I've always liked this fic. I'm interested in what makes a casefile story work. I think it's important to have a case/mystery/bad guy character that is compelling, but for me it's just as important to learn something about the characters we already know, to see how this individual case affects them, or to feel their voices throughout. I liked the story of the killer and the nod toward Mulder as profiler. (I want to say Ophelia was a Thomas Harris fan, but I can't remember how I know that--maybe I sent feedback back in the day. I think Fragile definitely has an early Thomas Harris vibe. She mentions John Douglas's memoirs in her author's notes, heh. His books do seem to be the fanfic writer's guide to serial killers. (They're also wildly popular with Criminal Minds fanfic writers, but admittedly that's a show about profiling and in which characters are loosely based on Douglas and his coworkers in the early days of profiling.))
I liked this line and thought it was a good summary of the story:
Scully smiled back, relieved. "I'm glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humor," she said.
He sighed, a little shakily. "Scully, if I ever lost the ability to point at the world's stupidity and laugh," he said, "I would probably never stop crying."
I see what mogster495 means about being able to date a fic by reading it. There are certain character conventions and stylistic conventions that were popular in the earlier fanfics. The "everything relates to Samantha" theme, the Charlie name-check at the end. I think overall the story and the character interpretations mostly hold up, still. Maybe not the Mulder sobbing scene, although I think the emotion in that scene rings true.
I like Ophelia's ear for dialogue:
"Some of the clothes draped over Dani's chair smelled like cigarette smoke, too. Her parents don't necessarily know she has these habits," she added. "My sister used to get around my parents' dress rules by swapping stuff with girls at school. She used to get off the bus in a knee-length skirt and white button-down blouse, then run for the bathroom and change into jeans and some half-transparent top."
"Did you rat on her?" Mulder asked, curious.
"No," she said, as if surprised that he'd ask. "I admit to having been a spy and a snoop as a kid, but I wasn't a rat."
"Ah, so the attraction was merely to information for its own sake," Mulder said. "How scientific of you. My sister would have ratted on me."
"If you'd worn see-through girls' blouses to school, you'd have deserved to be ratted on," she said.
no subject
I've always liked this fic. I'm interested in what makes a casefile story work. I think it's important to have a case/mystery/bad guy character that is compelling, but for me it's just as important to learn something about the characters we already know, to see how this individual case affects them, or to feel their voices throughout. I liked the story of the killer and the nod toward Mulder as profiler. (I want to say Ophelia was a Thomas Harris fan, but I can't remember how I know that--maybe I sent feedback back in the day. I think Fragile definitely has an early Thomas Harris vibe. She mentions John Douglas's memoirs in her author's notes, heh. His books do seem to be the fanfic writer's guide to serial killers. (They're also wildly popular with Criminal Minds fanfic writers, but admittedly that's a show about profiling and in which characters are loosely based on Douglas and his coworkers in the early days of profiling.))
I liked this line and thought it was a good summary of the story:
Scully smiled back, relieved. "I'm glad to see you haven't lost
your sense of humor," she said.
He sighed, a little shakily. "Scully, if I ever lost the ability
to point at the world's stupidity and laugh," he said, "I would
probably never stop crying."
I see what
I like Ophelia's ear for dialogue:
"Some of the clothes draped over Dani's
chair smelled like cigarette smoke, too. Her parents don't
necessarily know she has these habits," she added. "My sister
used to get around my parents' dress rules by swapping stuff with
girls at school. She used to get off the bus in a knee-length
skirt and white button-down blouse, then run for the bathroom and
change into jeans and some half-transparent top."
"Did you rat on her?" Mulder asked, curious.
"No," she said, as if surprised that he'd ask. "I admit to
having been a spy and a snoop as a kid, but I wasn't a rat."
"Ah, so the attraction was merely to information for its own
sake," Mulder said. "How scientific of you. My sister would
have ratted on me."
"If you'd worn see-through girls' blouses to school, you'd have
deserved to be ratted on," she said.
I think that sounds exactly like them.