My Students' Sherlock Fanfiction
I mentioned the fanfiction project I have been using in my teaching in the talk I posted recently. For those who are curious, here are the links to my students' Sherlock AU fanfiction.
A Study in Sherlock: What happens when you assign university students a Sherlock Holmes fanfiction writing task? Students in an English teacher education program at Malmö University in Sweden were asked to do just that. After self-organizing into writing teams, they were given carte blanche to either remix an existing Holmsian mystery (much like Sherlock’s A Study in Pink remixes A Study in Scarlet) or tell an entirely new mystery. The only requirement was that they had to bring some element of originality, alternate universe, or character bending/swapping into their story. Below are links to the 16 very different casefics that resulted from this four week project.
Nowhere to Hyde - A bit of fanfiction fusion that explores what it would be like if young John Watson and Sherlock Holmes found themselves solving crimes with the Scobby Gang in London in 1969.
The von Sydow Murders - ACD Holmes, set in Stockholm in the 1930s and inspired by an actual well-known murder case.
The Morbid Poet - A series of poems lead the detective to the bodies of several murder victims. Reference to suicide and miscarriage.
The Nucleus Affair - Holmes and Watson explore the murder of several scientists on the heels of The Great War.
A Letter of Science - A casefic with a Scandinavian flair. Holmes and Watson respond to a letter from Mr. Lestradesson of the police department in Malmö, Sweden regarding a series of letter bombs.
The Speckled Blonde - Inspired by the BBC Sherlock series and featuring a genderswapped Sherlock, now Sharon, Holmes. Modern-day retelling of The Speckled Band.
The Second Generation Detective - A retelling of The Three Garridebs written from four different perspectives, featuring John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, his wife Georgina Lestrade Holmes, and their daughter Shirley Holmes.
The Adventure of the Ghost of Torchwood Manor - In 1885, Holmes and Watson travel to Wales to investigate the mysterious ghost of Torchwood Manor.
A Murder in Ink - A case that forces Sherlock and John to confront a murderous writer, who seems to know a great deal about them.
Game of Holmes - A Sherlock-Game of Thrones fusion, in which Sherlock and John investigate a murder in King’s Landing.
The Butcher of Nantis - Set in the future in New London, Sherlock and John are called in to investigate a gruesome double murder that appears to be a copycat of that committed years earlier.
A Study in Elementary - A remix of the Elementary universe with elements of a Study in Scarlet. Having just ended her engagement, Joan settles into her room in the Brownstone and finds herself dashing after her new roommate, Sherlock, on a murder case.
The Hound of the Northern Lights - A remix of BBC Sherlock’s The Hounds of Baskerville set in contemporary Northern Sweden where characters’ names, food, and customs have been appropriately Swedified.
A Soon to be Royal Scandal - A modern take on the short story A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle. Catherine Middleton asks Sherlock for help to locate a certain video of her and a layman she once had a brief affair with. Dr. John Watson and Mr. Sherlock Holmes start to investigate the mystery and soon find themselves intrigued by the mysterious Irene Adler.
A Study in the Electric Field: Who is Watson? - A retelling of a Study in Scarlet in which Watson and Holmes meet for the first time in a modern prison, the home of the dangerous Sherlock Holmes.
The Mystery of the Diamond of Babur - Theft in the Tower of London, and the Koh-I-Noor diamond is missing.