Writing Tips from Sherlock Holmes

Image of Sherlock Holmes by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

One of the most notable characters of deduction and intrigue has to be Sherlock Holmes by the talented Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His perception of the world fascinates us still to this day. I, for one, still watch the old movies now and then with my husband.

The way Sherlock perceives the world as he solves crimes is the way most would love to view the world on a daily basis. Finding the little things intriguing and fascinating while leaving all the nonsense to those that feel they need it. We could learn a lot from this character if we take the time to look around a bit.

My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don’t know.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

At the Start

When starting out, you want to keep an open mind and really see everything. Gain what information you need, paying attention the small details if you think there is even a remote chance that you will use it. Make sure what you have will make sense to the reader unless you are creating a fictional world to accompany your character. Keep his famous phrase in mind when researching your story pieces:

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Add in materials and facts as you go, using what you obtained from your research and others to prove your facts are going to work for the particular situation.

Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Use of Deduction

The most notable characteristic of this character is his use of deduction to solve the crime. Seeing all the tiny details that most would overlook when examining a crime scene and adding up the connections to form his reasoning for the crime and who was behind it.

To a great mind, nothing is little
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The fascinating thing is, we can all be that way with practice as well as our characters when we write. Maybe not to the same extreme, but you can let your characters discover areas as they enter or encounter them. This allows the setting to come alive around the character, which in turn allows the reader to see it as the character does.

Sherlock doesn’t necessarily focus on who did it, but rather why they did it and how. What lead the character to commit the crime in the first place. Unravel the backstory to explore the internal and external factors that caused the character to react as they do and to commit a crime as they did or will do.

Solving The Puzzle

Writing is like a puzzle, you have to find all the pieces in order for them to fit together in a cohesive story that will intrigue your audience and provide curiosity that keeps readers coming back again and again. Adding in the thrill of the hunt and a compelling mystery causes the reader to continue to the end in search of answers.

I never guess. It is a shocking habit, destructive to the logical faculty
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

One way to create an easier process is to work backwards from the end result and move to the beginning of the story. Once you have your answer, it should be easier to backtrack with the steps on how they will get to the final result of the story. This may help you find subplots and possible causes as well.

Editing and Polishing

When writing, it’s good to take a break before heading into the editing phase of the process. Even Sherlock took breaks when he needed time to think on particular case.

As with the writing process above, go through the manuscript backwards looking at the flow and grammar issues. With your next run through, read it aloud. One more time, read it again backwards and look for spelling errors, weak verbs, typos, etc. Finally, load it into a program that can read it for you and listen for awkward sentence structure. Then lastly, send it out to your team to be read.

Extra Tips

Here are some extra tips focused on specific areas of writing that we can learn from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s writing of Sherlock Holmes.

Character

Sherlock as a character provides a fascinating and enigmatic, human yet nonhuman and intriguing person to the story. His character is so different than most you would see even in other detective novels that it is hard to replicate such a character. It is not important that he solves the mystery, but how he solves. The details in how he comes to his conclusions is what keeps readers engaged to the end.

Create a character who is unique unto themselves, where they see the little things that most would miss when entering a room, and see the world in a different perspective.

Dialogue

Sherlock is witty, yet brutally honest when he speaks to others. At times it seems like he has no empathy towards others. His speech is logical and presented as fact as he progresses through the scene. If you want to use dialogue, use it to convey exposition and move scene along faster giving your readers that slight humor with witty perception.

Focus

As Sherlock focuses on a crime to the extent of obsession at times, we as writer should be as focused on our writing to be just as precise. Thank about what is needed and what can be ignored. As Sherlock doesn’t feel information about planets is crucial to human life unless it pertains to a case, so to should you focus just as deeply on your characters, story, settings and more.

Distractions vs Obsessions

Distractions get to everyone, but Sherlock knows what to take as merely distraction and what is needed to progress the mystery to it’s end. What could be a distraction or obsession to most, could be the main clue needed to solve a case. Things can get messy, but try to get back on track as soon as possible if the distractions become to unbearable. Even Sherlock had those very few cases that he could not solve. Obsessing gives you more than you could ever want to know, but then you never know what you’ll actually use or not until the words were written.

Pay Attention to the World Around You

Pay attention to everything, particularly the hows and whys behind things as you discover the world in a new way. As you discover, rule out anything that is impossible or unlikely, keeping an open mind as things come to light that may seem unlikely or you haven’t discovered yet.

The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

When thinking like Sherlock, there is not such thing as useless information. Anything, no matter how small can mean something in the right situation.

Keep in mind as you discover more how light levels affect what you see, sound affects what you hear, and temperature and humidity will affect what you feel in the air and smell. Distance can also factor in when you see, feel, smell and hear things.

Final Thoughts

As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation of Sherlock Holmes, one of the most revered characters of all time. It makes sense that we would try to emulate his character’s perception of the earth and life, the way he thought and saw the world as no one else does.

The capturing of small bit of information and combining them to relay the story of the crime and why is something only a true master could accomplish.