Story 91: "The Fractured Landscape" by Zuffy and Littljoe

[wendelah1]

Welcome back! I hope you had a great August holiday.

In light of some recent discussions I've had about character POV, and whether or not writing a character unsympathetically accurately represents how an author feels about the character, especially in season 8 fic, I decided to read some season 8 fic. Just to get my biases out of the way, I haven't read much of it because I kind of hate season 8. Okay, I really hate season 8. But we aren't here to discuss that, we're here to talk about fan fiction!

Synopsis: How does the tense and chilly Mulder of 3Words turn into the relaxed and confident man joking about "the pizza man"?

The authors rate this story PG-13 for language.

If anyone has season 8 fic they would like to recommend we discuss, you may make those suggestions here. If you think reading season 8 fic is a terrible idea and want to read something else, you can make that suggestion at the same place. I know I've skipped over some of your suggestions, but I promise we'll get to them eventually.

Give feedback to the authors and then tell us what you think about the story. Heck, you can even tell us what you think about season 8 and/or author POV versus character POV in season 8 fic. Come prepared with supporting examples of your thesis. Joke. Just read the fic. Although, I would love to read meta about that topic if there is any, she said wistfully.

"The Fractured Landscape"

Comments

[sangria-lila.livejournal.com]

I don't mind angsty Mulder, but I love it when the angsty Mulder is a logical extension of the angsty Mulder from canon, rather than a stereotype of what the authors think an angsty PSTD victim should be.

[wendelah1]

This is a really good point. What, for you, differentiates these two different characterizations? What works about this fic that's different from another fic, not necessarily even season eight. Personal disclosure: I am especially interested because I am writing an angst-filled version of Mulder right now.

[sangria-lila.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that's a tough one, and has a lot to do with what I feel is specific to Mulder in canon, so little details such as syntax of the writing matches the way Mulder speaks on screen, how it also helps to recreate the mood of the X-files. In Fractured Landscape, the almost stream of consciousness writing fits the mood of the ep and more importantly, mimics the way Mulder speaks.

Mulder wants to grab that hand out of the air. He'll send the messages that need sending and he hates this man for the presumption of a hand signal to his partner. Only he suddenly realizes that this stranger also claims her as a partner. They've sat in the basement office, exchanged jokes, shared meals across a table, driven side by side in rental cars, trudged through distant airports late at night, learned to read each other's gestures and faces. This stranger with his static electricity hair and down-home accent and Aqua Velva sweat knew about her baby before Mulder did. And now he arrogates the right to send her away. Mulder rises again because he's going to keep with his plan and escape this man who is not above reproach after all.

This rang really true because the imagery is so specific, which is the way Mulder thinks, and anchors the piece to the show.

It's easy to write about what things trigger Mulder's angst, but equally important is how he would go about thinking about them. Most fics I know haven't been as successful in that regard.

[sangria-lila.livejournal.com]

Just had another thought - one thing that appealed to me a lot of the fic was that the language wasn't flowery. Yes, there are good writers who can get away with it, but it never manages to stop me thinking that this is what the writer wishes the X-files could be, rather than what it actually is. This is a show that's stark but for brief moments of gorgeousness, so when a writer can tell it without cluttering the language or making the imagery over-delicate, then yay!

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

one thing that appealed to me a lot of the fic was that the language wasn't flowery.

i think i had a hard time with this. it felt bland for me. there were a lot of good lines that sliced through with their intensity, but this particular style of prose - the style that is very much prose with not a lot of poetry in the mix - makes me feel distanced and also kind of bored. it's stiff and weighty with writerly intent - and it's not at all conversational or coy either, so there isn't that to make it go down easier. that's entirely a personal taste, mind you, and has little to do with whether the writing is 'good' or not, because it seems pretty 'good' to me. the writers clearly know what they're doing. it's technically well managed, and it's well paced - it begins and ends in the right places...

apparently 'frank' ate my post. sorry for the edits. i got confused.

[sangria-lila.livejournal.com]

See I'm just the opposite. It's easy for many talented writers to unload fancy imagery and colorful language, but it takes a very good one to find out only what's necessary to move the story along, and keep the reader wanting more. I have a particular aversion to reading more than is necessary, hence why I'm not as mad about penumbra as the rest of fandom is. Hence why Revolutionary Road is one of my favorite books.
That's not to say I like writing where the writer clearly views the characters as subjects of examination though. Actually, that turns me off for different reasons.

Back to the fic, I don't think this is the strongest writing I've read, but it captures the characters well, it fills in the gaps and gets Mulder and Scully in a lovely moment, so I'm happy.

[wendelah1]

I agree. I like a more direct narrative style as well. Cofax7's short story "Ash" is a good example of the sort of writing I love. Her style is very compact without sacrificing emotional nuance.

I like Penumbra's style more than I used to and while I think "Parabiosis" is over-written in places, and has no plot to speak of, it does have some lovely moments. In fact, unlike Zellie, I like the ending of that story very much, and think it fits into the mood and tone of Requiem perfectly. However, her latest story, "Fathoms Five" is a much better piece of fiction. I like "Black Hole Season" better too.

That's not to say I like writing where the writer clearly views the characters as subjects of examination though.

What does the phrase, "subjects of examination," mean?

[sangria-lila.livejournal.com]

I liked the ending only because I love the rara avis line. Other than that I don't remember much about Paraboisis. I do love Contact High though.

What does the phrase, "subjects of examination," mean?

I was trying to be pithy. But basically, there are writers who clearly don't empathize with their characters and put them through the motions just to see what makes them tick. Oftentimes, they're less interested in the characters as people and the writer is more interested in how they serve in the broader, panoramic statement, hence their writing comes off as very cold. Don Delilio is one such writer. It's not a problem in fandom because every fan is in love with the characters they're writing.

[wendelah1]

It's not a problem in fandom because every fan is in love with the characters they're writing.

It certainly is less of a problem although I don't think fandom is without writers who lack empathy for their characters. In XF, for example, there are writers who love Mulder and dislike Scully, for example, and vice-versa. For me, the best example of this is Tesla's Mulder/Other stories, especially "Flight," but also to a lesser extent "Neither Here Nor There." Even in "This House Is Burning," which I love, Mulder is the star of the show. Scully really doesn't get much to do that's terribly interesting other than moon over Mulder and have really hot sex with him. Scully is written pretty sympathetically in the last two stories, but I still don't love and believe in Tesla's Scully the way I do tree's, to name just one example.

And I don't think you have to love your characters to treat them fairly as a writer; moreover, loving a character is no guarantee of empathy. There is no doubt in my mind that at least some of the writers of extreme Mulder torture stories love Mulder but surely they couldn't empathize with him and still write what they do? In order to write those scenes, they must be able to create far more distance from the character than I am able as either a writer or a reader. It's probably useful to be able to do that: otherwise, a writer can't dig as deeply. That's kind of paradoxical. It's probably not true for every writer, either. Oh, well.

This is really off in left field but I also think causing pain, whether mental or physical, to a character has a different meaning to some writers (and readers) than it does to others. I'm still stuck in the problem of torture in fan fiction. It's a real squick for me, as you can tell. It's just that some stories seem to be written for the sole purpose of hurting the characters. Let's have Mulder give himself up to a sexual sadist so I can write chapter after chapter of vivid descriptions of rape and abuse and see what happens to him. Even stories that have the characters do stupid things make me queasy, because they seem to have been written just in order to humiliate the characters. Usually, the writers want to torture Mulder and humiliate Scully. I don't know what this means, but it does disturb me, maybe more than it ought.

In any case, Mulder, Scully and Doggett are all treated very sympathetically and fairly by the writers of "The Fractured Landscape," despite the POV being Mulder's alone (I think).

[sangria-lila.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any of the fics you mentioned, so I really can't comment. But generally, because I read a very narrow range of fics, most of them have dealt with M&S quite well. Everyone in fandom (especially XF) is writing because they like the characters, not really because they want to make some statement about the American soul. But anyway, that also means I can't comment on Mulder torture fics because I've never read them, and um, don't really plan to.

And I certainly agree that having distance to your character is a good thing, but on a personal note, I'm not interested in writers who only do that. In my mind, loving your characters (and indeed people in general) isn't giving them a free-for-all.

[wendelah1]

I don't read and wouldn't recommend Mulder Torture fic in general, but it is common enough to have had its own Archive back in the day. I only read enough of the story I referenced to ascertain what it was and make a mental note not to read it again. The author did warn so it isn't her fault I got burned.

I do read, or at least try, a pretty broad range of stories, but from what I can tell your fandom experience is much more common. Most people have very specific requirements for what they will read and what they won't, which is one of the reasons why the warning debate got as heated as it did.

I think being a gen person is one of the reasons I read (and write) more pairings than most people in XF. People in XF seem to ship one pairing pretty hard and don't enjoy any of the others. Mulder/Scully people don't read Mulder/Krycek and so on. This was true in Stargate SG-1 fandom, too, maybe even more so. And it looks like the same thing is happening in Star Trek Reboot. Don't mind me, I'm just thinking aloud. This all seems very obvious, I'm sure, but it has taken me some time to figure out.