Arthur Conan Doyle hated Sherlock Holmes. Yes, it's true -- the character who brought him so much fame and fortune was also, arguably, his worst enemy.
The reasons behind Doyle's dislike of the world's most brilliant and famous detective are complicated, as TV presenter, historian, and Sherlock Holmes mega-fan Lucy Worsley meticulously explains in her new documentary series, Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs. Doyle. Doyle came from a financially unstable childhood and did everything in his power to climb up the social ladder, become the perfect male specimen, and prove himself as a literary genius. Yet he thought our beloved Sherlock was a burden; or, as Worsley explained when I spoke to her during a press roundtable for her upcoming series, Doyle saw him as a "low-brow, trashy" character holding him back from mingling with the upper ranks of Britain's high society.
Arthur Conan Doyle's hatred of Sherlock didn't stop him from profiting off the series though, even after he successfully managed to kill off the intrepid detective in The Adventure of the Final Problem. As Worsley uncovers throughout Holmes vs. Doyle, the eminent author became financially dependent on Holmes—none of his other literary works panned out as well as Sherlock's adventures did. In the end, Doyle was forced to convolutedly bring Sherlock Holmes back from the dead, forever cementing the detective's status as a literary and pop culture icon.
"Of course," said Worsley during our conversation about fan fiction legacy.
Today we can barely imagine a world without Sherlock Holmes. Hundreds of adaptations have been produced following the 62 officially published stories. If you're jonesing for some Holmes content today there's plenty available including fan fiction—a hobby shared by those who enjoy exploring established characters on their terms without being confined by canon rules.
For instance on Archive of Our Own one of biggest fan-fiction collections online "Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms" boasts nearly 137000 works while BBC’s adaptation contains over 120000 works surpassing even Tolkien’s fandom tags among others.
"This period is really first time we get community coming together pursuit kind fan-fiction culture," Dr Clare Clarke assistant professor Trinity College Dublin explained meeting with Worsley documentary third episode reveals Tit-Bits magazine encouraged fans write own stories publish them
This situation different however these new stories being encouraged actual publisher running competition fans write own get published
"I think they're really interested pushing directions that hadn't gone into before something seem interested idea giving girlfriend."
"Sound familiar?" asks both agree now turn type 'wish fulfillment' placing situations genres couldn't find works interestingly enough asked how felt competitions explained surprisingly didn't mind tired writing merely had execute ideas essentially interested crowdsourcing concepts