I promise a full meta on The Valley of Fear eventually just as soon as I figure it out, but for the moment, here’s a thing I noticed recently, thanks to an episode of BBC Radio 3′s Arts and Ideas podcast, Unfinished Art and Literature. The episode begins with a brief discussion of Coleridge’s preface to a 1797 collection of his poems, which included “Kubla Khan: A Vision in a Dream. A Fragment”. The poem represents two layers of unreality, because it describes a dream within an opium hallucination. It’s a fragmentbecause Coleridge was interrupted (he tells us in the preface) while writing it. This importantly rude person was a man from Porlock.
The Author continued for about three hours in a profound sleep, at least
of the external senses, during which time he has the most vivid
confidence, that he could not have composed less than from two to three
hundred lines; if that indeed can be called composition in which all the
images rose up before him as things, with a parallel production of the
correspondent expressions, without any sensation or consciousness of
effort. On awakening he appeared to himself to have a distinct
recollection of the whole, and taking his pen, ink, and paper, instantly
and eagerly wrote down the lines that are here preserved. At this
moment he was unfortunately called out by a person on business from
Porlock, and detained by him above an hour, and on his return to his
room, found, to his no small surprise and mortification, that though he
still retained some vague and dim recollection of the general purport of
the vision, yet, with the exception of some eight or ten scattered
lines and images, all the rest had passed away like the images on the
surface of a stream into which a stone had been cast, but, alas! without
the after restoration of the latter! (preface to Kubla Khan)
“I have to go back. I was nearly there, I nearly had it!” (The Abominable Bride)
For this reason, “the person from Porlock” has come to symbolize the interruption of a creative work. But, of course, the man from Porlock was Coleridge’s own invention. He interrupted himself deliberately, as part of the creative work.
@devoursjohnlock thank you so much for this! The mysterious Porlock, sounding an alarm of murder via ciphers; another case of a bashed-in head and mistaken identity. The intent of drawing a connection to The Adventure of the Dancing Man (Watson) and TBB (Mofftiss)is obvious, and we were presented with the actual dancing man ciphers at the end of TFP – it would seem that Sherlock was begging us to connect the dots between TBB, DANC, TFP and ACD’s The Final Problem.
Two additional stories came to mind for me – Elise Patrick in DANC reminded me a lot of Edward in The Man with the Watches because of the duo-gender in name and appearance; and your “Kubla Khan: A Vision in a Dream. A Fragment” to Joyce-Armstrong Fragment from ACD’s The Horror of the Heights (which read like a companion piece to The Valley of Fear – I’ve discussed it a bit in Stoppage Time). It’s funny you mentioned Greek E… the fifth letter, and in the system of Greek numerals it has the value five, derived from the Phoenician letter He – which is the symbol for helium, yes, the red balloon John. It would seem that, once again, we might be arriving at the same place through very different paths.
But back to Porlock in Sherlock – at first, I thought each code names represents one person in the room, but I no longer believe that’s the case. The characters we came to know in their “meatspace” were definitely playing different roles in series 4. But why? Por, means portrait per Oxford Dictionary [x] – whose portrait, or disguise, “lock” in place that we are supposed to see through?
Who exactly is/was Irene Adler? The answer likely lies within The King of Bohemia. I think…… there’s some truth in Douglas Adams’ 6 Bowie-Watson description, and more to be discovered in the honorary title of THE woman (which I won’t get into for now because this is still 911 territory if you know what I mean, haha).
This is a friendly reminder that I also have an Instagram account. If you’re looking for just my artwork; it’s better organised there than it is on my tumblr.
When you’re almost falling asleep in your bed and then all of a sudden you wonder what John and Sherlock’s Wi-Fi password could be
“password” or “admin”
they’re both cocky and lazy
Knowing John and Sherlock it’d be either something as simple as ‘internet’ or sth like ‘Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis’ because it’s a medical term they both know and they love love LOVE to mess with other people’s heads
sherlock sets the password and john thinks it’s a string of random numbers and letters, which sherlock tells him is the most secure way to do it, so john has it written on a post-it note taped next to the trackpad on his laptop (very secure, john) because he knows he’ll never remember it
it’s actually a code of sherlock’s own devising and if john ever managed to decipher it he would realize it says “sherlockholmeslovesjohnwatson”
I’m interested in the kinds of fanwork that goes on in the production of fanfiction; there’s more than we usually articulate, and I’ve often felt like we haven’t got the language to differentiate between the different kinds of beta work that goes on behind the scenes. So I’ve given a shot at articulating and classifying the various kinds of beta reading I’m familiar with.
SPAG Beta. Spelling, punctuation and grammar. This is your basic line edit. This is the person who catches your typos and silly mistakes.
Dropped Words Beta. Some people might be both a SPAG and a dropped words beta, but I feel this one deserves pulling out. I don’t know about you, but I can’t write a damn sentence without dropping at least a word or two. I think the word is there, I can practically see it there, but it’s not there. Many (if not most) people will add the lost at or an or the in there for you in their minds and not notice, but the laser eyes of a dropped word beta will put you to rights again. To be a dropped words beta you need to be able to look at the text without getting drawn into the story, and that’s both a special skill and a sacrifice for someone who actually likes your story. So anyone who can do this: you are a treasure, a gift, and made of gold.
Plot Beta. This is work that happens at the very beginning, as well as throughout a story. A plot beta is the person you talk your story out with, she’s your sounding board in the creation process. She may not be into SPAG or dropped words, and might not be a britpicker or formatting genius, but that doesn’t matter. Your plot beta’s not really there to worry about your word choice. She’s there to help birth a story with you. I write very long stories, so plot betas come in early go through my outline with me as I construct it. A plot beta is one of the few who end up beta reading an outline, in my experience. Many betas I’ve worked with don’t want to know what’s going to happen next in a story. They don’t want to be spoiled. So you can keep the spoiling conversations between you and your plot beta, and keep surprising a SPAG and formatting beta.
Research beta. This person works with you to help you pin down the bizarre facts you need to get your story right. Like a plot beta, they can act as a sounding board and help you construct the fine details.
Character Beta. This is someone who will act as a north star for you on a particular character. This is helpful if you’re writing about a character you don’t feel entirely certain about, or you just want someone to argue with you about the actions of a particular character so you can feel confident that s/he is at least close to being in character. It’s actually hard to keep the canon core of a character in your mind as you morph and change him/her, so having someone around who isn’t off on your flights of fantasy with you can be helpful in that respect.
Emotional Flow Beta. This is someone who reads your story for its emotional flow. Is it working? Does it ring true? They’re not there to debate whether the characters are OOC, just to tell you if the actions you’re describing feels real. This is related to a plot beta, and can be related to a character beta, but is different than both. Your emotional flow beta might have no idea where you’re story is headed and is just reacting to what’s on the page right now, which is useful. (hiddenlacuna suggests: whump!beta.)
Settings and Location Beta. This is someone who is attuned to the places you’re setting your stories, works well with Google Maps, and is anal retentive enough to correct you if you say it takes forty minutes to walk to that Tesco when it actually takes about twenty-five. This person is often also your Britpicker, but this is a separate service, I’d say.
Britpicker. Everyone knows what a Britpicker is, right? The person who tells you you’ve used the word “gotten” again, and that “recognize” doesn’t have a z in it in the UK. Also it’s a lift for God’s sake, not an elevator! In other fandoms, you may need an Americanpicker or other. (I’ve yet to be asked to act as a Canuckpicker, much to my disappointment.)
*-picker. You can call in an expert on anything, really. If you have violins in your story, call in a violin expert! Cricket? The inner workings of the BBC? Find a picker for that! It never hurts to call in someone with specialist knowledge.
Smut Beta. The person who helps you sort out those insanely complicated sex scenes. This is someone you trust not to laugh their bums off at you as you stumble through this terrifying territory.
Canon Beta. Someone whose inner knowledge of the canon in question is exquisite, and who can make sure you haven’t made any egregious mistakes.
Formatting Beta. This is a person who makes sure your code is clear to be posted. In more complicated stories, this might be a bigger deal than usual.
One person can be many of these things; obviously they’re not mutually exclusive. I think you could merge a few of the pieces and end up with a sort of sounding board beta you talk to before and during the writing, and then the person with the laser eyes you call in once you have something to actually look at. But these are (at least some) of the work that is behind the scenes of a fanfiction story.
If you are someone who would like to be someone’s sounding board, but you don’t really want to be responsible for line editing, you can still offer to beta. It’s just a different kind of relationship, and different expectations on both sides! All kinds of betas are welcome, useful, and intensely valuable!
Me: “Of course it doesn’t make sense. Is this silly enough for you yet? Gothic enough? Mad enough, even for you? It doesn’t make sense because it’s not real. None of it.”
There is an American sitcom called Difficult People and it has a character who works for PBS. In a recent episode the person was listening to viewer voicemails and one said (in a man’s voice) “I didn’t watch Sherlock so I could see Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman NOT kiss!”
This is the first time I’ve heard Sherlock’s queerbaiting directly referenced on TV.
Difficult People (Hulu) S3 E9 – Sweet Tea. Arthur is listening to the voicemails in the living room.
Sherlock Fandom Archive 