Story 197: "Get Up Mulder" by Tesla

[wendelah1]

This story was nominated by write_out but it's one of my favorites now, too. Confession time: the first time I read it, I thought Mulder was being a little whiny. But I love him better now, so it's all good. Tesla's writing is smooth as silk and no one writes a better Mulder voice. Enjoy!

NEW: "Get Up, Mulder"
Author: Tesla
Rating: PG-13 for language
Keyword: MSR, spooning, post-movie

Summary: Mulder recalls the trip back

Spoilers: To "Fight the Future"

Mod note: It says "MSR" but I think it's noromo friendly.

Now I really need to give tesla321 her own tag. Seriously, is there anything of hers we haven't read? See, we do use the suggestions from our nomination post, so go suggest some more, please.

Read "Get Up, Mulder".

Comments

[wendelah1]

Re: your first paragraph, if a character is behaving and/or thinking in a way that I feel is OOC, then the “but they’re under duress” reasoning holds no weight with me. It is perfectly possible to write a character under duress who is not behaving/thinking in an OOC manner. Extreme situations do not make characters different people.

Maybe your characters don't. I disagree. People behave differently when they are under stress. Why wouldn't/couldn't characters? We've had little access to Character Mulder's inner thoughts (except as mediated by CC) so how do you really know this is out of character for him? In my opinion, you don't. You don't like what's he's thinking, or maybe you don't like his feelings or his reasoning, so you've decided it's out of character. That holds no water with me.

But the fic makes it sound as though he had only seconds - maybe a minute or two at most – remaining to administer the injection.

No. That is not the case. The story showed he was afraid. He—was—afraid. And who wouldn't have been? Your logic is not the issue here. It's what he was feeling that matters, not the "objective truth."

Edited to say one last thing. I did not say that Mulder was under duress. I said he had suffered from physical trauma. Concussion. Exhaustion. Dehydration. Hypothermia. These are all a result of what he went through to save Scully, and a concussion is what he had suffered as he is lying unconscious, remembering the events of the movie. Perhaps people who have suffered from trauma don't have their basic characters change but their behaviors certainly can. They don't always act as their families expect. They say (and presumably think) inappropriate things, and so on. They don't reason well. They don't always make good choices.

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

how do you really know this is out of character for him? In my opinion, you don't.

This Mulder is OOC for me, just as this Mulder is in character for you. I thought that was an assumption we all make every time we discuss the important but subjective matter of characterization. My assessment of him as out of character is equally as valid as your assessment of him as in character. The only difference is that I like my assessment better, obviously, and you prefer yours.

And ultimately, I form my opinion based on the same essential process of perception, reasoning, and yes, emotion, as you do.

[wendelah1]

Yes, of course.

My assessment of him as out of character is equally as valid as your assessment of him as in character. The only difference is that I like my assessment better, obviously, and you prefer yours.

Yes, and in principle, I agree with you. We all carry a version of Mulder around with us in our heads. Yours is as valid as mine which is as valid as Tesla's etc., which is why I find the out of character argument so frustrating. As a writer, this isn't exactly how I've written Mulder, but it's probably closer to my version than yours. But more than that, I do try to give a good writer, like Rivkat, like Tesla, some latitude to create the character they want, and I think you do as well, Scully in "Iolokus," being the obvious example of that, but I know there are others. This may be why I'm surprised that you aren't doing that here, giving Tesla some leeway within the context of canon and her plot. Brain trauma, shock, etc., exhaustion, they all offer a complex collection of possibilities which a writer can choose from.

I guess the bottom line is you don't like Tesla's choices here, and you are right, she could easily have chosen differently. As I said earlier, if the story doesn't work for you, it doesn't work, and that's true for every reader, including me. That's irrefutable.

I guess I'm a little sad, too, that the elegance of the story's structure (and of course, my insightful description of it *g*) carries no weight with you. It's been a long time since I've felt this—electrified—by that element, and I had hoped to convey something of that excitement in my analysis. Major Fail on my part, obviously. Maybe I'll do better next time. Onward?

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

I do try to give a good writer, like Rivkat, like Tesla, some latitude to create the character they want, and I think you do as well, Scully in "Iolokus," being the obvious example of that, but I know there are others. This may be why I'm surprised that you aren't doing that here

What it comes down to is that I, like every fan, can only give as much leeway as I care to give. I cannot care overly much about this Mulder, because I don’t like him (and by “like” I mean respect/admire/connect to, etc.). He does not have the essential (and, naturally, difficult to define) qualities that I require of Mulder, in order for him to still be, essentially, Mulder.

You can change the toppings on a sundae, you can change the ice-cream flavor, you can change the size of the dessert, but you can’t substitute cake for ice-cream and still call it a sundae.

Iolokus’ Mulder and Scully were like gigantic tiger-stripe sundaes, doused in absinthe and flambéed, but they were still sundaes, i.e. they still contained enough of the quintessence of my Mulder and Scully that I could recognize them and connect to them. Which is something I can’t, and have only the faintest frustrated inclination to do, with the Mulder of Tesla’s fic. (And Scully’s only a bit better.)

Granted, this is a very silly analogy, but I think it holds up as far as it needs to.

I had hoped to convey something of that excitement in my analysis. Major Fail on my part, obviously.

I feel you did a good job, for your part. The trouble is that what you see as “the elegance of the story’s structure,” I see as simple gimmickry. You make the most of the story’s structure, and if that structure didn’t bore and vaguely annoy me I certainly would have commented on your insights.

Onward?

It’s only been five days since you posted this, so I wasn’t sure if I ought to wait a bit. But yes, I think we’re ready to move on. And there’s even a freshly nominated fic I’m excited to discuss.

[wendelah1]

Excellent. I am looking forward to it.