s e k r i t o m g

but not watching literally anything else for 2 years!! have you always been into vampires? or is it because this show is amazing ?

I should invest in hard copies of the show.

I don't watch a lot of TV. I used to watch more, but even when I did, it was never quite as much as some people. I'd have like a couple of shows that I was into and watch them when they were on, but just as often I'd lose interest after a season or two -- I stopped watching Game of Thrones in season 4 or 5, I stopped watching Succession after season 2. I could name others. I feel like with many shows I just hit a point where I am like, well, I've seen enough of this. I know people loved these shows at the points where I lost interest, but I just kind of hit a moment where I thought, like, okay, I've seen enough, this show has done everything it's going to do for me. Like I was just never motivated to go back and watch the next episode.

I do watch Youtube videos and listen to podcasts, so like, I'm not not consuming media. I will say the only thing I'm ever really excited to see is gay stuff. And I do love vampires. And it is a really good show. And I'm in the fandom, so like, ther's a fannish energy fueling my rewatching. It's tried together with fannish production, for me. And I'm also not watching it daily. The only thing I do daily is find posts I hate and send them to Dann and Nhaingen to pick apart for amusement and edification.

I've been into vampires since I was probably 10 or 11? I'm sure everyone following this journal is alert to the fact that I read the first few books in the Vampire Chronicles when I was around that age. This and so forth.

Most people in fandom understand that exploring things and fucking around in fandom is different from what happens in canon on the show; it's convenient to focus on the handful of people who loudly put a stake in fandom conspiracies or secret episodes, but that's an extreme minority example, not like, most viewers

The idea that a main character of a TV show would become trans in season 3 is still so far from reality that it's almost a joke, trans characters are not exactly like so common on TV, maybe if the actor themselves transitioned? but--

No idea what's going on in his brain so who knows, I guess, but all indications are that Sam Reid is a cis man, and it seems unlikely the show would go that route with this actor

Sometimes art explores themes and ideas without being literal about it; Anne Rice's books are constantly musing on gender, the vampires "transcend gender," and yet nobody in those books (as far as I know, I'm still on The Vampire Armand) is coming out as trans and giving their pronouns? Likewise on the show themes of gender and gender fucking/nonconformity are present even if not always overt, and it makes sense that fans who find this interesting and like those themes would discuss and speculate thereon without expecting the themes to become literal

So that's one reason why I roll my eyes at concern trolling about fans who think Lestat is going to be trans for real. I don't think there are many of these, if any.

Another is, so what?

"So what" is working for me on two levels:

Speculation on TV shows turning out to be wrong is like ... okay? So you're wrong? This happens all the time. You want a really irrelevant example? in 2009-10 South Park introduced a superhero character called Mysterion, and a lot of fans were guessing which of the little boy characters was actually Mysterion, and a lot of people were wrong. I was wrong. I thought it was Clyde. It was actually Kenny! I can't believe it. A lot of people think a lot of things are going to happen in media and then they don't. It's fine. A handful of people are disappointed. They will all live. We will be fine.

also, perhaps random, but i was wondering about the decision to remove the de part of his last name and leave it just as pointe du lac? what was your thinking around that?

hi! Thanks for saying this, I mean, obviously (?) Dann and I are trying to write a complex Louis who is satisfying to read about.

It's a little funny it took this long for someone to ask about the last name:

I have discussed this with @queerofcups. Their basic response is, among other things, Louis isn't any one way? Both in the show and in this fic series, written by me or both of us I guess. In terms of the books, I am midway through The Vampire Armand so like, I really can't say that I have a good handle on Louis. He's the narrator of the first book and then, as you may have heard, the tone of the book series becomes, "Hello, Lestat here, whatever Louis said just forget about it, we're on Lestat time now and it's 8 million a.m., everyone get lubed up for spiritual penetration." And this pretty much goes for the books that Lestat doesn't narrate, also.

I think here are some things to consider:

re: the fic I recently posted, Louis is not really the focus. It's in Madeleine's POV and it's really a character study of her, using Lestat as a counterpoint as a) someone else who's marrying into the Pointe du Lac family, essentially, and b) also an immigrant, and coincidentally also from France. Louis is Madeleine's father-in-law, more or less. (She and Claudia aren't married yet.) He is cordial to Madeleine but she does not perceive him as warm. Her perspective is like, here is my girlfriend's very rich father, who is scarcely more than a decade older than I am. He is financially supporting me, even if indirectly. He is paying for the very lavish wedding I don't really want. Claudia has problems that I don't like to think about and it wouldn't be helpful for me to ask any questions about what his contribution to those has been. When I met Claudia he was married to someone I was meant to see as Claudia's step-father, but since then he's left his husband and built a $2 million house for his mistress, who is also someone I work with professionally, so like, all of this is pretty nuts if you think about it, and it won't help me to think about it that deeply, so like. The best strategy is to compartmentalize whatever I cannot silently judge. For now. So I think some of the specific Louis treatment here is just relevant to like, the fic is about the character who has the least investment in him and her feelings are complex.

I do not mind you saying this at all. I like it when people share responses to my fic, even (maybe especially) if they are not outright praise. But I do think it's maybe kinda premature since the fic is not finished?

I think Madeleine is a very clear-eyed character. She thinks Lestat is a rich asshole because Lestat is a rich asshole. Everyone in this story is. However, crucially, that's not the only thing she thinks about Lestat:

Lestat is from a rural part of France that is not well-off, Lestat's family is obviously not well-off, Madeline understands that her upbringing was, even if uninspiring, much better than Lestat's was.

Lestat is older enough that growing up queer was extremely difficult, Madeleine understands this is a difference between them, she is immediately aware that Lestat left home and did survival sex work, Madeleine is also aware that these things are connected.

are there any references photos used for this house? the robes and drag outfits?

YES hi I'm so happy you asked this, thank you.

"Deceptacon" is a song by Le Tigre. I like this version by Sprints. I like it so much I just put on now. I was listening to it quite a bit while writing this fic and began to feel like it was taking on lyrical relevance to the Madeleine pov here. Happy to get more into it if interesting???

This is the listing for the house, it's a teardown. I don't imagine it's on that exact block. Also, they have massively overhauled it by the time they move into it -- but that's more or less what they bought. So you can imagine Claudia and Madeleine wandering around that at the opening of the fic.

This is the dress Lestat is wearing where she looks like a Valentine, but you have to imagine it without the lace shirt it's styed with.

This is the NYE dress Madeleine has recreated that she is shortening.