10. Well, Christine does describe herself as "the mask you wear", so if she is to be Erik's public face it makes sense that he would like to make a good impression via an attractive representative:-) I came across an AU fanfic once where as a side-effect of his deformities Erik was blind... which actually made quite a bit of sense! It explains why he lives underground and moves around so confidently in the dark, it explains why he relies so heavily on overhearing people, it explains why he finds music such an important form of self-expression, and of course it explains why he would fixate on Christine because of her voice. (And in the context of this E/C story, of course, it proved that he was the only person who loved her 'truly' and not just because of her pretty face...)
My forthcoming phanfiction is pretty much stuck -- despite existing in manuscript all the way to the final page. I'm just getting totally disheartened in my attempts to get it beta-read (it's been over six months now, and I'm still almost nowhere). Meanwhile the typing-up process is getting so interminably stretched out as a result that I don't trust myself to pick up internal consistencies in the course of the process as I normally would: it's getting to the stage where I'm just tempted to "publish and be damned" in the hopes of getting at least some feedback, because trying to get people to help polish it beforehand is like getting water out of a stone :-(
8. Yes, Raoul's existence is a rather convenient excuse for Erik, from that point of view. While he has a 'rival', he can blame Christine's failure to commit herself to him on Raoul's influence, and not to any deficiencies in himself... Although he has a tendency to blame everything that goes wrong with his life on his own face, anyway :-p Anything, rather than face the idea that he might have a personality problem!
6. Now that I have a complete libretto (see http://igenlode.livejournal.com/40957.html ), I can confirm that no time-scheme is specified at all for how long the Phantom has known Christine, other than Meg's reference to a "new" tutor. In the absence of any sugestion to the contrary Meg's remark would tend to suggest that the Leroux timing was intended, in which Christine has only known her Angel for a few months before Raoul returns... We cannot, of course, say that he has not been watching her for much longer than that, but nothing is stated to that effect.
No, I don't love Erik -- which makes me not a phan :-D I don't hate him -- see the first chapter of Safe in His Arms for an R/C fan who goes in for Erik-bashing in a big way (and with an almost hilariously overwrought -- no, definitely hilariously overwrought!) writing style... but I don't yearn to spend hours in analysing and redeeming him. I don't rejoice at his happiness or weep for his tragedy: I'm just not that interested in him. <hides> (As witness the difference between our reactions to "Fourteen Nights": you were sorry for poor Erik being lied to, while I was nervous as to whether she had ruined her chances for future lies to be believed!)
Apparently by invoking the name of "Fourteen Nights" you managed to revive the story! :-D I'm very glad to see it back, as I thought it must have been one of those all-too-frequent cases where an author got a one-chapter inspiration and then didn't know where to take it any further: after all, she has done the easy bit, namely the events summarised by Leroux, and is left with the terra incognita of the two weeks of which all we know is that Christine lied and lied again in an attempt to regain her freedom: "Mon mensonge fut aussi affreux que le monstre qui me l'inspirait, et à ce prix j'ai pu acquérir ma liberté".
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I came across an AU fanfic once where as a side-effect of his deformities Erik was blind... which actually made quite a bit of sense! It explains why he lives underground and moves around so confidently in the dark, it explains why he relies so heavily on overhearing people, it explains why he finds music such an important form of self-expression, and of course it explains why he would fixate on Christine because of her voice. (And in the context of this E/C story, of course, it proved that he was the only person who loved her 'truly' and not just because of her pretty face...)
My forthcoming phanfiction is pretty much stuck -- despite existing in manuscript all the way to the final page. I'm just getting totally disheartened in my attempts to get it beta-read (it's been over six months now, and I'm still almost nowhere). Meanwhile the typing-up process is getting so interminably stretched out as a result that I don't trust myself to pick up internal consistencies in the course of the process as I normally would: it's getting to the stage where I'm just tempted to "publish and be damned" in the hopes of getting at least some feedback, because trying to get people to help polish it beforehand is like getting water out of a stone :-(
8. Yes, Raoul's existence is a rather convenient excuse for Erik, from that point of view. While he has a 'rival', he can blame Christine's failure to commit herself to him on Raoul's influence, and not to any deficiencies in himself... Although he has a tendency to blame everything that goes wrong with his life on his own face, anyway :-p Anything, rather than face the idea that he might have a personality problem!
6. Now that I have a complete libretto (see http://igenlode.livejournal.com/40957.html ), I can confirm that no time-scheme is specified at all for how long the Phantom has known Christine, other than Meg's reference to a "new" tutor. In the absence of any sugestion to the contrary Meg's remark would tend to suggest that the Leroux timing was intended, in which Christine has only known her Angel for a few months before Raoul returns... We cannot, of course, say that he has not been watching her for much longer than that, but nothing is stated to that effect.
No, I don't love Erik -- which makes me not a phan :-D
I don't hate him -- see the first chapter of Safe in His Arms for an R/C fan who goes in for Erik-bashing in a big way (and with an almost hilariously overwrought -- no, definitely hilariously overwrought!) writing style... but I don't yearn to spend hours in analysing and redeeming him. I don't rejoice at his happiness or weep for his tragedy: I'm just not that interested in him. <hides>
(As witness the difference between our reactions to "Fourteen Nights": you were sorry for poor Erik being lied to, while I was nervous as to whether she had ruined her chances for future lies to be believed!)
Apparently by invoking the name of "Fourteen Nights" you managed to revive the story! :-D
I'm very glad to see it back, as I thought it must have been one of those all-too-frequent cases where an author got a one-chapter inspiration and then didn't know where to take it any further: after all, she has done the easy bit, namely the events summarised by Leroux, and is left with the terra incognita of the two weeks of which all we know is that Christine lied and lied again in an attempt to regain her freedom: "Mon mensonge fut aussi affreux que le monstre qui me l'inspirait, et à ce prix j'ai pu acquérir ma liberté".