Story 42: "One & Only, First & Last" by onpaperfirst

[dictatorcari]

We're back with another post-Truth ficlet: "One & Only, First & Last" by onpaperfirst. Thanks to frey_at_last for the recommendation!

My favorite line: "They were never the sort of people who would drive to a winery on a Sunday afternoon, unless, maybe, a dead body had been found jammed in a vat of merlot."

Love it? Hate it? Post-Truth fics just aren't your thing? Then you know what to do: give us a suggestion for next time!

Comments

[brooklynmili.livejournal.com]

Recently on metafandom there's been some chat about what makes LJ fic different from fic on other platforms, and this story makes me think of this, because it has the stylistic elements common to most of the LJ fic I've read: brevity of description, a kind of post-modern symbolic language, poetic turns of phrase rather than action and description. I don't dislike this style, but I find it hard to keep up with sometimes. However, onpaperfirst is clearly one of the best practitioners of it. The "this is the right thing" dialogue, for example, is exactly this sort of telegraphing, and shows it to its strength.

I particularly love her s8 elements: the baby shower, Mulder looking at ultrasounds. Partly, I'm a sucker for s8, and partly it's because she makes emotionally hollow canon into something much more interesting.

[wendelah1]

I have just wasted a couple of hours looking at metafandom for that chat about LJ fic. I should have just asked you in the first place. Do you have it book-marked?

I also have a hard time reading the type of LJ story you describe, although for a different reason. I vastly prefer stories with description and action, over the sort of character-driven vignettes that onpaperfirst does so nicely. The problem with a short piece is if a significant detail is in question, as it is in this case, at least for me, it throws off the balance of the story.

Although season nine left much to be desired in terms of writing, we do have eight plus other seasons of watching Scully to go on. I feel I have enough information to make a judgment.

I agree, she handles this all very deftly. She is a very talented writer. But I think because I can't buy into the characterization of Scully completely, it all makes me feel a little bit manipulated emotionally.