When Klara Krupin starts her teacher training in 2001, she meets a certain blonde who appears too good to be true. Little does she know that this man used to be a serial killer a couple of years ago. Their love for working with children connects th...
After Dark is officially finished. I can't believe it's actually over. I really enjoyed writing this story over the course of the last months (so much that I updated daily when I had the time). It was interesting to explore what kind of life Johan would lead if he woke up from his coma and escaped at the end of Monster. I personally believe this to be true, though I know there are other theories, and that Tenma might have imagined Johan talking to him, and so on. But I think Johan deserves a redemption arc, so I had the wish to write a story about it and see where it goes.
I didn't expect to receive this much resonance, though, and I'm happy to see that many enjoyed the story. I also got private messages of people telling me they are glad that Johan stays so much 'in character' in this story, which I'm very grateful for. I want to address this topic later on. Since this afterword is gonna be a bit longer, here is a list, in case you want to skip to certain headlines:
1. Active decisions for/against certain scenes
2. Writing the story
3. Good news 👀
4. Acknowledgement
1. Active decisions for/against certain scenes
Klara meets Nina (scrapped)
At first, I wanted to feature Nina in this story. This would have happened after Klara departs from Bremen (where Gillen took her), so instead of returning to Hamburg, Klara would have gone to Heidelberg to meet Nina and talk to her about Johan. In the end, I decided against that - first, because it doesn't add much to the story, and second, because it would have violated Johan's privacy, which Klara wouldn't do.
Johan shooting/killing Erik
It would have been a great pay-off after the terrible things Erik did, but it would have destroyed the point of the whole story. I think there's not much left to say about it because Johan explains it in the last chapters of the story. However, Erik trying to hurt Klara in chapter 43 was a very spontaneous decision, which just happened as I wrote it. Before, they were only supposed to talk about the past, prior to Johan's arrival. But I needed Johan to see what an ******* Erik was, so that he would react the way he did.
Including heavy themes like Klara's story
I can't tell you when this idea came to my mind, but I know that I didn't plan this from the beginning. I have to admit that I was really uncomfortable writing chapter 37 and chapter 43, and I hope I treated this subject respectfully. Of course, when Klara told Johan about it, it raised the question how Johan would react to such devastating news, and especially to see his position towards Erik, given they are both criminals, basically, even if their crimes were in totally different areas.
Generally, every scene in a story should serve a purpose. And I made sure that this is the case, because I hate filler chapters. And you probably do, too. :')
2. Writing the story
On keeping Johan "in Character"
I'm honoured by the kind words you had for me, telling me that you liked this about the story in particular. In the beginning, it was easy to keep Johan in character - but the more I wrote, the more I was forced to write Johan "out of character", simply because we haven't ever seen him in romantic interactions. Getting it right between his canon behaviour and one's own imagination is quite hard. Also, I think that Johan's behaviour in this story is probably too idealistic and positive, but not impossible to happen. This positive outcome was a conscious decision, though, because I think that Johan deserves a chance for redemption.
The value of research
Research is gold, even if you might not like it. I know it can be exhausting at times, but it's worth it. For Monster, it's good to be familiar with Germany and its culture, and I also gained knowledge about Russian culture when writing this story. Sometimes, you already have background knowledge, so you don't need to look anything up - in my case, I barely needed to research anything for Klara's job because I used to work in the pedagogical field.
Inspirations in real life
I'm afraid I have to say that Erik's mindset is quite common (hopefully not his actions), because I think we've all met people like him, who stay with someone until they find someone better, and just use people for their own benefit. Some of them are excellent manipulators, and they know how dependant their partner is on them, so they know how to pull the strings. What I tried to show in this story is how Erik did not care about Klara's boundaries, and Klara had a bad gut feeling that she kept ignoring over and over again. If you find yourself in that situation, leave while you can. It won't get easier with time passing.
3. Good news 👀
As I was writing After Dark, a new idea came to my mind. When I started looking for Monster fan-fictions, I was surprised there were only stories about Johan, but barely any about Tenma (who is the most underrated MC I know, by the way). Now that I've finished writing Johan's story, I'd like to write one about Tenma, too ☺️ Here's the cover so far!
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Just a few hints ahead:
- The story plays in the 90s, during the time Tenma went underground.
- The colours of the title have a political meaning.
- The story will be more action-based than After Dark.
- If things stay the way I planned them until now, Lunge and maybe Suk will get their time to shine. Johan will be included as well, but without any 'non-canon behaviour'. (= if you see him, you die.)
It might take time until I start publishing it, though.
For this story, I need to make lots of research, no matter whether this information will be included in the story or not - because I know that readers notice when you haven't done your research. I'll inform you here once it's online, though ☺️
4. Acknowledgement
[This part is included in the AO3 version.]
I think this is the best fanfiction I've written so far, and I had so much fun writing it. I hoped you enjoyed this story, too. Goodbye!
