John Watson

[Boton]

I sometimes wonder whether we read more into the Doyle stories than the author put in (just like we do with the BBC show ;-D). For example, Doyle couldn't keep the location of Watson's war wound straight or his Christian name, for that matter - are we sure he was consistent with dates? Did he really intend to say that Dr Watson got married again (or six times as some claim) or did he just shift the year of that marriage around to suit his current fancy?

 

Not that it matters. It's more fun to find in-universe explanations for things anyway.

 

Oh, I love trying to ret-con things.  And I also love the "Three Continents Watson" lore - in my mind, ACD Watson is out every chance he gets, seducing some Victorian maiden with well-turned ankles.   :D

[Hikari]

 

I sometimes wonder whether we read more into the Doyle stories than the author put in (just like we do with the BBC show ;-D). For example, Doyle couldn't keep the location of Watson's war wound straight or his Christian name, for that matter - are we sure he was consistent with dates? Did he really intend to say that Dr Watson got married again (or six times as some claim) or did he just shift the year of that marriage around to suit his current fancy?

 

Not that it matters. It's more fun to find in-universe explanations for things anyway.

 

Oh, I love trying to ret-con things.  And I also love the "Three Continents Watson" lore - in my mind, ACD Watson is out every chance he gets, seducing some Victorian maiden with well-turned ankles.   :D

 

 

I'm sure Sir Arthur would most likely say we do.  Of course, Sir Arthur never viewed Holmes as any more than a quick and reliable cash cow, not an artistic achievement.  He came to resent the public's fascination with Holmes and the burden of coming up with new Holmes stories because, in his own view, Holmes was some pulp ephemera that would be forgotten, while Arthur viewed his real creative legacy to be the historical novels he wrote.  His resentful/perfunctory attitude toward what we now accept today as his artistic legacy becomes pretty clear as the series wore on and the entries became more and more slapdash and weaker.  He was getting paid by the word; as long as he got his money, he seemed to care only sporadically about the quality of his stories for the Strand, down to not being bothered to proofread them . . .but then, nobody at the Strand seemed to bother, either.

 

Turns out that Sir Arthur could not have been more wrong.  Modern readers struggle to call to mind a single non-Holmes title from his prolific output, if any of them are even still in print.  His novels have failed to stand the test of time, falling into obscurity within decades of his death, if not before.  Meanwhile, Holmes endures and goes from strength to strength.  He's every bit as popular now--more so, even--than when he was being written.  There are endless supplies of new readers hungry for Sherlock Holmes stories and endless new platforms serving them up in multiple formats.  Sherlock Lives . . and not in a cottage (industry) but in a vast Mind Palace.

 

You're right--'we', the modern lovers of Sherlock Holmes do put way more in than the author did.  We amplify and nurture Sherlock Holmes because we love and care about him more than his creator ever did.  If Arthur had had his way, Holmes would have stayed Dead.  His public would not stand for it, and so Conan Doyle brought him back (probably because people were refusing to buy any other books from the man who killed Sherlock Holmes--Arthur was motivated chiefly by money and Holmes made him an extremely wealthy man).  Nothing wrong with earning money as a writer, if you have the luck and the skill to do it . . .few writers besides Fitzgerald have been as blatant about writing for profit as Conan Doyle, though.  Sherlock earned him a knighthood, too.  Didn't stop him from being incredibly shabby toward the character who made his name for all time.

 

We make more of Sherlock because we love him better, and that's a fact.

[T.o.b.y]

Maybe that's why it seems like some fans feel they "own" the character.

[Boton]

It's kind of like I always say about John Grisham, who, I believe, had one non-law novel flop but has made a ton of money off his law-related stuff.  "John, buddy, you found a way to not have to be wearing a suit and tie practicing law in the Southern (US) heat and humidity; just write what the people will buy, already."

[Carol the Dabbler]

Sherlock earned him a knighthood, too.  Didn't stop him from being incredibly shabby toward the character who made his name for all time.

 

The reason for granting his knighthood doesn't seem to have been publicly announced, but newspapers of the time as well as Doyle himself seem to think it was more for his pamphleteering on behalf of the British policies during the Boer War.

 

It's kind of like I always say about John Grisham, who, I believe, had one non-law novel flop but has made a ton of money off his law-related stuff.  "John, buddy, you found a way to not have to be wearing a suit and tie practicing law in the Southern (US) heat and humidity; just write what the people will buy, already."

 

It's all well and good to write whatever sells in order to feed oneself -- but Grisham also needs to feed the inner man and/or keep from getting bored.  Same reasons that you yourself write fanfic in addition to your professional works, eh?

[Hikari]

 

Sherlock earned him a knighthood, too.  Didn't stop him from being incredibly shabby toward the character who made his name for all time.

 

The reason for granting his knighthood doesn't seem to have been publicly announced, but newspapers of the time as well as Doyle himself seem to think it was more for his pamphleteering on behalf of the British policies during the Boer War.

 

It's kind of like I always say about John Grisham, who, I believe, had one non-law novel flop but has made a ton of money off his law-related stuff.  "John, buddy, you found a way to not have to be wearing a suit and tie practicing law in the Southern (US) heat and humidity; just write what the people will buy, already."

 

It's all well and good to write whatever sells in order to feed oneself -- but Grisham also needs to feed the inner man and/or keep from getting bored.  Same reasons that you yourself write fanfic in addition to your professional works, eh?

 

 

Thanks as always for your meticulous attention to accuracy, Carol

 

I don't write fanfic as such--not yet, anyway.  And I don't have any professional works as an author but I sure do aspire to that.  Thanks for the smile today.  I can always rely on you for that.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Thanks as always for your meticulous attention to accuracy, Carol

 

I don't write fanfic as such--not yet, anyway.  And I don't have any professional works as an author but I sure do aspire to that.  Thanks for the smile today.  I can always rely on you for that.

Seems like I'm more meticulous about what you post than about what I post!    Must have had my head on crooked -- was thinking of someone else.  Sorry!

[Arcadia]

For what it's worth, Carol, your reply was in response to Boton's post, not Hikari's. So at this point I say, let's just color us all "confused"! (I believe that shade is similar to cornflower, so you and I, at least, should be content. ;))

[Boton]

 

It's kind of like I always say about John Grisham, who, I believe, had one non-law novel flop but has made a ton of money off his law-related stuff.  "John, buddy, you found a way to not have to be wearing a suit and tie practicing law in the Southern (US) heat and humidity; just write what the people will buy, already."

 

It's all well and good to write whatever sells in order to feed oneself -- but Grisham also needs to feed the inner man and/or keep from getting bored.  Same reasons that you yourself write fanfic in addition to your professional works, eh?

 

 

Mm, I don't know.  With the single except of my latest book (which I intend to make money, BTW), I never think of any of my writing as something that feeds my inner self. I think of it as something I can do relatively well and which people will pay me to do; I suppose if I were good at bricklaying, I'd do that.  So, in that metaphor, my fan fiction is like assembling furniture because I want a new bookshelf or something; I write my fan fiction because I want a new story to certain specs, and the way to get that is to write it.

 

Grisham may well be different, though.  I just think there's a myth that anyone in an artistic field would do it without the pay because they are just so driven to do so, and it's not always the case.  I know several graphic designers who, if they didn't need to design for a living, would literally be farmers instead, not artists. 

[Boton]

For what it's worth, Carol, your reply was in response to Boton's post, not Hikari's. So at this point I say, let's just color us all "confused"! (I believe that shade is similar to cornflower, so you and I, at least, should be content. ;))

 

OK, but there is the exception that proves my rule:  Someone absolutely has to write a story called "Confusion is Cornflower Blue."   :D

[Pseudonym]

Sounds like a sequel to 'Electric Pink Hand Grenade.'

[Boton]

Wouldn't that be nice!

[Pseudonym]

It would. She only writes Hobbit fic now though. :(

[Boton]

Sigh.  Well, understandable, since people have to go where their imaginations lead.

[Pseudonym]

Yup. Im hoping she'll one day be seduced back. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

For what it's worth, Carol, your reply was in response to Boton's post, not Hikari's. So at this point I say, let's just color us all "confused"! (I believe that shade is similar to cornflower, so you and I, at least, should be content. ;))

 

 

Apparently I misunderstood Hikari's comment.  Does that mean I haven't totally lost it just yet?  *whew* 

 

(Though considering how much I love that cornflower blue, I may need to get confused more often.)

[Arcadia]

Try reading the exchange Boton and Pseud just shared, that might help. 

 

Meanwhile, I'm one of those artsy people who has always done art because I can't not do it ... even when I had other jobs that earned me far more money. And which made me abysmally miserable (and nearly suicidal, at one point). Now I'm poor but sane (relatively speaking ).

[Pseudonym]

*Pleased to be sowing ill ease and confusion*  :lol:

[T.o.b.y]

Try reading the exchange Boton and Pseud just shared, that might help.

 

Meanwhile, I'm one of those artsy people who has always done art because I can't not do it ... even when I had other jobs that earned me far more money. And which made me abysmally miserable (and nearly suicidal, at one point). Now I'm poor but sane (relatively speaking ).

This sounds really odd and terrible, but I envy you. Not for being miserable of course but for having that inborn artistic drive. I have friends who are like that too. For me on the other hand, making art is like socializing - I enjoy it in the right context but it drains me and I am rarely satisfied with the results.

[Arcadia]

Oh, it drains me too, and I'm never satisfied with the results! It satisfies some need of mine, though, even if I don't know what it is.

[Van Buren Supernova]

The reason for granting his knighthood doesn't seem to have been publicly announced, but newspapers of the time as well as Doyle himself seem to think it was more for his pamphleteering on behalf of the British policies during the Boer War.

As what I read in multiple sources too.

But fret not, Sherlock Holmes himself earned Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

 

As for working, my wish is to have enough money for all the nitty gritty that I could work for payless job just for fun.

Like striking a big lottery and then spend my time with hundred of dogs in big land that house them all, while doing mad experiments and meaningless researches.

That's all I ask, really.

Now, have to start buying lottery...

[Carol the Dabbler]

I read a while back about a family that was so determined to win the lottery that they sold their house, their cars, their furniture, everything, and bought tickets with the proceeds.  Obviously didn't stop to think that buying maybe 100,000 tickets is pretty puny compared to odds of a few million.  Idiots.

 

Don't do that.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Lottery is tax on stupidity and punishment for having poor grade in math.

 

Having said that, I read that there are people who won lottery more than once. Geez!

 

I don't buy lottery because I believe in my winning chance, as said, the odd is never yours.

But there was time when me and a friend would buy each other a piece of lottery ticket, if we happen to see someone selling it, it's monthly lottery with horrible odds, and then share whatever winning which is zero XD.

It went on until I moved away and when I visit or she visit, we'd buy one for the other, for the sake of  memories.

[Janyss]

Although I've introduced myself as a Mycroft-fan, I can't ignore the dynamic of the series  made by Gatiss and Moffat's interpretation of Watson. Much to say, first of all that I like it. The violence he suffered from on the warfront allows to explain why he follows Sherlock in the beginning, and that really starts the story. The relation with Holmes, between admiration, affection, exhausting...is perfectly portrayed. As I haven't seen the épisodes completely, much to discover for me here too!

[Artemis]

As for working, my wish is to have enough money for all the nitty gritty that I could work for payless job just for fun.

Like striking a big lottery and then spend my time with hundred of dogs in big land that house them all, while doing mad experiments and meaningless researches.

That's all I ask, really.

 

Likewise!  Is that so much to ask?  :P