xf_book_club | The Darkness Within

I CAN POST ENTRIES ON THE BOOK CLUB! MWWWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

*coughs*

Anywayyyy...

Wendy said I was welcome to post that here, so here we go.

~~~~~~~~~~

(First posted on Haven)

Moose and Squirrel - before being declawed and tamed by scores of fic writers intent on giving them the white picket fence happiness they were never designed for in the first place - were pretty dark and tortured characters to begin with. A given, considering how much crap they went through in the show.

Back in the days many fic writers explored that dark path and gave us many incredible stories, the quintessential one being, of course, the infamous Iolokus. Stories where the characters' traumas weren't swept under the carpet of True Love (TM) Hot Sex, Domestic Life and Fat Babies. Stories where bad things happened to good people.

They were stories such as:

Arizona Highway by Fialka
Secret World by Bonetree
Grace Realized by Michaela
Injuries to The Spirit by Mystphile
The Mill by Cofax

...to name just a few off the top of my head.

In these stories Mulder and Scully were flawed and damaged. Years of turmoil and horrors weren't cured with a kiss and a soft bed. They had issues with one another, they argued and fought. They could be unfair, cruel, monstrous even - their claustrophobic co-dependency toxic, yet unavoidable. They suffered, battled illnesses both mental and physical, and sometimes they even died. Some stories made a point of reminding us how dangerous their job really was - that the human monsters could be worse than the alien ones. But their spirit shone nevertheless through it all, pure and bright, that elusive spark of magnificence that made them - well, you know, THEM.

As a reader I always found those tales much more emotionally rewarding than those of the bunnies and rainbow - Mulder and Scully in love forever in their pretty house with their pretty children - aw, look he has his mother's eyes and his father's nose - variety.

No pain no gain, uh?

I guess my question is: have you read such stories? Do you enjoy them? Can you rec the ones that stayed with you?

~Fish~

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I promised I would answer this, and then I went off and did unimportant life things and THIS IS SUCH A WONDERFUL THREAD. It exploded without my valuable attention. Thanks, Fish. We really should do more general discussions.

About NU, I think I'm just kind of dead-hearted when it comes to the after-the-invasion/war dystopias. I read a bunch when I was young and strong and afterward regarded them as background noise. (This despite the fact that we seem to be heading for planetary disaster as I type.) Anyhow, I suspect I dishonestly skimmed that one. It is quite ugly. But Mulder still cares deeply for Scully. The ship survives. But TW is ALL about the ship, and it is storm-shattered, capsized, and left to scavengers. It is just heartbreaking because the writer and her minions consider heartbreaking fun. I don't.

This is not good commentary. It is tantrum. Moving on.

There are tragic elements, at least sorrowful ones, in Sokol, and I really should remember it better as I read the damn thing repeatedly. But there is also authentic triumph of the human spirit. And everyone is alive in the end. Even Frohike. Are you listening, Mr. Carter?

Now I shall try to join the party. After everyone has left and the booze is gone.

But TW is ALL about the ship, and it is storm-shattered, capsized, and left to scavengers. It is just heartbreaking because the writer and her minions consider heartbreaking fun. I don't.

Not a shipper, which is probably why "The Wasteland" didn't really faze me. I was much more affected by the loss of Skinner's head. *g*

Maybe the writer and "her minions" just got bored with reading (and writing) the same old MSR. I know I do. I imagine blowing up the ship occasionally is a good thing for a writer to do. Clears the sinuses.

Good romance is hard to write, which may account for its relative rarity.

Who wrote The Wasteland? I'll add it on my list, along with Sokol, which I can't remember if I've read. It might be one of those long "I'll read it when I have time" fic, which I never find the time to read. :)

Skinner loses his head? Really? Damnit!
Estella, I need to change a certain event in you know what. *sigh*

I'm not asking for romance, although sex might be nice. And why should I care about whether PL is bored? There's always yoga and the food channels. I just don't want to read about a masochistic Mulder destroyed by events designed by someone who likes to destroy masochists. It's self-indulgent, which is not terrible if you're a merry and character-loving writer, but terrible if you're...well, I'll say it...Prufrock's Love.

I'm sorry. Was someone holding you at gunpoint, forcing you to read her fanfic back in the day?

I think this is why they invented the back-button.

You're only saying it's self-indulgent for her to write what she wants to write because you don't like it. If you don't want to read that kind of fic, don't read it. For someone who is "infamous for not giving a damn about keeping the characters exactly as CC and Co. imagined them," you certainly are having no problem passing judgment on prufrock's love.

What about this statement? Why does it apply only to "Iolokus"and not to "The Wasteland"?

"The animating force of this fandom is, I believe, the infinite number of nooks and crannies of possibility that make original perceptions possible. Why not multiple Mulders? Why not a murderous Scully? Our only boundaries are those we set ourselves. Which we each have a right to do."

So go ahead and set your boundaries--for reading and for writing fanfic.

Anyway, I thought we had agreed long ago that we would stick to discussing the work, and not the writer. I take responsibility for bringing up the writer's motivation in the first place, and making it personal. And now I'm taking responsibility for ending this thread.

As you say, there's always yoga and the food channels. As for me, shopping and laundry await.

But tomorrow is another day...

No one has ever held me at gunpoint. Metaphorically speaking, however, I was forced to read PL's stories.
Because they were the best thing ever, according to all reports.

I have never said that the lady can't write. I do, however, believe that she enjoyed making her readers feel just terrible. I've read much of her stuff, and it's almost all laboring under a doom cloud. You seem to feel that I'm attacking her. Okay, I apologize. She is definitely one of the better writers in our fandom. She wrote what she wanted and she got the love.

Not, however, from me.

Maybe...maybe...it's because I never noticed a sense of humor. But that's personal. It's all just very, very personal.

You seem to feel that I'm attacking her.

I'm making a judgment based on what you wrote here. You were making this personal, making it about her, and her fan base, and not about her writing.

You still are.

"I do believe she enjoyed making her readers feel just terrible."

"Maybe...maybe...it's because I never noticed a sense of humor."

Let's get back to discussing the writing and not the writer. That's what we're here for, after all.

The Darkness Within

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