A Sort of Book Event

Welcome to our new home!

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:28:22 GMT

Posted by: reading221b_mod

Welcome to the new home of Reading221b! We are a reading group dedicated to fanfiction based on BBC Sherlock. We spent our first few years on Livejournal, and recently relocated to DW.

Most of our conversations are locked to members-only, but membership is open to everyone. We hope you'll join us -- or, in the case of our old crew on LJ who are likewise new to DW, rejoin us! If you don't use dreamwidth much, you may find it useful to follow our announcements tumblr, which will post updates about fic nominations, new discussions, &c.

If you're new to the comm, please take a moment to look at our community guidelines.

Other important links:
FAQ
Current/Upcoming Calendar (coming soon!)
Master List of Previously Discussed Fics
Leading Discussion: the How-To Post

Most of our fic discussions are locked to members, but membership is open! Join the community and you'll have access to years' worth of wonderful discussions. (You can also take a look at an unlocked discussion here.) Our discussions never close -- they get slower, but they never stop completely -- so feel free to add your own thoughts!

We are still learning our way around Dreamwidth, but we are hoping to get a new round of discussion up and running soon! In the meantime, say hello (for the first time or again) in a comment on this post.

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Leading Discussion: The How-To Post

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:15:50 GMT

Posted by: reading221b_mod

Have a question that's not answered here? Drop us a private message at the mod DW account.

How do I get to lead a discussion?

All you have to do is to tell the world that you want to! Discussion leaders volunteer to lead conversations about a particular fic or a particular stream, rather than making a blanket offer. You can express your interest during the nominations period, either by nominating a new story (or seconding a nomination, if the nominator has said they might want help) or volunteering for a Leader's Choice stream.

Boy, I really love this story. I can't wait to squee about it with other people. I'm good to go, right?

Not really, no. The discussion leader's job is to make room for the full range of responses, and not everybody is going to love the story. As far as we're concerned, that kind of disagreement isn't a problem, it's an opportunity for everyone to learn more about how the fic is working: why it is affecting different readers in different ways, or even seems to be saying different things to different readers, or seems convincing or in-character to only some of its audience.

You don't have to defend the fic against every criticism somebody raises; in fact - although you are of course welcome to respond, and to offer your own interpretation - it's important to us that everyone knows (and feels) that they are allowed to criticize the stories. We don't welcome fic-bashing (or author-bashing, or character-bashing) but this kind of productive criticism - aimed at reaching a better understanding of the story - is our lifeblood as a community.

If you don't think you would feel comfortable leading a discussion on these terms, you may not want to be a discussion leader for this comm.

What should I talk about in my opening discussion post?

Talk about the things that drove you to nominate (or second) the story in the first place! You can start with your own reactions: what did you love? What did you find interesting? What did you find confusing, or frustrating, or left you wishing something had been different? Secondly, you can raise questions to help get underneath your reactions: what are the attributes or aspects of the story that elicited those reactions from you? What other things (e.g. particular views of of the characters, understanding of the fic's genre) has to be in place, do you think, for the story to elicit that response? How does the story conform to, or differ from, the patterns laid down by other fics of this kind?

if you would like more guidance in developing your opening post, you can contact the mods. We have a template we can send you to help get you started. We can also throw around some ideas with you, if we're familiar with the story.

When the time comes for me to start the discussion, how do I make the post?

When you do post to the comm, please use Discussion Post: [Title of fic] as the subject. Please use the following header at the top before starting your discussion:
Title:
Author:
Rating:
Warnings:
Links:
Author's Summary:

A bit of introductory matter: your own expansion of the author's summary, some words about what makes this story wonderful, and/or interesting, and/or problematic.

***CUT***

The bulk of your discussion should go below a cut, so as not to swamp people's feeds. Including a cut is easy, and there are a few ways to do it, which you can red about here.

comments: In the past, many of our discussion leaders have organized the conversation by "threading" comments: that is, they have created comment on the original post for each of the different major areans of discussion that they take to be importnat. For some longer fics, discussion leaders have also created comments for different parts of the story. We do not require that you use this method to organize discussion, but we do recommend it.

Also, please tag your post with the round number (e.g. "round 2") and with the name of the stream. Please DO NOT tag it with other streams or genres, even if you think the fic could be classified that way.

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Reading221b Community Guidelines

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:09:52 GMT

Posted by: reading221b_mod

Hello and welcome ! We are a reader-centered community for discussing Sherlock fanfiction. We hope you find it to be a place that is both engaging and comfortable .Our members have worked hard to build an atmosphere that is friendly and gracious. We try to ensure there is room in our discussions for a full range of responses to the stories we read: enthusiasm, confusion, frustration, interpretive speculation, and critique. Our readers have found all sorts of ways to learn from one another, and to keep their disagreements friendly and constructive.

We're glad you're here, and look forward to hearing your thoughts during our next discussion (or in one of our older conversations - our discussions never close, so although the older ones are usually less active, plenty of people are still paying attention!)

In order to make sure that the community continues to be thoughtful, friendly and constructive, we have instituted some guidelines for participation.

***Author Participation Policy***
as noted above, this community is focused on the readers of fanfiction (though of course, plenty of us are writers as well!) Our primary purpose is to provide a place for people to discuss the fanworks they've read in a way that is about their experiences and interpretations as readers, and those of other readers. Because the authors of the fics we read are among us as friends and fellow-fans, we often give primacy to their ideas about their own work: their inspiration, their goals, their sense of whether the story succeeds. It's one of the great privileges of the fanfiction community that we get to learn those things, and we don't want to ignore that, which is why authors are welcome to participate in discussions of their fics; but we ask that they do so on a limited basis, because authorial presence can also sometimes inhibit the reader's freedom to think about her own encounter with the story. This community is here, first and foremost, to give readers a space to discuss their thoughts and feelings about a story with other readers.

Here are the parameters for an author's participation in discussions of their own work. (comm members, please help the authors observe these boundaries!)
* In order to give your fic's readers time to bring up their own concerns and ideas first, do not join the conversation until 48 hours after the initial discussion post has gone up.

* In order to preserve the comm members' freedom to engage with your story on their own terms, please do not join the main discussion threads. Instead, create your own "author thread" and use this thread to ask or answer questions, or to raise other ideas. You should absolutely feel free to respond to points that have been made in the main discussion, but please put your responses in your own dedicated thread. Soe of our readers are very interested in talking to authors, and others are not; we want that choice to be theirs to make.

taking part in conversation: come on in, the water's fine!
* Conversations are moderated to make room for people to speak frankly but also treat one another graciously. With this in mind, we encourage you to share your thoughts and interpretations, even if they seem to be at odds with the general current of opinion so far, or if they take the conversation in a different direction.

* One of the benefits of LJ is that a new line of conversation doesn't overwrite or cancel out an old one: by raising a new topic, you're only adding to the discussion, not taking away. Please feel free to raise points about a fic under discussion, even if it's not been included in the initial kick-off post or any of the discussion leader's points for discussion.

* The more, the merrier! We would love to hear from you, even if you feel like you don't have much to add beyond a "me too," or if you aren't sure why or how you've formed your opinion. If you take the time to raise the point, somebody may chime in and help you get some clarity about your own thinking.

challenging other people's opinions and judgments: I'm ok, you're ok
* We are all here to learn from one another. That means making room for opinions and interpretations that are not your own. You should feel free to challenge interpretations that don't seem right to you, but please remember that there are a lot of ways to respond to the same text. Maybe they see the story differently than you do; maybe they saw it the same way, but responded to it differently. That's what makes discussion interesting and keeps it flowing!

* If somebody else's response or reading feels wrong or upsetting to you, please don't feel like you need to withdraw! It is absolutely okay to talk about the things that feel inaccurate or upsetting to you, as long as you do it constructively. You can do this by asking the other poster (and other members as well) what about the story makes them interpret it, or react to it, in the way they do, and follow it up with an explanation of why you see it differently.

* In the same vein: please remember that it's okay to agree to disagree in your head and leave it at that. You are not required to engage in topics of conversation that are upsetting or triggering for you. While these discussions may tackle some serious issues and delve into serious topics, we don't want to make your life difficult by implying that you must participate in all facets of the conversation. If you don't like a conversation or the way it is heading, you are welcome to disengage in order to keep yourself safe.

* This community has worked hard to cultivate a comfort with disagreement. That means that you should feel free to push back on things that other people have said, but also be prepared for the fact that somebody else might push back on you. We have managed to navigate some pretty significant disagreements in the past without anybody turning nasty or dismissive.

keeping our doors open
* If you get excited about someone else's ideas and wind up going back and forth with them for awhile, that's okay! We only ask that you make sure to seed your comments with at least one question that is open to anyone who wants to respond, and not just to the person to whom you're responding. That will help reinforce the sense that these conversations are open and shared.

* If you have concerns about the way another community member is participating, please drop the mods a private note by clicking here.

nominations etiquette: matching stories to streams
We try to be as inclusive as possible, to folks from all across fandom: that means creating space for conversations about less-popular genres and fics, while making sure that everybody feels welcome to participate in those conversations, if they so choose.

In order to make sure that the nominated stories are well-suited to streams, we have built a few layers into the nominating process.

1) we ask all nominators to consider whether their story is a good fit for the stream, and whether their enthusiasm for this particular fic is at odds with the stream itself. (that is: if you find yourself writing "normally I don't like reading angst, but this particular angst story..." in your nomination post, you probably want to think hard about whether the story really belongs in the angst stream, and whether it's fair to folks who are really invested in the genre at hand.)

2) we ask other members of the community to weigh in if they see a nominated fic that does not seem to match the stream. We have, at present, no ironclad policy for determining when a fic gets pulled from the nominations list; what happens next will depend on how that discussion develops.

To keep this process running smoothly, please:
1) be polite, whether you are challenging someone else's nomination or responding to someone who has challenged yours.
2) remember that when someone questions the suitability of your nomination, this challenge is in no way a reflection on the quality of the fic: they are simply about whether the fic is a good fit for the stream. These challenges are also not about you as a nominator. Everybody draws genre in different places, and the question of fit is always a local one. People can legitimately disagree with each other about the boundaries of a category or genre; boundaries like that are never clear, or stable, or absolute. If somebody questions whether your nomination belongs in a given stream, that's about this community, right now, not a judgment for all readers at all times.

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Master List od Discussed Fics

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:06:09 GMT

Posted by: reading221b_mod

This list is in alphabetical order by fic title. This list grows longer with every round -- to find a fic quickly, we recommend you use your search tool to locate it.

Links will take you to the discussion. A link to the fic itself can be found within the discussion post.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE LINKS HAVE NOT BEEN UPDATED SINCE WE SWITCHED SITES! Right now, these links will still take you to LJ. We hope to update this list soon, though obviously there are a lot of links to correct and it will probably take us awhile. You can still use the list itself for reference, and pull up the relevant discussions from our archives by using the tags for round number and stream.

A Little Competition by entanglednow (Round One Point Pumpkin, Halloween)
A Trope Too Far by Persiflager (Round 3, Humor)
broken hearts, like broken bones by tyleet (Round 5, Adlock)
Cake and Other Sins by indybaggins (Round 3, Holmescest)
Crazy For Love by prettyvk (Round 3, AU)
Don't Is Not The Same As Haven't by Impractical Beekeeping (Round 2, Rare Pair)
Eight and Fifty Nights by PoppyAlexander (Round 4, Leader's Choice - Angst)
Given in Evidence by verityburns (Round 1, Casefic)
Hitting the Water at Sixty Miles an Hour by what_alchemy (Round 1, Wild Card)
I Used To Live Alone Before I Knew You by etothepii (Round 2, Short AU)
Master of Disguise by earlgreytea68 (Round One Point Pumpkin, Halloween)
Murder Will Out and Intimate Knowledge by keerawa and tiltedsyllogism (Round 4, remix stream)
No Bangs Without Foreign Office Approval by reckonedrightly (Round 5, genderswap)
Opposition Party by mydwynter (Round 4, Lestrade stream)
Parallel, Perpendicular, Parabola by calamitybreak (Tuesday221b)
Please by thisprettywren (Tuesday221b)
Rebound by tiltedsyllogism (Round 5, femslash)
Red Velvet and Reciprocity by cherrytide (Round 2, Hidden Gems)
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae [Baker's Yeast] by yaycoffee (Round 4, parentlock/kidlock stream)
Save the Last Dance For Me by Lilith/Citrine (Round 5, Mrs. Hudson)
Searching the Wong-Baker Scale for the Face I Want to See by merripestin (Tuesday221b)
Seeds by thesardine (Round 4, Leader's Choice - Angst)
Seven Times a Night in Baker Street by achray (Round 3, Canon Compliant/Missing Scene)
Silence by prettyarbitrary (Tuesday221b)
SPQR by hoc_voluerunt (Round 5, Historical AU)
The Adventure of the Crossed Streams by mydwynter (Round 5, casefic)
The Anatomist by rosa_acicularis (Round 5, Molly Hooper)
The Cold Song Series by eldritch-horrors (Round 2, PWP)
The Frost is All Over by Chryse (Round 1, AU)
The Heart in Him by azriona (Round 3, Omegaverse)
The Making Of by Emma Grant (Round 4, OT3 stream)
The Paradox Series by wordstrings (Round 1, Alternative Narrative)
The Progress of Sherlock Holmes by ivyblossom (Round 3, Romance)
The Queen of Gondal series by AJHall (Round 4, fusion stream)
The River Variations by withoutawish (Round 2, Short Casefic)
the sensation of falling as you just hit sleep by greywash (Round 3, Angst)
The Scotch 'Verse by earlgreytea68 (Round 2, Mystrade)
The Speed of Objects in Motion by holyfant (Round 1, Angst)
The Violet Hour by breathedout (Round 5,
Wellspring by mresundance (Tuesday221b)
What to Do When Your Flatmate is Homicidal by hyacinth_sky747 (Round 1, Humor)
Willow Ward by ununpentium (Tuesday221b)
Winter in London by Waid (Round 2, ACD)

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FAQ: Reading221b

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:00:42 GMT

Posted by: reading221b_mod

please note that this FAQ has been cut and pasted from our old LJ site, which means that the embedded links will still send you there. We hope to update the links in the coming weeks.

FAQ

This FAQ will no doubt grow, and undergo minor adjustments, as the community finds its feet. If you have a question or a concern that you don't see addressed here, leave us a comment on the Ask-A-Mod post, or drop a message to the mod account.

How do I join? Do I need to wait for approval before joining a conversation?
Joining is super easy! Just hover your mouse above that little icon next to the group name, and when the textbox appears, click "Join Community". (You'll also want to click on "watch community" to add it to your friends list.) There's no queue or further approval needed before you join the fun!

You will need an DW account, if you don't have one already, but they are free and easy to set up. You can even import your old LJ over here, although it can take several days for the import to complete.

Why are there so many discussion streams? How can I find the conversations I want?
We run about 6-7 streams per round, based on a much longer list of possible genres and pairings. We try to mix them up from round to round in order to keep things interesting and fresh. You can always find links to current nomination threads or the discussion calendar in the sticky post, or go to our main journal page and check the sidebar for links to recent conversations.

How did you choose the streams that we have? There are important things that are missing, and then there’s this other category I don’t think should even be here.
Current streams were chosen with a) great angst, consternation and regret and b) a very clear intention to leave them open to revision. The mods had to pick some things to get started with, and we tried to pick streams that reflected what’s being written, but we are thinking of these categories – and we hope you will, too – as a kind of working template.

Far from being set in stone, these different streams are intended to be a way to get us started, to help us figure out, as a community, what kinds of stories people are most interested in discussing, and what kinds of divisions are most helpful. So even if you're not keen on the current arrangement, we ask that you give them a shot for these first few weeks. The mods are hoping that, once we've all had a chance to try them on for size, we will all be better equipped to revise the streams to suit our needs as a community.

Who chooses the stories that we read?
We have two different models, a community-based voting system (described in detail here) and a Leader's Choice stream, in which a single member is given free reign to bring up a fic of their choice for discussion, with no prior voting or nomination procedure. Most rounds will include a mix.

How do the discussions happen?
On the day that discussion is scheduled to start, one person – the person who originally nominated the fic or the appointed Leader of the stream – will make a post describing some of the noteworthy things about the fic and raising some questions for discussion. After that, everyone in the community will be able to join in, by commenting on that original post. Folks should feel free either to respond directly to points raised in the initial post, or to bring up some other aspect of the story.

The conversations will be lightly moderated, to ensure that nobody is being savage in their criticism or hostile toward other participants.

Please read (or at least skim) the extant comments before commenting yourself, so that you can situate your contribution as a response to others who may have already taken up the topic you want to talk about.

Why is there only one post per week? I want to talk about more stories than that!
We are delighted to hear that! We are limiting things to one new conversation a week for this initial phase only, while we try to get our protocols in place; but our plan for the long term is to have several conversations going at once. (Keep in mind that you can continue to discuss a story even after another conversation has been launched!)

I volunteered to open the discussion for [nominated fic]. When and how should I post?
If you’re unsure when to post, check the calendar to find out which week your fic is scheduled to go live.

Presumably, you’re already familiar with the fic (if you nominated it), so before you post, spend some time coming up with discussion questions/comments for any aspects of the story you would like to discuss. If you'd like some help with this, drop the mods a note, and we will send you a general template for writing a launch post and coming up with questions. You may find it helpful to use the category designation (e.g. angst, Mystrade, crossover) as a starting point, but please don't feel limited to that: you can approach the story from any angle you find interesting!

When you do post to the comm, please use Discussion Post: [Title of fic] as the subject. Please use the following header at the top before starting your discussion:
Title:
Author:
Rating:
Warnings:
Links:
Summary: (you can use the author's summary, or add your own if you prefer)
*
Discussion: (Please use an LJ-cut for the majority of the discussion; you can leave a paragraph or two above the cut if you want.)

This is an awfully long FAQ.
Yes, we are aware this is very detailed! Because there aren't a lot of precedents for this kind of in-depth discussion community in fandom, we're trying both to be as transparent as possible and to leave things open to revision, so we can re-calibrate as as we go along. We’re glad to have all of you around right now to take part in this initial stage as we figure out how to make this a lively, welcoming and satisfying place for discussion, and we hope you'll join us in the efforts to tinker and adjust until we find a comfortable stasis.

If you're feeling overwhelmed or intimidated, here are some things to keep in mind:

As long as you're not attacking anybody or being rude, there's no wrong way to post.

The mods are very happy to hear from you! If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, you can leave a comment on the Ask-A-Mod post; alternately, you can message the main mod account, and you will receive a response within a few days. If for whatever reason you’re uncomfortable messaging all three of us, you’re welcome to message any one of us directly and we will handle it discreetly. Messaging the main mod account, reading221b_mod, is preferred.

Finally, please remember that, at its root, this community is for you. We're trying to juggle a lot of details, but the focus of our entire existence as a community is based on expressing our love for Sherlock, interacting with fandom (perhaps in ways that can be somewhat difficult to find online), appreciating the hard work and dedication fanfiction authors put forth, and enjoy great stories. We hope to avoid getting bogged down in details to be able to create an organized space for discussion.

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Discussion Post: Sixteen and a Half Months (rare pair)

Wed, 10 Aug 2016 11:43:00 GMT

Posted by: donutgirl.livejournal.com

Title: Sixteen and a Half Months
Author: emmagrant01
Characters/relationships: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, John Watson/Mary Morstan
Rating: Explicit
Archive warnings: Creator Chose Not to Warn
Word count: 13, 467
Author's summary: The world thinks Sherlock Holmes is dead, but Molly Hooper is one of the few who knows the truth.

So I just want to start by saying how much I *love* this story. I'm a multishipper who takes pleasure in a zillion different ships, but I admit I had some trouble finding Sherlolly fics that resonated with my own understanding of the characters. This was the first Sherlolly fic I read that made me think, "YES! This relationship totally makes sense to me." I love that the feelings expressed in this story are complex and sometimes uncomfortable for the characters, and I love that the story ends with them in a positive place, but without being an overly-neat "happily ever after". Most of all, I love how utterly relatable this Molly feels to me, as she makes choices that aren't always the "healthiest", but she's self-aware enough to own those choices and make the best of them.

But on to the discussion questions:

1. Molly
Even though this is a fic about Molly's relationship with Sherlock, Molly is really front and center here, and it's very much her story. What did you think of her characterization? Did it ring true for you? Expand on her on-screen character convincingly? Was there anything that felt "off", or that other stories might handle differently?

2. The relationship
What did you think of the way the relationship is portrayed in this fic, and the way it develops? Did anything about it surprise you? What about the way both Molly and Sherlock change over the course of the story? Did that feel consistent with developments we've seen in canon, or like a different direction?

3. Sherlolly
If you've read other Sherlolly fics, does this one feel different to you? What tropes or conventions does it share with Sherlolly fics as a genre, and what sets it apart? If this is your first Sherlolly fic, what did you think? Did it surprise you at all, or was it what you expected? (And if you didn't read this fic *because* it was advertised as Sherlolly, feel free to talk about that, too – why is this ship such a turn off or squick for some people?)

4. John
What did you think of the role of John in this fic? He doesn't play a large "on-screen" part, but Molly spends a bit of time thinking about Sherlock and John's relationship relative to her own relationship with Sherlock. And Sherlock's revelations of his feelings for John (and how they are shifting) represent a key turning point in the story. Did that bother you? Sometimes rarepair shippers can be very protective of their ships, and any reference to something that smacks of Johnlock is considered an unwelcome intrusion in a fic. Was that the case here, or did it work for you?

5. Ending
What do you think is the status of Sherlock and Molly's relationship at the end? Are they openly dating? Friends with benefits? Friends with a past? I think it's open to interpretation, and I feel a little different about it each time I read. How did the end fit with your expectations of how a "ship fic" usually works?

And as always, if there's anything you'd like to discuss that you don't see mentioned here, please feel free to start a new thread!

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Discussion Post: The Mystery of Ill Opinions (crossover/fusion)

Wed, 20 Jul 2016 13:51:00 GMT

Posted by: tiltedsyllogism.livejournal.com

Title: The Mystery of Ill Opinions
Author: mundungus42
Characters/relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Mycroft Holmes/Gregory Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes/Irene Adler, Sally Donovan, Mrs. Hudson, Anderson, Mike Stamford, William Shaespeare, Friar Laurence
Rating: Mature
Archive warnings: None apply
Word count: 29,047
Author's summary: Two Elizabethan actors dream of leaving women's roles behind, and Master Sherlock Holmes agrees to help them find them a playwright to write them roles to rival Marlowe's Tamburlaine. But strange things are afoot in the Holmes household, and Sherlock and John must accomplish this feat while discovering who wants to kill Sherlock and why.

I’ve been looking forward to discussing this madcap, suspenseful, tightly plotted, emotionally resonant wonder of a fic almost since Reading221b began... and now, almost two years later, we are finally getting to do it! It’s one of my favorites, and it affords us a lot to talk about, especially (though not exclusively) for Shakespeare fans. I don’t want my enthusiasm to make anyone feel like they can’t complain or criticize, though: if there are things that didn’t work for you, your views are very welcome too. I’ve outlined some topics below, and created discussion threads for each one of them. This list is definitely not exhaustive; if there’s a topic you want to discuss that really doesn’t seem to fit with any of the existing threads, feel free to start your own.

A note from the mods: This discussion is publicly visible. This means that anyone, not just members of the community, will be able to read the discussions. It remains the case that only members of the comm will be able to post to the discussion. We are doing this because we want the folks who are looking for our brand of thoughtful discussion to know that they can find it here!

**further note: tiltedsyllogism is stepping back from mod duties for the duration of this discussion. If you have any questions or other concerns for the mods about this fic discussion, please contact azriona and gentlespirit at our mod account. Thanks!

In addition to these outlined topics, there's a thread for talking about the Elizabethan setting, and another one for good old squee.

1. crossover characters
There are several crossover characters here, most notably Shakespeare himself as a saucy rogue who does some sleuthing alongside John, and gets his start in playwriting thanks to Sherlock. The character is essentially an OC, since we know so little about the actual historical Shakespeare (and in fact his plot arc suggests a nod to the theory that someone else actually wrote the plays attributed to him.) How did the character work for you, both as a supporting figure in a Sherlock story and as a treatment of the playwright whose work so many of us were raised on?

2. Relationships between characters
“If you say so, Master Sherlock.”
“Ugh, don't call me that. It makes you sound like a servant. An insolent one, at that.”
“I am a servant,” said John.

Like a lot of AUs, this story is populated with familiar characters, but ties them together in a somewhat different social structure. Anderson (or Anders) is an “unimaginative, but steadfast” servant in the Holmes household; it is Mike Stamford, as head steward, who informs John that Sherlock sometimes doesn’t speak for days; Moriarty is the malevolent doctor who attends Sherlock; and they are are in the service of Lord Mycroft Holmes (as is John himself, who doesn’t meet Sherlock until after Lord Holmes has hired him.) This revised set of social and professional connections makes it plausible that these characters would all know each other, in this different setting, but it does change the nature of the relationships, in some cases significantly.
What relationships (or, more precisely, what aspects of each relationship) remains consistent with BBC canon? What is changed? How do the changes help us get situated in the new and different world of this AU?

3. “I will not have the shrew”: Shakespearean Allusions
In this story, we encounter not only the Bard himself (for which there is another discussion thread) but also quotations, plot elements and characters from several of his plays. Spot a reference? Put it here! You can also use this thread to elaborate on how you see the reference working: how does it fit into the fic? How does it mesh with/inflect the elements of Sherlock canon that are brought together with it?

4. “We might have shared the bounty”: Allusions to BBC Sherlock canon
One of the things that makes it fun to read an AU that is located in a significantly different place/time* is seeing how important scenes or lines from the BBC canon get translated into the AU setting. Some of these are large-scale, such as Sherlock’s Reichenbach-like plot to feign his own death with poison. Some nods are smaller: my favorite such smaller moment is at the climax of Sherlock’s “funeral,” when he appears in the doorway wrapped in his own shroud, which is of course a reference to The Sheet from aSiB. But what was, in canon, a minor character detail here becomes a highly-charged moment of dramatic reversal that, to me, feels very Shakespearean. We’ll have a thread down below talking about how these two aspects of the story, and other moments borrowed directly from BBC canon, fit into and inflect the world of this story.

*once upon a time, we tried to pilot the category “Alternate Narrative” to describe “AUs where John doesn’t get shot/they meet two years earlier” and distinguish them from the ones that really do posit an alternate universe. Unfortunately, that went over like a lead balloon. But this is a moment when the distinction would have been useful!

I've created comment threads below to organize the discussion by topic. Feel free to create a new thread if you want to talk about something that isn't discussed here!

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Discussion post: Rigging screws, size 1 3/8 inch, galvanised

Thu, 14 Jul 2016 09:43:00 GMT

Posted by: dogandmonkeyshow

Title: Rigging screws, size 1 3/8 inch, galvanised
Author: legionseaglelj (AJHall)
Characters/relationships: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, original characters
Rating: PG-13/Teen+
Archive warnings: None apply
Word count: 15,250
Author's summary:
"How's a woman supposed to prove her husband's a murderer, dammit?"

On the eve of a planned voyage to Brittany, Marjorie Jameson starts her day with no problems more pressing than forcing a boatyard to do an emergency repair to the family yacht. A chance encounter at the Cowes hi-speed ferry terminal begins to unravel a web of conspiracy and murder, with her charming, untrustworthy husband Julian right at the centre and Marjorie as the next intended victim.

But no-one's going to trust the word of an aging housewife whose complaints of abuse the police have previously dismissed as delusions.

Introductory notes: For a number of reasons, this is one of the most interesting fics I've read in Sherlock fandom. It features a diverting little case, Sherlock and John on a road trip, and one of the rarest creatures in fanfic: an engaging and sympathetic original character, from whose point of view the story is told.

This fic is particularly engaging for me as a reader because it is so outside the norms of Sherlock fanfic. As I stated in my nomination post: There are a lot of points worth discussing about this fic, especially in regards to how it contravenes fandom conventions but is still a very satisfying read as a fanwork: the original character POV, the use of a non-London location, the nature of the case itself, and Sherlock's position within the fic, to begin with.

A note from the mods: This discussion is publicly visible. This means that anyone, not just members of the community, will be able to read the discussions. It remains the case that only members of the comm will be able to post to the discussion. We are doing this because we want the folks who are looking for our brand of thoughtful discussion to know that they can find it here!

( Notes for non-member readers )

Below are six discussion areas to kick things off, each with two or more questions. These reflect the points about the story that I find interesting and worthy of discussion; if there's an element of the story that you think is worthy of a separate discussion thread, please let me know via LJ message. If I get multiple requests on the same topic, I'll add a discussion thread for it, so that other folks can easily find the conversation.

Cheers!

( Discussion subjects and questions )

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Round 6 Reading and Discussion Schedule!

Mon, 11 Jul 2016 13:46:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Our summer reading calendar is here! And other than our longfic stream, at the end of the round, we're kept the fic selections short and sweet: none of the first five stories are over 30k. But these short fics offer plenty to talk about, and we're looking forward to some great discussions. Below you'll find our calendar, with links to the fics and the names of the folks who will be leading the discussions.

Please note that we've made an important change this time around: three of our six discussions this time around will be publicly visible. This means that anyone, not just members of the community, will be able to read the discussions. It remains the case that only members of the comm will be able to post to the discussion. We are doing this because we want the folks who are looking for our brand of thoughtful discussion to know that they can find it here! We want to preserve the sense of trust and mutual respect that has defined our past discussions, while lowering the bar to entry for new people, and we are hoping that publicly-visible discussions will strike the right balance.

The public discussions are marked on the calendar below, and the launch posts for those discussions will also state clearly that the discussions are publicly visible. We'll be asking for feedback at the end of the round, so please let us know what you think!

Thursday July 14 (note date!) - Rigging Screws, size 1 /38 inch, galvanised by legionseaglelj (AJHall), led by dognmonkeyshow (genfic). PUBLIC DISCUSSION

Wednesday July 20 - The Mystery of Ill Opinions by mundungus42, led by tiltedsyllogism (crossover/fusion). PUBLIC DISCUSSION

Wednesday July 27 - Daddy Loves Me Best by thisprettywren, led by dioscureantwins (Moriarty).

Wednesday August 3 - The Nutcracker by odamaki, led by phoenix_glow (wild card).

Wednesday August 10 - Sixteen and a Half Months by emmagrant01, led by donutgirl (rare pair). PUBLIC DISCUSSION

Wednesday August 17 - At Least There's The Football (series) by sheffiesharpe, led by jagnikjen (longfic).

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Round 5 fic announcements and calendar

Mon, 25 Jan 2016 10:48:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

We are ~~finally~~ ready to announce the lineup for Round 5 discussions! We had a bit of trouble scheduling the discussions, which is why this announcement is a few days later than planned. But here at last, for your anticipation, delectation, and advanced-reading-planning needs*:

We began on Wednesday, January 20th with a discussion of The Violet Hour by breathedout, led by pennypaperbrain. Historical AU. (this discussion is going on now. join us!)

Wednesday, January 27th -- Adventure of the Crossed Stream by mydwynter, led by phoenix_glow. Casefic.
Wednesday, February 3rd -- Save The Last Dance For Me by Lilith (Citrine), led by cherrytide. Mrs. Hudson.
Wednesday, February 10th -- Rebound by tiltedsyllogism, led by anarfea and gentlespirit. Femslash.
Wednesday, February 17th -- No Bangs Without Foreign Office Approval by reckonedrightly, led by neifile7. Genderswap.
Wednesday, February 24th -- The Anatomist by rosa_acicularis, led by cherrytide. Molly Hooper.
Wednesday, March 2nd -- Broken Hearts Like Broken Bones by tyleet, led by anarfea. Adlock.
Wednesday, March 9th -- SPQR by hoc_volerunt, led by dioscureantwins. Historical AU.

*There are some very long fics on this calendar: SPQR is over 100k, and No Bangs is past the 200k mark. We are really excited to discuss them, and we hope you are, too -- but make sure to plan ahead for those ones!

Additionally, we are happy to announce a few new members of the mod team - gentlespirit and cherrytide will be old friends in new hats, joining tiltedsyllogism and azriona in set-up, organization and day-to-day maintenance of the comm.

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Round 5 announcement

Fri, 11 Dec 2015 10:03:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Happy December, and happy Friday, everyone! We've only got a few more weeks to wait, and we're super-excited! About The Abominable Bride as well, of course, but mainly about the next round of discussions here at Reading221b.

Here are the streams for round 5:
Casefic
Adlock
femslash
Mrs. Hudson
Molly
genderswap
Historical AU

Two of these seven streams will be Leader's Choice; just about everybody we've heard from thought the Leader's Choice streams in Round 4 were a success, so we are going to keep it in the mix. The LC discussions will take place on January 20th and 27th. The other five fic selections will be determined through open nominations such as we've run from the beginning, and those discussions will fill out the back half of our calendar.

But which two will be LC, you ask? We don't know yet, either! Here's what we're going to do:
About two weeks from now, we are going to make a separate post inviting y'all to volunteer to run a LC discussion. Instead of just puting your name in the hat, though, we are going to ask you to tell us 1) which fic you want to discuss, 2) in which stream, and 3) why you think it will make for a good conversation. You can volunteer for ANY of these seven streams. After those two fics (and concomitant streams) have been selected, we will then open nominations for the remaining five streams.

( Here is the full calendar for this round: )For those of you considering volunteering to lead a stream this time around: we are going to put up a separate post on the 21st. In the meantime, feel free to toss around ideas in the comments section here!

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Greg Lestrade discussion - 'Opposition Party' by mydwynter

Wed, 22 Jul 2015 07:23:00 GMT

Posted by: roni

Title: Opposition Party
Author: mydwynter
Series: Part 1 of Memoranda of Understanding
Rating: Explicit
Category: M/M
Relationship: Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade, Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Published: 2013-07-02 Words: 21 829

Mydwynter’s ‘Opposition Party’ doesn’t stand alone. It is the first part of the ‘Memoranda of Understanding’ series, with ‘Armistice’ as a sequel, and another follow up, that just started posting yesterday entitled ‘Accord’. If you check out mydwynter’s Mystrade-tag on Tumblr, you can read many fragments of this forthcoming work, and also many ficlets/drabbles in the ‘Ask Mycroft and Greg’ series. So my impression is that there is a whole Mystrade universe created there that started with ’Opposition Party’.

Here are the points I’ve come up with after some pondering. (I have my answer to some of the questions, but I am very curious about yours based on your reading. Others are simply my questions that came up during reading and stuck with me.) Feel free to add your own discussion point(s) in a separate thread (if possible with a title to make the conversation easier to follow). "Just do it, please."

Greg grinned into the bright Devonshire sunshine.
Who is Greg Lestrade in ’Opposition Party’ (in his private life, his hobbies, his relation to his colleagues, his attitude etc.)? Do you think his divorce played a role in his attraction to Mycroft? We see everything and everyone from his point of view. What does it add to his character(isation)? Why do you think mydwynter put the tag ’unreliable narrator’ on this story?

"Yes. It was all a case of mistaken identity."
There are several references to the ACD Canon in this story. Which ones have you caught? What do they add to the cases and to the story in general?

"Why is it always terminology with you?"
I find it fascinating how much Greg and Mycroft are characterised by the language they use. What are the typical words/sentences by them? Have you got any favourites? Is there any shift in their wording/style as their relationship changes? There are also sentences by Greg and Mycroft, that come back later in the story, some with the same, others with a different meaning. Is there one that you have particularly liked?

The picture in his mind of what they looked like was pornographic, hot as fuck with half their clothes still on, panting and gasping and getting each other off in a frenzy against a wall like teenagers.
There are hot sex scenes in this story. What did you think of their build up? Did the constant banter/power play (automatically) lead here? Why were they always in Mycroft’s office? (I find the sex scenes written by mydwynter simply gorgeous, but couldn’t grasp why until I read a comment about how he pays attention to orgasms, possibly more than other writers.)

[…]his suspicions were confirmed when he caught John pressing his lips to Sherlock's forehead. Huh.
Sherlock and John feature in ’Opposition Party’ as well. What are their connections (together and apart) to Greg and Mycroft? Are they different from BBC Sherlock and John? Do you see any parallels between their relationship here and that of Mycroft and Greg (or in other words are they ’only’ a plot device)? Are there any other characters you find fascinating? What about the Assistant Commissioner?

"Oh, just...checking in."
Why did Mycroft go to Dartmoor? Why can’t/won’t he tell Lestrade?

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Round 4 Fic Announcements and Calendar!

Tue, 07 Jul 2015 10:50:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Hi all! We are delighted to announce the reading calendar for Round 4. You can also find this calendar linked in the sidebar on the comm's main page.

July 8 - AU - Eight and Fifty Nights by Poppyalexander, led by phoenix_glow
July 15 - Angst - Seeds by thesardine, led by unovis
July 22nd - Lestrade - Opposition Party by mydwynter, led by mathe_roni
July 29th - Kidlock/Parentlock - Saccharomyces Cerevisiae by yaycoffee, led by donutgirl

*mini-hiatus on account of mods’ para-Sherlockian RL hijinks*

August 12th - Remix - Murder Will Out by keerawa and Intimate Knowledge by tiltedsyllogism, led by cherrytide
August 19th - OT3 - The Making Of by emmagrant01, led by phoenix_glow
August 26th - Crossover/Fusion - the Queen of Gondal series by AJHall, led by dioscureantwins

please note: our first discussion kicks off TOMORROW. We hope that announcing the fic selections for the Leader's Choice streams gave you enough time to read in advance.

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Round 4 Calendar, Revised Conduct Code, and Protocol for Leader's Choice Streams

Thu, 11 Jun 2015 14:06:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Hi all! Here are some more details for round 4, as promised last week.

First of all, we have revised our community guidelines to reflect the ideas and insights generated in our most recent community discussion. Whether you’re new or have been here since the beginning, please take some time to read it. In particular, take a look at the section on nominations, since that’s coming up soon.

As mentioned in the post last week, we’re running two of our streams a little differently this time around. Instead of holding open nominations for fics and voting on them as a comm, we the mods are going to ask for volunteers to lead these two streams (Angst and AU), and the leaders will then choose the fics to discuss. Leaders will be RANDOMLY selected from among those who volunteer. We’ve got full details below, if you’re interested in volunteering.

( more information on Leader's Choice streams! )

( Round 4 Calendar here! )

There’s one other thing we are going to test-drive for this round: you will only be nominate a fic if you are willing to lead the discussion. If you aren’t interested in leading, you can still play a role in the process by seconding others’ nominations, and by voting – and, of course, taking part in the discussions themselves!

We'll see you all soon, we hope!

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Round 4: Coming Soon To A Sherlock Fanfiction Reading Community Near You!

Sat, 06 Jun 2015 12:43:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Happy June, everybody! We hope the summer is treating you well so far, and that you've been enjoying the really fabulous Tuesday 221b discussions. (If you missed'em, it's not too late to go back and take a look, or even to jump in!)

We're kicking off Round 4 soon, and we are excited to share the list of 7 streams we'll be discussing. Some of them need a little explaining, which we've tried to address... but if you want more explanation, let us know in the comments!

AU
Angst
Kidlock/Parentlock
Crossover/Fusion - a subset of AU that puts Sherlock canon together with another specific storyline or imagined universe, e.g. Potterlock, fairy tale fusions, collaborations between Sherlock and the BAU from Criminal Minds, The One Where John is Ferris Bueller, &c.
Remix - stories that rewrite/reinvent an earlier work of fanfiction. we'll actually end up discussing two stories here, both the original fanwork and the remix of it. some examples, from the annual sherlock_remix challenge, can be found on Ao3 here. (The LJ site has a more complete archive of stories, so be sure to go there as well, even if you prefer to do your initial browsing on Ao3!)
Lestrade/anyone - this is a stream for any story that pairs Lestrade with any other character - Molly, Mycroft, John, Sally, Sherlock, an OC, you name it. The only limitation is that it's a two-person relationship.... because we also have a stream for
OT3! - (this is where your Lestrade threesome fics can go, if you're so inclined.)

We're also going to try out a new model for selecting stories. In our round-up discussion last month, we discussed the possibility of dispensing with nominations and polls, and simply selecting a leader who would then, in turn, choose a story to discuss. The response to think was mixed, but there was enough interest that we've decided to give it a limited trial run.So for this round, in lieu of community nominations and voting for fics in the Angst and AU streams, we will read a story chosen by a discussion leader. We're going to stick to our traditional nominating-and-polling method for the other five streams.

We'll be back next week with a complete calendar for round 4, and to give more details on how to volunteer to lead discussion in the two Leader's Choice streams (and the process we're going to use to determine who gets to do it.)

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watch this space: Tuesday221bs, summer remix round, and community discussion

Thu, 09 Apr 2015 08:42:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Happy April, all!

Your intrepid mods have been a bit swamped by meatspace concerns in the past few weeks, but don't worry, we're still here! We've got a couple of things on the docket that we want to put on your radar:

1) Tuesday 221bs. When we polled the comm at the beginning of the year, it was clear that we weren't the only ones who would be busier in April and May; most people reported that they anticipated having less time to spend with us. So in lieu of full-on fic discussions, we're going to have low-key weekly discussions of that brief, uniquely Sherlockian form known as the 221b. We'll put up a post with more information, and with sign-up slots, in the next couple of days. We're hoping our first 221b discussion will be this next Tuesday the 14th!

2) Summer remix stream. We've been plotting this out for a long time, but this summer it's finally going to happen: one of our discussion streams in round 4 will be a remix stream! We'll be discussing a fic that is itself an explicit transformation of another fic, putting the two side by side. We've timed this to coordinate with Round 5 of sherlock_remix. They're running a lightning round right now (which means that, for the moment, new remixes are going up every day!) and they'll be starting sign-ups for the full round by the end of the month.

So head on over there! You can also check out their archives (here are the master posts for round 1, round 2, round 3, and round 4) and start thinking about stories you'd want to nominate for this summer.... and, if you're a writer as well as a reader, we encourage you to sign up to participate in Round 5! (and if you're a reader wondering about how to make the transition to writing.... there's really no better way!

3) Community Conversation. We've been having regular conversations, among the members of the comm, discussing what has worked so far, and what hasn't, and what we can do to work out the kinks (to to speak) that we've encountered while sustaining the successes we've had so far. Look for another of these conversations to start early next week.

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Community Guidelines

Tue, 10 Feb 2015 22:08:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Hello and welcome ! We are a reader-centered community for discussing Sherlock fanfiction. We hope you find it to be a place that is both engaging and comfortable .Our members have worked hard to build an atmosphere that is friendly and gracious. We try to ensure there is room in our discussions for a full range of responses to the stories we read: enthusiasm, confusion, frustration, interpretive speculation, and critique. Our readers have found all sorts of ways to learn from one another, and to keep their disagreements friendly and constructive.

We're glad you're here, and look forward to hearing your thoughts during our next discussion (or in one of our older conversations - our discussions never close, so although the older ones are usually less active, plenty of people have the discussions tracked and are still paying attention!)

In order to make sure that the community continues to be thoughtful, friendly and constructive, we have instituted some guidelines for participation.

***Author Participation Policy***
as noted above, this community is focused on the readers of fanfiction (though of course, plenty of us are writers as well!) Our primary purpose is to provide a place for people to discuss the fanworks they've read in a way that is about their experiences and interpretations as readers, and those of other readers. Because the authors of the fics we read are among us as friends and fellow-fans, we often give primacy to their ideas about their own work: their inspiration, their goals, their sense of whether the story succeeds. It's one of the great privileges of the fanfiction community that we get to learn those things, and we don't want to ignore that, which is why authors are welcome to participate in discussions of their fics; but we ask that they do so on a limited basis, because authorial presence can also sometimes inhibit the reader's freedom to think about her own encounter with the story. This community is here, first and foremost, to give readers a space to discuss their thoughts and feelings about a story with other readers.

Here are the parameters for an author's participation in discussions of their own work. (comm members, please help the authors observe these boundaries!)
* In order to give your fic's readers time to bring up their own concerns and ideas first, do not join the conversation until 48 hours after the iniial discussion post has gone up.

* In order to preserve the comm members' freedom to engage with your story on their own terms, please do not join the main discussion threads. Instead, create your own "author thread" and use this thread to ask or answer questions, or to raise other ideas. You should absolutely feel free to respond to points that have been made in the main discussion, but please put your responses in your own dedicated thread. Soe of our readers are very interested in talking to authors, and others are not; we want that choice to be theirs to make.

taking part in conversation: come on in, the water's fine!
* Conversations are moderated to make room for people to speak frankly but also treat one another graciously. With this in mind, we encourage you to share your thoughts and interpretations, even if they seem to be at odds with the general current of opinion so far, or if they take the conversation in a different direction.

* One of the benefits of LJ is that a new line of conversation doesn't overwrite or cancel out an old one: by raising a new topic, you're only adding to the discussion, not taking away. Please feel free to raise points about a fic under discussion, even if it's not been included in the initial kick-off post or any of the discussion leader's points for discussion.

* The more, the merrier! We would love to hear from you, even if you feel like you don't have much to add beyond a "me too," or if you aren't sure why or how you've formed your opinion. If you take the time to raise the point, somebody may chime in and help you get some clarity about your own thinking.

challenging other people's opinions and judgments: I'm ok, you're ok
* We are all here to learn from one another. That means making room for opinions and interpretations that are not your own. You should feel free to challenge interpretations that don't seem right to you, but please remember that there are a lot of ways to respond to the same text. Maybe they see the story differently than you do; maybe they saw it the same way, but responded to it differently. That's what makes discussion interesting and keeps it flowing!

* If somebody else's response or reading feels wrong or upsetting to you, please don't feel like you need to withdraw! It is absolutely okay to talk about the things that feel inaccurate or upsetting to you, as long as you do it constructively. You can do this by asking the other poster (and other members as well) what about the story makes them interpret it, or react to it, in the way they do, and follow it up with an explanation of why you see it differently.

* In the same vein: please remember that it's okay to agree to disagree in your head and leave it at that. You are not required to engage in topics of conversation that are upsetting or triggering for you. While these discussions may tackle some serious issues and delve into serious topics, we don't want to make your life difficult by implying that you must participate in all facets of the conversation. If you don't like a conversation or the way it is heading, you are welcome to disengage in order to keep yourself safe.

* This community has worked hard to cultivate a comfort with disagreement. That means that you should feel free to push back on things that other people have said, but also be prepared for the fact that somebody else might push back on you. We have managed to navigate some pretty significant disagreements in the past without anybody turning nasty or dismissive.

keeping our doors open
* If you get excited about someone else's ideas and wind up going back and forth with them for awhile, that's okay! We only ask that you make sure to seed your comments with at least one question that is open to anyone who wants to respond, and not just to the person to whom you're responding. That will help reinforce the sense that these conversations are open and shared.

* If you have concerns about the way another community member is participating, please drop the mods a private note by clicking here.

nominations etiquette: matching stories to streams
We try to be as inclusive as possible, to folks from all across fandom: that means creating space for conversations about less-popular genres and fics, while making sure that everybody feels welcome to participate in those conversations, if they so choose.

In order to make sure that the nominated stories are well-suited to streams, we have built a few layers into the nominating process.

1) we ask all nominators to consider whether their story is a good fit for the stream, and whether their enthusiasm for this particular fic is at odds with the stream itself. (that is: if you find yourself writing "normally I don't like reading angst, but this particular angst story..." in your nomination post, you probably want to think hard about whether the story really belongs in the angst stream, and whether it's fair to folks who are really invested in the genre at hand.)

2) we ask other members of the community to weigh in if they see a nominated fic that does not seem to match the stream. We have, at present, no ironclad policy for determining when a fic gets pulled from the nominations list; what happens next will depend on how that discussion develops.

To keep this process running smoothly, please:
1) be polite, whether you are challenging someone else's nomination or responding to someone who has challenged yours.
2) remember that when someone questions the suitability of your nomination, this challenge is in no way a reflection on the quality of the fic: they are simply about whether the fic is a good fit for the stream. These challenges are also not about you as a nominator. Everybody draws genre in different places, and the question of fit is always a local one. People can legitimately disagree with each other about the boundaries of a category or genre; boundaies like that are never clear, or stable, or absolute. If somebody questions whether your nomination belongs in a given stream, that's about this community, right now, not a judgment for all readers at all times.

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Round 3 Reading Calendar

Fri, 30 Jan 2015 15:07:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

We are happy to announce the lineup for Round Three's discussions. There were some contests that were close right up to the very end, but we're happy with our lineup, and hope that everyone will find something they enjoy reading over the next few weeks.

Wednesday, February 11 - Romance - The Progress of Sherlock Holmes by ivyblossom, discussion lead by cherrytide
Wednesday, February 18 - Canon-Compliant/Missing Scene - Seven Times a Night at Baker Street by achray, discussion lead by donutgirl
Wednesday, February 25 - Humor - A Trope Too Far by persiflager, discussion lead by donutgirl
Wednesday, March 4 - Angst - sensation of falling as you just hit sleep by greywash, discussion lead by pickles7437
Wednesday, March 11 - Omegaverse - The Heart in Him by azriona, discussion lead by jmarlinquin
Wednesday, March 18 - Holmescest - Cake and Other Sins by indybaggins, discussion lead by pickles7437
Wednesday, March 25 - AU - Crazy for Love by prettyvk, discussion lead by jmarlinquin and twofingerpost

Congratulations to the discussion leads and the authors of the fics we'll be talking about. We hope that everyone has a wonderful time discussing them.

The mods would also like to take this opportunity to roll out our modified Author Participation Policy - which isn't so much changing things as it is cementing a method that most authors have already used, and which seems to have worked very well:

Authors are welcome to participate in discussion on a limited basis, by starting a dedicated thread for author interactions and limiting their comments to that one thread. We ask that authors wait 48 hours before posting, so that the discussion has time to build in response to the readers' questions and concerns.

In the next week, we'll also be rolling out a Conduct Code for our membership - again, nothing very drastic, merely spelling out things that most of us already do. Every round is a learning experience for us, with new challenges and questions - and one of these days, we might actually get it right!

Have a happy reading session, all, and see you on February 11th!

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quick poll to prep for round 3

Mon, 05 Jan 2015 11:08:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Happy new year, all! We hope each of you is recovering well from whatever may have transpired in December, and is looking forward to a promising 2015.

Here at reading221b, we are looking forward to another round of fic discussions! We plan to open nominations for this next round in just a few days. But before we do, we wanted to check in with y'all and see what we can do to make this round - and the forthcoming year as a whole - as successful as possible. As always, we welcome discussion in the comments on this poll... but please also feel free to check your ticky boxes and call it a day.[Poll #1994519][Poll #1994519]

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Round 2 Reading Calendar

Thu, 13 Nov 2014 17:26:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Hello all! Here is the calendar for the next round of fic discussions:

Nov 19th: The Cold Song Series by eldritchhorrors, discussion led by pennypaperbrain (Sex-focused fics stream)
Nov 26th: Red Velvet and Reciprocity by cherrytide, discussion led by frozen_delight (Hidden Gems stream)
November 30: I Used To Live Alone Before I Met You by etothepii, led by jmarlinquin (short AUs stream)
Dec 3: The Scotch 'Verse Series by earlgreytea68, led by azriona (Mystrade stream)
Dec 10: Winter in London by w_a_i_d, led by keerawa (ACD stream)
Dec 14: The River Variations by withoutawish, led by swissmarg (short Casefic stream)
Dec 17: Don't Is Not The Same As Haven't by Impractical Beekeeping, led by tiltedsyllogism (Rare Pair stream)

How this will work:
On discussion days, the discussion leads will make a post to kick off our conversation. Please keep all conversation about the fic in that post, which will be locked to members only. (You're obviously allowed to say whatever you like about whatever you like on your own journals, but we'd like to try to keep the conversation all in one place for ease of reading.)

On the spirit of conversation
Please remember that we are striving to be an inclusive and encouraging safe where people feel comfortable expressing a range of opinions and judgments. While we encourage thoughtful and constructive criticism, we will not tolerate author-bashing, character-bashing, fic-bashing or reader-bashing of any kind. Everyone's response to a fic is legitimate, and it is perfectly okay to not like one part of a fic while loving another. If you want to disagree with something that someone else has said, make sure your response is focused on the difference in interpretation, not on the person with whom you disagree. Please try to respect the spirit in which others have commented: someone who says "this scene is structured in order to make the reader feel uncomfortable" is making an interpretation you can challenge if you disagree with it, but someone who says "this scene made me uncomfortable" is speaking only about their own response, and their comments should be respected as such. You are absolutely allowed to be critical and questioning; you are not allowed to be rude or abrasive, or to put someone down for enjoying what you disliked.

We are very eagerly looking forward to each of these conversations, and we hope you are, too!

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Round 2 Nominations are now open!

Sun, 02 Nov 2014 09:20:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Happy November, everyone!

Nominations for Round 2 are officially open. We will be discussing seven stories over the course of five weeks (you can take a look at our skeleton calendar here.) The seven streams are listed below, with links to the nomination threads. Some of these posts are members-locked, so you won't be able to see them if you're not a member of the comm. But our (metaphorical) doors are always open - you can always join, and we hope you will!

We are going to keep nominations open for the entire week - until the evening of Sunday, November 9th - and then the community will be able to vote for their choices on Monday and Tuesday of the following week (November 10th-11th). We will announce the winning fics and the discussion schedule on November 13th.

Here are the streams we will be discussing in Round 2:
PWP/Sex-Focused
ACD fics
Mystrade
Rare Pair
Hidden Gems (stories with <1k hits)
SHORT Casefics (casefics under 20k words)
SHORT AUs (AUs under 15k words)

If you're curious about how and why these streams and this schedule were selected, take a look here.

And if you're interested in our older discussions - which have mostly slowed down, but which you are welcome to join! - take a look at our Master List of Discussed Fics.

We look forward to seeing your nominations!

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Master List of Discussed Fics

Sun, 02 Nov 2014 05:04:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

( List of discussed fics in alphabetical order under the cut )

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Round #1 Announcement Post

Fri, 05 Sep 2014 12:18:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Hello all! Sorry for the delay. Here is the calendar for Round 1 Discussions:

Sept 10 - The Speed of Objects in Motion by holyfant, led by violethuntress (Angst stream)

Sept 17 - The Frost is All Over by Chryse, led by mars_daydream (Alt Universe stream)

Sept 24 - The Paradox series by wordstrings, led by birggitt (Alt Narrative stream)

Oct 1 - Hitting the Water at Sixty Miles an Hour by what_alchemy, led by ruth0007 (Wild Card stream)

Oct 8 - What to Do When Your Flatmate is Homicidal by hyacinth_sky747, discussion leader TBA (Humor stream)

Oct 15 - Given in Evidence by verityburns, discussion leaders mathe_roni and kizzia (Casefic stream)

These six genre streams are the ones that drew an overwhelming response, and these were the fics that came out on top in each of them (although some of those votes were very, very close!). We realized early on that jumping straight in with thirteen streams was more than the mods would be able to handle, which is why we are running discussions only in the most popular categories this time around, but our long-term plan definitely involves expanding the list to include lots more streams. There were so many fantastic fics nominated, in every category, that it was hard to let any of them go by; but this is just the first round of what we hope will be a great many. So if there's a fic or a stream you wanted to discuss that's not on the list above, we welcome you to nominate it again for later rounds.

As always, we welcome suggestions, and we'll make a point of reviewing with all of you how the process has gone before we start the next phase.

How this will Work:
On discussion days, the discussion leads will make a post to kick off our conversation. Please keep all conversation about the fic in that post, which will be locked to members only. (You're obviously allowed to say whatever you like about whatever you like on your own journals, but we'd like to try to keep the conversation all in one place for ease of reading.)

Please remember that we are striving to be a wank-free zone - that is, while we encourage thoughtful and constructive criticism, we will not tolerate author-bashing, character-bashing, fic-bashing or reader-bashing of any kind. Everyone's response to a fic is completely valid, and it is perfectly okay to not like one part of a fic while loving another. You are absolutely allowed to be critical and questioning; you are not allowed to be rude or abrassive, or to put someone down for enjoying what you disliked.

We greatly look forward to the conversations over the next couple of weeks. We're all going to have so much fun!

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Voting is Still Open for a Few More Hours

Wed, 03 Sep 2014 06:35:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Hello, Members and Watchers! Just a quick reminder that voting is stil open for our Round 1 Discussions. Lots of you have voted, and watching the numbers fluxuate the last 48 hours has been fascinating, and we mods couldn't be more pleased.

We're going to close down the poll ~~a little later today~~ at 4pm EST today, but right now there's some seriously close races and a few ties in specific categories. (Wild Card and Casefic as I write, though that could change very quickly.)

Your votes count. You do not have to vote in every category - you can vote in just one, or you can vote in all of them. But please please please, stop by and tell us what you'd like to discuss (and maybe break a tie).

Go vote now!

Thanks, and have a great day!

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Voting Post for Round #1

Mon, 01 Sep 2014 13:31:00 GMT

Posted by: reading221b-mod.livejournal.com

Good morning, everyone! Your stalwart and brave mods have compiled your nominations in the thirteen categories and formulated a poll. (We greatly apologize for the confusion this morning; you should have a nice clean poll in which to vote. Thank you so much for your patience while we continue to work out our kinks.)

You do NOT have to vote in every category. Please vote ONLY in the categories that interest you. You can find links to all of the currently-nominated stories at the top of the nominations post for each stream. (quick links to each stream here.)

We will only discuss the fics with the most votes in the 4-6 categories with the most votes - so don't vote for a fic if you don't want to discuss it!

Voting is open until 4pm EST Wednesday, September 3, at which point we will close the poll to further voting. (We'll make sure to mark the post in some way - if you don't see something saying STOP VOTING, go ahead and vote.)

We will announce the results of the poll on Thursday, September 4. At that time, we'll also announce the schedule of when each fic will be discussed, so you'll all have plenty of time to read or re-read the final selections. The reason for the delay is so we can check with the authors of the upcoming fics to make sure they're aware of their fic being discussed, and also so we can touch base with nominators to make sure they're ready to lead a discussion.

Thanks for stopping by! We can't wait to get started!
( The Poll )

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