[identity profile] discordantwords.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] xf_book_club
I'm not much of an AU person. A lot of what drew me into the X Files was the dynamic between Mulder and Scully in their particular set of circumstances. That said, I've been hankering to revisit an AU that I remember reading and enjoying back when it was originally published. It may actually have been the first AU I ever read. I thought of it again recently and wondered how it would hold up to a reread all these years later.

"Skin" has a pretty standard set up. What if Scully caved to familial pressure and never joined the FBI? What if Mulder never reopened the X Files?

This story occasionally makes its way onto "classics" lists, although I don't see it recced as often as some other AUs. Possibly because it's very long, possibly because it's somewhat harder to find (it is not archived at Gossamer), or possibly because I've viewed it too fondly through the lens of nostalgia. The author is probably best known for "Erosion," which I have never read, but which has a reputation as one of the saddest MSR fics ever written.

This is a long one. Novel length, MSR.

SUMMARY: In a world where Mulder and Scully have never met, fate intervenes and brings two worlds colliding in the city of Charleston, as a vicious murderer reigns and a storm approaches.

Read Skin.

Date: 2014-04-15 06:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] estella-c.livejournal.com
I have no right contributing a comment because I haven't readSkin even once, although I did start it a long time ago. I remember Scully of the lovely red hair almost wrecking her bike staring at Mulder of the lovely dark eyes. So I'm pretty sure I know why I stopped. When you actually hope the heroine crashes her bicycle it's best to retreat to a different fic and chill. I hate overwriting. I think it's bad writing. I shouldn't feel hostility for the writer, but at my age I hate wasting time and am presently involved in a 900 page SF epic which is barely earning its way ( The Hyperion Cantos, if you care.) I'm betting Skin could easily have been cut in half by a beta. That's what editors are for, people!

Temper tantrum over. It is important, though, for even an amateur, just-learning kind of fictioneer to weigh words carefully. Test and examine each one as you go. It's a difficult way to write (some prefer to do it in rewrite) but you owe it even to a loyal beta not to waste precious hours of recreational time.

Someone mentioned Scully referring to herself as "Scully." It reminded me of a totally awful fic in which Scully's hair is referred to as "luscious," "titian," lots of forgotten but complimentary adjectives. By--wait for it--Scully herself!

I am owning my inner brat.

I'll read the next one, Wen!

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