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shezzaspeare · 3 years

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The Science of Fanfiction

A Study in Sherlock | 3 More Days to Go!

Getting to Know Blessie.

A/N: This is going to be a long post.

Hullo! I apologise if this isn't the actual TSoF yet (next few posts won't be either, sorry), but I think that before we get to the point, I should probably tell who, what, where, why, and how I am. I guess it's important since I'm no big name here in the Sherlock side of Tumblr – I only have 32 followers at the time I'm writing this, and I'm just as much of a fan as the next user. Doing something this big is really hard for me since I've got a lot of things on my hands, but I hope and pray that God will give me enough strength and support for me to pull through.

(Yes, I'm a Christian; Roman Catholic, to be specific. However, my religion does not define my beliefs about life.)

Alright, enough sidetracking. For starters, my name is Blessie, but you can call me Bee if Blessie is a mouthful for you. I am the girl behind the handle of shezzaspeare, if that's not yet obvious. I will be launching TSoF at the age of sixteen years, two months, and two weeks. I'm a Hufflepuff, Thunderbird, Erudite, neutral good, ENTP-T, and tired. If anything else, I'm basically your local demisexual Sagittarian ambivert from the Philippines with artistic leanings, a truckload of unfinished WIPs, and a vague but large amount of anxiety running through her veins. If you want to know how I look like, here's a visual I made a couple of months back for you:

[Image ID: A self-portrait of Blessie/@shezzaspeare in pencil. End ID]

I've been in the BBC Sherlock fandom since I was twelve, the general Sherlock Holmes fandom since I was eleven. I'd be lying if I saw that they're not a big influence in my life: they, along with various other crime shows I'm fond of, inspired to want to become a forensic linguist. They're also a big factor of a lot of the things I do. I've watched a lot of Holmes adaptations (I've yet to finish Elementary and watch Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century), read countless pieces of pastiche, and spun numerous conspiracy theories based off the show. My parents find this liking a little worrying, but I beg to differ.

Other than the aforementioned classic, I'm also an avid fan of Marvel, Harry Potter, Good Omens, Six The Musical, Disney, and Hamilton. I adore Benedict Cumberbatch, Louis Partridge, Jeremy Brett, Natalie Dormer, and a handful more celebrities. I like to listen to old songs, watch documentaries, read classic books, and if I continue, we might be here long after Series 1 of TSoF is finished. Hello to my mutuals, by the way!

Now, for those who know me outside of Tumblr, you know I do a lot of things. But for those who don't, I've done a lot. I've sang, done art, cross stitched, made graphics, joined in academic competitions; and currently, I'm running a YouTube Channel, this blog, and this sentence.

Above that all, though, I write. I started writing when I was in fourth grade, and it's for a category in the school paper called editorial writing (the opinion columns). Not long after that, I discovered the world of fanfiction through the world of Wattpad, and I mainly wrote for this cartoon series called Ever After High. Years have passed since then, and my writing and fandoms have changed. So far, I've been writing for nine years and counting. I'm still fixing up my AO3 account and I plan to transfer some works of mine over there. You can still find all my works at my Wattpad page.

Now, why did I decide to do TSoF even if I have a lot going on with my life? Why did I push this through even if after nearly a decade of writing I haven't finished a single fanfic? The answer is very simple, really. I've seen a lot of brilliant discussions about the show — Sherlock's personality, symbolisms within the series, and backstories with the details of the scenes. I've come to realise that we never shone light into the other side of this wonderful fandom in which I contribute to as well. There are numerous writers who don't get the exposure they deserve, fanfic tropes we have yet to talk about, and AUs far more complex and deep than they seem. I think it's about time we talk about the—

[Image ID: A flashback of John (left) and Sherlock (right) finding an elephant (not in the screen) in a room in The Sign of Three. End ID]

I'm sorry. I just really love this GIF a lot. This is definitely not the last time you'll see it in the series.

For the tropes, if I may add, I'll mainly focus on tropes on Wattpad since AO3 is nothing short of unique and different kinds of stories whilst Wattpad is a different territory.

I don't have a day assigned for a regular update in TSoF, since I've still got school and all. I do promise that I'll post at least once a month, just for good measure.

I would like to thank everyone for their support for TSoF even if it hasn't begun yet. I can't promise it's anything as good as the content they put out, but I will give my all in this series. You guys rock!

So, allow me to share my love of fanfiction, BBC Sherlock or just plain ACD canon, with you with TSoF. It is my honour and pleasure to go balls knees-deep into this thing.

See you at the start of this thing on Monday!

My Carrd | My YouTube Channel

#the science of fanfiction #sherlock holmes #sherlock #gettoknowme #john watson #shezzaspeare #wattpad

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duanecbrooks · 7 years

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Gabby and Hodie: You're Number One You may recall that, in a past article, I laid out what are my all-time favorite literary creations. You my also recall that I said that the books that I picked as my all-time etc. are those once and for all categorically and for all time. Well, what's happened is, upon further reflection--and upon my dear, warm, sweet,loving cousin Emily's words to me (surely I don't have to tell you what they were) further coming to fruition--I've come to realize my real and true all-time favorite literary offering. And it's a tie between the women's-beach-volleyball sex boat Gabrielle Reece's ("with" Karen Karbo) life-lessons guide My Foot Is Too Big For The Glass Slipper: A Guide to the Less-Than-Perfect Life and the Today-show's-Fourth-Hour gal Hoda Kotb's ("with" Jane Lorenzini) personal/professional memoir Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee. Allow me to say here that in coming to said realization, I had to dump quite a lot of weight. At first I thought that the former television-morning-show host Rene Syler's ("with" Karen Moline) parenting guide Good-Enough Mother: The Perfectly Imperfect Book of Parenting deserved to make the aforementioned list. However, further pondering has caused me to realize that, as humorous and as charming as Syler's tome is, in the final analysis it has to do with the doings of children and with the raising of children--and as much as I love kids and love reading/seeing what it is kids have to say, an entire book centering on them is simply not my aesthetic. For a while I sincerely believed that How to Lose Everything In Politics (Except Massachusetts), the then-journalist Kristi Witker's inside-the-1972-McGovern-presidential-try memoir, merited making the cut. Yet in time I remembered that, ever since 1976, when Carter won the White House and kicked Ford and all those other Nixon-era Republican third-raters out on their asses, my consistent interest in politics has majorly decreased--indeed, in the main I've come to sympathize with what the master TV interviewer Dick Cavett once told the 1960s/1970s far-left activist Jerry Rubin: "Politics bores the ass off me." Thus I've arrived at the conclusion that Witker's book, while it's chock-full of lively wit and penetrating insight, when all is said and done involves an area, namely politics, that on the whole has long stopped being my thing. OK. Now I'll go into why Reece's and Kotb's tomes have seized my heart. .The front and back covers of both books are damned enticing. Both the front and the back covers of Reece's tome picture her with her intensely attractive offspring, both times sporting an insanely appealing bathing suit and both times showing off an insanely appealing pair of bare feet (The back cover of Reece's book clearly shows that she has an equally alluring stepdaughter). The front cover of Kotb's tome displays her dressed in a quite stylish blue pullover blouse and adorned in the kind of slacks that fully exhibit what her Today cohort Kathie Lee called her "long Egyptian legs and toes." (The fact that Kotb is wearing red toenail polish slightly takes away from her dazzling visual appeal, but only slightly) And on both the front and back covers there are the sort of endorsements that easily pull you in. On the back cover of Reece's tome the former television Friend Courteney Cox is quoted as asserting: "I read My Foot Is Too Big For The Glass Slipper in one sitting...Everyone who is married--or thinking about getting married--should read this." On the front cover of Kotb's book there are words from People Magazine ("Bubbly and engaging, just like its author") and from the greatly-lauded novelist Adriana Trigiani ("This book is a manual for overcoming obstacles and living life with passion and purpose...Hoda is the working girl's Cleopatra. She rules!"). .The prose of both tomes is colorful and lively. Both Reece's and Kotb's books feature the kind of writing that, upon seeing it, immediately rivet your eyes to the page. Upon seeing any page, its wording has you absolutely hooked, positively pleased to be in the company of such charming, sprightly gals, gals who obviously love life and do not hesitate to embrace it entirely. And, again, that feeling comes no matter what page of theirs you're on (Kathie Lee in her super-bestselling compilation of essays Just When I Thought I'd Dropped My Last Egg at one point said: "I love my new co-host Hoda Kotb. She is an absolute doll and so much fun to work with." The writing style of Hoda causes you to fervently agree with KLG's every syllable). .Both women in their tomes have greatly witty and greatly incisive things to say. In both Glass Slipper and Hoda there's sparkling humor and eye-opening observations, whether Reece in her book is discoursing on how cathartic it can be for a parent to swear ("[A] little bit of cussing does wonders. The later in the day it is, or the earlier in the morning, the more important this is for your sanity, and to help you feel less like an underpaid servant and more like the sassy teenager that is still lurking somewhere inside your bill-paying, car seat-purchasing, sleep-deprived self") or her regular almost-all-women's exercise class ("Sometimes someone comes up to me after class and wants to pay me, or otherwise do something lavish to show her gratitude. I tell her, she's already doing it, by inspiring me with her commitment...When my women show up, day in, day out, with their great attitudes and their great energy, they don't realize that that's their gift to me") or her parenting style ("[Excessively spending time with electronic pleasures] messes with your head, and I don't want it for my kids...So I say no. A lot. And tell me I don't feel like a shit mom when little Brody, who's been cooperative all day, has a meltdown in the afternoon and sobs miserably, 'I. Just. Want. My. Electronics'") or whether it's Kotb in her tome telling of her lifelong struggle to establish her own identity (I will always be asked [as this one "older black woman" did while Kotb was in a phone booth making a call during her early days as a television journalist, taking Kotb's face in both hands and looking into her eyes] 'What is you?' And while I'll proudly explain I'm Egyptian...again, the answer in my head will always be: I'm just me") or acknowledging her refreshingly non-high-minded, purely self-serving motivation for going into and staying in TV news ("Procrastinating to me is simply a way to create a time crunch...After I phone in a takeout food order, I'll stay at work as long as possible, then race home to my apartment to meet up with the delivery guy...[T]elevision news is the perfect career for me. I need to know that my work day has a start and a fight to the finish. I'm competitive, persistent, and not afraid to risk being the hero or the goat when airtime hits") or the near-overwhelming thrill she felt when the Today show's Fourth Hour hosted the always-and-forever-bootylicious Queen Bey ("When Beyonce walked into the room, [Kathie Lee and I] were blown away by her beauty and her presence. She's about 5 feet 7, but her red heels added several inches. She wore a gorgeous short dress, designed in her favorite color, red. She was a knockout. Her frame is sexy and solid and she carries herself with confidence around every curve...Her words were laced with a touch of Texas twang (Beyonce was born and raised in Houston). As her people began touching up her hair and makeup, all I could think was, There's absolutely nothing wrong with her! Bring that stuff over here!"). After reading these books, you effortlessly feel invigorated because you spent quality time with two insightful, funny, considerably observant ladies who have, to quote a line from the classic 1960s song, "looked at life from both sides now" and are bright enough and centered enough to retain the lessons such observing has taught them. Also: Both Reece and Kotb conclude their tomes in grand style. The former closes by assuring her readers that should they choose to assume the role of "queens" of their household, "[y]ou will live interestingly ever after." And she ends her "Acknowledgements" section by lauding her hubby, the professional surfer Laird Hamilton: "I cherish the gift of knowing you, your love, and your partnership. Oh, and when our girls [their daughters] are difficult, I do blame you for those traits." The latter, for her part, ends her book with a forward that itself finishes with her naming her "special wooden box" inside of which is the "letter that lists the three most important traits in my man" and assures us readers that "there's a chance it will end up accidentally buried by books, an over-sized tote bag, a plaque, or other random crap." Kotb's own "Acknowledgements" portion winds up with a fond shout-out to her "co-author," Jane Lorenzini, "the most brilliant writer I have ever known...Your dad was right. It has been an adventure...Your name should be bigger on the [front] cover. Oh, well...next book." During the 1980s, it was Barbra Streisand who famously crooned, concerning creativity: "The art of making art is putting it together, bit by bit, Beat by beat, part by part, Sheet by sheet, chart by chart, Track by track, bit by bit, Reel by reel, pout by pout, Stack by stack, snit by snit, �� Meal by meal, shout by shout, Deal by deal, spat by spat, Spiel by spiel, doubt by doubt. And that is the state of the art." To read the books of Gabrielle Reece and Hoda Kotb is to bring about enormous gratitude that said authors--and their ghostwriters--took the time and the trouble to put them together, employing every "bit," "beat," "part," "sheet," "chart," "track," "bit," "reel," "pout," "stack," "snit," "meal," "shout," "deal," "spat," "spiel," and "doubt" so that "the state of their art" would make them such eminently satisfying reading experiences.

#Gabrielle Reece #my foot is too big for the glass slipper #hoda kotb #Hoda: How I Survived War Zones #Rene syler #good-enough mother #kristi witker #How to Lose Everything In Politics (Except Massachusetts)#dick cavett #jerry rubin #the 1980s #Barbra Striesand

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