X-Files Flash-Fanwork Challenge for Three Weeks for Dreamwidth

[amalnahurriyeh]

Welcome to the X-Files creative challenge for 3W4DW! This is a place to write, draw, or otherwise produce SOMETHING AWESOME in celebration of the X-Files, and all of the awesome characters and scenarios we love so much.

What sort of works are eligible?

Any X-Files or crossover X-Files fanwork can be posted here.

How Should Prompts Be Formatted?

There should be only one prompt per comment.

An X-Files only prompt should include characters/pairings and prompt. Use a slash for a romantic/sexual pairing, and & or the word "and" for a friendship pairing, like this:

Monica Reyes, Ouija boards

Fox Mulder/Alex Krycek, leather

Dana Scully and John Doggett, watching NASCAR

A crossover prompt should contain character names and fandom along with prompt, like this:

X-Files/Fringe, Dana Scully and Walter Bishop, Mad Scientists Union

X-Files/Doctor Who, Fox Mulder/Tenth Doctor, tall drink of water

Those are some crap prompts, Amal.

Bite me. So leave some of your own.

Do prompts need to be claimed? Can prompts only be used once? Can I write for my own prompt?

No, no, and yes, in order.

How do I fill a post?

Post your fill as a reply to the original prompt. If it won't fit in a comment, link to your journal.

How should fills be formatted?

Please put the title, prompt, and rating in the subject line. If you want to warn or provide content notes, please do so in the first line of the post. Images that are NSFW should be posted in full elsewhere and should have a SFW thumbnail on the challenge page.

Is there a deadline?

The challenge will open on April 26th, and run through May 15th for the three_weeks_for_dw festival. You may start filling prompts as soon as they are posted, and may continue posting prompts until May 13th. Because this is a 3W4DW challenge, please keep all posted fanworks on DW-only for 21 days after posting, although it is perfectly fine to post links elsewhere.

I heard a rumor there would be prizes.

Participants in the challenge can earn points for Philedom Olympics 2011, for leaving prompts, making fanworks, and leaving comments.

I have another question!

Ask me in the question thread!

Comments

"A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[amalnahurriyeh]

(This may not be quite what you were looking for...but, well, it's where I went.)

An agent he doesn't recognize brings it down in an interoffice mail envelope. "We found it when we were cleaning out Reggie's desk," he said, half-embarassed. "Somebody on the unit said you should have it."

"Thanks," Mulder says, and drops it on his desk, along with everything else down there. He doesn't crack it open until late; Scully's gone home, and he's alone with the whirr of the floor-buffer in the hallway. But he knows what he'll find in it: the type-written manuscript of Reggie's novel.

He takes it out of the paper envelope and stares at it for a while. It's heavier than he would have expected; the last page is numbered 377, which is impressive, he supposes. The typewriter it was typed on had its F key just slightly out of alignment. If this book were in a mystery novel, that would have to be the key, wouldn't it?

He puts it down on his desk. Should he read it? That it came to him now seems to suggest he should: this is some sort of last act of fate, putting it into his hands. But then--and this is the terrible part--what if it's bad? Wouldn't it be better to remember Reggie with his dream of a book, rather than be saddled with the knowledge that the final product was a dimestore failure?

He puts it back in the envelope and leaves it on his desk. Every night for a week, he takes it out of the envelope, considers whether tonight is the night he brings it home, or the night he drops it in the recycling bin. The latter seems wrong; the former seems dangerous.

He wonders if Reggie is haunting his basement office, waiting around to see what Mulder thinks of his book. He wonders if he's trapped in the pages on some metaphysical level, the last remnants of his consciousness made manifest in typewritten lines. He wonders if, maybe, he should really get some more sleep and stop watching Unsolved Mysteries.

Scully is hanging around his desk on Friday afternoon, shuffling through the disaster in search of the toxicology reports she'd ordered for their latest case. Her hand lands on the interoffice envelope. "What's this?"

He looks up from the file he's reading, and hesitates for a moment. The right answer is "nothing," but that's the wrong answer, too. "It's Reggie's novel," he says, unsure whether he'll regret it. "They found it in his desk. Somebody thought I should have it."

"That's sweet," she says, and picks it up. She opens the envelope and pulls out the manuscript, starts flipping through the pages. "Is it any good?"

"I don't know," he says, and she glances up. "I haven't had a chance to read it yet."

She studies him for a moment, and he wonders how transparent the lie is. She nods very slightly, and looks down at the pages. "Would you mind if I tried it? I have something of a weakness for the genre."

He hears an odd sort of kindness in the offer. "Really? I would have pegged you for the romance novel type."

She lifts her perfect eyebrow in response.

"Sure, take it," he says. "Let me know how it is."

She slides it back into the envelope and carefully twists the little red thread around the tacks to keep it closed. "I'll bring it back on Monday with a full report. Anyway, call me if you hear anything new about the Maine case, all right?"

"Yeah, okay," he says, and watches the envelope slot into her briefcase. "Have a good weekend."

She nods and leaves, and he watches the space behind her for a moment. For the first time since the thing arrived on his desk, he feels alone in his office.

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[littlegreen42]

I enjoyed this. I almost want to know what happens after Mulder actually reads the novel, but I like how left it hanging there, so it's more ambiguous.

He wonders if he's trapped in the pages on some metaphysical level, the last remnants of his consciousness made manifest in typewritten lines.

This line made me automatically think of Fringe. You just know Walter Bishop would be able to build a machine to get Reggie Purdue's consciousness out of the manuscript and into, I don't know, a lemon or something?

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[amalnahurriyeh]

Walter Bishop could do anything. As we saw two weeks ago, lol. (I'm not caught up, don't spoil me!)

I wonder how long it would take Mulder to get around to it. Scully would report back that it wasn't awful, and then he'd at least be less anxious. Oh, Mulder.

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[maybe_amanda]

Awesome!

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[amalnahurriyeh]

Thanks! *g*

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[rustingwillpowr]

I had to google Reggie Purdue, and I still don't remember him, but it doesn't matter. This is great!

My favorite part:

"Really? I would have pegged you for the romance novel type."

She lifts her perfect eyebrow in response.

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[amalnahurriyeh]

I probably only remember because I just saw this episode! Aw, I'm glad you like that bit--it seemed like a really "them" exchange.

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[wendelah1]

This is sweet. I wonder, though, if Reggie's novel would be the only thing that he'd be brooding about.

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[dustyasymptotes]

Hmmm. This makes me wonder if it's the first sign of Mulder's guilt complex about endangering others through their involvement in the X-Files. Is Young at Heart the first time Scully gets shot since she started working with him? And there's the additional factor of having endangered Scully's cellist friend.

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[amalnahurriyeh]

First time she gets shot, yes...but the first time she is seriously threatened is Squeeze. (TOOMS IN THE BATHROOM, NEVER SHOWERING AGAIN) I definitely think this is an instance of the Epic Mulder Guilt Complex, though. I've never thought about Cellist Friend, though...man, I bet Scully's off her Christmas card list.

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[amalnahurriyeh]

Of course it's not the only thing. It's the fetish object on which all the other brooding is projected. PROJECTION: MULDER'S FAVORITE HOBBY. Sigh.

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[dustyasymptotes]

How lovely! Mulder's hesitation seems very true to his character even though I'm not sure if I would've initially pegged him as wanting to hold off on closure.

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[amalnahurriyeh]

Ha! Mulder (as I write him) is Mr. Never Obtain Closure On Anything Ever Ever Ever Or Else. It's among his quirks, in my book. :)

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[memories_child]

I really like this. I want to know what Scully thought of it and if Mulder ever read it, but I also don't want to know - if that makes sense?

I like the idea of Reggie hanging around in the basement though, waiting for Mulder to read the book.

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[ml_griffonnage]

I like this, although it did send my mind down all kinds of shadowy corridors, imagining what Reggie wrote. What if he used Mulder as a character? Scully would recognize that if he did. Then I imagine the conversation she and Mulder would have about that.

I love a story that makes me want more, and this certainly did.

Re: "A Haunting" - Reggie Purdue and Fox Mulder, that unpublished mystery novel.

[write_out]

Oh, Mulder. I really like this. Although I want to know what happens Monday morning when Scully reports back, but I think you left off at the right spot.