Case (
case) wrote in
fandomsecrets2017-03-07 07:02 pm
[ SECRET POST #3716 ]
⌈ Secret Post #3716 ⌋
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Re: OP
(Anonymous) 2017-03-08 08:16 am (UTC)(link)I think I tend to feel the same way. In the few cases where someone's put Sherlock at like 23 or 24 I always have a needle-scratch moment of, like, say what? Even putting him in his late twenties is a bit jarring, because to me he just seems like someone in his thirties.
But with John, I'm trying to think of a fic I've read where someone characterizes him as being under thirty (and not as an AU). I'm sure I've read a couple, but very few. I've read approximately 2700 Sherlock fics (I didn't just pull a good-sounding number out of my ass there, I actually keep track) and I've probably come across less than ten fics that de-age John and Sherlock to that degree.
Do you read most of your fic on AO3, or another site? I would think de-aging would be more common on FF.net, for example, since on average the crowd there seems to be younger - at an age when characters in their thirties might seem unrelatable.
Picking ages if you need it to come up in the story is fine, but bringing it up in authors notes is strange.
It's weird if you're doing it for no reason. But if you've deliberately de-aged the characters and you want to prep your readers for that, then it makes sense.