Fanfiction Bingo

[wendelah1]

How about a game while I sort out what to say about Suture's fic and what to post next? This was posted at ropo and of course, Tumblr.

Some of the squares are easy: "Plotless Smut" and "Convenient Mistletoe." I can think of fics for those right off the top of my head. But you're going to have to help me out with a couple of them. What does "French" mean? Like, Mulder and Scully are...French? And how about, "Aah...ahhh!" Is that supposed to be a line of dialogue or what? I am assuming "Manhood" is a euphemism.



Leave your suggestions and/or bingos in the comments.

Comments

[tri-sbr.livejournal.com]

Well, when you put it that way, it doesn't sound so bad :) I can try to explain but I think it might not make sense. (And if I got over myself and re-read the darn story, then it might make the whole thing moot anyway.)

Trying to be objective, I think context played a big part. I read it near the beginning of my fic-reading and hadn't read anything of such high quality yet (except for the first part, The 13th Sign) and certainly nothing that made me take the story and characters so seriously. Also, if I had read, eg Paracelsus, before 7 Days in May, then I may have had more perspective on the way prufrock's love writes Mulder and that could have been enough to create just a tiny bit of distance on my part. (When I did read her historical AUs later, I definitely found similarities in her Mulders across stories, including that he is an unreliable narrator and often what he narrates and thinks and even claims to feel are not the whole truth, but of course you don't find that out right away, and it took multiple stories for all the implications of that to sink in for me.)

Less objectively, I remember getting to a line very near the beginning of the story where it says that six years have passed and Scully still doesn't remember her time with Mulder on the X-Files and basically things haven't really worked out between Mulder and newScully. I almost stopped reading right there. Then through the whole story (again, from my sketchy memory of details), Mulder is still trying to deal with the fact that Scully isn't the same person and basically mourning one version of her while trying to relate to the 'new' version, and Scully is dealing with the fact that she is constantly disappointing him by not being who he wants her to be. Mulder keeps having these dreams/hallucinations where he interacts with "his" Scully (so no wonder he can't possibly get beyond losing Scully to be able to potentially appreciate the Scully that does still exist) and those scenes kept playing over in my mind after I finished the story.

It's entirely possible that I missed some of the potential hope towards the end because I was fairly emotionally distraught and just so hung up on how terrible it all was. But what I got was that there was a tentative positive step in the MS relationship and they were going to get to work fighting the fight. Which is good, but no fix for Scully having lost a chunk of herself and Mulder having essentially lost Scully. (However. I caught a lot of things I missed in the historical AUs on re-reads partly because of my similarly distraught state in the first readings of those and partly because of the way prufrock's love layers things in so that you don't find out really important pieces of information until very late in the story that really color the preceding events. So, back to my first point, I should probably just stop being a baby and re-read the story.) Anyway, I remember getting to the end of the story and just wanting the author to take it back, take it all back! And, really, it kind of haunted me for weeks.

Also, I was pregnant and maybe hormones were involved? (just kidding) ok, long tangent over.

[wendelah1]

Thank you for sharing that.

I'm not advising that you reread it. But my take on the ending was quite different. Maybe it would help if I share it?

Spoilers for the ending to 7 Days in May.
*
*
*
*
*
*
Mulder believed that she'd been touched by the alien healer, who'd brought all of the other people back from the dead. He believed that her memories were beginning to return and that her fertility was restored--hence his desire to have another child with her. Scully didn't believe in aliens, let alone that she'd been healed but there was some evidence--to Mulder--that this was the case.

I agree that what broke them up in the first place was in part his inability to move on and accept who Scully became after her abduction. That was sad, especially since that part could have happened without any alien interference. People sometimes lose their memories as they age, from various degenerative brain diseases. Hard as that would be to accept and live with, I can't imagine Mulder not accepting that tragic loss of memory. I think he should have been able to get with the program the first time around.

But there was no question in my mind that by the end of the story they were back together, that Mulder believed her memories were returning, and moreover that they'd agreed to have another child, save the world and live happily ever after.

The nice thing is they're characters in her story so we can imagine any sort of continuation we want after the curtain falls. In real life, it's a total crap shoot. You never know what sort of hand you're going to get dealt the very next day.

One small piece of advice. If the ending to this story threw you for a loop, don't read "Fugue" by Rivkat.

[tri-sbr.livejournal.com]

Mulder believed that she'd been touched by the alien healer, who'd brought all of the other people back from the dead. He believed that her memories were beginning to return and that her fertility was restored--hence his desire to have another child with her.

Yes, this is basically what I thought happened but I didn't fully realize it at first because I was just too caught up in being upset and then when it did sink in, it was like it was too late or something (for me, emotionally-speaking). Thank you for confirming :)

I think he should have been able to get with the program the first time around.

prufrock's love does a great job of writing a Mulder who is really good at getting in his own way like that.

so we can imagine any sort of continuation we want after the curtain falls

or read another fic and give them a different adventure altogether.

Thanks for giving me an outlet for my issues :)

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

I remember getting to a line very near the beginning of the story where it says that six years have passed and Scully still doesn't remember her time with Mulder on the X-Files and basically things haven't really worked out between Mulder and newScully. I almost stopped reading right there.

For what it's worth tri_sbr, I definitely would have stopped reading then and there. Except that I never read 7 Days in May in the first place, because The 13th Sign turned me off so much for the same reasons you talk about in your comment re: 7 Days in May. So I totally get where you're coming from on this. I couldn't even begin to get past the fact that Scully had forgotten her time on the X-Files, and I didn't want to get past it. Objectively, The 13th Sign is well written, well plotted, and way better than anything S9 threw at us, but the memory loss premise made it a non-starter for me.

So actually, tri_sbr and I had somewhat opposite reactions to this fic universe, even though we felt similarly about it. tri_sbr found it devastating, as I undoubtedly would have if I hadn't basically refused to accept it to begin with. My response the whole time I was reading was basically "Nope. Nope. Why would I want to go with you on this one? Well, I'm not going to, so."

On the other hand, I really liked Fugue by RivkaT, which wendelah1 mentions in her reply. The thing about Fugue is that it's straight up horror, and I think it/the author knows that. So while it made me feel a bit sick inside, I admired it because that was what it was aiming to do. The fic and I were on the same page there, and by the end of the fic there wasn't really any thought that things could ever be okay again. Whereas with The 13th Sign I felt like the fic and I were on completely different pages; I couldn't understand why it was taking the tack is was, and I couldn't understand why I would want to go along for that ride.

[tri-sbr.livejournal.com]

hmm, interesting to hear the compare / contrast on our reactions.

My response the whole time I was reading was basically "Nope. Nope. Why would I want to go with you on this one? Well, I'm not going to, so."

I think I am much better at doing this now after reading a lot more fic (well, I still tend to read or at least skim the story if I start it as opposed to stop reading, but there are more instances where I refuse to go along completely for the emotional ride). When I read 7 Days, I hadn't read nearly as many stories, and it was much easier to get totally caught up in it (and I guess I'm a sucker for prufrock's love's writing style too).

Regarding Fugue, I looked it up and apparently I did already read it, but it (obviously) didn't make nearly as much of an impression on me. I think my reaction was kind of similar to yours except I wouldn't say I really liked it but maybe 'I liked it ok.' Like when I read Iolokus, I felt rather detached from the story so the horror / sadness / other terribleness felt like it was happening around me, not inside of me where it would really hurt (if that makes any sense at all).

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

I think I am much better at doing this now after reading a lot more fic (well, I still tend to read or at least skim the story if I start it as opposed to stop reading, but there are more instances where I refuse to go along completely for the emotional ride). When I read 7 Days, I hadn't read nearly as many stories, and it was much easier to get totally caught up in it (and I guess I'm a sucker for prufrock's love's writing style too).

First off, I hope I didn't make you feel you had to defend yourself for having fic feels. I didn't mean to!

But yeah, my reaction to that fic universe probably did have something to do with when I was reading it - i.e. right near the end of my days as a diehard X-phile. My first year or so in a new fandom is always when I have the most intense fanfic-reading experiences, because I'm not inured to anything yet, and I haven't learned fandom's rhythms and patterns, so I'm way more likely to be caught off guard by something.

Like when I read Iolokus, I felt rather detached from the story so the horror / sadness / other terribleness felt like it was happening around me, not inside of me where it would really hurt (if that makes any sense at all).

Yeah, that definitely makes sense. It also sort of pertains to what I was saying to Wendelah in a comment down thread, which is that I experience horror and sadness in fanfic in very different ways, stemming mainly from the fact that horror is a psychological experience first, which then sort of wicks out into an emotional reaction. Whereas sadness is, first and foremost, just this deluge of emotion.

A horror story has to worm its way into my head, whereas a sad story often feels like it's pulling something out of me that was already there.

Which may also be why I'm more likely to get angry with sad fic, because I often feel like all it / the author is really doing is pushing an emotional button that's predictably present and easily pushed.

[tri-sbr.livejournal.com]

First off, I hope I didn't make you feel you had to defend yourself for having fic feels. I didn't mean to!

not at all! and I think you said it better than I did:

My first year or so in a new fandom is always when I have the most intense fanfic-reading experiences, because I'm not inured to anything yet, and I haven't learned fandom's rhythms and patterns, so I'm way more likely to be caught off guard by something.

(except that I'm not in any other fandoms and probably won't be). In fact, I nodded in agreement with this entire comment.