I was recently pulled into the wonderful world of Sherlock, BBC's modern take on the beloved detective, Sherlock Holmes. If you haven't seen it yet, or if you're a fan of Sherlock, I highly suggest watching it - Benedict Cumberbatch is absolutely marvelous as Sherlock - not to mention he's got a voice like chocolate and butter and velvet. The first season is available on Netflix, and the second will have to be found online (Veoh has full episodes, but you've got to download their media player to watch them.)

Anyway...

What I'm looking for is a beta/Brit-picker/sounding board/motivational real-life muse all rolled up into one person to help me with a fanfiction I'm writing for the series. It's an alternate universe Johnlock (Sherlock Holmes/John Watson) pairing, and the summary is as follows:

A fateful incident on a cold December night leaves two young boys irreversibly changed, and only time will tell the consequences of their mutual fates: tied together for all of eternity, forced-immortal souls shut up in forced-immortal bodies. Can a common enemy heal the fractures of one decision, or will it all splinter into a million irreparable pieces?

If you fit the bill for beta reader, Brit-picker and human muse, please reply to this thread or send me a private message.

Thanks in advance!

~Aubrey

They must have removed the other fandoms then. For a while, they had an extensive list, though there weren't many betas for each and every list there. I think the Inuyasha fandom had a single beta. When I tried for it, my test was rejected for some reason. I don't think I scored high enough, even though I've been accredited in other places. Meh, such is life!

I've made sure Mr. Momo full well knows that I want the Sherlock DVDs for any upcoming gifting thing. We watched it together, and I drop hints all of the time. I was surprised he actually enjoyed it.

I've got a great resource for you - www.perfectimagination.co.uk/.

I worked with a beta from them when I played around in the Harry Potter fandom, and they were amazing. She spotted everything, picked and picked to the point that I wanted to throw the story down and quit, but my tale came out to be absolutely amazing.

If I'm not mistaken, that started originally as an HP beta archive, but was later expanded. I'm sure you'll find a ton of Sherlock fans there that will be able to not only brit pick but help you keep things consistent.

BTW, when you said Sherlock, I got excited <3

I have looked there before, but they only have betas for the HP random, or at least that's the only thing there as an option, although I suppose that I could contact them and see if they have anyone who'd be willing to beta for Sherlock if no one offers here.

Thanks!

ps - I get excited about it too! I'm hopelessly obsessed, and I've already watched the first season twice - can't quite make myself watch The Reichenbach Fall again, so I'm avoiding the second season like the plague lol.

Hi there - this isn't a response to being a beta, but I'm obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, too. I haven't watched the show bc I know I'll get sucked in so I'm saving to watch when I have copious amounts of time.

I wanted to recommend some Sherlock books called the "Mary Russell" series by author Laurie King. The premise is that after Sherlock retires to Sussex, he finally meets a female who is his match and takes her on to be his apprentice. The thing is, she is a 15-year old, spit-fire girl who just may be as brilliant as our Sherlock. The series starts when she is 15 and ends I think 20-30 years later and you see the natural progression of their relationship from teacher/apprentice to something more. I read the first four books in the series and they are amazing -- so well written and the character development is spot-on. It's historical fiction so the details of England, dialects, and nuances are simply superb. I felt like I was walking through England with her descriptions. The scientific forensic stuff is very interesting and only lends to it being a bona fide mystery series which is why it's won Agatha awards, etc. When Mary is older, the dialogue between the two is simply genius -- very fast bantering similar to "His Girl Friday" but with witty English humor.

Book 1 is called "The Beekeeper's Apprentice"; Book 2 is "A Monstrous Regiment of Women"; Book 3 is "A Letter of Mary."

Anyway, just in case you are interested. It reminds me that I need to finish the series. Good luck on your new endeavor!!!

~H.

Haven wrote:
Hi there - this isn't a response to being a beta, but I'm obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, too. I haven't watched the show bc I know I'll get sucked in so I'm saving to watch when I have copious amounts of time.

I wanted to recommend some Sherlock books called the "Mary Russell" series by author Laurie King. The premise is that after Sherlock retires to Sussex, he finally meets a female who is his match and takes her on to be his apprentice. The thing is, she is a 15-year old, spit-fire girl who just may be as brilliant as our Sherlock. The series starts when she is 15 and ends I think 20-30 years later and you see the natural progression of their relationship from teacher/apprentice to something more. I read the first four books in the series and they are amazing -- so well written and the character development is spot-on. It's historical fiction so the details of England, dialects, and nuances are simply superb. I felt like I was walking through England with her descriptions. The scientific forensic stuff is very interesting and only lends to it being a bona fide mystery series which is why it's won Agatha awards, etc. When Mary is older, the dialogue between the two is simply genius -- very fast bantering similar to "His Girl Friday" but with witty English humor.

Book 1 is called "The Beekeeper's Apprentice"; Book 2 is "A Monstrous Regiment of Women"; Book 3 is "A Letter of Mary."

Anyway, just in case you are interested. It reminds me that I need to finish the series. Good luck on your new endeavor!!!

~H.

Thanks for the suggestion! Those books sound really interesting!

Also, just as an edit to my original post, both seasons of Sherlock are now on Netflix. Again, I highly recommend the series, especially if you like English humor and can appreciate a bit of sarcasm.