ended up working out all right I think, but that was a real face meet palm moment for me. :-)

[bradspyjamas.livejournal.com]

I suspect it does, I've ended up with several odd things in my WIP's because someone mentioned something to me while I was thinking about a plot point :)
I'm going to work my way though your other fics next week (I really like your writing style) once I've battered my elusive chapter into submission!

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I look forward to hearing what you think. I'm eyeing the link to the rest of your work as well!