The Doors of Time

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Fanfiction
Title: The Doors of Time
Author(s): felisblanco
Date(s): 2009
Length: 185,000+ words
Genre(s):
Fandom(s): J2
Relationship(s):
External Links: master post (now offline); Timestamps on AO3
banner by winchestergirl. More fanworks inspired by the story below.

Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The Doors of Time is a J2 AU series of stories written by felisblanco in 2009.

Summary: "About love and Fate and destiny. And Jensen being weird. And piano music. And finding the one person that's made for you in a world that isn't. Something like that."

The story tracks the lives of two characters, Jared and Jensen. Jensen is a musical prodigy who can manipulate the universe through his music. Jared is the 'boy next door'.

The main story consists of two parts, the second one taking place 10 years from where the first left off. A series of additional Timestamps have been written:

  • 23/07/2009 Unplayed Piano Takes place at the end of Part 1. Heavy emotional warnings. 3900 words.
  • 24/09/2009 Teachers of the Heart Takes place between Part 1 and 2. Jensen's first day at Juilliard. 4100 words.
  • 25/10/2009 This Is My Tune For The Taking Takes place sometime before the epilogue. Telling Sandy. 2700 words.
  • 23/11/2009 This Strange And Mournful Day. Takes place approx. a year after the epilogue. Jensen's mother shows up. 10.260 words.
  • 31/12/2009 Welcome To Where Time Stands Still. Takes place approx 18 months after the epilogue. Jensen's past catches up with him. 20.860 words.
  • 20/10/2010 A Second Spring. Takes place at the same time as Teachers of the Heart. Making friends at Juilliard. 4150 words.
  • 28/12/2010 My Home Is Nowhere Without You. Takes place approx 2 years after Part 1. Waiting for Jared. 1785 words.
  • 22/03/2011 The Story of Our Life (It Starts Right Here). Takes place 8–9 months after the epilogue. Proposal and wedding! 6877 words.
  • 18/06/2011 Oh Vienna. Takes place right after the epilogue. The title really says it all. 9443 words.
  • 25/09/2011 Just an Ordinary Day. Takes place in the winter after Part 2, before the epilogue. It's not all rainbows and roses. 7000 words.
  • 31/12/2011 Happier Holidays Christmas ficlet. 636 words

The series was reviewed at GoodReads, where it has received over 500 comments, mainly positive. As of July 2012, it was listed as 5th of the top 'Online M/M Stories That Deserve To Be Published' and '7th of Favorite Unpublished M/M Stories.' In June 2015, the main story went offline, but the Timestamps remained.

Author's Notes

Below are a few excerpts from the extensive author's notes. Part 1 can be found here and part 2 here.[1]

"Last summer I sat in mom's cabin reading Joanne Harris's The Lollipop Shoes. It is a sequel of the probably better known Chocolat which was made into a film starring Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche. (The movie sadly cuts out what is fundamental in both books and the basis for this story, the actual magic. No idea why.) Anyway, sitting there in the dark trying to read by flickering candlelight I got this idea. A boy things 'happen' to for no apparent reason. A boy who can see things others can't and do things that aren't possible. A boy of magic. Except he's not born into a magical world. There is no Hogwarts, no Watchers, no Winchesters... It's just our world, the world outside our window. Everything and everyone is normal except him. How do you deal with that, being alone with this thing that no one can understand and you don't know how to control? How do your parents deal with that, having a child that goes against everything they believe in? How does the world, the normal world of today, deal with it?"

"The existence of magical!Jensen in his magical world is inspired by Plato's Theory of Forms. (Yes, I was a classic geek.) Let me quote Wiki again because I simply don't have the vocabulary (and I'm lazy *g*):

A Form is aspatial (outside the world) and atemporal (outside time). Atemporal means that it does not exist within any time period. It did not start, there is no duration in time, and it will not end. It is neither eternal in the sense of existing forever or mortal, of limited duration. It exists outside time altogether. Forms are aspatial in that they have no spatial dimensions, and thus no orientation in space, nor do they even (like the point) have a location. They are non-physical, but they are not in the mind. Forms are extra-mental.

A Form is an objective "blueprint" of perfection. The Forms are perfect themselves because they are unchanging.

and

The Forms exist in a rarefied sector of the universe.

"This almost feels like a songfic because some of the music on the soundtrack I had picked out long before I wrote the scenes they are supposed to fit. Many of the songs I picked also never made it to the soundtrack because the fic decided to go somewhere else. I have probably now the biggest collection of songs about magic anyone would even consider owning...I also have over 300 pieces of piano music on my ipod. Some pieces I picked early on, like "The Heart Asks Pleasure First" from The Piano OST which is in the soundtrack for the first part. Some I selected and dismissed, selected again, grumbled, frowned and sighed over and finally picked something else. I think I've spent almost as much time on the music for this as I spent on writing it. Almost. I had a lot of help finding what I wanted, from bittersweet_art who has probably provided me with at least 1/4 of all music I have on my ipod, deepbluemermaid who found me lots of piano music, raynedanser who spent days fetching Prokofiev's War Sonatas for me...(The part of that I really wanted to use, no.6 I, was almost 9 minutes long so you got no.7 III instead.) And so on. I'd like to state that I knew I was taking the risk of offending someone, using the music from Schindler's List when Jared leaves for LA but once I heard it there was never any other option really. In fact the scene was written based on the music, not the other way around. In my defense, if you feel a defense is needed, I would like for you to consider that music is emotions and this is without a doubt the saddest musical piece I know of. If you felt like your life just ended, what would you play?"

Since music is integral to the story, the author prepared two soundtracks, tying each music piece into a section of the story. Soundtrack for Part 1 can be found here[2] and Part 2 here.[3]

Reactions/Reviews

  • "I have no words... to describe how amazing that was. I loved every word, and even when I cried, it was beautiful. The music, the thing, whatever it was, was just so perfect and I really don’t know what else to say. If you haven’t read The Doors of Time, I suggest you do. I have never read ANYTHING so wonderful, fics, novels, poetry, ANYTHING. I really am at a total loss to decribe this. Hands down favorite fic, story, whatver EVER."[4]
  • "I read a few comments on this fanfiction (Jensen/Jared) and thought: “Wow, must be a cool story. I’ll read that. But I don’t believe it’s so awesome that I’ll cry, like people say” Well… I was wrong. It this story unbelievably in so many ways. My emotions are on a rollercoster right now and I cried. I cried hard and I can’t even tell why exactly I’ve cried because my thoughts and emotions are running wild. There’s silence and then Jensen speaks in a rush of words, “You are going to be magnificent, Jared. You’re going to be the most wonderful person in the world. You already are. I wish I could see it. I wish I could be there to watch you grow.” I wish I could tell you what I am thinking during this scene but I can’t put it in words…. I simply can’t…"[5]
  • "seriously, this fic...it’s taking me ages to finish ‘cause I read three paragraphs and spend the next 10 minutes worshipping how fucking perfect it is...this fic should be a religion."[6]
  • "This was my first time reading fanfiction, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was very pleasantly surprised. This was a beautifully written love story that captured my heart right from the beginning. I fell in love with Jensen right from the start, so many times I just wanted to grab him, hold him in my arms to protect him, my heart ached for him. Jared...what can I say about Jared? He was the sweetest boy a perfect friend for Jensen and more mature than his 13 yrs. I thought I might have some trouble with the friendship between these two because of the age difference, but somehow the author made it work. Following their 10 year journey was amusing and had me chuckling more than a few times but there was also sorrow that had me reaching for a tissue. It was a wonderful read from start to finish and hard to believe how it all came about. If you know fanfiction or not it is a book I would recommend."[7]
  • "What's a RPS when it's an AU? IMO, an original story with borrowed names, this is specially true of this story where references to the actors real lifes and the show are basically non-existent. This author seems aware of this since she's contemplating publishing it some day. So... I thought I was reading a fanfic but turns out I was wrong. I'm not gonna say it's perfect, it's often overexplained and sometimes borders mushy but it touched, it's angsty and frustrating and full of love and, well, magic...."[8]
  • "I don't often rec fics on my LJ....scratch that, I don't think I've ever recced a fic on my LJ, and I've read a lot of awesome, entertaining and brilliant fics. But none quite like this one. I've read fics that made me laugh, swoon and/or sniffle with heartache, but this J2 fic had me outright bawling like a baby and reaching for the tissue box every chapter, it seems, and I haven't even read Part 2 yet! (And I am NOT exaggerating in the LEAST!) This author and fic definitely deserves a shout-out so everyone--J2 fan or not--has a chance to read this amazing fic. Flist, if you're not a fan of J2 or AU fics, I can't stress enough how much you should please, please, PLEASE give this fic a chance. I can almost guarantee it'll be nothing like you've ever read before in any fanfiction or any book from the bookstore for that matter. I'm absolutely blown away by the author's talent and imagination. Even if this fic did not involve Jensen and/or Jared, I'd still say it is one of the best, if not THE BEST piece of writing I've ever read."[9]
  • "This fic is for...People who like magic, invisible cats, modern fairy tales, love stories, and of course music! This fic is definitely not for... People who expect to see Dolph Lundgren appear from nowhere with a big machine gun, loosing it in the battle and ending up in a bloody mano a mano fight with Jensen (who happened to be an undercover CIA agent working with Sylvester Stallone). Not recommended also for those who hope that Jensen's piano is haunted by the spirit of a dead pirate who will decapitate Chad Michael Murray with a giant sword."[10]
  • "I'm going on memory for this one as I don't wish to reread it. I enjoyed the first part a great deal. It's an original magic realism story with a unique Jensen who has strange abilities and no social contact outside his repressive family, until he meets a young Jared he agrees to teach piano to. This is very nearly ofic, particularly in the first part. There's a couple of strange English word choices in the first part, but otherwise the prose flows well. The originality really shines through, and I found it an engrossing read. I found the angst of Jensen's overbearing and extremely emotional mother a bit much for my taste, and the scenes where Jensen "sees" Jared as an adult even while interacting with child Jared were a bit creepy and the implications of the way Jensen responded to Jared as part child part adult were glossed over. The second part is a long, long, angst-o-rama with every H/C fic cliché brought out to play. There are massive issues with the power dynamics in Jensen's relationship with Chris and then with Jared, and I found the whole thing an unsettling and unsatisfying conclusion to the opening story. The first part doesn't read like traditional RPF fic at all, the second is everything in the tradition that is not for me."[11]

Fanworks Inspired By The Story

Fan vids

Fanart

A fan (butterflyjar) has even begun a Doors of Time wiki here.

  • Alatoj's fan art: Jensen's Dream

    Alatoj's fan art: Jensen's Dream

  • the non-animated version of ketch2510's photo-manip. When Jensen plays piano, the world responds, in this case by creating butterflies.

    the non-animated version of ketch2510's photo-manip. When Jensen plays piano, the world responds, in this case by creating butterflies.

  • part of petite madame's J2-S&D Calendar Wallpaper Project. This image was inspired by the timestamp "My Home Is Nowhere Without You" and was selected for the calendar month of January. The artist notes: "In The Doors of Time, music is definitely a character on its own . As I wanted to show the same thing in my drawing, I imagined music notes running away from a Rachmaninoff's score like a bunch a uncoordinated and panicked small characters. The Piano Concerto #3 in D minor being considered as one of the most complexe pieces of music for piano, I guessed that the notes would be more than reluctant to be part of the adventure and that they would try to escape as quickly as possible. As everybody tries to exit the score at the same time, it's a real (musical) mess."

    part of petite madame's J2-S&D Calendar Wallpaper Project. This image was inspired by the timestamp "My Home Is Nowhere Without You" and was selected for the calendar month of January. The artist notes: "In The Doors of Time, music is definitely a character on its own . As I wanted to show the same thing in my drawing, I imagined music notes running away from a Rachmaninoff's score like a bunch a uncoordinated and panicked small characters. The Piano Concerto #3 in D minor being considered as one of the most complexe pieces of music for piano, I guessed that the notes would be more than reluctant to be part of the adventure and that they would try to escape as quickly as possible. As everybody tries to exit the score at the same time, it's a real (musical) mess."

  • drawing by Leyla-Lovely. Artist notes: "I read this masterpiece a few months ago and I fell in love with it. It's written with so much creativity and so much love and I had to cry and laugh and had to be aroused as well. And since the piano and magic play a big role it's absolutely my taste."

    drawing by Leyla-Lovely. Artist notes: "I read this masterpiece a few months ago and I fell in love with it. It's written with so much creativity and so much love and I had to cry and laugh and had to be aroused as well. And since the piano and magic play a big role it's absolutely my taste."

  • front CD cover for soundtrack part 1, art by Winchestergirl

    front CD cover for soundtrack part 1, art by Winchestergirl

  • back CD cover for soundtrack part 1, art by Winchestergirl

    back CD cover for soundtrack part 1, art by Winchestergirl

  • front CD cover for soundtrack part 2, art by Winchestergirl

    front CD cover for soundtrack part 2, art by Winchestergirl

  • back CD cover for soundtrack part 2, art by Winchestergirl

    back CD cover for soundtrack part 2, art by Winchestergirl

References

  1. ^ WebCite for Author Notes Part 1 and Part 2.
  2. ^ WebCite for Soundtrack 1.
  3. ^ WebCite for Soundtrack 2
  4. ^ ijustthoughtidsitherequietly's rec post on tumblr dated Jan 2012.
  5. ^ snakedlows's rec post on tumbr dated Dec 10, 2011.
  6. ^ gilraenis' rec post dated Oct 26, 2011.
  7. ^ recommendation at the Goodreads page dated March 8, 2012., Archived version
  8. ^ readingz rec post dated February 27th, 2009; WebCite.
  9. ^ shanrocks rec post dated March 1, 2009.
  10. ^ petite madame's introduction to her fan art calendar for the story, dated December 28, 2010.
  11. ^ The J2 Over 400 Club rec post dated Feb 27, 2011; reference link.
  12. ^ archive linl.
  13. ^ reference link.
  14. ^ WayBack Machine link.
  15. ^ WayBack machine link
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