post of several things

[kindkit]

1) I saw War Horse the other day, mostly to please a friend but also because Benedict Cumberbatch is in it. Unfortunately, Cumberbatch was only in it for about ten minutes and had a horrible mustache. And the film itself was pretty awful, as even my heartwarming-animal-stories loving friend agreed. But it was awful in the way that means it will probably win several Oscars.

2) Out of all the things I could be writing, why am I writing a Sherlock/Cabin Pressure crossover that pairs Martin and Mycroft? I think that when presented with multiple fic-writing options, my subconscious goes for the one that will be the creepiest and/or attract the fewest readers.

3) Why do non-British (generally American) fen go to the effort of writing really good Sherlock fic, often quite lengthy and with great care taken over the prose and plot, and then don't get it Britpicked? I cringe at every "gotten," every wrong "pants," and if it bothers me, it must bother British readers much more. I end up hesitant to rec these stories, however good they are in other respects, and even to comment on them because I'm annoyed that the author couldn't bother to do one simple thing.

Comments

[st_aurafina]

I'm pretty forgiving on "pants" and "gotten" as long as it's consistent - it's invisible to my eye the same way that alternate spelling is. But things that are just ridiculous, like "jelly" on toast, or celebrating Halloween? Instant back-button clicker.

I try to get my fic Ameri-picked when I'm writing in USian fandoms. I don't want people having the same cringe in reverse when I'm writing X-Men or Twin Peaks or whatever.

[kindkit]

Hmm, I tend to find cultural-reference errors (e.g. Halloween) slightly more tolerable than language errors, although still not very. I feel like at least the basic differences between UK and US English ought to be so obvious that an attentive writer can catch a lot of them on their own before the beta stage. That may be unfair of me, though; almost all of my fandoms are UK-based, so I'm immersed in UK English more than most US writers would be (and more than a lot of UK/Australian/New Zealand writers writing US sources would be in US English).

I don't want people having the same cringe in reverse

*nods* My personal favorite error is when a non-US writer tries to use gotten but gets it wrong and uses it in a context where USians, like other Anglophones, would use "got."

[surexit]

'Gotten' is actually on its way in over here, and I'd probably write it in dialogue, depending on the character, and frequently use it in speech myself.

'Pants', on the other hand, is INDEFENSIBLE.

And also, totally agree with you on Brit/anyt-other-country-picking for lengthy plotty stuff. I can forgive it for the short stuff, but for anything that is supposed to appear polished, it really needs to be done.

[kindkit]

I've, er, gotten very used to "gotten" as a taboo word in UK (also Irish, Australian, and New Zealand) fandoms, so I don't think I would dare use it even if it was used in the source. *laughs*

I don't have short things Britpicked, although I like to believe I catch the most common Americanisms myself. But, yeah, for anything "serious" I like to get a second opinion, and it helps. In my most recent fic, I learned thanks to my beta/Britpicker that "angry at" is an Americanism, and Brits are "angry with" someone.

[slashgoddess80]

Actually some people thinks that a true sherlock Holmes fan has to write things like the canon...once I read a man attacking another just because he liked the movie with Downey Jr and said he wasn´t a true sherlockian...

btw dod you read that?

http://www.nekosmuse.com/sherlockholmes/decodingthesubtext.pdf

homoerotic aspects in the canon :P

The things I discover xD