X-Files Book Club

I read fic for two reasons, I think. The first is exactly as you say, "to peer more deeply into the characters I know so well, and care about." The second is a little more complicated, and has to do with wanting to see the way other people see the show, with taking a basic source text and seeing it infused with a different authorial vision. If that vision is strong and consistent I am willing to forgive shifts in characterization that would be unforgivable in a weaker text. Think of the many ways that Arthurian legend has been told and retold over the years; think of the way that good cover versions of songs bring out qualities that you never would have noticed in the original. In my more grandiose moments I want to see fanfiction as the modern equivalent of myth; as Henry Jenkins once said, "fan fiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations indead of owned by the folk." So looking at the genre in that way, I expect writers to use the original text as a jumping-off point, as the departure rather than the destination.

There are many different ways of writing fanfic. I get the feeling that you and wendelah1 are far more interested in canon-compliance than I am. You both are concerned to write stories that can help to justify the twists and inconsistencies of the show, and tie it more closely in a consistent whole. I am more likely to just say, "oh, I never believed that episode anyway." So our philosophies are sort of different!

Hope I haven't gone on for too long; I didn't mean to lecture. I just wanted to explore how it was that I was willing to forgive stories like this, given that I view characterisation as being very important to me. The answer seems to be that I actively like alternate versions of an original text. I like those changes in mood and style that show a really strong author has got hold of the reins. I like thinking, "it could have been like this."