Hi, readers!!
First, thank you so much for taking the time to check out this fic. I really hope you enjoyed it.
I thought I'd share that this story unexpectedly became a tribute to Mark Gatiss as I wrote.
Mark happens to be on my short list of role models, so that is perfectly fine. But it wasn't at all planned.
I don't outline. No storyboards or plot maps. I just sink myself into the character's mind and write whatever comes out.
In this case, It's a Wonderful Life was a key element. While writing the scene in the "dungeon", the film presented itself as a connection to a possible childhood love of Christmas for Mycroft. I happen to know this to also be one of Mark's favourite movies, so was excited to see where it would lead. I was as surprised as Greg in Chapter 8 as the parallel's between George Bailey and Mycroft's lives with their brothers were highlighted.
In Chapter 7, I found Mycroft longing to go back to his holiday away with Greg. An image of Sherlock playing with a time machine as a boy surfaced. Conveniently, this served as another homage to Mark, who would, no doubt, list The Time Machine by H.G. Wells as one of his favourite books.
The reference in this fic to Mycroft's notebook should ring a bell for Sherlock fans. This fic states that Mycroft carries the book with him at all times. Mark Gatiss, in fact, carried the book with him at all times throughout the Sherlock episodes, even though we only see it on screen in a few isolated instances. Perhaps that was a nod to Peter Cushing, one of Mark's favourite Hammer Horror actors, who made it a habit to always carry all of his character's effects at all times, whether or not they were seen on film?
For me, the unexpected adulation is welcome where Mark is concerned, but thought I'd share the coincidences with you.
.....or perhaps they're not coincidences - after all, the universe is rarely so lazy. ;-)
Thanks for reading, friends!
Keep your eyes open for the next story in this series.
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Mystrade - Christmas in the Cotswolds - from The Personal Journal of Mycroft..
FanfictionIn this second installment of The Personal Journal of Mycroft Holmes series (a Mystrade series), Greg is determined to make 2018 a Christmas Mycroft will never forget. It seems that everyone from Mycroft to John, though, has secrets they've been hid...
