After a long drought, my muse decided to make an appearance. To be honest, I still don’t know how I feel about the ending of My Struggle IV, but I do know how I feel about Mulder and Scully finally getting a chance to live their lives. In this vignette, I gave them that chance.:)
Susan
I’m a little late with this post, but TWENTY years ago, way back on 8/17/98, I wrote and posted my very first X-Files fanfic! It was actually a poem called I Want Him, which led to I Want Her, which then led to hundreds of other poems, as well as vignettes, stories, and novels. At one time I actually kept track of everything I wrote, but eventually I wrote so much that I lost count. Looking back on my earlier stuff, some of it I still really like, but there were also A LOT of clunkers. Of course, at the time I wrote them, I thought they were good enough to post, but now I look back at some of them and go, “What was I thinking?”;)
There are also some of my longer stories that I am so very proud of like my very first novel and WIP 30 Seconds, a story about Mulder being blinded in an explosion and how he and Scully dealt with the aftermath of that event. All these years later, I’m still amazed by the fact that over the course of writing that story I received hundreds of letters from literally around the world! I also received over a hundred letters about my novel Liquescent, an alternative story about Mulder getting cancer in season four instead of Scully. The fact that what I wrote about two fictional characters inspired people enough to want to share their own cancer experiences was incredibly powerful and very humbling to me.
And there were other stories and series along the way that surprised me with the reception they got from my readers. Sometimes I’d write something and think that a lot of people would enjoy it as much as I did, then get very little response. Then there were other times when things I wrote got a ton of feedback response when I wasn’t expecting it. When Mulder was abducted in Requiem, I wrote a series called Letters to You in which Scully wrote letters to her unborn child while Mulder was gone, and the amount of feedback I got from that just blew me away. After Three Words aired, I wrote several vignettes about Mulder’s return from the dead and about how difficult it was for him. Many of you wrote to me about those and vented the same frustrations that I had with the fact that his miraculous return to the living was barely addressed on the show, and I thought it was so cool to be able to “chat” with you about that.
One of the best parts about writing fanfic for the past twenty years has been the friendships I’ve made. It was because of feedback letters that I received years ago that I have new friends I still stay in contact with today. Of course, there were some good friends along the way that I eventually lost touch with and sadly some that have passed on, but I still have that core handful of X-Files friends that I know I could email at any time to ask for help or advice, and they wouldn’t hesitate to help me or give me words of encouragement. Now THAT is cool.:)
With that being said, I just want to say THANK YOU again for all the letters that you have written to me over the years. The fact that something I wrote touched you, inspired you, angered you, or made you laugh enough to want to take the time to write to me means more than I can ever say, and I appreciate each and every one of those letters. Your comments and suggestions have made me a better writer, and for that I will always be grateful.
I was hoping I’d have something new to post to honor this occasion, but sadly I don’t. However, I did come across this little story that never fails to make me smile whenever I read it, and I thought it would be perfect for this important anniversary. Enjoy!:)
Susan
7/20/18–20: First Date
It’s been a while, but after two years (Yikes!), I’ve finally written another story for my Clyde series! “Date Night” is actually the 20th story in this series (wow, can you believe it?), and I couldn’t be more pleased about getting to revisit these characters again. I just adore this town and these people, and every time I write a new story for them, it just makes me feel so happy.:) If you recall, when we last visited Clyde, Jo had met Sam Bailey, the new bookstore owner in town, and he asked her out on a date. If you’re like me, you’ll probably need to go back and refresh your memory by rereading the previous couple stories before reading this new one.;) I hope you like it, and as always, if you have any suggestions for future Clyde stories, I would love to hear them!
6/16/16–19: Sparks
Wow, I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I last added to this series! I apologize for that, but the past year has been filled with a lot of stress and exhaustion, which left me with next to nothing in my writing tank.:( Thankfully though, my tank got a partial refill this week, and I was able to add another part to this ongoing saga. I love the characters in Clyde, and it always feels like “coming home” when I’m able to write something new for them.:)
To get you up to date, when we last left the Clyde family, Jo had met a new man, Sam Bailey, who owns the new bookstore in town called The Book Mark. When she fell on the ice on the sidewalk in front of his store, he helped her out, and now she can’t stop thinking about him. This newest story continues where Clyde 18: A New Day left off. I hope you enjoy it and would love to hear your thoughts on the story so far or your suggestions for possible stories I can add to this series in the future.:)
3/13/15–18: A New Day
I am very pleased to say that I recently paid a long overdue visit to my friends in Clyde.:) When we last left them, Jo had fallen on the ice in front of Sam Bailey’s bookstore, and there were some definite sparks between the two of them, which Mulder immediately noticed and told Scully about. This newest installment is set during the following day, and I hope you enjoy it.:)
7/15/14–Thoughts about Clyde
Of all the series I’ve written over the years, Clyde is by far my all-time favorite. Although I call it a series, I suppose you could call it a novel, especially since it’s become so long over the years. That being said, however it’s classified, it always makes me feel so good inside when I’m able to add more to it. I wrote and posted the original Clyde as a stand-alone story beginning way back in 2001, and now here I am 13 years later still adding new characters and stories to it and enjoying it just as much now as I did back then.:)
When I came up with the idea to have Mulder be “forced” to leave Scully and William and create a secret identity in a new town, I knew I wanted him to go to a small town with an unusual name, and I wanted it to be a real town, not a made-up one so I literally pulled out the atlas and started thumbing through some of the Atlantic coast states and came across Clyde, which really is a town in North Carolina with a population a little over 1,000. I’ve always enjoyed the way small towns are portrayed on TV and in the movies, and I’ve had a lot of fun creating the characters and atmosphere for Clyde over the years.
My grandmother’s name was actually Elsie, and my grandpa’s name was Allan, which is where I got those names, and although Elsie’s personality and mannerisms don’t really match the way my grandma was, the love between my grandparents was like those characters. As for Josephine (Jo), I have really liked the challenge of creating a backstory for her and fleshing out what kind of person she is, and I’m really looking forward to exploring her relationship with the newest store owner in town, Sam Bailey.:) And as for giving Mulder the alias of Bob, I chose that name for one simple reason. It was the name of David Duchovny’s character in the movie Return to Me. <g> I absolutely adored the sensitive character he played in that movie, and I knew I just *had* to give Mulder that name too. Scully’s alias doesn’t really have an unusual or exciting backstory to it other than the fact that Sarah is the name of one of my daughters…oh, and she also has red hair. <g> As for the “Come On Inn,” I wanted a name that would be unique and clever, and although I did look up some bed and breakfast names for ideas, I’m proud to say that I came up with that name on my own.:)
Although I’m not able to add new stories to this series as much as I would like to, I do have several ideas and storylines for the characters churning around in my head that I’d eventually like to explore. If you click on the link below, you can read the newest addition to this series – Chapter Seventeen: In the Quiet of the Night which is printed in blue and located at the end of the story. In closing, I’d like to give a BIG thank you to all of the faithful readers that have been following this story and these characters over the years. I love reading your comments and words of encouragement!
It was 20 years ago this week that Fight the Future hit the theaters and with that release, X-Files fans were in seventh heaven.:) The show was at the height of its popularity, and the excitement of getting to see Mulder and Scully on the big screen was through the roof. Message boards were flooded with comments about the movie, and fanfic stories were everywhere…not to mention how crazy everyone was going over Mulder and Scully’s near kiss.;) It was SO MUCH fun to be a part of all that hoopla, and my muse went into overdrive with all the new material to write about. In honor of this anniversary, I’m reposting my favorite FTF fic that I wrote way back in 2001 entitled “Thaw.”:) Hope you enjoy!
Susan, who still adores these characters all these years later…
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Well, I’m finally done with the school year now, and with that, I actually have some time (and energy) to write. The expression on Mulder’s face when Scully opened up the door at the end of Plus One really caught my attention. I really liked the way that scene played on screen. My only wish is that we as viewers could’ve gotten to see more of Mulder and Scully’s desire for each other like that when the series was originally on, particularly during season seven. I don’t think it would’ve taken anything away from the “scary stories” or mythology to show the occasional sexual sparks between the characters. In any case, here’s just a few of those “sexual sparks” for you in this little prose thingie. Enjoy…
Susan
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I just started a new site called “just a thought…” and would love it if you’d come take a look. At this time in my somewhat unsettled life, I needed an outlet that wasn’t related to my photography or my X-Files obsession, although occasionally one or both of those topics might pop up there from time to time.;)
You can check it out by going here: http://justathought34.wordpress.com/ and I’d love it if you dropped me a line, even if it’s just to say hello.:)
On a side note, I’ve changed the look of this site, and I’m not sure if I’ll stick with it or not. You can still find everything I’ve posted here…things just look a little different…at least for now.
Susan
Seventeen years ago way back in 2001 (Wow, has it really been that long ago?) I challenged myself to write some short vignettes consisting only of dialogue for every episode from both season one and season two. There were a total of 49 episodes from those two seasons, and while I wasn’t able to meet my goal of writing that many dialogues, I was able to write 22 of them.
After watching many of the old episodes this weekend on BBC America’s X-Files marathon, my love for those early episodes was rekindled and I dug these forgotten oldies out. Upon rereading them, I have to cringe at some of my lines, yet there are many of them where I can really visualize Mulder and Scully saying my words.:) A few of my personal favorites are the dialogues from Squeeze, Shadows, Fire, Ascension, Firewalker, Humbug, and Soft Light.
As I was putting all of these dialogues together in order, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t written one for Irresistible. That fact has now been remedied though, and I’ve included it in between Firewalker and Fearful Symmetry, upping my grand total of dialogues to 23.;)
And one last note…If you have any ideas for any conversations for episodes I haven’t included, I’m certainly open to them and I’d love for you to shoot me an email or leave me a comment below about it. I won’t guarantee that I’ll write something using your idea, but it may help with some much needed inspiration.;)
Susan
