Author Interview Tag
Thank you for the tag @simplyclockwork! I also saw @silentauroriamthereal‘s last night and meant to go off of that, so thank you to you both. (:
Name: AnneCumberbatch (just call me Anne! She/Her)
Fandoms: BBC Sherlock. I enjoy a smattering of content for other fandoms, but my blog and my writing focuses on Sherlock, specifically johnlock and mystrade.
Where do you post: Ao3, sometimes ficlets on Tumblr and now, apparently, little thread ficlets on Twitter (I newly joined as @theogannecbatch and it’s quite the adventure.)
Most popular multi-chapter fic: For John With Love is my most popular multi-chapter fic. It took me four years to complete and is most representative of my style, perhaps? I personally enjoy seeing myself transition into a more expressive writer throughout the story. It’s a dark johnlock with serial killer Sherlock and johnstrade.
Favorite story you’ve written so far: Hm.. I love my shorter little abstracted angst pieces. So, in my top faves are Pulse, a depressed!Sherlock feat. estranged John and caring Mycroft, Promise, a late night chat turned morning love confession post S4, and To Sleep, Perchance to Dream, a little Sherlock angst bomb. I think those, particularly Pulse, are the ones I think about the most.
Fic you were nervous to post: I think a fic I was nervous about posting… was probably both All we do is hide away back in January and A Sherlock-Shaped Hole this September. All we do was nerve-wracking because it’s a diary POV fic and I’d never done anything like that and I was posting a chapter a day for 38 days. It was quite the journey, but it turned out well, I think. SSH made me nervous because it had been a while since I’d posted a fic of substance. “substance”. So, that made me nervous, to “put to the test” if I was still decent at writing fics. But that also turned out alright, so, that was nice.
How you choose your titles: My titles are either songs that the fic was based on or a reflection of the story. So, my fluff series it’s pretty much based on a phrase or feeling uttered in the series, otherwise it’s just… whatever I think it should be called. Do I regret some of my titles? Yes. Do I regret naming For John, with love that? Hecking yes. But, it is what it is and now I try to name more wisely. Do I also regret A Sherlock-Shaped Hole? Yes. Is it an accurate title? Also yes. So, it’s tricky. - I also love titles. I love having a title for a piece. It feels grounding and reminds me of the focus of the piece. Sometimes, I have to think really hard about it, but other times, they just come to me.
Do you outline: Yes and no. The only pieces I posted that I actually outlined were Bee Socks, For John with love, and A Sherlock-Shaped Hole. Everything else I spit out pretty much as it is. I am a large fan of outlining though. I have pages and pages of WIPs that are outlined, just percolating and waiting for the right moment to emerge as a fic in my brain.
Complete: I’m not sure what this means, but I have around 35 completed fics on A03. Two WIPs posted on there and a cover art. I’m pleased with that so far. Not putting any pressure on myself.
In Progress: I have a hell of a lot of WIPs. I’m currently working on…. my first Mystrade fic that’s very WIP that I’m calling Gorgeous, Beautiful, a little ficlet for a headcanon for another writer who allowed me to write it (untitled), the sequel to All we do is hide away (An End to the Bitter Frosts), a Halloween spooky fic for next year, This Much I Know, and a royal/fantasy?/dark fic called The Son of the King. But honestly, there are probably around 30 WIP projects that I bounce back and forth on. I’m not a steady writer. The one that probably haunts me the most is Bee Socks, but it just spiraled into too big a project (i.e. the pandemic) and so I had to drop it temporarily for mental health reasons. I may pick it back up, or I may just write a chapter summarising what my plans had been. We’ll see.
Coming Soon: Hopefully, Gorgeous, Beautiful will work itself out. And then the headcanon ficlet, of course. Other then that, I have no idea.
Do you accept prompts: I’ve never gotten any prompts, really. I’m not sure. It would have to be within the areas I write in: realism, dark/fluff, no smut, etc. I love writing angst, so if you have a prompt, hit me up and we can chat about it!
Upcoming story you are most excited to write: I’m really excited to write the spooky fic, This Much I Know. I tried to write it in time for Halloween this year but it got away from me and really blossomed into something else. So I’m excited to see what will happen there.
Upcoming story you are most excited about: Story that I’m writing or story that someone else is writing? There are so many wonderful stories coming out every day by fantastic writers in this fandom that I couldn’t possibly name one. I feel blessed to have such a wonderful hobby shared and enjoyed by so many.
Tagging: If you see this and you write and want to share you works - please, do! And tag me so I can see your answers and read your fics. :)
xx Anne
So, a quick update to this: I concluded Bee Socks, so that fic is no longer a WIP.
