Fic: Through the Looking Glass (Tanz der Vampire, R)

[spiegelsaal]

(Also posted at Archive Of Our Own.)

Title: Through the Looking Glass

Author: Valancy

Fandom: Tanz der Vampire

Characters: Alfred, White Vampire

Rating: R-ish (Mature)

Warnings: I don't think there should be anything terribly shocking to people who are fans of the musical, but there's slash and sex. (I believe this works as an invitation

Comments

[spiegelsaal]

Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback! I'm so happy you liked it! It's one of my own personal favourites of the fics I've written, but I don't know how many people will be interested in the concept, so I'm really glad the execution of it pleased you. It was fascinating exploring Alfred's character like this, and wondering how he and is dream/vampire self would interact.

The main reason why I took this long to finish it, actually, was that I wasn't sure how the sex scene should go. I wrote it like this first, but then I ended up writing another version as well, though it didn't end up being the one I posted. On the one hand I don't see Alfred as someone who would feel a need to dominate sexually, but it was hard to figure out how White Vampire would go about it, because he's both essentially Alfred, and then something quite different from human Alfred. I had another version, in which the sex was different (non-penetrative, basically), and it was hard deciding which one was more in character for the White. I ended up choosing this version, because the story seemed to require this, but if you're interested to read the other version, I can send it to you as well. It would be interesting to know others' opinions on which version works better. In both versions the White goes for the blood in the end, though, it's just the sex that's different.

[ladyofpride]

Argh, I'm familiar with the whole "write, delete, re-write, delete again, re-write..." conundrum that plagues the mind when you're just not feeling the love. I'm glad you kept your second version though, because, hell yeah, I'd like to read it (pretty pretty pretty please, with a cherry on top...?)! It'd be like striking gold. ;)

Oh, and before I forget----much love for the present tense. I agree with you on fact that it's not an easy thing to work with (and can really kill a fic if the author doesn't quite know what they're doing) but I'm giving you straight 10s on that backflip. Perfectly executed, darling. I sincerely wept for joy.

*kiss*

[spiegelsaal]

Sure, I'll send it to you, though I'm not guaranteeing it's anything amazing. :-D Can I have your e-mail address? You can PM it if you prefer not to post it in a public comment. :-)

Aww, thank you! It was the first time I wrote a story in present tense, and because I was unused to the technique, I first tried to write it in past tense, but it just didn't ring right. Because a past tense would seem to take a stand on whether this is actually happening or just a dream/spell/something, and I very consciously didn't want to take a stand on that but let it appear whatever it does to the reader. So present tense it was. I'm glad if it worked! It's partly thanks to your stories that I dared to try it at all, because previously I hadn't come across many stories where the present tense had felt appropriate and so I was suspicious of the technique.

[ladyofpride]

I know what you mean. Sometimes the story calls for past tense and sometimes it calls for present, and I actually really enjoyed reading this in present tense (even though I usually prefer reading stories in the past tense---which is kind of hypocritical of me, seeing as I write in present, but I digress...). You've got the technique, woman! Feel free to wield it as you will. :)

And as for the email address, I'll send you a PM (to your spiegelsaal account, if that helps). I haven't ever gotten hate-mail/trolled before but I've been getting spammed lately on LJ. Too bad I'm not computer savvy or I'd have the problem fixed already. Lol.