What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry

melancholic romantic comic cynic. bi & genderqueer. fantasy writer. sysrae on ao3.

Okay, so: I’m currently writing a Supernatural fic, Into the Woods, where Gabriel is producing a modern/urban version of the Sondheim musical Into the Woods, with Dean playing Red Riding Hood and Castiel playing the Wolf.

In the original play, just like in the fairy tale, the Wolf causes Red to stray from the path, goes ahead to the cottage, eats Granny and then swallows Red, until a passing stranger - the Baker, in the play - cuts the Wolf open and frees them both. In the version I’m writing, however, Red is a rent boy first seduced, then later sexually assaulted by, the (human) Wolf, and it’s this latter attack the Baker interrupts. (”Granny” here is Red’s pimp, not an actual relative, and is tied up while this happens.)

Now, originally, after the Baker’s rescue, Red is meant to sing him an upbeat number about the lessons she’s learned called I Know Things Now, which ought to sound like this. But given the thematic change, I wanted urban Red’s version to be creepy and dark, in keeping with the fact that he’s singing it directly to the captured Wolf while Granny and the Baker - one approving, one conflicted - both look on; and when the song ends, Red kills the Wolf himself. (The characters first rehearse this in Chapter 11, which I’m currently writing, but haven’t yet posted.)

And because I’m exactly that big a nerd - and because, all delight in Supernatural fanfiction aside, I’m really enjoying figuring out how an urban take on Into the Woods would work - I decided to record me singing my imagined creepy version of I Know Things Now. It’s apparently in A flat minor, though please note that I can’t actually read music, and am basing that on what my husband said after I sang him the first few lines. Lyrically, in keeping with the fact that Red is singing it directly to the Wolf, I’ve changed ‘he’ to ‘you’, made a few tweaks to particular lines, and cut out the section about being swallowed along with Granny and then rescued. Instead, the repetition of ‘and you pulled me close’ that originally precedes it is meant to indicate Red being unable to discuss his assault, and in my (hypothetical, fanfiction-situated) version, there’d be stage directions and Acting to demonstrate this, instead of just me pausing slightly, with Red stabbing the Wolf just after the penultimate line (’Isn’t it nice to know a lot?’). But hopefully, you get the idea.

In conclusion, I am an enormous dork who loves Into the Woods, Supernatural and fanfiction. NO JUDGING.

  1. boundbyfeathers reblogged this from fozmeadows and added:
    Oh holy shit this is amazing. I’ve been meticulous about reading the updates the very instant my email alerts me and...
  2. lexidisalvo reblogged this from fozmeadows
  3. empatheticstardust reblogged this from fozmeadows and added:
    CHILLS. I GOT CHILLS.
  4. legacyofspaces said: Your voice in this song mesmerized me. It was haunting and lovely.
  5. sarahjay55 reblogged this from fozmeadows and added:
    That was… I’m up to chapter 11 in the fic, and this gave me SHIVERS. Damn…
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  9. charliebradburyismylesbianmuse reblogged this from fozmeadows and added:
    I…I mean…I don’t…Okay. I don’t know if you know this Foz, but Into the Woods is my ALL TIME FAVORITE MUSICAL. I mean,...
  10. fozmeadows posted this