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The Staircase
Regina could still smell her cologne and feel the cheap pleather pressing into her back. The brunette sucked in a breath. She was still lying on the floor at the staircase's base and she stared back up at it. Everything was different now. Changed. She felt broken by what had just happened, appalled and enraged, dirty. WARNING: NC17 for non-consensual sex. Dark. (But gets lighter.)
Words: 240,768
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Relationship: Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Words: 240,768
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Relationship: Regina Mills/Emma Swan
733 pages, ebook
Published October 12, 2012
29 people want to read
About the author
RedCharcoal
12 books10 followersI'm a lover of ice queens. When I'm not reading about them I'm also writing about them in published lesfics.
aka Lee Winter
aka Lee Winter
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 29, 2018
When I saw that this was one of Lee Winter’s first attempts (or more accurately, her actual first attempt) at writing fan fiction, I was curious. Despite the content, my expectation was that Winter…if anyone could…would be able to sell this to me.
I’m sorry to say that it didn’t happen. I want to also note that I’m not a OUAT watcher; I think I saw maybe the first half of season one and lost interest (honestly, the Mary Margaret character annoyed me so much I wanted to gouge my ear drums out so I didn’t have to listen to her goody-two-shoes BS anymore. Turning off the TV sounded like a wiser option). I fortunately knew who most of the characters in this story were because of this limited viewing. So, that was helpful.
This story starts off with Regina reliving, moments after its occurrence, a sexual assault against her by Emma. I don’t know why I thought this would be ok. I guess my assumption was that there was going to be a giant misunderstanding of what happened. There kinda was, but at the same time, the misunderstanding made Emma come across as an incredibly stupid/foolhardy woman who believes what she wants to believe simply because she wants to believe it. I want to believe I’m a millionaire, but the facts just don’t back-up that desire.
The positives to this story are such:
1. The writing is technically really well done, but of course it is…Winter’s a journalist by trade and knows her way around words.
2. Once we get over the sexual assault, the story isn’t so bad (but I had to actually force my brain to forget that I had read the first 35 or so chapters).
3. Since this was the first of Winter’s attempts at fiction, this was probably the start of a lesfic career for one of my favorite authors, so it served a greater purpose than mere fanfic ;)
So, along with a few likes, these are some of my qualms:
Somewhere in one of the 30-something chapters, Regina is reflecting back on a therapy session she had with Hopper. In that section, the therapist, in a round about way, got Regina thinking about the intent of a rapist; how two people who are guilty of the same crime can have different intentions. I just wanted to throttle that doctor. How does one ever justify rape? This is written more like, ‘oh, everyone loves Emma and Emma would never intentionally hurt you, and blah, blah, f’ing blah. Your treatment of her is unjust.’ Really, the fact that Emma wasn’t in jail was unjust, but I digress…
There is a lot of time jumping, which, if I recall correctly, is used a lot in the actual TV show, so perhaps it makes sense that this would be used in a fanfic, too. Here, however, it got a little annoying. We’d jump forward months, back months, then back hours, then a couple days…and it just got awkward after a while. I don’t mind flash-backs, but I do prefer linear writing. However, if there are going to be time jumps, I prefer them not be all over the place (as in every chapter and not actually within a similar time frame. Meaning: I don’t want to jump forward 18 months, read a few paragraphs and then jump backwards a few hours…then jump back to present time for a little while, only to then jump back to the previous day). This method was used to add a bit of mystery (we’d be in a present day scene, jump back because something that happened a few hours prior was relevant to the present), but for my personal tastes, I wasn’t a fan. I would start to wonder when/where the hell I was, but then I’d see another “THE PREVIOUS DAY” and want to bang my head against a wall.
For a first attempt, I imagine this was a good exercise for Winter, but there are a lot of flaws with it in general and I can see why it hasn’t been published (beyond the obvious falling in love with your rapist scenario). There is a lot of ‘the blonde,’ ‘the brunette,’ and identifying people by their eye color and the like. The story was also way too dependent on the reader having a working knowledge of the OUAT storyline. (It’s fanfic, so I understand that the assumption is that the reader watches the show the fic is based on.) I was lost for some of this, but because I had watched a few episodes, I had a vague idea of what was going on. The rest I had to piece together or make guesses on. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, per se, just a point I’m noting in case someone wants to read this, but doesn’t watch OUAT.
This is also waaaaayyy too long. There is so much of this that could have been cut out, but I’ve come to learn that fanfic is on the longish side. The length of this made it difficult to get through and I wanted to quit quite a few times, but I promised myself that I would finish just so I could rate and review it. Honestly, I’m actually glad I got through it because the final chapters were the best of this 74 chapter story. I wish I could say read the last 15 or so chapters only, but there are a few things that wouldn’t make sense unless the whole thing is read.
Overall, I did not really enjoy ‘The Staircase’ all that much. I had to erase the first half out of my memory just to believe the second half and the second half was too fanfic-y to enjoy as a simple romance story. I may be bias and hold that opinion because I can’t believe anyone would trust and love their rapist as much as Regina does Emma. I think I may have actually been able to enjoy this a little more if the sexual assault was toned down a bit…like maybe just stealing a kiss and a bit of unwanted fondling (even though that wouldn’t be acceptable, either), but no…this was full on rape. I’m kinda curious why the author went as far as she did with that scene. Consent is sexy…stupidly taking what you want without it is not.
I’m giving this 2.5 stars and rounding up...because the first half was a 1, the second 1/2 was closer to 4, but the writing was really good and a testament as to how well Winter would do as a fiction writer in the future. Even though 3* is typically a ‘good’ review from me, I can’t say I’d recommended this...
I’m sorry to say that it didn’t happen. I want to also note that I’m not a OUAT watcher; I think I saw maybe the first half of season one and lost interest (honestly, the Mary Margaret character annoyed me so much I wanted to gouge my ear drums out so I didn’t have to listen to her goody-two-shoes BS anymore. Turning off the TV sounded like a wiser option). I fortunately knew who most of the characters in this story were because of this limited viewing. So, that was helpful.
This story starts off with Regina reliving, moments after its occurrence, a sexual assault against her by Emma. I don’t know why I thought this would be ok. I guess my assumption was that there was going to be a giant misunderstanding of what happened. There kinda was, but at the same time, the misunderstanding made Emma come across as an incredibly stupid/foolhardy woman who believes what she wants to believe simply because she wants to believe it. I want to believe I’m a millionaire, but the facts just don’t back-up that desire.
The positives to this story are such:
1. The writing is technically really well done, but of course it is…Winter’s a journalist by trade and knows her way around words.
2. Once we get over the sexual assault, the story isn’t so bad (but I had to actually force my brain to forget that I had read the first 35 or so chapters).
3. Since this was the first of Winter’s attempts at fiction, this was probably the start of a lesfic career for one of my favorite authors, so it served a greater purpose than mere fanfic ;)
So, along with a few likes, these are some of my qualms:
Somewhere in one of the 30-something chapters, Regina is reflecting back on a therapy session she had with Hopper. In that section, the therapist, in a round about way, got Regina thinking about the intent of a rapist; how two people who are guilty of the same crime can have different intentions. I just wanted to throttle that doctor. How does one ever justify rape? This is written more like, ‘oh, everyone loves Emma and Emma would never intentionally hurt you, and blah, blah, f’ing blah. Your treatment of her is unjust.’ Really, the fact that Emma wasn’t in jail was unjust, but I digress…
There is a lot of time jumping, which, if I recall correctly, is used a lot in the actual TV show, so perhaps it makes sense that this would be used in a fanfic, too. Here, however, it got a little annoying. We’d jump forward months, back months, then back hours, then a couple days…and it just got awkward after a while. I don’t mind flash-backs, but I do prefer linear writing. However, if there are going to be time jumps, I prefer them not be all over the place (as in every chapter and not actually within a similar time frame. Meaning: I don’t want to jump forward 18 months, read a few paragraphs and then jump backwards a few hours…then jump back to present time for a little while, only to then jump back to the previous day). This method was used to add a bit of mystery (we’d be in a present day scene, jump back because something that happened a few hours prior was relevant to the present), but for my personal tastes, I wasn’t a fan. I would start to wonder when/where the hell I was, but then I’d see another “THE PREVIOUS DAY” and want to bang my head against a wall.
For a first attempt, I imagine this was a good exercise for Winter, but there are a lot of flaws with it in general and I can see why it hasn’t been published (beyond the obvious falling in love with your rapist scenario). There is a lot of ‘the blonde,’ ‘the brunette,’ and identifying people by their eye color and the like. The story was also way too dependent on the reader having a working knowledge of the OUAT storyline. (It’s fanfic, so I understand that the assumption is that the reader watches the show the fic is based on.) I was lost for some of this, but because I had watched a few episodes, I had a vague idea of what was going on. The rest I had to piece together or make guesses on. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, per se, just a point I’m noting in case someone wants to read this, but doesn’t watch OUAT.
This is also waaaaayyy too long. There is so much of this that could have been cut out, but I’ve come to learn that fanfic is on the longish side. The length of this made it difficult to get through and I wanted to quit quite a few times, but I promised myself that I would finish just so I could rate and review it. Honestly, I’m actually glad I got through it because the final chapters were the best of this 74 chapter story. I wish I could say read the last 15 or so chapters only, but there are a few things that wouldn’t make sense unless the whole thing is read.
Overall, I did not really enjoy ‘The Staircase’ all that much. I had to erase the first half out of my memory just to believe the second half and the second half was too fanfic-y to enjoy as a simple romance story. I may be bias and hold that opinion because I can’t believe anyone would trust and love their rapist as much as Regina does Emma. I think I may have actually been able to enjoy this a little more if the sexual assault was toned down a bit…like maybe just stealing a kiss and a bit of unwanted fondling (even though that wouldn’t be acceptable, either), but no…this was full on rape. I’m kinda curious why the author went as far as she did with that scene. Consent is sexy…stupidly taking what you want without it is not.
I’m giving this 2.5 stars and rounding up...because the first half was a 1, the second 1/2 was closer to 4, but the writing was really good and a testament as to how well Winter would do as a fiction writer in the future. Even though 3* is typically a ‘good’ review from me, I can’t say I’d recommended this...
May 29, 2018
Holy Shit balls!!!!
Ladies (and gents) this one is absolutely fantastic! Now I don't normally do fantasy, but my God! I was frigging hooked! This was great!
Two main characters, Regina and Emma... Now it starts off with a sensitive topic and is rather dark, but believe me, as you get further in the book it becomes much lighter and you can see past it. Have you ever loathed a character so much but bloody loved them at the same time, that is how I would describe Regina... shes a ''bit" of a bitch but shes fab! Emma, comes off as a bit of a follower.. but that's love for you.
Once the story unfolds, you get to meet other unusual, like-able, odd and funny characters too.... it's great. Just give it a chance.
Ladies (and gents) this one is absolutely fantastic! Now I don't normally do fantasy, but my God! I was frigging hooked! This was great!
Two main characters, Regina and Emma... Now it starts off with a sensitive topic and is rather dark, but believe me, as you get further in the book it becomes much lighter and you can see past it. Have you ever loathed a character so much but bloody loved them at the same time, that is how I would describe Regina... shes a ''bit" of a bitch but shes fab! Emma, comes off as a bit of a follower.. but that's love for you.
Once the story unfolds, you get to meet other unusual, like-able, odd and funny characters too.... it's great. Just give it a chance.
May 21, 2018
Epic Swan Queen fiction by RedCharcoal AKA Lee Winter. I loved every minute of this. It deserves its trigger warnings. It does take on a difficult subject in the most challenging way. It's not a fluffy read, but very, very rewarding. Brilliantly plotted.
June 26, 2018
I really didn't mean to read this. I was just trawling through sites thinking about what I wanted to read, came across this, thought I'd read a chapter and if it sounded good I'd come back to it some time. Well, I won't need to now!
It starts off with a pretty dark premise of Emma assaulting Regina but as with everything in Storybrook and Once Upon a Time nothing is quite what it seems. RedCharcoal (Lee Winter) really is a remarkable writer and it's not a surprise that I was completely sucked into this story.
It could have been about ten chapters shorter but then maybe all the loose ends might not have been tied up.
It starts off with a pretty dark premise of Emma assaulting Regina but as with everything in Storybrook and Once Upon a Time nothing is quite what it seems. RedCharcoal (Lee Winter) really is a remarkable writer and it's not a surprise that I was completely sucked into this story.
It could have been about ten chapters shorter but then maybe all the loose ends might not have been tied up.
June 24, 2018
2* (and I started with a generous three, but on reflection I changed my mind)
I’ve not really been interested in fanfiction, but everyone raves on about it. This is my second outing into fanfiction and it is a very hopeful meh.
The main issue:
The non-con trigger at the start was not a deal breaker in itself. What did not work, for me, was the idea of non-con sex evolving, through whatever means, into a romance. Falling for your abuser is not a good thing.
However, the portrayal of Regina’s progress through the damage, seemed well conceived.
Another issue:
A preoccupation with calling people by their hair colour. Jarred me out of the story every time.
If I ignore the opening then the plot has some interesting points.
I didn’t finish, maybe read 2/3 or possibly 3/4 , but I didn’t care after that.
I’ve not really been interested in fanfiction, but everyone raves on about it. This is my second outing into fanfiction and it is a very hopeful meh.
The main issue:
The non-con trigger at the start was not a deal breaker in itself. What did not work, for me, was the idea of non-con sex evolving, through whatever means, into a romance. Falling for your abuser is not a good thing.
However, the portrayal of Regina’s progress through the damage, seemed well conceived.
Another issue:
A preoccupation with calling people by their hair colour. Jarred me out of the story every time.
If I ignore the opening then the plot has some interesting points.
I didn’t finish, maybe read 2/3 or possibly 3/4 , but I didn’t care after that.
February 5, 2020
Whew. A lot of things happened in this fanfic. I noticed RedCharcoal's profile photo was familiar in AO3, so that actually tipped me off that this was Lee Winter's work. The writing was great as usual. If Winter's lesfic writing career is anything to go by, I'd say her talents in writing fiction were already palpable in this earlier work.
I've already read a considerable number of SwanQueen fanfics, and I'm used to them being mostly angsty. Though I must admit, the non-con nature of the beginning events was a hard sell. Did I say a lot of things happened in the story? Yeah, that's probably one of my least favorite things about it. The side-story about a cop could've been removed entirely, and it wouldn't change a thing about the focus of the narrative. I also got a bit tired of all the self-deprecation the MCs showed, especially because it remained an issue until the very end. The pace of Regina's character development was understandable, considering she was The Evil Queen, but Emma's was really slow to the point where it became somewhat annoying. One of the stuff that could also have been improved upon was setting the mood for Regina and Emma's intimate scenes. They were anticlimactic, so to speak.
To my surprise, my favorite person in the story was actually a non-canon, and she made things really interesting towards the end. I was a bit disappointed by the ending though, because despite the story's length, the ending could've used more refinements to culminate all the hardships the MCs went through.
I've already read a considerable number of SwanQueen fanfics, and I'm used to them being mostly angsty. Though I must admit, the non-con nature of the beginning events was a hard sell. Did I say a lot of things happened in the story? Yeah, that's probably one of my least favorite things about it. The side-story about a cop could've been removed entirely, and it wouldn't change a thing about the focus of the narrative. I also got a bit tired of all the self-deprecation the MCs showed, especially because it remained an issue until the very end. The pace of Regina's character development was understandable, considering she was The Evil Queen, but Emma's was really slow to the point where it became somewhat annoying. One of the stuff that could also have been improved upon was setting the mood for Regina and Emma's intimate scenes. They were anticlimactic, so to speak.
To my surprise, my favorite person in the story was actually a non-canon, and she made things really interesting towards the end. I was a bit disappointed by the ending though, because despite the story's length, the ending could've used more refinements to culminate all the hardships the MCs went through.
May 30, 2018
I’ve never watched OUAT so I felt like I was missing a lot of background with characters and their actions. Well written but they were so different I couldn’t find a thread that connected them even after the staircase.
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