Rerun: "How to Fake an Orgasm" by V. Salmone

[wendelah1]

Being in the mood for something light and fluffy, I thought it might be fun to reread "How to Fake an Orgasm" by V.Salmone aka Punk and Sab. We last visited this fic in 2008.

How to Fake an Orgasm (23755 words) by Punk, Sab
Chapters: 11/11
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Fox Mulder/

Comments

[wendelah1]

I generally prefer fic that is believable as potential canon, or at least in the realm of possibility. A season six Mulder's dating frenzy and a Scully in jealous flirtation mode doesn't quite fit that profile, though I still felt this was an enjoyable and recommended read.

I understand. I love canon-compliant fic myself, like gen post-eps, gen casefiles and gen AUs that change one element and go on from there. But I'm always up for a well-told story. And I guess the realm of possibility for enjoyable fanfiction expands exponentially with great writing. The quality of the writing trumps everything for me, and allows me to suspend disbelief for the duration of the tale. I think that's true for the series, too, maybe for all of the television I watch. It's not until afterward, when I start to analyze that I begin to question.

But what I want to analyze next is how they did it. Why specifically did this story work for me when others didn't. The structure of the story helps. I'm particularly charmed by the way the glass-blowing is handled. It seems at first like a trifle of a detail, then quickly it's a symbol of everything about Sue that jolts Mulder out of his serial dating and into a real relationship, and finally it's a symbol of their failed relationship when she hands him the glass ashtray she's made for him and dumps him, in one fell swoop. But I think that what's most convincing is Susan herself. Her attractiveness and charm and emotional openness pull the reader into the story. She's a fully realized original character, not just a third wheel, and not merely a plot device to make Scully jealous and flirt, and think about what she has with Mulder, and what she could have with him, although Sue serves that function, too. We don't see many original characters that are this well-developed in fanfiction. It's not that fanfic writers don't have the talent, although that is true in many cases, but most often they don't have the interest and they don't perceive the need.

And sometimes they simply miscalculate and create a character that doesn't work. I think the character of Jack Wickham in Scarlet Baldy and Aloysia Virgata's The Common Fate of All Things Rare is a good example of that. He's an aggressive, abrasive police detective who gets turned in too short an order into someone M&S can work with. With even less transition, he gets cast as a romantic partner for Scully. It throws the balance of the story off and it never rights itself again.