#skumringkatt

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Steph, please I need to ask ... what do you do if there`s a fanfic you adore like crazy and can`t wait to read more, but its been on hiatus for so long it looks definitely abandoned by now, although the writer did say a year ago she was going to finish it, but then.... nothing! no matter how many readers have begged her to carry on -complete silence ! would you have tried to get in touch personally (her email account on AO3), or would you just forget about it ? what`s the appropriate response?

Hey Lovely!

I’m gonna be real with ya here: Just leave a comment saying that you adore the story and look forward to when they are ready to finish it, and move on.

Sometimes, real life has a funny way of interfering, and unfortunately things like writing novel-length stories for free have to be put on the back burner. Speaking as someone who HAS abandoned a fic series myself, I can certainly relate to this author. Any number of events or scenarios could have caused the cessation of writing, but it could be just as simple as “the author lost interest in the fandom / series / story and cannot create the spark to continue on”. It’s a disappointing thing to happen, but there you go. Trying to write for a fandom you’re no longer interested in is tedious and only results in piss-poor writing, Lovely, and no good author wants to force that upon their readership. Or, as I said above, it could also be that real life takes precedence; this was my case, which then turned into lack of interest. A lot of fic writers start when they are young, and then “adulting” happens: school, work, family, LIFE. 

Free time becomes a commodity that many of us adults treasure and choose to use for other interests. With me, I did go back to writing and arting, but unfortunately I lost interest in the old fandom as a whole (I’m still a fan, just it progressed so much beyond what I used to know of it that I just couldn’t keep up anymore, and other fandoms interested me more). It’s not like I hadn’t tried to go back – I have notebooks upon NOTEBOOKS of half-written followups to the series I abandoned – but I just couldn’t find a way to finish it because I found my OLD WRITING HORRIBLE, so then I wanted to REWRITE my stories, and in the end it seemed like a monumental task for a series I didn’t really have that many ties to anymore.

So I’m not trying to be a jerk, Lovely, but honestly the best thing is to show your love and support for whatever life event has caused them to put the story on hold, and move on. It only makes the author feel bad that they can’t deliver like they used to be able to if people are constantly haranguing them.

And who knows, they could also have notebooks upon notebooks of half finished stories. Never assume that they haven’t tried, Lovely. Real life may have just taken precedence, that’s all. Live and let live, Lovely. Support will be much more appreciated.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hey Steph! Did you notice how at the end of TFP Sherlock sends off a text saying "you know where to find me" which are the exact same words that he sent Lestrade at the beginning of the very first episode ASIP, at the press conference. I heard somewhere that the assumption is he was texting Irene at that very end, but do we have any reason to actually believe that? I mean, he was sitting in a heap of rubble, would he really have invited her over with the state of his flat being like that?

Hi Lovely!

It’s actually meant to tie the last episode to the first episode, nothing more. It’s a callback to ASIP when Sherlock and Lestrade are texting each other. I have NO idea where this thought that he’s texting Irene comes from; she’s not even once mentioned or referenced in the episode at all. 

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Please may I ask again about S4 - you have such great insight in this chaos ! When Mycroft says the official version is some trigger-itchy squaddie shot CAM - what about all the dozens of witnesses (all those squaddies)? They can still talk, right? Or has Mycroft bought everyone off or threatened them to silence or sent them all far away? I thought the trouble with Sherlock shooting CAM was the exposure - the fact that there were too many witnesses for Mycroft to just sweep it under the rug?

Hey Lovely!

Yeah, well, I imagine all of them are Mycroft’s people, and at the beginning of T6T, a D-Notice was apparently slapped across the whole thing (which John apparently didn’t get the memo on since he’s talking to Lestrade about it only an episode later). Maybe they were ALL injected with TD-12 prior to the mission, or shortly after? Either way, I suppose if they were all government-affiliated, they HAVE to maintain a level of secrecy on the whole thing if there was a D-Notice slapped on it. But if I recall, there’s also police officers there too, so I’m not sure how they would ensure those ones wouldn’t talk. 

I know I’m thinking too hard about this, especially for a piece of fiction (you can’t really bring real world things into fiction, though Sherlock’s universe is mostly based on reality rules until S4). Let’s say Myc probably bought off people; he is government after all, and as such, it always has the implication of shadiness and assumptions to it.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

hi, could I ask you something that`s confusing me in S4? Why do people suddenly seem to think John`s blog is Sherlock`s blog (like nurse Cornish and other people during the hospital visit)? In earlier seasons there was never any misunderstanding, everyone knew (!) John was writing the blog. Now its like John is completely out of the picture, Cornish doesn`t even know who he is ! And Culverton calls Sherlock the internet tec instead of famous detective.... it makes it all feel so unreal and off !

Hi Lovely!

You know what? I have no bloody idea, especially since as FAR BACK as TGG, no one knew Sherlock even had a blog AND the media was calling him “’Net ‘Tec”, and everyone praised John’s blog, so it’s a total contradiction to what was previously established in the series (much like a lot of S4...). I and others have speculated that it is proof of an Unreliable Narrator narrative at play, where TLD is actually John’s skewed view of reality, OR that it’s Sherlock’s POV and it’s how he secretly is still jealous about John’s blog popularity, so in his version the blog is about him, ergo it’s his blog. OR a mix of the two, where Sherlock takes credit for the blog because it’s about him, and John, gradually being pushed away out of the story, is starting to become “aware” of his lack of usefulness in this story (in sort of a 4th wall kind of way). Whatever the reason, I really believe a lot of S4 is unreliable narrator, or affected by the deus ex TD-12.

I honestly don’t have a good answer, Lovely; S4 confuses me and it takes a lot for me to try to connect it to other things in the narrative. My best guess is that it’s a false narrative OR if we are to take it at face value, comedy relief and nothing more.

I welcome some other alternative readings, cheers :)