This week’s author may have cut her fic chops on a series that would make any 80′s kid smile, but we’re glad she made the leap to X-Files fic. Meet avocadoave! As a long-time Phile, she brings a great understanding of the characters and a sense of humor that sounds distinctly Mulder to her work.
A great example of that humor is “Sartorially Speaking.” Post-Season 10 Mulder and Scully share some banter over Daggoo and it cracks me up every time. I can picture the eye-rolling that’s going on in this dialogue-only story.
I love road trip Mulder and Scully, and Mulder’s ways of entertaining Scully in “In the Bag” are funny, sweet, and another great example of “so them, I can hear it.”
We all know TV can bring people together, and that includes our wayward heroes. A collaboration with pinebluffvariant, “Manca Qualcosa” shows Mulder and Scully re-opening communication after bonding over a recent TV show that stars someone who looks oddly similar to our favorite redhead. Do yourself a favor and go read this one now, I’ll wait!
We talked with avocadoave about writing, characters, and of course The X-Files.
How long have you been a Phile?
Since almost the beginning. I became aware of the show near the end of the first season. I had to watch on the DL. My parents were really strict about what and how much TV we could watch, and we definitely weren’t allowed to watch FOX, so my brother and I had to sneak and watch episodes when and where we could. I didn’t see the entire series until college when one of my roommates had the entire series on VHS. Watching it chronologically from the beginning was a transformative experience.
What was your first episode?
“Darkness Falls.” I remember the “nice trip to the forest,” and Scully’s jacket so clearly.
How long have you been writing fic?
Fic in general? Forever. I filled notebooks with stories as a kid, but they were all based on books–Sweet Valley Twins, The Baby-Sitters Club, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, etc. The first time I wrote X-Files fanfic and posted it online was fall, 2015.
Gather round kids, we’re going to tell you a story from the X-Files Fandom days of old. For the “old timers” like me, join in and smile at the remembrances of EMXC, Gossamer, and the old alt.tv newsgroups. This week’s author was there for all of it. Vickie Moseley and her stories were a staple in the fandom for years. Her fantastic body of work will keep you occupied for ages, with 252 credits to her name on Gossamer alone. Vickie also contributed to the “Virtual Seasons” project that spun off to continue the stories of Mulder and Scully in a different direction when Season 8 took to the TV airwaves. If you’ve never explored their seasons, bookmark that page for when you’ve finished reading this interview and then dive in.
If you like family fic, “Flight Into Egypt” is a long series I revisit frequently when I need to forget that Mulder and Scully didn’t get to raise their son. It soothes that pain quite nicely. Another favorite series is “By Her Side” which is told through Billy Scully Jr.’s eyes. Vickie does a wonderful job looking at Big Brother Bill as someone other than a jerk and fandom’s favorite punching bag. In “Joy and Sorrow,” Maggie Scully guides us through the moments of Mulder’s rebirth in “Dead Alive.” It’s touching and sweet and will have you wishing they would have given us more screen time with Mom Scully in Season 8.
I could go on and on with recs but I’ll cut to the chase and get to the interview. We talked with Vickie about writing, inspiration, fandom, and of course The X-Files.
How long have you been a Phile?
I stumbled onto the fandom in March 1995. I’d been a fan of the show since it first aired (actually, I was a fan once I read the TV Guide Fall Preview issue for Fall 1993 and saw the small blurb about the ‘new science fiction show about aliens’). When my husband 'gave’ me the internet for my birthday I immediately typed 'X-Files’ into the yahoo search engine and after some sites dedicated to the actors and character bios, the old Rutgers Fan Fiction site came up. From there, I was hooked.
What was your first episode?
The Pilot. I saw every episode as it aired up to Season 8. I watched “Within” and couldn’t stand the changes so I resorted to reading about the episodes on Haven until David Duchovny reappeared. I am very much a Mulderist. I have only watched “Trust No 1” and “The Truth” from Season 9.
How long have you been writing fic?
September 1995 was my first posting – “Aftermath.” You can read it, warts and all. I was attempting to write a fill in the blank for the summer after the season 2 finale “Anasazi.” Within a week of posting the story became 'alt.universe’ because Chris Carter went in a totally different direction than I had taken.
After a short hiatus, we’re back with our author profile series! Meet crossedbeams. She’s a relative newcomer to the fandom and found her way to The X-Files in a way that’s a little different than most. But despite only meeting Mulder and Scully a short time ago, she’s taken to the characters like an author who’s been with them for years.
Take some time and read through crossedbeams’ collection of “MSR Moments,” a collection of ficlets and prompts that are fun snapshots of Mulder and Scully’s day-to-day life. With a little angst thrown in too, of course. If AU’s are your thing I highly recommend “One Week at Quantico.” The story looks at what might have been had Mulder been teaching at the Academy while Scully was there. Jump in for this line: “But for the sake of argument, quantum physics doesn’t actually rule out time travel” and stay for the rest of the story! And if, like me, you’re looking for a great post-revival kick in the feels check out “Lost Letters.” The story explores how Mulder and Scully deal with Maggie Scully’s death in a world where “Babylon” and “My Struggle II” don’t exist.
We talked with crossedbeams about writing, inspiration, and of course The X-Files.
How long have you been a Phile?
I’m pretty new! I think I watched my first ever episode in November 2015, I completed my first watch through two days before the revival started and I joined the online fandom a year ago! I came at it all kinda backwards… I’m a massive theatre nerd who missed the London run of “Streetcar” (my favourite play) thank to illness, and had never quite gotten over it! The NY show announced summer of 15 and I’d already decided I was going, hell or high water. Then when I was reading about the production it mentioned that “Blanche” was in The Fall, I’d only seen Ep.1 so I got hooked on that, figured I’d see what else Gillian had done, saw The X-Files, I only knew it was one of those cult shows I’d missed thanks to my TV-less childhood and so I figured I’d give it a go… little I knew!
What was your first episode?
The pilot! I’m a completist to a boring level, chronology is my jam (which makes late season mythology suuuper fun!). I think I actually saw the pilot three times before I made it further, once with my sister who wasn’t interested, once when I was so tired I couldn’t remember what happened and then finally the day I watched most of S1 in one hit. Whoops!
How long have you been writing fic?
According to my blog I posted my first drabble on March 28th, 2016! So almost a year, which seems both way too long (I still feel like a desperate newbie) and not long enough.
Hop on kids, this week’s author takes us for a ride on the feels bus! Meet lyndsaybones. Her tumblr bio may say “I Write” but I’d like to politely suggest an edit to that. Read through her work and you may agree with me that “I weave painful magic that will leave you gasping” or “I write, you cry” would be more appropriate!
Season 8 can be difficult to watch for a lot of Philes, for me, it’s all the things left unsaid between Mulder and Scully that make it particularly hard. So if you need a good cry for all the things we didn’t see, check out these wonderful S8 drabbles. I won’t give away which actually had me in tears or feeling the need to flip the table, but do yourself a favor and go read all of them.
I love anything that tries to make sense of Mulder and Scully’s crumbling relationship pre-season 10 and when I first found “Cling,” it had me clinging to my laptop for another chapter even though I was supposed to be getting ready for work. The state we find Mulder in in the first chapter is both plausible and heartbreaking and I highly recommend it.
One more well worth your time is “In Dreams.” It’s both a WIP and an a/u but don’t let that scare you away. Set in Season 5 just after the end of the cancer arc, it begins with a terrifying nightmare for Mulder that twists into something beautiful that has you questioning reality right along with him.
We talked with lyndsaybones about The X-Files, inspiration, and of course writing!
How long have you been a Phile?
I was a casual watcher in the first and second seasons and got knocked head over heels by Season 3. David Duchovny was my first crush…Gillian Anderson was my second. My youth is tied up in The X-Files and the original run ended just as my days as a kid did. It was very bittersweet but deeply emblematic for me.
What was your first episode?
“Squeeze!”
How long have you been writing fic?
Off and on for 20 years.
This week’s author may be relatively new to the X-Files fandom but has honed her writing talents over more than 15 years. Meet ScullylovesQueequeg!
With 39 works on A03 alone, she’s explored Mulder and Scully’s earlier days as well as how we find them in the revival era. We all know saying “I love you” isn’t exactly Mulder and Scully’s forte - unless drugs and hospitals are involved - but there are other ways to say it. ScullylovesQueequeg explores the sentiment in her series “100 Ways to Say I Love You.” If you’re looking for something a little more “adult” check out “Confession” which looks at the aftermath of the infamous almost-kiss in the hallway, and how Diana Fowley and Marita Covarrubias play a part. And if you love cancer-arc angst just as much as I do, “Creeping Distress” will definitely hit the spot.
We talked with ScullylovesQueequeg about The X-Files, writing, and inspiration.
How long have you been a Phile?
About 4 years, give or take some. It’s actually pretty complicated to explain, because it’s always been a part of my childhood, and was a dull hum against the other things that occurred in my life. It’s somewhat of a recurring theme.
What was your first episode?
I remember I caught the tail end of “731” once when I was far too young to be watching it, but the first episode I can remember watching and being aware of what it was about was “Scary Monsters.” I also had seen “Per Manum,” and I remember being freaked out for quite a while, too.
How long have you been writing fic?
The first fic I ever put on the internet is still up, and it’s not XF related… I date it to be about 15 years old, however, I have been writing for longer—so I would say just about 18 years? Even so, I’ve only been writing for XF for the last 4/5 years—so about as long as I’ve been into the show.
Created in 2007, we’re the only fan news website authorized by 20th Century Fox to advertise The X-Files franchise since 2008. Know more here.