02 Linear Notes

This serialized long form story originally started as a Halloween short story and went through a couple of iterations. I’ll discuss the earliest incarnation in the notes for a later chapter where it’ll be more relevant. But I knew pretty soon after making it a longer story that I wanted to have a monstrous masquerade.

This scene is a variant of Alice falling into Wonderland or the mortal man crossing the veil into fairyland, reinforced by the magical food that allows Mark to “see” the monsters as they truly are behind the glamour. Despite Mark not being human, that’s the trope at play here.

Look forward to seeing more of the young witch in yellow in upcoming chapters.

“Danse Macabre” and “Masquerade” from Phantom are obvious on-the-nose choices for the playlist. The Phantom version I have in mind are the ones of the 25th Anniversary Cast at Royal Albert Hall, but I didn’t specify so you can go with the cast you prefer (and Spotify doesn’t have the track by itself – it’s included with “Why So Silent”). “Bolero” is an instrumental piece that plays over the ending credits of the movie Moulin Rouge (2001). I’ve always loved it and felt that it deserves more love. I included it here for its increasingly frantic dance hall feel.

Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” nearly made it into the playlist because of the aforementioned Alice-in-Wonderland feeling I was going for, but I later decided that the lyrics weren’t specific enough to the chapter’s events.