Story 251: "Your Platonic Relationship: An Owner's Manual" by Nanda

[wendelah1]

I'm still going back through the older comments at the nomination post. Way back when, someone nominated "Syncopation" by Lilla Vaughan, which I wasn't that crazy about to be frank. I don't remember why. But then I remembered she'd written this fic, which I do like a lot.

In her summary Nanda writes, "I think the title speaks for itself. Oh, and there are rocks falling from the sky, too."

The link is to AO3 but this fic can also be read at Gossamer.

Read Your Platonic Relationship: An Owner's Manual

Comments

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

Very sorry to barge in the parade. But so nice, amyhit, to hear your learned voice again.

Still.

I read this years ago. I remember finding it disappointing. When I reread it, I remembered why.

Not wishing to dump on the writer's style, which is fine: economical, with touches of humor and all the little lustful flourishes a shipper could wish for. I'm a shipper. All is well on that front.

The title is very provocative. I love the idea of an "owner's manual." It deserves a carefully thought-through, svelte, meta treatment. It doesn't get it here.

To my mind, the writer has made a basic mistake. She has tried to combine her notion with a not-particularly-interesting casefile. Someone is killed by a rock. Unexplained. Scully does the report and checks her wardrobe before dinner with her "best friend."

Up until the casefile started I liked this piece fine. After the casefile ended I liked it fine. I didn't like the combination at all. What was the point?

"Ask her how his burger is." "Tell him the cold sesame noodles are good." "Collect clumps of earth in plastic evidence bags." This is meta? It is simply a boring FBI outing with a glaze of sexual frustration. And told backwards. Developed further, and grammatically rearranged, it might have had a life of its own.

The "owner's manual" should have been less lovestruck and more clever. I suspect the writer is capable of a sophisticated do-over. But she's probably hung up on Benedict Cumberbatch now.

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

But so nice, amyhit, to hear your learned voice again.

Thank you! It's nice to hear yours, too!

This is meta? It is simply a boring FBI outing with a glaze of sexual frustration.

But that's what's meta about it. Because how many XF fics could be summed up almost exactly that way? Strip out a few details, and I've probably read a couple hundred XF fics that could be summed up "There is a case. Mulder and Scully investigate. Weird things happen, but not in a lot of detail because UST is more fun. The end."

Admittedly, YPR is less of an exploration of fanon than a parody-esque reflection of fanon. But then I've always thought parody was inherently kind of meta, because in order to create a working parody dynamic you have to understand the dynamics of the original. Well, in theory you do, anyway.

To my mind, the writer has made a basic mistake. She has tried to combine her notion with a not-particularly-interesting casefile.

I'm being terribly contrary today, but I must say that I actually favored the casefile aspect of YPR. I agree that the case wasn't, as a plot in and of itself, particularly interesting, but then I always did like those sort of half-formed casefiles a lot. I guess because I always did like the intimate little moments best - the moments where they were just Mulder and Scully Investigating Something.

[wendelah1]

I guess because I always did like the intimate little moments best - the moments where they were just Mulder and Scully Investigating Something.

Mulder and Scully Investigating Something. That's our show. That's what I love, too.

[wendelah1]

"The "owner's manual" should have been less lovestruck and more clever."

Sorry it didn't suit you. Now that you're a fic writer, maybe you should write your own "owner's manual."

"I suspect the writer is capable of a sophisticated do-over."

Again, sorry it wasn't to your taste. I hope I'll find something you'll like better for next time.

"But she's probably hung up on Benedict Cumberbatch now."

No, actually she's not, not as far as I know. She wrote the bulk of her fanfic for Stargate SG-1 (Sam/Jack shipper) after she moved on from TXF, and has dabbled in a few other fandoms.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Guess I should step up here. But it's hard, because I really don't want to tell people not to enjoy what they enjoy.

I see where amyhit and you, Wendy, are coming from with the subtle "sketching together of a core group of tropes." I wish I could consider that enjoyable. The fact is, though, that I wouldn't read any of the thousands of characteristic shipfics it presumably encapsulates (might have, once, years ago) because they are really dull. An outright parody--which this is not--might have been fun. But this is just sort of a...melancholy, colorless day-in-the-relationship that is as dull as whatever it is imitating.

Too subtle for me.

amyhit, your explication should focus on something worthy of you, because you have the makings of a scholar. Wendy, I can't "write my own" Owner's Manual because plagiarism. Plus, never say you're sorry I don't like something. I love not liking something, and I really am amazed at the worth-discussing stuff you keep presenting.

I don't think Scully is a Marysue, nor Mulder. In my opinion a Marysue has a distinct and interesting personality of her own--like that bisexual woman in Dith's Dance. Well, the GOOD Marysues.

I suppose not everyone is hung up on Cumberbatch. It just seems that way.

Insulted everyone, have I? Right. Moving on.