Original Ideas & Things

I forget exactly how this world came to be, but I think the idea for it came from the realisation that even though I consider myself to be a Sherlockian, I did not have my own rendition of the character(s). I began sketching Shirleigh and Juniper first, of course.

I thought to myself how much I loved the different pairings others have created, of course, many being the original two males, Miss Sherlock with two females as the duo, and Elementary with Holmes being male and Watson being a female. For mine, I decided to gender-bend all of the characters. All of the originally male characters would be female and vice versa, well loosely speaking, anyway as I plan on including genderfluid and non-binary characters and everyone in between.

I also have yet to see a take on the original stories that were not "plausible" so to speak. That being said, I wanted to introduce supernatural entities in my version. I have some rather interesting ideas in my head that tie in supernatural and mythological beings with the original tales that I am excited to experiment with.

Shirleigh's birthday is December 21, making her a Sagittarius on the very cusp of Capricorn. Sagittariuses are known to be direct and blunt, while Capricorns are ambitious and determined. I felt that what Sagittarius lacked for Shirleigh's zodiac, Capricorn made up for, and luckily enough for me, both zodiacs are right next to each other, so why not both? This sort of "teetering" could speak a lot about Shirleigh's inner struggles as well.

Juniper's birthday is October 12, making her a Libra, which was coincidental. I chose October for her birth month because it's my favourite, but I used a random number generator to get her birthday. I want Juniper to be a well-rounded and well-balanced character, one who knows and respects boundaries but also knows when to push or break them, so I was quite pleased with her zodiac outcome.

I was thinking about increasing everyone's ages at one point. I felt that some of the math didn't work out, especially between Shirleigh and Hudson, but I said screw it. Then I realised, "Crap! Juniper is supposed to be a doctor!" So I did some research on how long it would take one to get a medical license, and one would need to take four years of college AND four years of medical school. That's EIGHT YEARS. That would put her at roughly 26 years old, which isn't terrible, but I would have to increase Shirleigh's age accordingly, making her 27, 28, and I really disliked that. I really want this to be a story of self-discovery, finding oneself and all that jazz, and I feel like we try to do that once we hit our young adult years. TL;DR, screw school, I did increase Juniper's age by a year, but if Athena Cykes can be a full-fledged defence attorney at 18, Juniper can be a doctor at 22. There's probably some weird schooling system in my world or something, I dunno.

Entry 35 in "The Wolf of Baskerland" was going to be a little different. "The Animals Within" tackles different meanings of the phrase. Not only does it refer to the strange "werewolf" that stalks the mountains of the Basque region, but it also refers to that animal instinct within humans, especially those that come in tandem with feminine urges. Listening to the lyrics of "Animal" by AURORA (you may have noticed that she is a great source of inspiration for me) is the best way to get an idea of what I'm getting at. Other songs by AURORA that tackle similar subjects are "Wavelength" and "You Keep Me Crawling". I love things that explore feminine themes.

Here's a look at the original story outline from 2023! It was quite the read given how much is going to be changed. Thought I'd add it here since I found it kinda cool and you all might like to see it.

At the very start of the series, we are introduced to a female Red Cross surgeon whose name is  Juniper H. Watson. She is shown to be a strong and friendly character who tries her best to empathize with others. However, even though she is usually smiling and doing her best to help others, we soon learn that she is fighting her own internal battle. It turns out that Juniper has been trying to cope with her new prosthetic leg after losing hers on a volunteer stint during a hurricane.

Juniper is introduced to Shirleigh Holmes, a self-proclaimed consulting detective who is apathetic and egotistical, the complete opposite of Juniper! Shirleigh shows no interest in befriending Juniper as they begin to live in the same flat together to split costs and is often missing solving cases. This comes to an end when a case involves someone that Juniper knows and she insists that Shirleigh let her help as she potentially knows some key information. Juniper proves herself useful and after this case, Shirleigh begins to develop some feeling of gratitude for Juniper’s assistance. Juniper would then accompany Shirleigh on all future expeditions.

The story continues to hold onto its edgy atmosphere but does get darker as more serious cases are tackled.

Along the way, the duo will meet an eclectic cast of characters, some will end up supporting them, others opposing them.

The Irregulars are a group of citizens that cause chaos around the country. Among this group is Josephine Hope and a university professor known as Jade Moriarty.