Adapting and Writing Sherlock Holmes: A Journey from Trepidation to Joy
Although I grew up aware of the Basil Rathbone films and, of course, the names Holmes and Watson, it was not until April 2006, ironically around the time that I became a pipe smoker, that I truly fell in love with the stories of Holmes and Watson. The catalyst was purchasing Volume 1 of the complete collection at a used bookstore.
Since that time, I have read all 56 short stories and the 4
novellas numerous times. I have also read numerous pastiches from the likes of
Stephen King and Nicholas Meyer.
In March 2008, I received a commission from a youth theatre
in Pennsylvania to write the play for their high school–aged summer camp. I
immediately thought of adapting The Hound
of the Baskervilles—perhaps the most famous of the Holmes and Watson
stories, and certainly the novellas.
The challenge was (and I always want a challenge when writing
adaptations to help bring something new to the table) that the cast was heavily
female.
No problem, I thought. I will make the two lead characters
female. In the world of this adaptation, which debuted to appreciative
audiences, Holmes did not survive
Reichenbach Falls and Colonel Moran has taken over London through his crime
syndicate in the world’s only consulting detective’s absence.
To fill the void, Holmes’s niece and her best friend pose as
Holmes and Watson.
Flash forward eleven years, to 2019, and one of my
publishers invited me to write a short story for an anthology on which they
were working with an editor. The conceit of the collection was a mashup of
Sherlock Holmes and some other piece of Victorian/Edwardian horror.
I immediately thought of Dracula.
After all, Holmes did have some prior experience with vampires in “The
Adventure of the Sussex Vampire.” By this time, I had also become well
acquainted with the paranormal and Spiritualism work of Holmes’s creator, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, which allowed me to see Holmes’s professed skepticism of
such things in a new light.
Holmes versus Dracula was out of the question (I am sure it
is out there somewhere in many, many forms). BUT, there was an intriguing character in Bram Stoker’s masterpiece that no
one ever really talked about—the Texan Quincey P. Morris.
I submitted my proposal, which the editor and publisher
accepted, and I got to work on an outline.
Alas, as these things happen, the editor and publisher had a
falling out and the anthology was scrapped.
Trouble was, I was hooked on Holmes, Doyle, and the concept
so deeply that I could not walk away from it. Instead, I expanded the short
story outline for a novel-length work and decided to incorporate it into my
Stanton Chronicles metaverse.
For information on the Stanton Chronicles, which is now nine
books with a new one on the way in September 2025, see:
https://joeymadiastoryteller.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-stanton-chronicles-historical.html
After creating the outline, to which I added characters from
a second well-known
Victorian/Edwardian outline (although I kept the title and details a secret), I
set about re-reading all of the short stories and novellas and watching
everything I could find. I took very detailed notes about set, costumes, and
learned all about the different types of horse-drawn conveyances.
If there are any adaptations I have missed from TV and film,
they are very scarce indeed.
For my favorite actors who have portrayed Holmes and Watson,
respectively, see:
https://joeymadiastoryteller.blogspot.com/2025/05/my-ten-favorite-portrayals-of-sherlock.html
and
https://joeymadiastoryteller.blogspot.com/2025/05/my-favorite-portrayals-of-dr-john-watson.html
As I read, watched, and studied the details of the era, I
continued to work on the outline, which I patterned on the four novellas,
meaning that there would be an extended backstory for one of the characters in
the second half of the second act. This would be a perfect opportunity to
create a backstory for the Texas cowboy Quincey Morris, including inventing his
time and dark experiences as a Texas Ranger. As it happened, I had just written
a short story in the Gothic Western subgenre and I decided to adapt it for what
I ultimately called Sherlock Holmes and
the Mystery of M (M being a clue to the second Victorian/Edwardian work of
horror I incorporated).
The Voice of the piece was important. Who was going to be
the narrator? It could not be Watson, as Nicholas Meyer had followed Doyle in
his two pastiches and Watson’s voice was the default position for many other
works as well.
It was then that I decided to use one of the members of the
Stanton family, from which the name of the Stanton Chronicles derives. I had
already established in prior books that they were newspaper people, having
founded a fictitious U.S. East Coast paper, the Eastern Standard.
The narrator of my Sherlock Holmes pastiche is Judah
Philemon Stanton, an English journalist for the Pall Mall Gazette (I patterned him on WT Stead).
I also decided to set the book in August of 1894, close to
the return of Holmes from Reichenbach and the death of Watson’s beloved Mary.
Watson was another key to what would be new about this take
on the iconic duo from 221B Baker Street. I always felt that Holmes was unduly
harsh on John, but it was mostly for the books, where Watson was being modest
and because the tension between them suited the narratives.
I wanted my Watson, in other words, to be more Jude Law or
David Burke and not at all like Nigel Bruce (whom I love for the levity
function he serves in view of Basil Rathbone’s very heavy portrayal of
Holmes).
I created a longtime friendship, beginning with the British
Army, for Watson and Stanton. Stanton also had plenty to say about Sherlock
Holmes in attempting to defend his friend.
It was finally time to set about writing the book, and I
froze.
Who the hell was I to write a novel about Sherlock Holmes
and Dr. Watson?
Overcome with fear and a giant dose of imposter syndrome, I
re-read and re-watched the source material and adaptations (hours and hours and
hours of time) while adapting my already produced musical, Three Gothic Doctors and Their Sons (a mashup of Frankenstein,
Moreau, and Jekyll) into a novel, also narrated by Judah P. Stanton. I also did
a lot of research about the world of Sherlock Holmes, the Western genre, the
Texas Rangers, and journalism in Victorian/Edwardian London. I changed how I
read the source material, incorporating references in the outline that built a
larger history between Morris and Watson and providing “fan service” for
readers. I also used layouts of the 221B Baker Street rooms and was sure to
reference furniture, wall hangings, and objects around the room. I also took
the opportunity to re-read Dracula,
as I would be incorporating Lucy Westenra, Jack Seward, and Arthur Holmwood
into my novel as well.
This worked out very well. The attention to the novel
adaptation brought attention to the musical, which is going to be produced
early next year in an expanded format, with myself as director, for the stage,
livestreaming, and as a cinematic experience.
For details:
https://joeymadiastoryteller.blogspot.com/2025/02/three-gothic-doctors-and-their-sons.html
Once I’d experienced voicing Judah P. Stanton, or, more
precisely, asking him to speak through me, I had enough of an understanding of whom
he was, and his history with Watson (briefly referenced in Three Gothic Doctors) that I was able to write Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of M with greatly diminished
trepidation and quite a bit of job.
It was published in January 2022.
I have learned a lot through the process of adapting Holmes
and many other classics. Here are my thoughts on that process:
https://joeymadiastoryteller.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-pros-and-cons-of-adapting-classic.html
To read my Sherlock Holmes book, visit:
I am now working on the further adventures of Quincey P.
Morris, Monster Killer, as well as a Jack the Ripper book, a prequel to Three Gothic Doctors and Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of M,
also narrated by Judah P. Stanton.
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