Barcelona (Fanfiction)

[selenak]

Title: Barcelona

Disclaimer: Nothing is real, and nothing to get hung about.

Timeline: Teneriffe, April 28th 1963. (When the Beatles took their much deserved vacation in April 1963, Paul, George and Ringo visited Klaus Voorman and Astrid Kirchherr in Teneriffe while John went with Brian Epstein to Barcelona.)

Summary: Paul and Astrid talk

Comments

[dashall]

Yayayay, my writer friend! Hello, my love. You can wrap your finger around any female character, it's amazing. Yoko, Astrid. Well, maybe I'm too quick to judge. Have you done one with Cyn? Hm.

You were great at doing cool, cryptic, sexy Astrid. Unfazed and quietly amused Astrid. I wish there had been more discussion of Stu and John, though, to really get past Paul's defenses. I wanted to see Astrid melt Paul into a Paul-Puddle with just a cool, collected stare and a snarky eyebrow.

Also, the cigarette part was really cool. I like when writers include the smallest details and complications that maybe don't need to be included, but ... it adds to the reality of the fic, the believability. The fact that little things like that still go wrong.

Also I really liked this part: It was then that he remembered what being photographed by Astrid had felt like. It had been flattering at first; how could it not have been, with a pretty girl pointing her camera at you, even if it was clear from the get go that she fancied Stu, and after him

[selenak]

Cyn shows up in this lighthearted silliness, but I haven't written a serious story featuring her yet, no. I fully intend to, though.

Re: photography and Paul, I find it striking that for one of the most photographed people in the world, he quite often resorts to posing and doesn't really get comfortable when being photographed, Linda's photos being the big exception. (Last year when I bought Life in Photographs, it struck me how different her take on Paul from 98% other people's is that way.) And brother Mike excepted, Astrid was the very first photographer who seriously made a study of the Beatles. (It's a fascinating reversal of the usual 60s gender dynamic because they were her muses, not vice versa, and she formed part of their image of themselves as well as the image others have of them

[deux_lunes]

Beautiful fic. The metaphor between Spain´s fascist regime and living a homosexual life was brilliant. I loved your characterizations of Astrid and Paul as well. And what´s more, I´m thrilled to have found this fic while on vacation in Barcelona. Thank you. <3

[selenak]

You're welcome, and enjoy your holidays in Barcelona! That's a cool coincidence. :) (BtW, my later story,
Birthday, set around Paul's 21st birthday party, deals among other things with the consequences of John's holidays with Brian in Barcelona, if you're in the mood for more on the subject.)