December daily: Fanfiction unicorn

[resonant]

karmageddon prompts: What's your fic unicorn : the story you would read the hell out of, if only it existed?

Oh my. I wish I had started on this earlier!

Guys, this should be a meme. I encourage everyone to answer this question in your journals, because it was all kinds of fun.

As for my story, let's see. It would be BBC Sherlock and John, obviously, since they're the ones I'm in love with at the moment.

It would be published complete, all at once, and it would have pacing on purpose instead of just tension rising and falling depending on how much writing time the author had that day.

It would be satisfyingly long but not so long that a person couldn't read it all in one day.

It would have a slow-burn love story, and the author would understand that coitus interruptus is not the same thing as romantic suspense. The emotional barriers that are there in the canon would be there in the story, or possibly even more so, and it would take actual work to get past them. There would be genuine relationship development, which would continue even after the sex.

There would be enough possibility of emotional misunderstanding to give me some good gut-clenchy moments. The resolution would be solid and satisfying, but not be carried out in the form of a long out-of-character conversation.

The guys would be themselves; I wouldn't be saying to people, "Did you read that AU where Sherlock cares a lot about how other people feel?" But they would be good at what they're good at, too.

Most readers, at this point, say, "There'd be a good case," or, "The other characters we love would be their adorable selves," but honestly, dear readers, I don't care if the entire story takes place in John's bedroom and no other human being is seen, heard, or referred to from start to finish.

John would not be coaxing Sherlock to eat or sleep, as if John were a parent who hadn't quite worked out that one has no control over a toddler's bodily functions. There would be no mention of shopping, washing dishes, tidying, or any sort of chore whatsoever. If there was a pancreas hanging over the towel bar on the first page, there would still be a pancreas hanging over the towel bar on the last.

I'm a sucker for virginity, for John getting to be smarter than Sherlock about some things, and for sexual desperation, and for Sherlock being really, really touch-starved.

John would be strong enough that I could feel happy about his being in a relationship with Sherlock, rather than having the sinking feeling that he was going to wind up flattened by Sherlock's emotional steam-roller.

Possibly there would be sequels.

Comments

[karmageddon]

This was really fun to read. There are a lot of really good thoughts in here that could apply to any pairing. And a Sherlock/John vic with no tidying is a rare bird indeed.

[resonant]

It's so true! I see the temptation -- they have to be doing something while they're talking; it's the reason I killed those zebras in "DNA" -- but it plays into the Mad Genius and His Long-Suffering Wife trope, which I despise.

Thanks for a really inspiring prompt!

[out_there]

I would totally read that.

(Although I might miss the mention of chores. Don't ask me why, but I randomly love the sorting-out-the-chores side of living together. At least when it's done in a believable, two bachelors living together and avoiding absolute squalor way.)

I'm adding this question to my meme list.

[resonant]

You know, I would totally read and enjoy an actual sorting-out-the-chores story, as long as it didn't make a housewife of John. It's giving me amusing thoughts, actually, about what Sherlock would define as a chore. Possibly he's the kind of person who will Spiderman up the outside of the building and wash all the exterior windows? Or, like, lovingly nurture home-grown alfalfa sprouts in a jar and put them on everything he eats including toast?

Maybe he would can?

But I hate stories that just assume, with no negotiation, that John will be a housewife, and I hate stories that have the negotiation and in the end it results in a lot of resentful arguments and John being a housewife.

[out_there]

But I hate stories that just assume, with no negotiation, that John will be a housewife, and I hate stories that have the negotiation and in the end it results in a lot of resentful arguments and John being a housewife.

*nods* Yeah, that's a pet peeve too. I mean, I totally believe that John probably does the shopping more often -- he just seems like the type to think of grabbing a grocery list on his way out the door -- but I suspect that Sherlock's messy, not the complete domestic disaster that has become a fandom cliche. Cleaning dishes, kitchens and bathrooms can't be too different from keeping a lab sterile for experiments, so I could see that. If Sherlock thought it would have any relevance to a case -- or be useful information -- I could see him dusting/vacuuming under the guise of wanting to be able to recognise when the chore had been done or what could be missed, etc, etc.

Possibly he's the kind of person who will Spiderman up the outside of the building and wash all the exterior windows?

You know, he probably would. He'd probably be quite happy to do the weirdly dangerous and up-high chores (the ones that I'd cringe about and ignore because outside + heights does not equal a happy out_there).

But he'd probably object to something like drying the dishes, which doesn't improve the cleanness of the dish and just takes up time.

[jedusaur]

honestly, dear readers, I don't care if the entire story takes place in John's bedroom and no other human being is seen, heard, or referred to from start to finish.

Wow, there's a hell of a prompt. I'm shitty at writing longfic and relationship development and most of the other stuff you mentioned, but I might take that on its own and run with it.

[resonant]

Whoa -- go for it! I didn't expect this to result in fiction. I like being the catalyst for more fiction in the universe.

[princessofgeeks]

You know, I have read just a couple of stories in BBC Sherlock and seen only a very few episodes, but this is a story I myself would love to read!!!

Also I'm with you on really really disliking people policing other people's eating in fic. That happens a lot to Daniel Jackson in my fandom and I always roll my eyes when I see it.

[karmageddon]

I feel like this topic deserves thougtful meta.

[resonant]

Wow; I've read a bit of SG1 and never noticed an emphasis on Daniel's food; I must have gotten lucky in what I read.

[princessofgeeks]

It's less common in the newer crop of writers, I think. It is sometimes part of the H/C fic where everyone needs to take care of/watch over Daniel because he is so damaged.

[vickita]

I think the obvious follow-on to this meme has to be, "And if you know of this story, please link in comments." *g* Yeah, I would read this one, too. :)

[resonant]

Definitely! I was surprised as I was writing it to find I had such a grudge against serial publishing, but I really really do.