Snowflake Challenge, Day 8

[anarfea]

I love all of the fics that I've written. But these are the ones I wish everyone would read:

Fraterfamilias by Anarfea

Fandoms: Sherlock (TV)

Words: 65,284

Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage

Mycroft Holmes/Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes/Charles Augustus Magnussen

Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes, Jim Moriarty, Charles Augustus Magnussen, Janine (Sherlock), Greg Lestrade, Anthea (Sherlock), Lady Smallwood (Sherlock), Mary Morstan, Bill Wiggins, Sherrinford Holmes, John Watson

Angst, Dark, Pining, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Sibling Rivalry, Ignored Safeword, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Incest, Psychological Torture Rape, Torture, Waterboarding, Forced Masturbation, Watersports, Discussions of Suicide, Mycroft Whump, Animal Death, Sibling Kissing, Sex Work, Sherlock Holmes and Sex Work, Character Death

Summary:

Mycroft unwittingly confesses a terrible secret and finds himself under Magnussen’s thumb. He must escape before Sherlock suffers the same fate--or discovers Mycroft’s true pressure point.

Rec:

This fic is in my opinion my greatest work. It’s an S3 fic mostly, though it contains some scenes from S2 and some pre-series backstory. It’s written from Mycroft’s POV. I wrote this fic because I was fascinated by the canon exchange where Mycroft says “You may consider [Magnussen] under my protection,” to which Sherlock retorts, “I consider you under his thumb.” I really wondered what kind of dirt Magnussen could possibly have on Mycroft that would enable him to control him utterly, and I decided that Mycroft’s dark secret is his romantic and sexual obsession with his brother. If you want to know how Magnussen got this secret, or what he does with his incriminating knowledge, you’ll have to read the fic.

It’s a very dark story, but one of my favorite characterizations of Mycroft. And I’m really proud of the way that I dealt with the plot--it’s tricky when writing canon compliant fic to make sure you have enough new material/missing scenes to keep the reader interested and not feel like they’re just seeing what they’ve already seen, but also enough canon touchstones that the story is recognizable. I feel like I achieved that balance here. Also, I love fleshing out the roles of smaller characters, and I’m really proud of my characterizations of Lady Smallwood and Anthea, who are fully developed figures with coherent motivations, and Magnussen is an absolutely terrifying villain, if I do say so myself.

As much as I say I wish everyone would read this fic, this fic is not for everyone. There are graphic scenes of rape and torture, and while there’s no sexual abuse of any minor characters Mycroft does develop feelings for Sherlock when he is a minor, which is really creepy. This was not an easy fic to write and it’s not an easy fic to read. But I think that the themes it raises, about the differences between dark thoughts and evil actions, the right to privacy of one’s own thoughts, the dangers of judging others based on their thoughts rather than their actions, are all really relevant to today’s anti/purity culture movement. I was writing this fic during my own run in with these bullies at 221b con, and those real life events influenced the work.

That Which Has Been Your Delight by Anarfea, Theirwholebohemiansoul (Ineedthatcloak)

Fandoms: Sherlock (TV)

Words: 90,615

Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con,

Underage

Mycroft Holmes/Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade

Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Greg Lestrade, Mummy (Sherlock), John Watson's Father, Anthea (Sherlock), Harry Watson, Clara (Sherlock), Sherlock Holmes' Father

Abortion, Abusive Relationships, Adoption, Adultery, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha Sherlock, Angst, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Dark, Domestic Violence, Dubious Consent, Fisting, Forced Bonding, Forced Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Infertility, Knotting, Married Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Mycroft Whump, Omega Mycroft, Rape, Sibling Incest, Suicidal Thoughts, Eating Disorders, Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Summary:

"You love John." Mycroft’s voice was barely above a whisper.

"I do. Does that mean," Sherlock kissed him again, this time just catching Mycroft’s lower lip as he moved back to look right at him, hiding nothing of his intent, "that I cannot love you as well?"

Mycroft turned his head. "You’re going to ruin me."

Rec: This was my first, honest to god full length novel, and I couldn’t have hit that word count if it wasn’t for Bohemiansoul, my wonderful co-writer. This fic was loosely inspired by a kinkmeme prompt, and it was the first time writing A/B/O or mpreg for either of us. I really discovered writing this fic the way a totally unrealistic scenario can absolutely have parallels to real life. I was prepared to write about rape and rape recovery. I was not prepared to write about adoption. I’m an adoptee myself, and parts of this story were very hard to write. Having a co-writer got me through it.

This was also technically my first Mystrade fic, a pairing that became kind of big for me this year. I knew I was going to end up writing the Mystrade bits because I was writing Mycroft, and my co-writer was writing Sherlock and the Johnlock bits. I was really nervous about the pairing because I didn’t really ship it, but it worked out much better than I expected, and I actually ended up liking Mystrade a lot.

Three Little Pigs by Anarfea for splix, AllTheThings, NaughtyPip

Fandoms:Sherlock (TV)

Words: 16,490

Rape/Non-Con, Underage

Sherlock Holmes/Jim Moriarty, Mycroft Holmes/Jim Moriarty, Eurus Holmes/Jim Moriarty, Eurus Holmes/Original Male Character

Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Jim Moriarty, Bill Wiggins, John Watson

Dark Fairy Tale Elements, BDSM, Consensual But Not Safe Or Sane, Incest, Canonical Character Death, Breathplay, Rape, Not involving Jim I promise, Unreliable Narrator, Childhood Sexual Abuse

Summary:

Once upon a time, there were three little pigs. The eldest little piglet had a secret he hid from everyone. The middle little piglet hid a secret from himself which he needed to uncover. The littlest little piglet tried to tell her brothers a secret they couldn't hear. And the Big Bad Wolf let each of them whisper their secrets in his ear....

Rec:

This was the only one of my self-recs written in 2018. Like the other two, this one deals with sexual assault and its aftermath. That seems to be a theme I come back to again and again. This fic supposes Eurus in the survivor of childhood sexual abuse and deals with the effects on both her and her family. I really wanted to give Eurus a trauma background because of a meta by Mid0nz suggesting the idea, and because I hated that in canon she’s just born evil with no explanation.

But the thing I like most is the structure of this fic. It’s set in a frame story of The Three Little Pigs (as narrated by Jim), with the idea of Jim as the Big Bad Wolf and each of the Holmes Siblings as a Piglet. But it’s also about the affairs that each of the Holmes siblings has with Jim Moriarty. And it’s about Eurus’s childhood abuse and the family’s secret. I decided to structure it in six parts: each Holmes sibling gets one chapter about the affair with Jim, and one chapter about Eurus and her secret. I alternated the POVs and moved around in time a big, but everything comes together like a big puzzle to make a single picture.

This fic never got as much attention as some of my others, probably because the material is so hard and the pairings are so rare. But it’s one of the fics that has the most of me in it.

Comments

[splix]

I loved Fraterfamilias and Three Little Pigs. I thought TLP, in particular, was so deftly framed. I would like to read it again soon.

I don't struggle with this, as such, but I do wonder about canon and what we're meant to accept unquestioningly [Eurus being born evil for example]. I am generally accepting of canon and try to work with it as it's presented, but I am also fully supportive of people who subvert it and who ignore people who tut-tut absolute adherence.

[anarfea]

The fic I write is generally more canon-compliant than not. I'm not particularly a fix-it person, either. And nothing in TLP really contradicts canon. I just wanted to show possible motivations for Eurus that we didn't get to see in canon because I felt like what we did see (she was born evil) wasn't convincing.