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Beth Winter

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[Fandoms:| Tokyo Babylon Comics Harry Potter Once Upon a Time in Mexico Phantom of the Opera Silmarillion Star Wars Tanz der Vampire Coldfire Trilogy Van Helsing ]

FIC: Fairytale/Cinderella: "Complications in advice-giving" (PG) [May. 17th, 2009|07:44 pm]
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So, so much [info]fyrie's fault. This has so much sugar, I am not responsible for the well-being of any diabetics.

Title: Complications in advice-giving
Author: Beth Winter, [info]bwinter
Fandom: Cinderella
Pairing/characters: Fairy Godmother, Cinderella
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: This particular interpretation based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
Prompt: 128: Any science fiction or supernatural fandom, any characters, Humans' rigid ideas about gender and sexuality make falling in love with one difficult.

Summary: Before her wedding night, Cinderella asks her Fairy Godmother for advice. It turns out that fairies have different ideas about things.
Warnings: None.
Author's Notes: Entirely [info]fyrie's fault as usual. Also dedicated to the kind soul who subtitled the Japanese version of the Cinderella musical, in which the Fairy Godmother and Stepmother are both played by actresses who some years earlier were very famous for playing male roles. The sheer sugar content of the Fairy's scenes with Cinderella, especially fulfilling the wish, put this story in my head.

( Even in fairytales, not everything's simple )
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The end of summer, epilogue (PG, Original/Tanz der Vampire) [May. 7th, 2009|06:50 pm]
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Note: this is an epilogue/bonus to The End of Summer, written for [info]lgbtfest 2009.

The end of the final summer )
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FIC: The end of Summer (Original/Tanz, PG) [May. 7th, 2009|05:00 pm]
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Written for [info]lgbtfest:

Title: The End of Summer
Author: Beth Winter, [info]bwinter
Fandom: Loosely based on Tanz der Vampire (musical based on the movie Fearless Vampire Killers)
Pairing/characters: Graf von Krolock, Original Character
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Roman Polanski and Michael Kunze have my congratulations. This particular version is based on the original Vienna production.
Prompt: 35. Any fandom, any character(s), In a world that contains vampires one of them is utterly depressed. No matter who he/she loves, be it man or woman, the second her/his bloodlust takes over he/she destroys what he/she loved about them in the first place. How would meeting someone who is immortal (and therefore immune to the vampire's bite) in a completely different way change his/her perspective on (un)life?

Summary: The nature of curses may not be what we believe.
Warnings: Death, angst, religious themes (Catholicism).
Author's Notes: All you need to know about this canon is that it's 1617 in Transylvania, and Graf Stephan von Krolock, scientist and magician, has recently been turned into a vampire.

( The vampire and the stranger )

( And bonus epilogue )
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FIC: Entracte (Seal of Roses, R/NC-17) [Mar. 3rd, 2009|07:01 pm]
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*sighs* [info]My devil twin♥ wanted. She got. 1500 words of vampire smut.

What you need to know: Francis is a Knight Templar. After the order's dissolution, he fled to a valley run by a family of good vampires. The goodness was guarded by a monastery with a magic cross. The monk Mikhail, driven mad by the fact the family's daughter preferred Francis, broke the seal and became an evil vampire. Through the River of Time (cue song), Francis searches for the jewel-roses that formed the seal. And in the palace of Louis XIV, he stumbles on a vampire plot.

TITLE: Entracte
RATING: R/NC-17
FANDOM: Seal of Roses: Vampire Requiem (Takarazuka)
PAIRINGS: Francis/Mikhail
WORDS: circa 1500

SUMMARY: In the night of Paris, Mikhail catches Francis unawares. He is made to regret it, if only for the sake of his dress.

Entirely [info]fyrie's fault. Hankyu owns everything, Takarazuka Revue are goddesses, and needless to say, this is not quite pure and proper. (Beauty can be argued.)

( Between the acts )
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One of the two fic-fests I await eagerly [Feb. 27th, 2009|07:18 am]
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[info]lgbtfest is running again this year! This is a wonderful issue-focussed fest that last year resulted in two fics I'm rather proud of writing, as well as a busload of material to read :) The general quality's insanely high.

Prompt submission is running until March 3, with prompt claiming from March 5 to 10. Now if only someone would submit the prompts I want... *hopes quietly for a Rose of Versailles one, because [info]fyrie would kill me*
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Yuletide reveal [Jan. 2nd, 2009|12:25 am]
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Author names are now up, which means I can confess to posting the following:

Elisabeth: The Play of the Hand
Three months before Mayerling, Rudolf has to deal with Death, Elisabeth, and a visit from an Emperor younger than him. This is my longest Yuletide story, and the most hermetic one, in that it takes as given that the reader knows that in 1888, Wilhelm von Hohenzollern became Emperor of Germany, and that Rudolf had a love-hate relationship with him, culminating in political quarrels and estrangement during that visit, in October 1888. It was my first attempt at pulling out these two, and I fear I may return to them at some point in the future :)

Elisabeth: Empress of the Mind
After seeing to Elisabeth's fainting spell, Doktor Seeburger returns to the Archduchess Sophie. Inspired by the Yukigumi 2007 production, and by the Hungarian production's scene with Death and Sophie. (And again a historical fact: Sophie witnessed the decline and death of her beloved cousin, Napoleon's son. She was close enough to him that there were rumours that her second son was his. From that moment on, she was familiar with Death.)

Romeo et Juliette: The Wedding Night (R, Mercutio/Tybalt)
Alternate Universe: It is the night of Romeo and Juliette's wedding.

Arthurian legend: Natural Son
Mordred's arrival in Camelot. He's always been my favourite, along with Lancelot, of the Arthurian legends, and in this piece I touch on the reasons why. I think this, together with the fandom's popularity (and the fact so many great fics were written in it this year!) was why this story got the most comments :)

Out of all of these, I think I'm proudest of Empress of the Mind. Mostly because it flowed, and Death still does not want to shut up.
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Requisite Yuletide recs [Dec. 30th, 2008|12:50 pm]
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Ooops. Took a bit on those, since the reveal is around the corner. I've read haphazardly this year, and there are some old favourite fandoms where I still haven't read a single story.

Featured fandoms: 10 Things I Hate About You, Arthurian Legend, Fairy Tales, Hot Fuzz, Vorkosigan series, Lucifer, Merlin, Greek Mythology.

Note: there are no recs from my musical fandoms. This is because all Elisabeth, Tanz der Vampire and Romeo et Juliette fics are gorgeous, and because I'm a bit too invested there ;) See my previous post for the ones that were written for me in the Lord John, Elisabeth and Tanz der Vampire fandoms - I adore each and every one. There are also no recs of stories where I know the author - that's for after the reveal ;)

Onto the recs )
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The joy of writing (and a Discworld fic) [Jun. 5th, 2008|07:32 pm]
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Sometimes, life makes me feel like stabbing someone in the gut. Since that would be unprofessional, instead I have to withstand the same sensation from my own body as it gives under the stress.

At times like these, I find it calming to think that nothing lasts forever, and that I always have writing to turn to. I've been worried over the past year or so, as my creative output all but dried up and I could not even get the motivation to write on request. I'm amazingly grateful to [info]penknife and [info]mireille719 for [info]lgbtfest, which dealt with my fears nicely.

There's nothing like finding that a fresh issue to explore and toy with (and one that has interested me for half a lifetime - genderqueerness and gender identity). And most of all, there is nothing like writing stories for an audience that is 100% disparate from my LJ acquaintances - and getting positive reviews. It makes me believe that I can go somewhere with my writing; that apart from style, I have substance, original characters and emotional arcs.

(Plot will be the next thing I'll work on. I promise :P)

I missed two deadlines for this fic, but got it in just under the wire once I stopped fighting the characters about its direction:

Marching Orders - Discworld, Polly and Maladicta - The next war, and where they take it


(3,000 words, 2 days. Yes, I've still got it.)
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Meta: Live performance fandom versus media fandom [Apr. 21st, 2008|02:33 pm]
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I started out in media fandom, where by media I define books, series, films, comics – any creative work that is performed once and communicated via media, a one-to-many single-time-point form of creation. For the past two years, my primary fandoms, the defaults I scribble about in my free moments, have been live performance fandoms. Involvement in the two is a very different experience.

Media fandom versus live performance fandom: an analysis )

And now, I should probably write another analysis for the fascinating in-between creature that is Takarazuka fandom ;) But at 1,700+ words, this will be enough for now.
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FIC: Blood of Salmacis (Greek Mythology, gen) [Apr. 17th, 2008|06:37 am]
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Fandom: Greek Mythology

Characters: Hermaphroditos, Thanatos

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Inspired by the story of Hermaphroditos in Ovid's Metamorphoses

Prompt: 546. Mythology - Greek: Hermaphroditus. How does his assimiliation with the nymph immediately affect him and his sexuality?

Summary: After Hermaphroditos pronounces his curse.

Author's Notes: With great thanks to [info]shriker_tam for beta-reading. Written for [info]lgbtfest.

( Blood of Salmacis )
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New Year 2008 [Jan. 1st, 2008|09:00 pm]
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Not a bad party, surprisingly :) Now, two days of work to get through before I'm off to Budapest.

And now that Yuletide authors have been revealed, I can tell you which one I wrote. It's an utterly obscure fandom, but I've tried my best to make it outsider-accessible in a way that might make the story enjoyable also for someone unfamiliar with it.

Chasing Titania - based on Boris Akunin's Fandorin novels (in particular the first one, Azazel/Winter Queen).

(And incidentally, I feel utterly inferior. That brilliant Neverwhere story I recced was written by [info]calliope85, my recipient. I am significantly unworthy.)
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STORY (and other comments) [Dec. 4th, 2007|07:25 am]
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Now that I've caught up on matters LJ, I have to say I'm not too offended by the flags - it is something present on just about any other site. And the Russian buyout might actually mean people who want to develop LJ, on top of less chances of running into the kind of over-compliance with US morals that led to Strikethrough and similar.

And lookit! [info]imaginarybeasts has a new issue out. I broke and wrote a story for this one, an exercise in folktale.

Borrowed Skin
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FIC: The King and the Queen (POTC, PG-13) [Nov. 19th, 2007|02:04 pm]
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I completely forgot about my [info]potcfest fic ~_~ Thanks to [info]etrangere for reminding me.

Title: The King and the Queen
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Elizabeth, Calypso
Disclaimer: Disney owes all but Elizabeth's hairpins.

In the end, there are things to be settled between the King and the Queen
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On stress relief [Apr. 24th, 2007|05:07 pm]
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[Mood | calm]

I know I have a problem with being what I like to call high-strung. I deal with it, and I've recently encountered a trick that works for me. Technically Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way recommends these "morning pages", free-writing for as long as the words keep flowing, to clear your head in the morning, but I've found that the morning is the time I rarely need them. Instead, I write when nervousness builds, and it helps me immensely. By the time I hit 1 000 words, the problems are formulated, solved, and I feel calm. The trick is not to re-read as you write, just write until it dries up.

And if I do manage to write in the morning, I can write fiction, too - usually nice mood-vignettes that work in quiet ways. This is yesterday's: Thanatos is the Greek personification of Death I've written of before.

320 AD, a meadow in Dacia )
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FIC: Fear is enough (Three Musketeers, PG-13) [Apr. 6th, 2007|09:03 am]
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[Current Location |*eyedart*]
[Mood | amused]

*eyedart* Been a while since I've written something, and this may count as most obscure fandom ever - of the entire friendslist, only [info]lamath and [info]fyrie probably know it.

But hey, everybody else has probably read The Three Musketeers. So just imagine that, with a Richelieu and Milady who look like this, plus a very compressed plot that ends with Milady poisoning Constance Bonacieux in the Carmelite-Luxembourg convent and throwing herself off the cloister's wall once the Musketeers sentence her rather than having her head cut off, plus Richelieu falling into disgrace and being ordered to remain in his quarters when the necklace affair fails. Supplemented by details from the Richelieu biographies I've been reading lately.

EDIT: This was written earlier and posted before I realised that ooops, posting priest-sex on Good Friday - not going to put me in any Christian's good books. Sorry?

Fandom: The Musketeers (Dutch Musical)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Richelieu/Milady

Warnings: He's a priest, bishop and cardinal. She's a lady of ill repute. Do the math.

Fear is enough )
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[FIC] Lion, Hound, Eagle, Own - Lions of Al-Rassan, PG-13, Yuletide [Jan. 6th, 2007|11:23 am]
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Damn, it's been a while since I posted fic :) This one was written for [info]yuletide, which will be awarded its own post soon. It really was too much fun.

With thanks to [info]alighiera for the beta and [info]fyrie for encouragement, as always. Suggestions for a better title would be welcome.


Fandom: Lions of Al-Rassan
Pairing: Ammar/multiple
Rating: PG-13 for pretentiousness


Lion, Hound, Eagle, Owl

Three men had been loved by Ammar ibn Khairan of Aljais )
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[FIC] Bloodmarks 3: Costa (Original/Elisabeth, R) [Oct. 11th, 2006|06:40 pm]
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Vlad Draculea: historical character. Death: original character based on Maki Ichiro's interpretation of the role of Tod in Elisabeth. Sequel to this and this.

Rated R for discreet smut.


BLOODMARKS 3: COSTA

Anno Domini 1453


At the third meeting, he dares to act )


(And yes, 2 more parts already written, third one underway.)
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[FIC] Wanting (NC-17, slash, vampires and Elisabeth) [Oct. 6th, 2006|06:06 pm]
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[Mood | silly]

This story is entirely [info]valancystar’s fault. She put up a clip of Jesper Tydén in leather as Rudolf Habsburg in Elisabeth, and my von Krolock decided he wanted to slide his hands around those hips. Then [info]fyrie encouraged him. The rest is – nearly 3000 words of little but kinky crossover smut. All relevant information is given in the story though, except for the historical facts of Rudolf Habsburg and Mary Vetsera in Mayerling lodge.

Fandom: Elisabeth/Tanz der Vampire/Historical
Rating: NC-17 with bells on
Warnings: Dubious consent, bloodplay, mild SM
Pairings: Von Krolock/Rudolf, Death/Rudolf

Wanting )
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[FIC] Bloodmarks 2: Costa (Original/Elisabeth, PG-13) [Sep. 30th, 2006|10:02 pm]
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[Mood | exanimate]

Vlad Draculea: historical character. Death: original based on Maki Ichiro's interpretation of the role of Tod in Elisabeth. Sequel to this.


BLOODMARKS 2: DORSUM

Anno Domini 1447


The second time they met )
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[FIC] Bloodmarks 1: Manus (Original/Elisabeth, PG-13) [Sep. 21st, 2006|08:20 am]
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[Mood | rushed]

Am running like a chicken with my head cut off, so I guess I might as well post this for public consumption. This is the first in a series that I've been writing for the past month - I have 4 chapters out of 9 already finished. It's also origific or as close as makes no difference, since one character is historical and one is inspired by Maki Ichiro's performance as Death in Elisabeth (see icon).

So here's Vlad Draculea, age almost-nine, and the world that surrounds and shapes him into legend.

With thanks to [info]fyrie as usual and [info]alice_montrose for beta.


BLOODMARKS 1: MANUS

Anno Domini 1440

Bored minds are dangerous things )
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[FIC] Only the Music (Phantom of the Opera, PG, gen) [Sep. 11th, 2006|06:58 pm]
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The final part of the Songs in My Head series, which comprises Singing Songs in My Head and A Cry To Heaven, and should definitely be read in order. Disclaimers in the first chapter.

There are also two optional outtakes from this series - a mood-setting drabble called Hide Your Face and a slash detour Wine and Song. Neither is necessary to understand this story, and in fact I think you can read it both the gen and slash ways with equal validity.

As usual, everything is [info]fyrie's fault.



ONLY THE MUSIC

Six months later, they reach an equilibrium )
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[FIC] Wine and Song (Phantom of the Opera, R to X, slash) [Sep. 11th, 2006|06:53 pm]
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This is an outtake from the Songs in My Head series that may or not have happened in canon. Because I foolishly admitted to [info]fyrie that Erik and Raoul had the hots for each other, and she went "whee! smut!". Follows Singing Songs in My Head and A Cry To Heaven, set the next night after Cry.

Wine and Song )

(First person who isn't [info]fyrie to identify the cameo can request a one-page fic :>)
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Last batch of the request drabbles [Sep. 6th, 2006|06:10 pm]
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[Mood | exhausted]

*flops* I wrote most of these twice, because my scratchbook file got corrupted.


For [info]shineko: Pirates of the Caribbean, 100 words

Guidance )

For [info]ciciaye: Angel the Series, 100 words

Vanity Varnish )


For [info]elefwin: Star Wars, 130 words

Silent )



For [info]fyrie: Phantom of the Opera, 114 words, same universe as Singing Songs In My Head

Hide Your Face )


For [info]kyrre: Batman Begins, 125 words

Communicativa )

For [info]alice_montrose: Roses for Lucifer, 160 words

Practical Applications )

Bonus question: Can someone give me an Elisabeth idea, preferably something featuring Sisi herself with a side of Death? She wants fic, I'm fresh out of bunnies.
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DVD commentary 2: Unfinished Business [Aug. 28th, 2006|11:50 pm]
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[Mood | sleepy]

For [info]etrangere: Unfinished Business. Same warnings as the original - semi-graphic slash.

How to wrestle with characters and write scenes you really, really don't want to )
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DVD commentary 1: Als Es Sommer War [Aug. 28th, 2006|10:27 am]
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[Mood | amused]

For [info]assimbya, Als Es Sommer War, DVD commentary edition. Same warnings as the initial story - slash, angst, bloodplay, BDSM, humiliation, dubious consent.

On the writing of my first BDSM sex scene ever )
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Request drabbles, part 1 [Aug. 16th, 2006|04:25 pm]
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[Current Location |Gdańsk]
[Mood | busy]

Note to self: add tags later. No bloody time. A net cafe's harder to find in Gdansk than in freaking Stezyca!


For [info]alighiera: Van Helsing

MARA )

For [info]arabwel: Once Upon A Time In Mexico

Vanity )


For [info]fuumasfrog: Pirates of the Caribbean

Sisterhood )
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[FIC] Closer to the Veil (Elisabeth the musical, R, slash and het) [Jul. 23rd, 2006|07:37 pm]
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[Mood | hot]

This was written as a Yuletide fic, or rather a leftover New Year Request, for [info]caithion. I've been looking at Yuletide participation for a while now, and then I saw a request for the very musical that recently ate my brain :)

With thanks to [info]fyrie for encouragement and suggestions. (And yes, this means it's her fault as usual. To be honest, I'm to blame with her obsession for Elisabeth as well as Tanz der Vampire, which has her producing fic for both, separately as well as combined.)

All you need to know is that Empress Elisabeth of Austria (also known as Sisi) and her son the Crown-Prince Rudolf are both prone to seeing visions of Death as a blond man bent on winning their love, or at least their lives. This may as well be historical fic.

Constructive criticism welcome, especially regarding historical details I may have got wrong.

Fandom: Elisabeth the musical / historical
Pairings: Death/Rudolf, Death/Elisabeth

CLOSER TO THE VEIL

Death plays his dark games whenever Rudolf or Elisabeth come near him )
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On warnings, and other matters [Jul. 22nd, 2006|11:00 am]
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[Mood | thoughtful]
[Music |Elisabeth - Der Letzte Tanz]

The post at [info]metafandom seems to have sparked quite a debate on what warnings are warranted in fanfiction (my favourites: haircutting, feet, non-fluff) and what should be done to writers who don't precede their stories with at least a paragraph-ful of caveats. The latter doesn't go quite into graphic detail, possibly because that would warrant warnings, but tarring and feathering seem to be a good guess for starters. See [info]kyuuketsukirui's post for more information.

Which is as good a place as any to state my own warning policy. Now, I understand warning for squick - I've put down many a book because it just turned my guts and I didn't see the point of forcing down nausea just to read it through in hope of finding some gem buried in the dung. Consequently I do warn for all things sex-related, which are also good indicators that should anyone want a story with torture, bondage, dubious consent and bloodplay to brighten their day, Als es Sommer war is a good choice. (And I still can't believe I wrote that one. [info]fyrie is a bad influence on me.) The same goes for squicky graphic violence, though apparently the same story misses a warning for rib-breaking - something I never thought would warrant one.

On the other hand, I don't understand warning for general mood of the story - angst or fluff belong in the summary, not the warning section, though I may put them there jokingly. And no, I will not warn for character death. I never kill people gratuituously. If I do kill someone, I want that death to grab the reader by the throat and force a gasp from their mouth. I might or might not accomplish that, but I won't warn and spoil it for everyone. If you haven't gotten the message yet that I've a twisted brain and a liking to be cruel to my muses, you're in the wrong territory.

I've yet to get a flame for killing people off in my fics. I think that means my strategy is working.

Now, off to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Yo ho ho and a bottle of amaretto, because I can't stand rum :P
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[FIC] A Cry To Heaven (Phantom of the Opera, PG, gen/het) [Jul. 21st, 2006|02:55 pm]
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[Mood | hot]
[Music |Elisabeth - Ai to Shi no Rondo (Snow Troupe)]

This is a sequel to Singing Songs In Your Head. You are very much advised to read that story first, then this one. There'll be one more story in this cycle and one optional side-story, because I owed [info]fyrie lots :P

*goes back to writing Elisabeth-fic*

Fandom: Phantom of the Opera
Characters: Erik, Raoul
Summary: As they battle with grief, Erik and Raoul revisit the place where the tragedy's first act took place.


A CRY TO HEAVEN

On the roof of the Opera House )
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[FIC] Singing Songs In My Head (Phantom of the Opera, PG, gen/het) [Jul. 17th, 2006|08:00 pm]
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[Mood | sleepy]

This was written for [info]fyrie, and because I have a strange combination of Phantom characters in my head at the moment - Erik from the Polish small-stage production and the original London Raoul. Erik in particular is a strange bird, mostly because the actor doesn't think twice about singing Raoul songs - or hell, Christine ones - during his recitals, while in the mask. A Phantom singing Twisted Every Way made an indelible impression on me.

Warnings: Heavy angst. And Erik is even more melodramatic than certain vampires.
Rating: PG

Summary: When it's over, Erik finds a place to think, but he's not expecting visitors.


SINGING SONGS IN MY HEAD

What I once used to dream, I now dread )
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