Story 198: "five things that never happened to dana scully" by threeguesses

[amyhit]

The next fic was nominated by lightlack and enthusiastically seconded by myself. It’s written by threeguesses, who is one of my favorite writers to come out of the pre/post IWTB era. Her writing in this fandom was not prolific, but her stories have always stood out (at least for me) for their powerful concepts, enthralling emotional currents, and the deceptive

Comments

[estella_c]

I liked this very much. I kind of like "five things" stories because they expose so many life and character-changing possibilities and encapsulate for me the appeal of the ever-expanding landscape of fanfiction. If I don't like one fic event I can go to another. It's the ultimate freedom of the reader to play with action figures in the brain. It must be an excellent training regimen for writers

[wendelah1]

But I wonder--how to say?--if we get how close to meta they are. They are really like improv, practice, hinting at events that can't seem mortally serious because they "never happened." They make us think of the ephemeral quality of fic, but more regretfully of the let's-try-this hodgepodge of the last years of show canon. The X-Files was a cunning experiment in series tv and an enduring influence. I'm thinking if CC had treated it less like a "five things" hobby, it would have been a proud epic for whatever of the tech entertainment age we have left.

I agree, whether it was intentional or not, this fic feels more like a commentary on the canon itself than a real story.

Naturally, I thought the "happy ending pillow talk" seemed pretty unlikely, but not the least unlikely of the five. The one that really didn't work for me this time around was number four. "I always wanted you to marry me" is such a poignant truth, so cut-to-the-chase. It is certainly cut to the chase, but it doesn't sound like something Mulder would say to her

[estella_c]

Every marriage is unique. You could make a case that M and S have been in a form of marriage blanc since at least season 2.

I think what charms me is how *unlike* the Mulder we know it is. I really like different takes on the same characters. As I once said to you, we are stuck with the same two except for occasional forays into Diana or Krycek or CSM country.

There is no way to preview this, so I apologize for screwed-up ital.

[wendelah1]

The new and improved comment system is a disaster. I can preview because I have custom comments in my journal style but I would have to buy a premium account for people here to do it. I'm not giving LJ any more of my money.

I think what charms me is how *unlike* the Mulder we know it is.

Yeah, these really are characterization AUs rather than the usual setting or plot point AUs, which is why they feel more like commentary than fic to me. They're so far off from our show that they obliterate it. It's pretty damn clever of her.

[amyhit]

these really are characterization AUs rather than the usual setting or plot point AUs

I don't think so. I think the characters are different because their lives are different. In the context of these circumstances, I find the characterizations very believable

[badforthefish]

Yeah, I agree with Wendy on the marriage issue. Too conventional - so not them. Very few authors managed to sell me "M&S getting married."