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xf_book_club2015-11-09 08:48 am
wendelah1) wrote in xf_book_club2015-11-09 08:48 am
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Story 261: "Pillar of Salt" by Nascent
When I first began reading XF fanfic, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
crack_van was my, uh, crack supplier. I started at the top of the Memories and just kept on reading. "Pillar of Salt" was recced there by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
runpunkrun back in 2003. Unfortunately, by the time I found the site in 2007 or so, the links to this fic were broken. Eventually, I found a copy of "Pillar of Salt" archived—somewhere else—and was able to read it. I loved it. SO MUCH. Her Scully sounded just like the one on screen, and her Mulder did, too. Their relationship was just as codependent as the canon version. She wasn't trying to rewrite canon, she was enlarging it and adding to it! I had to have more Nascent fic. Because she'd taken down her website, it was a long, tough search.
But in 2011, Nascent archived some of her fanfic at Gossamer. This is particularly significant for "Pillar of Salt" because she rewrote an important section.
"Pillar of Salt" is set Winter 1998, post-"Fight the Future." It's told in first person, Scully's POV, which works wonderfully in Nascent's hands. As the story begins, Mulder has invited Scully away for a weekend, but under false pretenses. What can I say--it's Mulder being Mulder. I don't want to give anything away but let's just say the vacation does not go as expected--for either of them. Nascent is particularly good at integrating the relationship story into a well-plotted X-File.
Thank you toledez_dreams for the nomination. The link is to Nascent's page at Gossamer. Please scroll to the fic. Don't forget to let us know what you think, and please keep the nominations coming.
Read Pillar of Salt by Nascent.
crack_van was my, uh, crack supplier. I started at the top of the Memories and just kept on reading. "Pillar of Salt" was recced there by runpunkrun back in 2003. Unfortunately, by the time I found the site in 2007 or so, the links to this fic were broken. Eventually, I found a copy of "Pillar of Salt" archived—somewhere else—and was able to read it. I loved it. SO MUCH. Her Scully sounded just like the one on screen, and her Mulder did, too. Their relationship was just as codependent as the canon version. She wasn't trying to rewrite canon, she was enlarging it and adding to it! I had to have more Nascent fic. Because she'd taken down her website, it was a long, tough search. But in 2011, Nascent archived some of her fanfic at Gossamer. This is particularly significant for "Pillar of Salt" because she rewrote an important section.
"Pillar of Salt" is set Winter 1998, post-"Fight the Future." It's told in first person, Scully's POV, which works wonderfully in Nascent's hands. As the story begins, Mulder has invited Scully away for a weekend, but under false pretenses. What can I say--it's Mulder being Mulder. I don't want to give anything away but let's just say the vacation does not go as expected--for either of them. Nascent is particularly good at integrating the relationship story into a well-plotted X-File.
Thank you to
ledez_dreams for the nomination. The link is to Nascent's page at Gossamer. Please scroll to the fic. Don't forget to let us know what you think, and please keep the nominations coming.Read Pillar of Salt by Nascent.
Great story!
Also I was pleased to see another of her stories 'Mulder, it's May' which I always thought was a clever little piece, so read it to while you're in her Gossamer archive :)
Re: Great story!
I loved "Mulder It's May", too. Gosh, it must have been amazing to read these fics back in the day, while the show was still airing.
In truth, I love all of her fic. I'm writing up "Metaromance" right now for 201daysofxfiles.
RE: Re: Great story!
This story had me on the edge of my seat at parts. Clever plot. Could seriously be an actual episode. I'm a shipper all the way, though, so I wish it had ended with more than friendship.
Re: Great story!
I'm glad you liked the story. I'll be back with a longer comment tomorrow. I'm just on my way to bed.
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(Anonymous) 2015-11-26 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)Nascent does a great job with the science. Obviously NDE's aren't hard science, but I really appreciated the discussion on how to create cardiac death, and how to revive the patient. It is much more concerned with expressing science than the show ever is. Scully's disgust with the process is very in character, and she of course is right to be disgusted, it does go against her beliefs, as a scientist for the risk posed to the patient, and as a spiritual person in it's attempt to, as Dr Von Deer says, "trick" the soul. I love the line to Mulder
"How dare you put me in this position, where to refuse you is to somehow betray you and to agree to play along is to betray myself?"
The X file is well thought out and interesting. What starts as a test for M &S's relationship and Scully's ruminations on her own faith and beliefs turns into a very interesting case. I'm actually curious to find out what is going on in that hospital and who is responsible. It also culminates in the perfect explanation for who is responsible, one that manages to be a surprise when you find out, but so clear upon re-reading. The story works as a whole, the x-file and Mulder's original intention for coming there isn't simply a vehicle for M&S to address their feelings for one another. There is a lot going on in this story, and I tend to like anything that isn't straightforward.
I'm not sorry the story doesn't culminate in a traditional relationship. Like Wendelah said, Nascent is adding to canon rather than diverting from it. She places the whole story into canon, but she scratches my relationshipper itch by finally having these two frankly and honestly discuss their relationship and their feelings for each other. I happen to think this story is very romantic, even if there's no actual romance (unless you count the dream sequence- or NDE that Scully experiences). I think this slots itself nicely into a season sixish spot, and it won't be long before they do succumb to their feelings.
The rewritten dream sequence. I read the new one, and re-read the old one at keyofx. Not sure what I think of it. I didn't dislike the old one and the new one is also fine. The sex in the first draft might have been a bit obvious, I can see why she might have wanted to scratch that. But at the same time, I find the original a bit more dreamlike and nightmarish, something that I liked. Scully sees all kinds of unsetting and disjointed images, and discussions with the important people in her life and I also liked the recurring snake in each scene and the culmination of Scully finally realizing what that means. The rewritten portion is a little more… straightforward. I liked the pregnancy though, it is definitely an expression of something Scully is preoccupied with at the time and it makes sense that it's expressed. I'm interested to know what other motivations others think Nascent had for the re-write. Like I said, it's much more tidy, so I could see the desire to edit, but the disjointed chaos of the first one actually appeals to me.
This story is a classic example of how this show has resulted in very rich fiction, that so often (and sadly in a way) surpasses the quality of the show itself. I think if a premise like this had been the episode "Demons," This one just seems so much richer in both character and plot.
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I agree with everything you wrote, including your thoughts on the earlier version. I'm in day two of a three-day migraine but as soon as I'm feeling more like myself, I'll be back.
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Hope you feel better, migraines are the worst!
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I'm going to switch to my word processor and cut and paste.
Attempt the second
Apart from her writing, which is excellent as always, "Pillar of Salt" stands out because of how well the X-File/casefile demonstrates the depth of Scully's feelings for Mulder and the strength of commitment to him, while tying the story into the central motif of the series: Mulder's obsession with what happened to Samantha. I hadn't thought of the comparison to "Demons" but now that you mention it, I can see the parallels. There are also significant differences.
Nascent's writing is full of interesting visuals, especially in the original dream sequence, and I would have loved to have seen this story or "Theory and Practice" made into an episode. Having said that, I'm pretty fond of "Demons" myself. I think "Demons," with its focus on back story, i.e. the complicated relationships between the Mulders and the CSM, enlarged the canon universe in a way that "Pillar of Salt" doesn't try to do. "Demons" also showcased Scully's investigative abilities, whereas Mulder and Scully act as a team once they're focused on investigating the deaths in the hospital. Mulder in "Demons" is much crazier than Nascent's Mulder. Maybe it's more subtext than text, but as I see it, in "Demons," Mulder is displacing his fear of losing Scully to cancer, a situation over which he thinks he has no control, onto his search for answers about what happened to Samantha. The one flaw in "Pillar of Salt" is that it provides no good motive for Mulder's bizarre behavior. Here is Scully's take on it:
We know why she's at his side. But, seriously, he "wanted to know if it would work"? No wonder she's so pissed off. I'll have to go back and skim to see if there's a better explanation from Mulder's POV for why he's undergoing this procedure. I'll need to reread both dream sequences again, too. (Nascent, if you're reading this, don't hate me, but I think I preferred the original version.)
Re: Attempt the second
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I had to post "Theory and Practice" twice before I got people here to read it. I deleted the first post when NO ONE commented and posted it again.
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The addition of the child in the second version added multiple layers I thought, particularly regarding the mind state of the "villain" since it was her own horrors she was struggling with.
Still, what struck me most in terms of difference between the original and the rewrite is the aftermath of the NDE/story climax. In the original her entire dream state experience was lost or hidden from Scully, or repressed (so canon!), whereas in the rewrite she is left aware of her experience, at least somewhat. That she remembers her dream state leaves an entirely different feel to it, at least for me, and different implications going forward.
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That's an excellent point--that Scully remembers the dream in the second version and not the first, and would have implications for the future. Also that the happy family sequence is so obviously coming from the mind of Eleanor, and not Scully or Mulder.
The dream sequence that works best for me in XF fanfic wasn't written by Nascent, it's from "Angular Momentum" by Kel. I love that fic so much I commissioned fan art for it to give to Kel one year. (I am a totally devoted Kel fangirl). I can't remember if we've discussed it here or not. I think not. We discussed it at Fictalk back in the day. It is a wonderful X-File genre story, and very true to the Mulder and Scully relationship we see on the series itself. She balances light humor, mild ust, and darker thematic elements like no other writer in this fandom manages to do.
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