SH Rec: The Tenth Muse (Mystrade)
Mar. 19th, 2019 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
out_thereThis was so wonderful. I loved the magical realism of it, the idea that Mycroft quite literally sees people haunted by their own demons. He sees the world in a way that no one else does but has learned how to effectively hide and smother his own reactions to what he sees. It was a really imaginative and interesting idea.
The Tenth Muse (25365 words) by Vulpesmellifera
Chapters: 10/10
Fandom: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes & Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes/Original Male Character(s), (past)
Characters: Mycroft Holmes, Greg Lestrade, Anthea (Sherlock), Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Post-Episode: s02e03 The Reichenbach Fall, Canon Divergence - The Reichenbach Fall, Post-Reichenbach, Mycroft Feels, Magical Realism, Greek and Roman Mythology - Freeform, anthea ships it, mystrade, POV Mycroft Holmes
Summary:
The Tenth Muse (25365 words) by Vulpesmellifera
Chapters: 10/10
Fandom: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes & Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes/Original Male Character(s), (past)
Characters: Mycroft Holmes, Greg Lestrade, Anthea (Sherlock), Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Post-Episode: s02e03 The Reichenbach Fall, Canon Divergence - The Reichenbach Fall, Post-Reichenbach, Mycroft Feels, Magical Realism, Greek and Roman Mythology - Freeform, anthea ships it, mystrade, POV Mycroft Holmes
Summary:
It isn't deduction for Mycroft; it's a living nightmare that leads to self-imposed isolation. When Sherlock "dies," Mycroft finds himself reaching out for a golden slice of happiness, just one person to call his own in a landscape of horrors.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-19 07:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-19 10:14 pm (UTC)(That's not a criticism, not really. I am *terrible* at summaries and it can be really hard to sum up a story in a few sentences and make it engaging.)
But, yes, I really enjoyed it.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-20 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-28 12:39 am (UTC)But now I want to know. Do you have any suggestions on how to make the summary more engaging? I have only written one other summary before this one, and I didn’t really think about just how important they are. But they really are! I got so excited about posting the work that I got to the summary box and was like...I have to write this, too??? 😂
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Date: 2019-03-28 01:41 am (UTC)That's the wonder of fandom, isn't it?
I got so excited about posting the work that I got to the summary box and was like...I have to write this, too???
Oh, man, I feel you on that. I mean... most of my stories have snippets from the fic as a summary and some of my summaries are utterly terrible (luckily, recs and word of mouth don't depend solely on the summary. Otherwise, no one would have read "The Whore of Babylon" because that summary is... so vague and lacking.)
It isn't deduction for Mycroft; it's a living nightmare that leads to self-imposed isolation. When Sherlock "dies," Mycroft finds himself reaching out for a golden slice of happiness, just one person to call his own in a landscape of horrors.
I guess my issue with the summary was that it sounded a little bit like emotional melodrama ("landscape of horrors") rather than the magical realism that's actually there. The core of the story is that Mycroft literally sees demons/apparatitions/ghosts haunting people -- but the summary doesn't show that at all. The summary makes sense after you've read the story, but if you're trying to convince someone to open it and try reading, it needs to capture the hook of the story, what's different / interesting about this version of Mycroft and Lestrade getting together?
Which is easy to say, but hard to figure out how to write.
If it was me, I'd take a section of the story that explains the basic premise and use that as the summary. The description to Sherlock might work, although the story might sound more like the Holmes brothers as kids...
A memory comes to him. Once, when Sherlock was no more than eleven, and Mycroft was visiting from uni, Sherlock asked him how he knew so much. Mycroft, wanting to share his horrible secret with someone else, began telling Sherlock about the things he saw. Lights, spectres, shades, demons, phantasms, and creatures that no one else could see. Voices no one else could hear. Colours eddying around people’s bodies, visible only to his eyes.
Sherlock had listened with a fascinated interest, until his face grew dark. He scowled, and said, “Mycroft, stop lying. I’m smart enough to do whatever it is you do. You don’t have to tell me a fairytale.”
For more focus on Greg, but that kind of spoils the reveal of Mycroft telling Greg, and that happens rather late.
Mycroft takes Greg into his studio. He points out the charcoal drawings on the walls and describes to Greg where he’d seen the people and what the creatures have said to him. He brings out the folios and shows him John Watson and his gargoyle, Sherlock and his horde of demons.
So, hmmm, actually, quite early in the story you summarise it really well:
Mycroft sees things other people can’t. It isn’t deduction; that skill belongs to his brother. Sherlock, jealous of Mycroft’s foreknowledge of near everything, has spent decades honing his skills in observation. However, Mycroft sees things that aren’t there. Well, that aren’t there for anyone else to see. Or hear.
Or smell.
Shadows that unfurl around some strangers. Blurs of colour around others. Sometimes shadows take shape and become creatures or symbols, and when Mycroft cares to listen, they speak.
Maybe use that first, or condense it a little, but keep the clear description of what Mycroft has, and then use the rest of your summary, because that gives a good idea of the relationship focus and the setting of the story. So it would read like this:
Mycroft sees things other people can’t. Lights, spectres, shades, demons, phantasms, and creatures that no one else could see. Voices no one else could hear. Colours eddying around people’s bodies, visible only to his eyes.
It isn’t deduction; that skill belongs to his brother. Sherlock, jealous of Mycroft’s foreknowledge of near everything, has spent decades honing his skills in observation. Mycroft sees shadows and creatures, and when Mycroft cares to listen, they tell him secrets.
It isn't deduction for Mycroft; it's a living nightmare that leads to self-imposed isolation. When Sherlock "dies," Mycroft finds himself reaching out for a golden slice of happiness, just one person to call his own in a landscape of horrors.
(Or something like that. Maybe not the repeating "it isn't deduction" line -- I'm not sure if it's losing impact or not, but that's how I'd do it.)
...not that I'm flawless at summaries, but just my opinion.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-29 08:14 pm (UTC)