I’ve always been a fan of stuff.  Elementary school saw me with my first celebrity crush (Zac Efron), while middle school was filled with everything Jonas Brothers (who were my first and so far only concert (don’t judge)).  High school began with a very short love of Twilight (the books were kinda good, but the movies? not so much), and then, in my senior year, I found Doctor Who, Sherlock, and The Avengers.

However, in all of my love of things fan-ish, I haven’t had much experience with one thing:

Fan Mail.

Up until now, I have sent 1 piece of fan mail in my life.  I was 13, and it was to the Jonas Brothers.  I heard nothing back (no shocker there). Now, even though I’m older and (supposedly) more mature, I’m getting ready to send out a very large amount of fan mail.

Well, it’s not really fan mail.  It’s actually for a project I have in my writing class.  My class centers around media fandoms, and, by the end of the semester, I have to write a 15+ page paper on some form of fandom.  I thought it would be fun to look at the history of the Sherlock Holmes fandom, starting with the original books and short stories and ending with the modern movies and TV shows.  One day, I thought, “You know what would be cool? If I could get an interesting quote by Benedict Cumberbatch (who plays Holmes on the BBC show) about his experiences with the fandom! Wait-why stop with Ben? I wonder what the other people involved with the show think about the fans!”  One thing led to another, and now I’m writing and mailing out a bunch of surveys for people involved with not only the BBC show, but the CBS show Elementary and the Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.

The phrase “I hope I hear back from them” is an understatement of what I’m feeling right now, and I haven’t even printed out the letters and surveys yet!  I really, really, REALLY want this to work.  And it’s not even because I’m one of those obsessed fans who wants to parade around the world screaming “I JUST GOT A SIGNATURE FROM A FAMOUS PERSON LOOK AT ME I’M AMAZEBALLS!!!” before fainting.  I honestly think the people I’m contacting could provide some fascinating insight into the modern fandom.  Plus, how many people can say,  “Benedict Cumberbatch and/or Martin Freeman helped me with a project while I was a freshman in college”? Not many, I can tell you that much.

Fingers, toes, arms, and, well, anything that is crossable is crossed right now that this works and I get at least one survey back.