The Progress of Sherlock Holmes

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Fanfiction
Title: The Progress of Sherlock Holmes
Author(s): Ivy Blossom
Date(s):
series work
December 11, 2010 – March 27, 2011
Length: 62,000 words (25 chapters)
Genre(s): slash, m/m and het, f/m (past)
Fandom(s): Sherlock (BBC)
Relationship(s):
External Links: AO3 Series
AO3 Chapters

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Fake Book Cover by blanketforyourshock (eloercs)

The Progress of Sherlock Holmes is a long, intricate Sherlock/John fic by Ivy Blossom. Notably, the story includes John's marriage to Mary Morstan, John Watson's wife in several of the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories. In contrast to many popular fanworks, Ivy Blossom does not portray Sherlock as sociopathic or asexual; he is merely a shy, relatively misanthropic genius. The fic pays a good amount of attention to the psychological motivations of each of the characters, weaving a complex web of relationships built (in part) on the ways each character is "broken" and how they must work to understand one another.

The fic was originally posted as a WIP series of fics;[1] the first story was called Anchorite.

The author provides the following summary on the Archive of our Own: "Sherlock is head over heels for John, but you wouldn't know it by looking at him. First-person present-tense series of short scenes from Sherlock's point of view, borrowing heavily from Arthur Conan Doyle's stories."

In 2015 was discussed in the reading221b lj community, to read the conversation access the masterlist[2] -- it is necessary to join the community to view the discussions.

Reaction

The Progress of Sherlock Holmes is immensely popular within the fan community. In its first three weeks on AO3 in March and April 2011, it garnered enough "hits" to put it in the top 60 most-viewed works in the Sherlock fandom (of the more than 1500 works in the archive at the time). This is despite the fact that many of the chapters had long been available elsewhere as a work-in-progress.

Out There recommended the piece on the AO3 on April 2, 2011, writing: "It's long and absorbing, but the style is immediate and personal. Most Sherlock POVs almost work for me -- as a version of Sherlock, a possibility -- but this one was Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock, the Sherlock I see on my screen and can imagine smiling and running after danger and moping around Baker St. ..."[3]

Another reviewer wrote of the finished work: "Perfect ending to a wonderful story. I think this will become one of the fandom's big core stories - along with Loren Ipsum, Paradox Suite…"[4]

Cover of the 2012 printed book. Artist: Julia Vidanova

In 2012. a printed copy of the story was offered in 6x9 format, perfect bound with a color cover by Julia Vidanova. The book was published by One's Own Publication located in Russia and has 192 pages.

Inspiration

The story was made into an eight-hour podfic by cellardoorpodfic for Amplificathon 2012,[5] with musical arrangement, below the complete list of music used:[6]

  • Start of track 2: Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20: Scéne (moderato), Tchaikovsky
  • Ends of tracks 2 through 4: Danse russe from Swan Lake, Op. 20 (Act III), Tchaikovsky
  • Ends of tracks 5 through 8: Concerto in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 35: II. Canzonetta. Andante, Tchaikovsky
  • Ends of tracks 9 through 16: Méditation in D minor, Op. 42, No. 1, Tchaikovsky
  • Ends of tracks 17 through 21: Sérénade mélancolique in B-flat minor, Op. 26, Tchaikovsky
  • Ends of tracks 22 through 25: Swan Lake - Ballet In Four Acts Op. 20, Act I, 5. Pas de Deux: II. Andante - Allegro - Molto Più Mosso (Ida Haendel, Violin), Tchaikovsky
  • End of track 26: Quartet No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 12: I. Adagio non troppo/Allegro non tardante, Mendelssohn

The story was also translated into:

Works inspired by this series:

Reviews and Comments

Unknown Date

[Fanfiction Recommendations]
"Take a chance on the first-person present tense narration – it’s well done and you get to exist in Sherlock Holmes’ head in a fabulous, unique way. It’s incredible that Ivy Blossom pulled off that technique for 60,000 words and it never grew cumbersome. This fic is different in kind from most Johnlock romances – half character exploration, half slowburn romance, this fic gets deep into Sherlock’s head and lets you revel in it. We worked on Saturday for this one, just because we wanted to give it its time and read it slowly and we were glad we did. Thoroughly engaging, beautifully narrated, and with a squee-worthy, stunning finish, this is one of the greats."[7]

2014

[drgrlfriend]
I don’t know if this was the first Sherlock fic I read, or just the first one to knock my socks off, but I always think of it as my “first” Johnlock fic. I watched Sherlock when it aired and considered myself a casual fan, but how I got from there to shipping Johnlock with the passion of a thousand fiery suns is all due to fanfics like these. It just because inconceivable to think that they might *not* end up together. ivyblossom does an amazing job communicating Sherlock’s erratic inner monologue, and the complexity of her characters, especially her Mary and Mycroft, is breathtaking.[8]

2015

[januarymarlinquin]
Just finish my re-read!!!!! Forgot how much I loved this fic and how it makes me fall in love with love. The perfect selection for Romance now thinking back[9]

References

  1. ^ ivyblossom's LJ post, 22 March 2011. The chaptered version[dead link],offline as of 15 Dec 2022
  2. ^ reading221b (2015-02-13). "A Sort Of Book Event — It's not too late to join the conversation abo…". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 2024-06-11.
  3. ^ out_there (2011-04-02). "list bookmarks". AO3. Archived from the original on 2012-06-12.
  4. ^ Kim's comment at chapter 25 (2011-03-27). "I think this will become one of the fandom's big core stories …". AO3. Archived from the original on 2022-12-16.
  5. ^ See the Amplificathon post, 15 March 2012. See The Progress Of Sherlock Holmes on the Audiofic Archive
  6. ^ cellardoorpodfic. "The Science of Phonaesthetics (My Podfic Info)". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 2013-01-26.
  7. ^ "Sherlock Fanfiction Classics - Fanfic Recs". Archived from the original on 2019-11-15. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  8. ^ dr.girlfriend (2014-08-27). "Ten Fics". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 2018-12-04.
  9. ^ januarymarlinquin (2015-02-10). "Just finish my re-read!!!!! Forgot how much I loved this fic and how …". Tumblr. Archived from the original on 2024-06-11.
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