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xf_book_clubThe next fic was nominated by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lightlack and enthusiastically seconded by myself. It’s written by threeguesses, who is one of my favorite writers to come out of the pre/post IWTB era. Her writing in this fandom was not prolific, but her stories have always stood out (at least for me) for their powerful concepts, enthralling emotional currents, and the deceptive simplicity of threeguesses’ writing. Undoubtedly you know how "five things" fics work, in which case you also know the title of this week’s fic tells you just about everything that can be revealed about it without spoiling the sense of discovery that comes with each new segment.
five things that never happened to dana scully
The author is still around and writing up a storm (though sadly not in this fandom), and I’m sure she would appreciate feedback. There’s lots to say about this fic, so please do let us know what you think. And, as always, the nomination post is open for new suggestions.
lightlack and enthusiastically seconded by myself. It’s written by threeguesses, who is one of my favorite writers to come out of the pre/post IWTB era. Her writing in this fandom was not prolific, but her stories have always stood out (at least for me) for their powerful concepts, enthralling emotional currents, and the deceptive simplicity of threeguesses’ writing. Undoubtedly you know how "five things" fics work, in which case you also know the title of this week’s fic tells you just about everything that can be revealed about it without spoiling the sense of discovery that comes with each new segment.five things that never happened to dana scully
The author is still around and writing up a storm (though sadly not in this fandom), and I’m sure she would appreciate feedback. There’s lots to say about this fic, so please do let us know what you think. And, as always, the nomination post is open for new suggestions.
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Date: 2012-02-25 11:52 pm (UTC)I suppose I could use this, my confusion over the tags, as some kind of a jumping off point for talking about the nature of "five things" fics. The way revelation is such a huge part of them. What's changed? What's different? When and how will you be shown? Will it be a fast reveal, shockingly abrupt, or a slow reveal, the creeping sense of understanding, of an idea taking shape? The "five things" fic is inherently imbued with it's own kind of tension; one is entering into a story in which anything could happen, from which closure cannot be expected, in which there is always, for the reader, a sense of loss, and the real question is what the nature of that loss will be - how much bitter will it contain, and how much sweet?
Okay, well, that's a start.
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Date: 2012-02-26 12:13 am (UTC)The way revelation is such a huge part of them. What's changed? What's different?
What I like about this -- and other -- "what if?" fics, is that it gives a bigger picture of who these characters are -- well, at least, as understood through the minds of the individual fic writers -- because you can see how they would act in situations the show would never have put them in. Reading this is actually jump-starting my brain to conjure up "what if?" scenarios of my own (which I may or may not turn into an actual fic, ha ha).
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Date: 2012-02-26 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-26 12:06 am (UTC)1 - While I'm not the biggest fan of domesticated Mulder and Scully, the fact that they're both still working on the X-Files (at least, I'm assuming they're still on the X-Files, Mulder was only "on loan" Violent Crimes) while living together and raising a family made me like this. I don't like to think that they can only choose between one of the two, living a "normal" life, or working on The X-Files (though I suppose that Mulder would have to greatly tone down his reckless, risk-taking behaviours upon becoming a "family man" -- though that's probably something he should do, anyway, ha ha).
2 - I liked this one, but I'm not sure if I buy the idea of Samantha basically being a female version of her brother.
3 - The problem is, Scully doesn’t really know how to be someone’s mother; she’s never been very good at hugs; she’s rubbish at make believe. She only knows how to tie her shoes one way (and it doesn't involve bunny rabbits). But she tries. She goes through the motions; bath time and band aids and hold hands to cross the street. She does it again and again and eventually it becomes… well, if not natural, at least second nature.
This is pretty much how I'd imagine Scully would approach motherhood.
4 - I find it very believable that Mulder would start out rambling on about some random supernatural topic before jumping in to tell Scully his feelings. It's like he had to make himself feel comfortable at first by beginning to talk about the kind of stuff he feels most at ease discussing, before doing something he probably feels a lot less comfortable doing.
5 - Short, but effective.
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Date: 2012-02-26 06:26 am (UTC)I didn't read it so much as being a female version of him. I assume he's the one who's been taken in this scenario, and so she's become the one working the X-Files because of the impact the abduction had on her. I always thought "spending lots of time trying to learn about UFOs" was a pretty reasonable life choice for someone who believed they'd seen a family member abducted by aliens.
It's logical that they'd have other things in common (channel surfing, smirking :); they're siblings.
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Date: 2012-02-27 07:04 pm (UTC)If you don't mind my asking, why would you think that about her, in particular, as a character? She seemed to be having no problems interacting with Emily during the short time we saw her on screen with her. She had a mother who loved her and took good care of her, so she knows what good mothering looks like. She seemed like she was doing fine with being William's mother, apart from the shitstorm the writers threw at her.
She does it again and again and eventually it becomes… well, if not natural, at least second nature.
I can't help but approach this issue from a different angle. The truth is, no one knows how to be a mother, to be a parent, until they are one. And every time you think you've got it down, the kid gets older and the issues change, and you are right back where you started from, knowing nothing.
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Date: 2012-02-26 12:21 am (UTC)"5 things/times/ways" are one of my two favourite types of fanfics (along with 100 word drabbles) and this one is by far my favourite of them all!
I love how understated and, as the OP said, simplistic it seems at first, but then you realize it's really not. And there's the last one, the shortest of all, but also the one that stands out the most and makes for the perfect conclusion.
The first time I read the last one, I gasped out loud, felt like someone had punched me in the stomach and had tears in my eyes, because it reminded me of how different my own life would have been, if this show had never been made, been made in a different way or if somehow I had never started watching it or if anything else along the way had been different and it wouldn't have had the impact it has had on me.
Those three, down to the point, lines evoked a lot of thoughts in me and that's the beauty and shows the true brilliance of threeguesses' writing for me.
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Date: 2012-02-27 11:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2012-02-27 11:55 pm (UTC)Yeah, I had the same reaction the first time. It must only work once, though. It's still a great ending.
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Date: 2012-02-29 04:27 am (UTC)Yes, I felt this too. It's brilliant that she closed with this one, and that she wrote it as short and spare as she did, allowing the meta element of it to really strike a chord. She writes the story out of existence. It doesn't need anymore detail than it has - just enough so that we understand, and no more.
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Date: 2012-02-26 03:59 am (UTC)I loved all of these, but #3 broke my heart (in the best possible way) and #5...wow. It said so little but so much.
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Date: 2012-02-28 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-26 10:33 pm (UTC)I liked the happy stories best, natch, but the unhappy ones didn't hurt too much because... moving on. The Samantha Mulder one was not to my taste. She is not her brother. Still, why not? As long as you keep moving.
I of course loved the "happy ending" pillow talk, and I do think it carefully thought and shapely. Mulder, in rambling about ghost lights, is actually implying that he may have been lured astray and would rather come back to the human mundane. "I always wanted you to marry me" is such a poignant truth, so cut-to-the-chase. ( It seems to me that someone--Alelou--had Mulder saying something like that before the two had even kissed. Played for laughs, that one.)
Great head-butt ending. The possibility of no possibilities. Like edisto0304, it made me wonder how not just Scully's but my life would have changed as well.
These are beautifully done; threeguesses is a good writer. But I wonder--how to say?--if we get how close to meta they are. They are really like improv, practice, hinting at events that can't seem mortally serious because they "never happened." They make us think of the ephemeral quality of fic, but more regretfully of the let's-try-this hodgepodge of the last years of show canon. The X-Files was a cunning experiment in series tv and an enduring influence. I'm thinking if CC had treated it less like a "five things" hobby, it would have been a proud epic for whatever of the tech entertainment age we have left.
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Date: 2012-02-27 06:48 pm (UTC)I agree, whether it was intentional or not, this fic feels more like a commentary on the canon itself than a real story.
Naturally, I thought the "happy ending pillow talk" seemed pretty unlikely, but not the least unlikely of the five. The one that really didn't work for me this time around was number four. "I always wanted you to marry me" is such a poignant truth, so cut-to-the-chase. It is certainly cut to the chase, but it doesn't sound like something Mulder would say to her ever, which is what makes it metafic, at least to me. I don't think marriage was ever what he wanted with her, and I sure don't see her ever wanting to marry him. That's so—conventional—so not them. (The only way I could make that work was to transport them to an AU in an alternate universe on an entirely different show, where they cease to be the Mulder and Scully of our "The X-Files." I still love them, wherever they are.)
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Date: 2012-02-27 10:21 am (UTC)So, as much as I loved
The only one I really liked in this was #5, because it's a perfect way to end this kind of story. And who hasn't wondered what would have happened if Scully hadn't been well, Scully?" (and please nobody says "Cynthia Nixon" or I'll shoot. )
#1 made me cringe, but it's no secret I have a terribly low tolerance threshold for sweet and cuddly baby fic.
#2 Interesting idea but this Samantha sounds too much like a dude with her "Pretty girl like you and a place like this." and not a very subtle one at that. Plus, making this Samantha gay feels sloppy to me, because this means the writer doesn't have to make too many efforts to make this character sound like her brother - being all flirty with Scully. The real challenge here would have been to keep this Sam straight and still manage to convey the thing (you all know that thing) that sparks between M&S. Now there, I would have been impressed. As it is, meh. ( And just to be on the safe side in case anybody decides to get offended for the wrong reasons, I have NO issues with Sam being gay or Scully being gay. Their sexual orientation is not what I'm talking about here.)
#3 See, I don't buy Scully not knowing how to be a mother. We've seen many times that Scully is great with kids. As much as I loathe baby fic I do see why people would want to write about Scully with kids in tow. She's got this all emcompassing compassion and kindness coupled with this no bullshit attitude that is the trademark of great motherhood. And besides I don't buy her losing touch with Mulder, not like this. So to me, this "what if" just feels pretty pointless.
#4.Nothing much to say about that one. It's not bad, it's just not very original is all.
So yeah, it's definitely well written, and I love this author's lean writing style and effortless humour, still, I don't think this one is anything much to write home about. But since I don't really care for the genre this kind of story is always going to be a hard sell. *shrugs*
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Date: 2012-02-27 11:27 am (UTC)Honestly, in regard to the topic, I think that the "five things" trope(?) means that you aren't committed to buy any of them. You're just indulging in multiple universes. I prefer fics that take the au idea more seriously, like "Lullaby for a Stormy Night" or "Tikkun Olum."
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Date: 2012-02-27 06:21 pm (UTC)The first time through, I enjoyed reading this one more than you. I was completely engaged in it, but this time around, I can totally see where you're coming from. I agree, #5 absolutely was the knock out blow, a perfect ending for this story. It made me gasp the first time around.
#2 Interesting idea but this Samantha sounds too much like a dude with her "Pretty girl like you and a place like this." and not a very subtle one at that. Plus, making this Samantha gay feels sloppy to me, because this means the writer doesn't have to make too many efforts to make this character sound like her brother - being all flirty with Scully. The real challenge here would have been to keep this Sam straight and still manage to convey the thing (you all know that thing) that sparks between M&S. Now there, I would have been impressed. As it is, meh. ( And just to be on the safe side in case anybody decides to get offended for the wrong reasons, I have NO issues with Sam being gay or Scully being gay. Their sexual orientation is not what I'm talking about here.)
You put this very well. Not only that, Samantha's character isn't developed enough. She just seems like a knock-off of Mulder, rather than a person in her own right. Not only that, and this was my problem with this section when I read it the first time, she in no way resembles the Samantha we saw on screen. Or the Samantha hybrid, whatever. Stupid myth-arc. Also her line sounds just as stupid coming from a woman's mouth as it does from a guy's. Ugh, Maybe worse. I am sure she had her fine qualities but we never got to see them.
Anyway, I don't think any of these scenarios was meant to be taken seriously for their plots; instead, I think collectively they all must be a statement about the series itself. It must be a metafic, because not only did none of these things happen to Dana Scully, none of them could have. They aren't true AUs, except maybe the Emily one, and even there, I can't see it happening. Scully would never let herself lose touch with Mulder, even if she did go back to work at Quantico in order to raise Emily. Mulder would never let himself lose touch with Scully. The only fic I've ever found myself going, okay, maybe I can buy into this scenario was Syntax6's last, still unfinished story. I even had problems with Rivkat's "Up the Ladder." In rejecting it, I learned something about how I see Mulder and Scully.
Number one couldn't have happened because David Duchovny left the series, which made the happy family alternative an impossibility. It's an AU, but only if you throw out season nine, which isn't a bad idea, now that I think about it. The closest story to this that I can think of is mine, the cross-over. But to get that to work, I had to move them to an Alternate Universe on a completely different show. This isn't any longer "The X-Files," it's something else, which tells me another thing about how I see the show. It would have been fun to read had she developed it further.
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Date: 2012-02-27 11:19 pm (UTC)Samantha even makes the first move. I can't see Mulder doing the same in the circumstances.
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Date: 2012-02-29 03:51 pm (UTC)Looking it over again, I have to agree, 100%. There is nothing in character about anything that happens in this one. Scully is great with children. I don't think Mulder or Scully would allow themselves to lose touch with one another. I think to say otherwise implies that the only thing that they have between them is the work, and by this time in the series that's just not the case. This starts in fifth season with "Emily." They've been together six years. It's an au, sure, but it's one that must fundamentally change their characters for it to work, which in effect obliterates the series as we know it completely.
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Date: 2012-02-28 05:44 pm (UTC)My thoughts exactly. I enjoy these 5 Things type of fics because they are experimental and inventive (and pure fantasy). Looking at the larger picture, the whole show is a fabulous fantasy. Chris Carter was no respecter of what his characters could or couldn’t act like (see Scully in Seasons 8 & 9 as an example); so in my mind at least 3 of these alternatives could potentially have been canon (except the last one and the Samantha one, given that this type of show would never have got the green-light in the early nineties without the potential for man/woman sexual tension. And hetero sexual tension sells better than the alternative, I would guess). As always, I feel very comfortable reading this type of fic because, thankfully CC and others didn’t go down any of these five paths. I can relax in the knowledge that the version we saw on TV is immutable, allowing me to enjoy the thrill of the AU rollercoaster without fear. Sorry about the long ramble!
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Date: 2012-02-28 10:22 pm (UTC)Agreed that I could like none of these scenarios better than what Chris Carter gave us to a point. And I know that Wendy is no shipper, but I do think that chemistry makes history. DD and GA created accidentally and together a slow-burning fire that other shows are still trying to reproduce with wet wood.
Chemistry
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Date: 2012-02-29 03:03 am (UTC)I absolutely do not mind the fragmentary nature of each of these realities. In fact, I feel that part of what makes the writing so effective is the way threeguesses seems to know exactly what to reveal and how much to reveal and how exactly to reveal it, with precision and sensitivity. Each reality feels distinct and believable and emotionally coherent.
As for how a fic like this is meant to be considered, I don’t know. The way I think of alternate realities, however, is as simultaneously theoretical and real. Each alternate reality is a theoretical experiment for the author, but once created they become “real” in the same way any fictional reality is real. Once written, I consider each of these realities to exist in full. It’s just that only a small window is open for us to see into them.
As for favorite realities, mine are two and five. I think five is absolutely brilliant. It’s one of the more psychologically profound ideas I’ve come across in fanfic. After leading us down the rabbit hole and through the ever-shifting maze of realities, the last one simply, unflinchingly erases every trace of the story as we know it. Canon, the story that served as our door into this thought experiment, is written out of existence. There is a feeling of intellectual vertigo. Every reference point vanishes.
Reality two, on the other hand, is a universe I wish to explore at length. Existential conflict is so deliciously, painfully inherent to this reality. Is Samantha effectively her brother? They’re similar, certainly, which is only right given the circumstances of his/her upbringing, but I’ve always felt it’s more than that – more than mere similarity. It’s as though the universe is trying to restore order, as though Samantha’s character were liquid poured over a surface already shaped by her brother’s identity, so that her character can’t help but begin to shape into an approximation of her brother. Or maybe not. It’s far more interesting if that question is left up in the air – a feeling one gets, an intangible suspicion. Which is exactly what I feel about part two of this fic.
I also think there is something interesting about the things that seem to be different between Scully and Samantha because of the gender switch. Sam touches Scully in intimate ways that Mulder wouldn’t. They seem to be a bit more casual with each other, being able to pretend sex isn’t an issue, in a way that Scully could not have done with Mulder.
Plus I find the last line of part two heartbreaking, though I’m not sure why. I think it’s because of that inherent conflict between realities. It feels as though neither Scully nor Sam quite had a choice about ending up here. For all that they’ve done, it was always going to come to this, which is terribly unfair.
I have some thoughts about the other parts too, which I might get to a little later. Right now I’m off to read the many comments for this fic which I haven’t yet read.
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Date: 2012-03-01 10:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-01 11:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2012-03-01 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 05:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2014-05-15 12:32 pm (UTC)ϲompputer of aan old model. Coach mens wаllet
Late late years too late
Date: 2017-01-11 04:23 am (UTC)“Samantha Mulder,” the woman holds out her hand without looking up, “one-way ticket to the dead end of your career.” There is a pencil in her hair and ink stains on her fingertips.... Samantha finally swivels to look at her. “Dana Scully,” she drawls (and Scully has never heard her name said with that many l’s), “Why on earth are you getting on this train?”
It's only after this exchange, which feels sarcastic and defensive to me, but not specifically dude-like, that Sam says the pretty girl in a place like this line in response to Scully's confusion. I read this as a sort of throwing out of a shared reference, aka, "this is a shithole dead end for your career, how did you end up here?"
Did Mulder ask Scully who she had ticked off to get stuck partnered with him? Is that canon or fanon or just my head canon? Well whatever it is, this Scully/Sam interaction reads very similarly to the canon one, although perhaps with the added friction of Sam's reputation inside the bureau (if Fox Mulder was "Spooky" I can only imagine what a woman with similar credentials would be called but I can guarantee you it would be more derogatory, particularly if there was even a whiff of rumored homosexuality).