The Manxome Foe We Sought - 2/2

[amyhit]

Title: The Manxome Foe We Sought
Author: amyhit
Summary: "You and your pretty partner look awfully close."
Rating: PG
Spoilers: for Pusher, also for Beyond the Sea and Grotesque.
Disclaimer: Not mine.

Author's Notes: Mulder, Scully, literature, discussion, banter, and waiting. Why yes, I did write Stakeout Fic, but really, consider it a massive

Comments

[amyhit]

i'm glad you enjoyed it.

I loved reading about their memories, getting glimpses of who they were Before.

that's one of my favorite things in fanfic. unfortunately, unlike when you're reading and you know the author got it 'right', when you're writing it you can't be sure you're not crazy. i'm glad this worked for you.

and welcome to LJ, as i see you only just posted first a week ago!

[amalnahurriyeh]

I begin by betraying my nerdlyness: this is a great game.

I like to think this is how stakeouts with them went--lots of talking, getting closer, closer, closer, edging around each other. I love Mulder weighing whether or not to feed her, considering the joys of taking her to Denny's. The moment where she stumbles over Diary of Anne Frank is so real--the eggshells moment. And that they're so awkward after the almost shooting--that she needs boundaries, that he needs closeness.

It's lovely.

[amyhit]

thank you!

I like to think this is how stakeouts with them went

heh. that was the entire basis for this fic. me sitting around thinking: "mulder and scully are smart. their idle conversations must be glorious."

The moment where she stumbles over Diary of Anne Frank is so real

thank you. i was actually not initially keen on that section, so i'm very glad it works for you! now i shall go tell my beta how awesome she is for telling me i'd better not axe that part...

[leucocrystal]

Oh, this is so fantastic. And meaty, and fun, and serious, and insightful, and... so many other positive, gushing adjectives! (Where's that thesaurus of Mulder's when you need it?) I'm guessing this was the experimental piece you mentioned a little while ago? I knew I'd love it. You write both characters so well.

Unsurprisingly, this bit was one of my favorites:
Mulder isn’t like her. He enjoys the darkness, the enormity of ‘if.’ He will hold a candle to anything, hoping to see it better, but nothing holds a candle to him. Mulder likes what scares him and loves what overwhelms him - the proverbial snipes and snails and puppy dog tails.Also, Mulder wins points with me for wanting to choose Darkhorse over DC or Marvel, haha

[amyhit]

I'm guessing this was the experimental piece you mentioned a little while ago? I knew I'd love it.

and i'm psyched that you did! i guess 'experimental' was kind of a sloppy way of describing it. but it was certainly one of those fics that starts with a notion that it is supposed to be a little writing test for the self, and then drastically outgrows its own premise. *frowns* ...but you liked it! *grins*

also, you're icon is one of a handful of images in life that is burnt into my brain. i love it. well, i love how that whole scene looks. it's so...them. it's so ICONIC. *grin*

[leucocrystal]

it was certainly one of those fics that starts with a notion that it is supposed to be a little writing test for the self, and then drastically outgrows its own premise.
You have no idea how familiar I am with this very writing concept, lol. Seriously though, it seems that this process often generates really surprisingly lovely things! Plus, I think experimenting every now and then is the best way to keep things fresh, even just for yourself. But of course I liked it! I love your writing.

Same here! That whole parking lot scene, though really not that lengthy, is just so... well, as you put it, iconic! It's no wonder I have two from it in my roster, lol.

I IS RANTING AND RAVING. DO NOT FEEL YOU MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THE R&R.

[amyhit]

You have no idea how familiar I am with this very writing concept, lol.

maybe i am simply over thinking, over stressing. but as someone who aspires to write original fiction, the challenge of trying to...to grow a healthy story is... there is nothing like it. and it so often seems to come down to a choice between a topsy-turvy story that is awkward and has too many limbs in the wrong places, and only one eye, albeit a very pretty eye...

or else a lifeless joyride. over structured, over processed. the Brave New World, fiction-grown-in-a-test-tube kind of story. perfectly uniform. perfectly yummy for a time. perfectly static over all.

and i love the energy that an integral story has - like a little creature that you just know is going to be magic. at the same time, as someone who habitually falls prey to spur of the moment whims and all sorts of giddy distractions when writing, i envy the people who can write with a steady notion of what the 'birthed form' will be, so to speak. or at least, people who seem to have a clear notion and

[sixpences]

I am going to have to come back and re-read this when my brain is not so otherwise occupied, but oh this is lovely. Mulder and Scully discussing literature is just perfectly perfect, and I love their choices, and that of course it's a game of antinomies.

Also, it is so them to spend a stakeout observing one another, in their small careful ways.

I love this line:

He will hold a candle to anything, hoping to see it better, but nothing holds a candle to him.

and the whole 'she wants a ride' paragraph. I love all their unspoken boundaries and tensions. I am mentally incorporating this into 'Pusher' (asfdgghakkl 'Pusher'!) as I type.

[amyhit]

i'm glad you liked that line about Mulder. i was a bit apprehensive about some of the sections from scully's POV, so it is a comfort. for some reason, despite being heterosexual and female, i find it easier to both write from mulder's perspective, and write about the wonder that is scully. writing about the wonder that is mulder is somehow difficult.

I love all their unspoken boundaries and tensions.

so do i. i have this distaste for fics that pointedly dissolve those boundaries and tensions. i like fics that tighten their dynamic until it is a uniquely distracting entity. S3 was so good that way. they were getting so close, so fast, and yet there was still that urgent struggle to keep up old boundaries, put up new ones where the old boundaries proved inadequate, anything to keep an air of professionalism. and mulder and scully were still so malleable, to each other and to circumstance.

anyway, i'm happy you liked this.

[memories_child]

This is a gorgeous piece of writing. There are so many bits that I love I can't quote them all, but Mulder and Scully talking literature combined with Pusher...excellent.

[amyhit]

anything combined with Pusher is excellent. Pusher is like chocolate that way *grin*. that said, i'm very pleased you enjoyed this, and thought the writing was good. thank you!

[memories_child]

Oh it's exactly like chocolate that way! And you're welcome =)

[memories_child]

Also, would you mind if I added you as a friend on here?