ileenhaddockhawkins

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

So, as usual, I'm a little bit late...but I'm back, celebrating the 10 year anniversary of ASIP (:

(with a scene that does not have anything to do with ASIP whatsoever, lol)

I had really missed drawing our boys, so I will try to post fluffy drawings more often.

(as usual, excuse my awful use of color)

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

Sherlock & John portraits - (2025)

It seems it's the right day to post this 🥳

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

This is so amazing!!!! 😍

Finally getting to share my biggest art project yet!

The art exhibit yesterday was absolutely lovely, the amount of support and kind words was genuinely unbelievable! Thank you to everybody who supported me and followed my journey while making this massive project!

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

Sherlock, watercolor.

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

this is what i mean when i type 👀 btw

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

I think one of my favourite things about John Watson is he's so deceptively complicated and contradictory.

He's a doctor, he's a soldier, he'd kill for you, he'd heal for you, he's the best of men, he's the worst of men, he's so brave, he's such a coward, he's just a bloke, he's like no one you've ever seen, he's got trust issues, he'd trust you in a heartbeat, he's got everything, he's lost so much, he's so violent, he's so gentle, he doesn't know how to care, he doesn't know how to stop, he just wants an ordinary life, he'll run headfirst into fire just to feel the burn

He's a healer, he's a killer, he's a lover, he's a fighter, he's an adrenaline addict, he's a brother, he's a friend, he's a husband, he's a dad, he's a sidekick, he's a narrator, he's a headcase, he's John fucking Watson and he is not an open book.

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

Excuse me but the last gif–yes the one at the bottom right–is the very picture of a smitten boy. I won't hear otherwise.

soft john.

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

Happy New Year everyone! 🎆

2 years into the fandom now–it's been one of my greatest comforts these past couple years and through all the trying times.

Sherlock Holmes is never far: proof is that I was at a party last night, and there was Une étude en rouge discreetly tucked in between other books on the mantle of the fireplace. And the first song we played at midnight was 'Auld Lang Syne', like our fellow British friends do, so I'm told.

Wish you all the very best for 2025 ✨

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

New addition to my Holmesian library

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

Me during lunch break at work, trying to follow 10 conversations at a time.

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

Oh gods. My MFL list is now one page longer.

The fics I think about the most when I'm not even reading them

There are a lot of rec lists. And rec lists of rec lists. And tons and tons of good stories. But what about stories that haunt a reader forever? Stories that won't leave you alone? Stories that you randomly start thinking about at the produce aisle because they've left an impression on your brain much more lasting than advanced calculus?

Here are the stories that live rent-free in my brain year in, year out. No other stories have had such a profound effect on my psyche. I don't even always know why a particular story has had this effect as opposed to so many other good ones I've read. Sometimes it's the whole thing, sometimes a singular scene I like revisiting (or am traumatised enough to keep reliving).

The Doubtful Comforts of Human Love by Poppy Alexander https://archiveofourown.org/works/2184438 A mature, elegant and brutal take on longstanding relationships and how to go about repairing them even when they seem beyond hope.

Gimme Shelter by SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John https://archiveofourown.org/works/11578941?view_full_work=true Was there anyone in this fandom who didn't develop and instant fetish to this AU, especially its depiction of Hawaii? jfc

Just To Hold You Close by sussexbound https://archiveofourown.org/works/18070463 The premise is delicious, the prose introspective and deep.

A Hundred Crimson Sols by elldotsee https://archiveofourown.org/works/14151099 Space!cowboy!John and delicate scientist Will. I just… *bites knuckles*

The Gilded Cage by BeautifulFiction https://archiveofourown.org/works/1103555 The story that sold me the omegaverse (I can tell you that was one hard sell). Rare is the Sherlock who is painted with such strokes of strength, tenacity and will to survive.

Seeds by thesardine https://archiveofourown.org/works/240332 One of my all-time favourites. Every time I see a packet of dill seeds, damnit…

the Nothing Made Me series by 7percentsolution https://archiveofourown.org/series/1583050 Hands-down my favourite Victor Trevor, one I shall love and treasure forever.

Radioactive Trees In A Red Forest by Maribor_Petrichor https://archiveofourown.org/works/10522701 Those who have read this will understand why.

Electric Pink Hand Grenade by BeautifulFiction https://archiveofourown.org/works/442317 One of the first and still-best depictions of illness in Sherlock fic. A legend from an early era.

Fragile by gemstone1234 and Tor_Raptor https://archiveofourown.org/works/14072844 I won't argue with those who say this fic takes medical torture too far. I also will gladly admit that especially the original was one I read over and over and over again like a woman possessed.

Drawn To Stars by Silvergirl https://archiveofourown.org/works/20951528 I have waxed dramatic about this fic enough to bore not just for Britain but the entire Britain. The so-human and thus so-perfect OC, the way he becomes collateral damage to Sherlock's incapability of letting go on John… *bites knuckles again*

Beauty From Ashes by BakerTumblings https://archiveofourown.org/works/12054684 That one scene at the… *flicks wrist* you know. At least you do if you've noticed similarities between this one and A Thrill Failed To Deliver. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery and all that.

Shadow Child by Kourion https://archiveofourown.org/works/1048030/chapters/2096093 Look, I won't argue when some readers claim that the characterisations can be a bit off at times. I won't argue if you say the angst is too thick. I won't argue if you say it stretches on and on and on. But I will stand by the fact that no other — I repeat no other — Sherlock fic has ever hit me harder than this, and haunted me more (in many good ways), and have repeatedly told the author so. Tread with caution and read with care.

the knife i turn inside myself by polyommatusblues https://archiveofourown.org/works/7379164

for all that bitter delights will sour by darcylindbergh https://archiveofourown.org/works/2814209 These two pieces deal with quite similar themes. John cannot entirely let go of his marriage, his ghosts, his straight identity. Sherlock becomes collateral damage because he cannot let go of John.

The Unfinished Letters by SilentAuror https://archiveofourown.org/works/6541750 See previous comment. Dear gawd that bit where John makes it clear one night is all he can give, and Sherlock against his better judgement, takes the offer.

Terms of Service by kres https://archiveofourown.org/works/817556 Let's face it: John and Sherlock are not okay. Their coping skills can be toxic, no scratch that, disastrous. Dangerous, even. But in that, they are evenly matched. This fic will make you feel things you won't be entirely sure you wanted to feel, but by the time you're read it you can't imagine ever wanting to go back to not having read it.

The Ground Beneath Your Feet by Chryse https://archiveofourown.org/works/5824753 The setting. And the way Sherlock is suspended in his trauma and John cannot be the one to help. The way they have to reconstruct their relationship bit by bit is… *makes whale sounds*

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

My biggest tip for fanfic writers is this: if you get a character's mannerisms and speech pattern down, you can make them do pretty much whatever you want and it'll feel in character.

Logic: Characters, just like real people, are mallable. There is typically very little that's so truly, heinously out of character that you absolutely cannot make it work under any circumstance. In addition, most fans are also willing to accept characterization stretches if it makes the fic work. Yeah, we all know the villain and the hero wouldn't cuddle for warmth in canon. But if they did do that, how would they do it?

What counts is often not so much 'would the character do this?' and more 'if the character did do this, how would they do it?' If you get 'how' part right, your readers will probably be willing to buy the rest, because it will still feel like their favourite character. But if it doesn't feel like the character anymore, why are they even reading the fic?

Worry less about whether a character would do something, and more about how they'd sound while doing it.

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

My gods, this is so true. Daniel Pennac is surely one of our wisest French writers. In this same book, he wrote about the "Rights of the Reader" and it's one of the most sensible things a child can be taught about.

« If you have to ask yourself where you will find the time to read, it means the desire isn’t there. Because no one has the time to read. Children don’t, teenagers don’t, adults don’t. Life is a perpetual obstacle to reading.

“Reading, I’d love to, but what with my job, the kids, the housework, I don’t have the time.” “You have so much time to read—I envy you!”

How is it that Ms X, who works, runs errands, raises kids, drives her car, loves three men, goes to her dentist appointment, is moving next week—how is it that she finds the time to read […]?

Time spent reading is always time stolen. Like time spent writing, for that matter, or time spent loving. Stolen from what? Let’s say, from the duty of living. Which is probably why the subway—this stinking symbol of the duty of living—is the world’s largest reading room.

Time spent reading, like time spent loving, increases our lifetime.

If we were to consider love from the point of view of our schedule, who would bother? Who among us has time to fall in love? Yet have you ever seen someone in love not take the time to love?  I’ve never had the time to read. Yet nothing has ever stopped me from finishing a novel I loved. 

Reading doesn’t belong to the societal organisation of time. Like love, it is a way of being. The issue is not whether or not I have the time to read (no one will ever give me that time) but whether or not I will gift myself the happiness of being a reader. »

— Daniel Pennac, Better Than Life

[ileenhaddockhawkins]

7 times John and Sherlock were unnecessarily close to each other I wanted to do 5, but I couldn't decide. So, now there are 7. Please send complaints into my inbox. 😇

Also, it's sad how this closeness kind of stopped after TRF. I quickly skimmed through S3 and 4, but nothing really.