Elementary, My Dear Writerly Watson

I don't watch TV. Leastwise, I'm not a garden-variety, one episode a week kind of gal. I wait for the whole kit and kaboodle of a show to appear on Netflix, then I get sucked in for the entire season in one sitting. Don't worry. I take potty breaks.

My latest craze is Sherlock. After watching the pilot episode, I wasn't convinced I loved it, so I watched just one more, and bam. I was hooked. Hubby too. Just in case you're not familiar with it, the story takes place in contemporary times with a present-day Sherlock and Watson. . . which got me to thinking, why did the writers decide to set it in the 21st century? Was there some kind of copyright legal falderal or what?

Turns out there was a recent lawsuit between Arthur Conan Doyle's estate and Leslie S. Klinger, the author of a new original piece of fiction starring Holmes called A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon. The court ruled that the original 46 Sherlock Holmes stories and 4 novels are in the public domain, making them no longer subject to copyright, though by now Random House paid the fees requested by the Doyle estate.

But none of that really has to do with the TV show and why they chose to refashion Sherlock with an iPad and a hipster overcoat. They simply wanted to freshen the character up. In the writers' words, "We're setting out to do something new."

And that is exactly the goal we should all strive to attain. Be bold. Try something new. Readers are begging for freshness. It's an elementary concept, Watson, so take a risk in your writing today.