X-Files RPF

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RPF Fandom
Name(s): X-Files RPF
Scope/Focus: RPF fandom from The X-Files
Date(s): 1994 to present
See also:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Early X-Files fandom did not embrace RPF or "actorfic" as it was known then. Even with the increasing popularity of popslash and bandom, X-Files fandom has been resistant to change and RPF is still considered taboo in many X-Files communities.

Gillian Anderson/David Duchovny is by far the most popular pairing.

See more about Gillovny (as it's known today) and its three waves: 1994-2007, 2008-2012, 2012-today at Gillian Anderson/David Duchovny History.

Early RPF on Gossamer

RPF was archived on Gossamer until 1999. In 2012, one of Gossamer's archivists said:

Real Person Fic. We stopped archiving it in 1999. That doesn't mean we don't have some of it. Because it was archived before, and I'm not going to go back and purge that stuff because it's part of our history—that before '99, we did archive it. If the lawyer for an actor sent us a letter saying, "Remove this, please," it would come down. I personally have issues with real person fic, but I don't feel like I can apply my personal issues to the archive in that I should go purge it.[1]

Gillian Anderson/David Duchovny

Gillian Anderson/David Duchovny is the biggest pairing. Snogger was an often derogatory term for fans of this pairing.

After the new series in aired in February 2016, the Duchovny/Anderson pairing took on new legs. See Gillovny.

This inside photo of Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, and Chris Carter from the May 1996 issue of "Rolling Stone" added to some fans' speculation of what if?. See: The "Rolling Stone" Factor.

Other X-Files RPF Pairings

Some Examples of Early X-Files RPF

1994

1996

1997

  • Round Files was hotly debated when it was written. It was considered by many fans to be metafic and therefore acceptable. (1997)
  • Interview with a Creator by Greenfish, a fairly unflattering fic about a fan, Chris Carter, and Carter's wife Dori (October 1997)
  • Tales from the Spotnitz Sanitarium by Greenfish (November 1997)
  • When You Say Nothing At All (1997) The author's comments: "I really hope David, Gillian, Tea, and Piper don't mind my writing a story about them... Summary - A David/Gillian romance story. David and Tea are not married in this story, nor does the topic of marrage [sic] come up. So this is a good romance story."
  • The Murder of Tea Leoni by Agent Dare (1997)
  • untitled story by Zachary Carleton, embedded in the comments The Murder of Tea Leoni (1997)

1998

1999

2000

  • Raping David Duchovny (2000), and Homewrecker (2000) are two poorly written, possibly purposely provocative stories cited many times by early fans as to why actorfic was immoral, distasteful, and wrong. Some fans consider them as part of a straw man fallacy; a reference to them distorts other fans' actual positions and substitutes these stories as distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented versions of that position.
  • "The Romance of Gillian and David" (2000) [2]
  • Shipper School (2000) was also met with a mostly positive reception. Most fans recognized it as the parody it was. Again, it was aided by the same elements of Best Performance By. This story won a Morley Award for best humor in 1997.

Some Examples of Later X-Files RPF

Gillovny RPF

Fan Fiction works of the second and third wave of the David Duchovny/Gillian Anderson pairing no longer hid in member only messsage board and LiveJournal communities. Authors emancipated themselves an started posting their often explicit work on Archive of Our Own often inspired by recent appearances and quotes by the actors.

Some Fan Comments

1998

Is there any fanfic about dd and ga out there? Is this considered heresy around here? I can't help it; it would love to read some.

That's disgusting.
One man's puke is another man's candy.
I suspect many people think about these things. But most of us don't write them down. (Which is just as well, I'd say, because if I were GA or DD and found certain stories, I'd be disturbed.) To answer the question -- I have rarely seen any kind of serious fanfic about DD and GA, and what I've seen has been kinda scary. (That stalker thing, not to mention that the usual story romance between DD and GA now usually includes Tea breaking up with DD.) :(
However, there is a longstanding tradition of writing humorous fics about the writing staff, actors and crew. (These are less disturbing, although generally pretty odd.) There have also been numerous crossover fics in which one or both of our intrepid agents end up in Vancouver on the set, or vicey versey. (These are usually funnier than a crutch.) I suspect pointers to these stories could be provided more easily. (There was an archive up awhile ago....) -- Maureen, attempting to be helpful, and wondering uneasily if Arthurian legends started out this way.
...don't know about heresy, but it's generally considered to be in poor taste. These are real people, after all, and people whom none of us know personally. I think that their rights to privacy demand that we leave this sort of speculation to the non-written realms of imagination [3]

1999

There is a difference between Fox Mulder/Dana Scully and David Duchovny/Gillian Anderson. The former are fantasy characters and the latter *real* people. The *real* people are just like us - they have hopes and dreams and lives they would probably like to be able to experience without too much help from relatives/work/(and if they are actors)fans. Give Duchovny and Anderson a break - do what you will with Mulder and Scully (oh i do in my evil little mind...someday even to write it), but LEAVE THE REAL PEOPLE ALONE.[4]

While we all do have the right to do as we wish, I think it's a simple matter of respect and good taste.

We put fictitious characters through all kinds of storylines, and that's our right and privilege, but I think that David/Gillian stories do cross the line. They are real people, not literary constructs like the characters they play.

I would never dream of telling anyone what to write, and I am certainly not in favor of censorship. What I am in favor of, however, is good taste. And I think fanfic about real people crosses that line most disrespectfully.[5]

I don't think there has ever been opposition here to posting humourous, clearly satirical portraits of hypothetical *professional* antics of the XF creative staff, cast, and crew. And stories in which XF characters cross over into the real world and/or in which CC, DD, GA, etc. cross over into the XF world have generally been quite well-received, provided that they didn't invade the real-life "characters"' privacy by speculating on the state of their marriages, implying adultery, questioning the paternity of their children, or portraying them in sex scenes of any kind. Even mildly wistful UST by CC towards Scully has been written about successfully, without (IMHO) infringing on his rights or belittling his real-life marriage/wife in any way.[6]

2000

Earlier today I found a fic about some fanfic writer taking over the production of TXF -- everything was written from CC's point of view. It was clearly meant to be funny, and was well-written, but I read half a page of it and then turned away. Some may claim I have overreacted and say it was not poking fun at anything but fanfic writers (such was the spirit of said fic), but I felt uncomfortable. Casting actual living and breathing people in a fic is a mindless, cruel action -- unless you have their explicit permission -- and even if you portray them in a loving manner. Suddenly you are manipulating real people with real emotions. IMO, it is exactly like being a tabloid journo and fabricating some story. And do not forget the possibility (and whilst it may be remote, it is still there) that said real, living people will sue your pants off - even if you put a disclaimer.[7]

I understand why people object to actorfic. I just think it's important to keep in mind that there has been some great parody or real world crossover work done in the past - work that delighted many fans and was not in any way harmful to the actors. Putting a blanket "halt" to all actorfic because one or two people have written hurtful stories is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.[8]

I *hate* it when metafics (like "The Round Files" and any number of other excellent stories) get lumped in and condemned along with actorfics (like "Homewrecker" or "The Murder of Tea Leoni" or whatever it was called). The two are *completely* different!... except for metafics where the author pursues an actorfic agenda...[9]

Some fans equated actorfic, bookfic, and fics about boybands to be universally avoided:

Most of the [boyband] fic that's starting to stir up trouble is being written by younger kids/teens. There's indications that it's starting to stir up RL problems - there have been several pretty well-known authors that have come out against fanfic recently. We've had fic, in the past, Probably comes from the utter lack of restraint that your younger authors (typically) show. Like that God-awful actorfic about a month ago that allowed me to once again step in it. Kids just don't consider the ramifications of things like that. They haven't had enough of "life" experience to realize what's appropriate and what's not. And the immediacy of the Internet and the ability to write/post/ view so quickly has impacted this in other ways, too....

For years, the PTB have depended on the communities themselves to police and correct. So when we post followups to actorFic and such things with gentle (and sometimes not-too-gentle) finger wags in the flavor of "Thou shouldn't do that-" it's not so much (to my mind, warning:Opinion) one author saying "I don't like [x], and therefore you shouldn't write it," as some who have been offended like to claim, but more, "That isn't *appropriate* here, and if you want to be welcomed with open arms here, don't do it!"

Of course, the sub-problem is that the 'net has gotten so large that cliques develop, and even if author "X" isn't welcomed by clique "A", he/she will find some kind of welcome somewhere....

(Now, before anyone jumps down my throat about having Janet Reno as a character in a fanfic, I know what you mean. I think I referred to Director Freeh in one of my fics. But it was with *respect*. And yes, I know that then the opinion of what constitutes respect comes into play, and when some teenybopper author writes about how she'd like to french kiss a band member for six straight days...she considers that the height of respect. I know it's a briar patch. I admit it. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa. But that don't change the facts. Some things Just Should Not Be Done, and this is one of them.) [10]

Much warning about the internet and visibility:

There's a big difference between a 12 year old sharing Real People fic and passing around the notebook with pals versus an adult posting such things on Usenet/the WWW.

And that difference is the adult should just know better than to do something moronic like that. (Yeah, I said moronic, and I'll say it again, just to keep yer hair nice and curled.<g>)

IMHO, there's nothing wrong with *writing* RP fic if that's your bag.

But there is absolutely no need to post it.

None. Zilch. Zippo.

If we are able to claim copyright to posted original fiction on the internet, then I'd say the "stars" of Real People fic should be able to claim libel/slander, just as if the fic were a paper published work.

Can't have everything both ways.

The internet may be the Wild West at this point in time, but it won't be for that much longer and when the big Law Hammer comes down, how we act now may very well lend to the shape of our not-too-distant future.

Don't mean to sound scary, but sometimes restraint is a good thing.[11]

2002

The archivist for the Spooky Award posted that she was moving the site to a different server as she had lost a way to access the old one. While there were no comments to her post, she had felt actorfic was important enough a topic to mention:

There is one thing about the server, however, to which some people might object. The site -- starttobreathe.nu -- also hosts Real Person Fanfic. I know that a lot of people in the fanfiction world are pretty strongly against the idea of RPF -- I was, too, for a long time - so I'm just posting this to let ATXC know who the 2001 Spookys' new neighbors will be <g>. Some people are probably rolling their eyes now and saying, "What's the big deal?" But I just wanted to make sure that no one had any major problems with this before I started moving the site. If the majority of you are fine with sharing server space with RPF writers, then great, but if most people seem upset by it, then I guess I'll just leave well enough alone.[12]

2007

When I first got into fandom -- the X-Files -- slash about the actors was completely verboten. Compare that to Supernatural today :) [13]

When I came into that fandom, which was as late as 1998, there were still those who really seemed to think that people who wrote stories about the actors should be strung up. I really internalized a lot of that, being very young and extremely impressionable, so when I moved to my very next fandom -- bandslash, around 2000 -- I spent months feeling guilty and trying not to write the stories I wanted to write.[14]

2008

I started reading about RPF at metafandom, which is what made me begin to analyze what I was doing and why I was doing it. RPF is so despised by so many people in my fandom, and I needed to understand why.[15]

... RPF is still a big deal in oldskool XF circles. And it's very important to maintain a certain ironic distance to make sure no one thinks you're a tinhat or a snogger, as we are called in Philedom, even if the legitimate news media is going bonkers over your ship.[16]

2009

Someone, not on my flist, here at Live Journal posted a link back to "Hell in a Handbasket Week" at homeby_five in a fan fiction thread at the X-Files fandom site the Haven, where a brief discussion ensued about the moral legitimacy of RPF and the appropriateness of even discussing the issue at Haven. This was a conversation I would have liked to have been a part of, but before I could hit "post," one of the mods closed the thread, citing it as being against community policy. Not being able to even discuss RPF in one of the biggest X-Files communities online seems like Moral Majority overkill to me. Apparently for the person(s) running Haven, the judgment has already been handed down, and we RPF writers and readers have been found lacking. The way online communities work, I can see that unless there is a change in management, that isn't likely to change anytime soon.[17]

2015

I was in XF fandom in the mid-late '90s. I don't really remember people drawing a distinction between those fans who were "tinhats" (which wasn't a term that existed then, but is a useful one now) and those who just liked reading/writing GA/DD fanfic, but then I was always more on the fic-writing side than on the celebrity-speculating side. What I do remember very clearly is that the overall opinion was that writing fic about the actors was the Worst Thing You Could Possibly Do. Mulder/Scully (we called it MSR, or Mulder-Scully Romance) fic was fine, slash fic was fine, dark fic was fine (and expected), non-con was fine ... but writing about Duchovny and Anderson was a huge no-no. (I think parodies were an exception.) [18]

As a fan who mostly read on Gossamer, then moved onto the various slash sites, I do remember a certain amount of DD/GA RPF on Gossamer itself, not sure if it is still there or not. Either one of those DD/GA stories or one with Scully being with Melissa Etheridge would have been nonny's first RPF story.[19]

2016

Shortly after the new X-Files series aired, a fan said:

Real Person Fiction is a tense subject in fandom. When I joined in the Metazoic era mid 1990s, reading about The X-files, everyone knew that people wrote RPF about Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny, but nobody wanted to admit they were into it. It wasn’t just suspect, it was bad, rude, because you were speculating about people’s actual lives. These days, basically everyone on Tumblr is down with Gillovny.[20]

In May 2016, a fan explained the history behind the name of their Tumblr, fuckyeahdavidgillian, and how it related to fans discussing the actors' relationship with each other. An excerpt:

FYDG has its origins in the hours, hours, and hours of analysis of DD, GA, and their relationship that The Colleague and I indulged in for years during our teens and then early 20s. But we did this privately. While we were in fandom from 2003 on, PUBLIC discussion of DD and GA in the community seemed to have certain rules for polite fans to follow:

(1) David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson must be discussed separately, on their own terms, and not compared to each other except - MAYBE -professionally. The more you grasped that these two actors were actually born in different dimensions and had nothing to do with one another, indeed, that the possibility of their interaction with one other in any meaningful way was yet merely hypothetical, the better a fan you were.

(2) David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson must not be construed as persons who like, or dislike, one another. Cf. Rule 1. This is because in their interviews they seemed annoyed at being asked to elaborate on the state of their relationship. Therefore it is not seemly for us to elaborate.

(3) The fictional universe is important, and bringing to light unsavory Behind the Scenes info is undesirable and counter-productive. Only newbie fans are unaware of the state of things, and might drift through the LiveJournal comment threads mentioning that they read an article where David Duchovny pointed out that Gillian Anderson was “not a hideous cow.” Respectable fans have suppressed this memory. Respectable fans trust David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson when they say that their personal relationship (posited only theoretically) had no effect on their performances or on the fictional reality of their characters.

These rules made sense because of certain conditions that were much more relevant in the mid-2000s than they are now.

(A) For 10 years the fandom had been disrupted by anti-DD, anti-GA, and anti-DD-GA factions. XF fandom in 2003 was something like the German countryside in 1648: razed and exhausted and willing to embrace a new pragmatic approach to the religious conflicts that had torn Europe fandom apart at the seams for so long. But also willing to engage in witch-hunts occasionally to let off steam.

(B) In previous years, snoggers had not always been as closeted away as they were post-series. The loudest snoggers were not pleasant jokey ironic fun people imbibing the tacit etiquette of 2010s-era Real People Fandom. Their treatment of the actors was often so dehumanizing, foul, misogynistic, and otherwise unhinged, that places like Haven actively policed discussion of DD and GA and their relationship, and this attitude spread in other fan spaces, too.

BUT FINALLY:

© Even up through 2008, a significant portion of the fandom had, I believe, come to the reasonable conclusion that David and Gillian were not very fond of each other. Examining their relationship too closely could be upsetting or at least Unfun. As fandom is not about Unfun, no public discussion coalesced around the relationship. People pored over the old articles privately and talked about it with some friends, but it wasn’t until things started looking up that real discussion, and obsession, took root in a public place. This happened at first in a surreptitious and half-ironic IWTB-era LJ community but stayed a minority pursuit within the larger fandom.[21]

A 2003 Discussion: The Line Between "Real Life" and "Self-Referential"

When a fan in 2003 complained about too much cross-pollination between details about the actors themselves and the characters, other fans pointed out that the show itself was full of self-referential characteristics.

Excerpts from this March 2003 discussion are below. The full conversation is here: Long time gone, any recs?.

Wish I could recommend something, but the fics I've read lately have made me want to give up reading fanfic altogether.

I've noticed at least a few here recently where the author inserts real life into what should be a fictional work. It's very disturbing to say the least. Endless strings of accurate real life detail and even huge parts of actors' lives end up being part of Mulder/Scully

characterization, their background and history. I'm talking parts that seem ripped out of a magazine. So, if anyone's got some good fics to REC, please. No more of these warped & wacky adventures.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll say "huh?" to that. Care to point out a few examples? Cuz I have no idea what you're talking about, and I read most of what's posted to atxc.

I'm confused too. Short of actual actorfics (which don't seem to have reared their ugly heads mych recently), now & in the

past, most references I've noticed tend to be harmless humourous little injokes in which, say, M or S discovers an old magazine in which the other appears in an embarassing photo identical to one of DD or GA's. ;o) Or in which M&S find themselves in circumstances inspired by a particular DD & GA photoshoot, like the ROLLING STONE shoot or the morgue shot from the 5-97 US. Or where Mulder discovers Scully's recording of EXIT TO EDEN. Or in which Mulder utters or paraphrases some memorable DD quote appropriate to the situation, such as in part 6 of Lydia Bower's "Games" ...

"The kind I play," he said, and nuzzled his nose into the spot where her thigh met her rear end. "Umm. I love this spot. It's soft, it's warm, it smells good. It's got everything I need. I think I'll build a house and move in."
Personally I've found most of *these* kinds of references usually end up seeming far more in character for M&S than, say, fics in which Scully moonlights as a nightclub singer, or in which M&S are interpretive dance champions ... ;-)

It depends on what you call harmless little injokes. Injokes to who? Sometimes it's so subtle that none but a few people really notice it, but other times the whole boundaries of fiction come into question. Sometimes I have to wonder if an author *really* knows the difference between fan fiction, FICTION, just a damn little story, and the act of *using* fan fiction to express (in some very twisted way) utter adoration for certain individuals.

I don't think anyone here is likely to argue in support of actorfic, but how to define it is an interesting question. To me, actorfic/realperson fic is a creepy violation of the individual's privacy. I can't say more than that about it, because I've never read more than a paragraph of one.

If the example you cite from Octavian's story ["Somewhat Normal Life," about Mulder taking a class at Oxford] is indeed an injoke, however, I'd say it shows a pretty good grasp of the concept of fanfic. Fanfic isn't original fiction, but rather fiction that connects itself to a larger creative process in which the characters are portrayed by actors who do choose to discuss some aspects of their lives publicly...

Contemporary popular culture in general, and TXF in particular, is full of in-references that don't strike me as anything more than wry asides about the relationship between a medium and its creator. It's common knowledge that "1013" and "1121," numbers that appear constantly in the show, are the birthdays of Mr. Carter and his wife. "Mulder" is Carter's mother's maiden name. The name of the ship "Piper Maru" was, as far as I know, named after Ms. Anderson's daughter. On a much bigger scale (albeit one that I found very jarring), Mr. Duchovny cast his wife to play the "Scully" part in "Hollywood AD."

So I guess what I'm saying here is that I share your distaste for actorfic, but I don't see the occasional injoke as anything different from the examples above. Actually, I tend to see them as a wry homage to the show. Anything more than that, though, probably would disturb me.

Yes, but these examples are direct links between the very creators and their friends, co-workers ... then it's an homage. If someone else, someone unknown, starts making the same references, that is disturbing. Very disturbing. If I were to do something like that in my fic, I would very naturally include very different references (and I have) that no one else would get (or they would have to be a very intimate part of my life). That would make it an injoke, because I am communicating on a different level with the people I know personally. So, I guess the question is ... is the actor, like Mulder, part of the public domain? I think most of us would say no to that, so then why do so many people think it's okay or no big deal to make these bizarre references? Because a lot of people are doing it?...

An injoke is shared among people who know each other, people part of the "in-crowd", people you have a direct connection with. That's why it bugs me when there's a whole generation of fic writers who have naturally assumed that using these references is natural to writing. Take it a bit further, I have known a few 'writers' (which is why I stay the hell away from them *g*) who just think it's allowed to ... literally transcribe parts of other people's lives (this is the muse part of me seriously rebelling). I guess that's why this makes me so damn angry. If this fic writer would write any other type of fiction, where would the boundaries be?

Warning: this reply will come off as rude and bitchy, but I can't even believe someone would accuse me of writing the abomination that is actor-fic....

If you don't like in-jokes, then you need to never again watch: Duane Barry - in which pregnant GA buys pickles and ice cream at the grocery store.

Ascension - in which GA's very real, pregnant belly is featured in all its bare glory.

Syzygy - in which Terri and Margie go to Grover Cleveland Alexender High School, the name based on David's incorrect answer to a Jeopardy question.

War of the Coprophages - in which Scully sits at home reading Breakfast at Tiffany's, another incorrect answer David gave while on Jeopardy.

Schizogeny - in which Mulder says that it once rained 400" in a day, a reference to his now infamous comment about Vancouver's rain.

Unusual Suspects or Travelers - in which DD shows off his brand-new wedding ring, even though it is stated in US that Mulder is single, and never in the show is it mentioned that Mulder was once married .

I would argue that in-jokes are a part of XF and the fact that many fic writers have put the occasional in-joke into their fics is natural.

The "Rolling Stone" Factor

This inside photo of Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, and Chris Carter from the May 1996 issue of "Rolling Stone" added to some fans' speculation of what if?, something that was teased about in this photo.
The 1996 Rolling stone cover

Much of the mainstream press and media fanned the flames of speculation regarding the relationship between Anderson and Duchovny, and Chris Carter, at least with the 1996 cover of "Rolling Stone" which portrayed him, Gillian Anderson, and David Duchovny in bed together, seemed only too happy to add fuel to the fire.

From the May 2009 interview in that magazine:

[Rolling Stone]: How do you explain the celibate sexual heat between them?

[Chris Carter]: I'm adamant about not putting them in a romantic situation. Their passion would be directed toward each other, and all the aliens, mutants, and other ghosts and ghoulies would run amok. But when you have two smart people who are passionate about what they do and happen to be physically attractive, you get sexual heat. Fox is very respectful and protective of Scully. He's gentle with her and playful, and people take it as flirtation.

[Rolling Stone]: So then what do you make of our cover shot?

[Chris Carter]: That's David and Gillian in bed, not Mulder and Scully. [22]

The Téa Leoni Factor

Téa Leoni and David Duchovny were married in May 1997, at the height of the show's popularity. Outspoken fans who'd imagined Duchovny paired with Gillian Anderson created quite a bit of friction in the fandom. A fan remembers: "The high wank point was probably when he and Tea Leoni got married. It made goss look like kindergarten." [23]

In some ways, Duchovny casting his own wife as a "love interest," or at the very least, an intimate character in the episode "Hollywood AD," foreshadowed the controversy and wank surrounding Sherlock, and that show's 2013ish decision to cast Martin Freeman's real-life partner, Amanda Abbington as his character's wife.

The "Hollywood AD" Factor

The episode "Hollywood AD" (April 2000) helped muddy the waters for actorfic. It was written and directed by David Duchovny himself. The episode was written with a "self-referential" tone and featured many guest stars, including Garry Shandling and Téa Leoni, actors who portray Mulder and Scully in the episode's fictional movie. The episode itself contains several in-jokes and references deliberately placed by Duchovny.

At alt.tv.x-files.creative in May 2000, fans hotly debated actorfic and whether "Hollywood AD" was an example of this genre. See HAD question -- "actor-fic" for the full discussion:

The difference between this kind of "metafic" and objectionable "actor-fic" is that the metafic is still concentrated on the characters and the fictional world, with just a bit of the actors/real world (or other characters/other ficworld) stirred in for added interest, and usually humor. Objectionable "actor-fic" is fiction about the actors in the real world.

I agree. I *hate* it when metafics (like "The Round Files" and any number of other excellent stories) get lumped in and condemned along with actorfics (like "Homewrecker" or "The Murder of Tea Leoni" or whatever it was called). The two are *completely* different!

...or going further into what *we* might do specifically here: what if someone decides to write a fanfic using Tea Leoni and/or Garry Shandling as characters *now*? Both actors were *characters* in this episode of the fictional show "TXF." They are part of the *canon* of the show! And as part of the humor of the show, the *characters* of the actors in question were presented in a not so flattering light! What if Mulder and/or Scully decide to obsess over either Tea's or Garry's supposed attraction to Mulder? What if Scully muses on how that "bitch actress" made her run around the set in heels? What if Mulder muses on the "weird looking geek" they got to play him?

When DD casts his wife as Scully and Shandling, with whom he's worked many times, as Mulder, and Minnie Driver is sitting in the audience, that is a recognition within the world of the show that Mulder and Scully are fictional characters and that Mulder in particular is a character played by DD. To me, actorfic would include any fic wherein there is an acknowledgement (even if they are in jokes) that DD and GA have something to do with M & S, which would make HAD an actorfic. To me it has to do with that breaking of the boundary, wherein within the world of the show there is a recognition of the "real" world. The above, as I read it over, sounds like a disapproving lecture--which it's not meant to be! I think such boundary breaking is interesting--on the level of metafiction--as long as the focus is still the fictional world of the X-Files.

The Sex Addiction Factor

When news of David Duchovny's sex addiction and treatment hit the mainstream news in 2008, many fans felt conflicted about writing X-Files RPF. Some fans backed away, feeling that fanwork attention was now exploitative. Some fans felt it made the actor more interesting.

Comment from a fan who was having conflicting issues about keeping her GA/DD story available to other fans:

That story I wrote wasn't really about the porn, although there was some sex, of course. It was about a lost opportunity, a sad look at what might have been, had things gone a little bit differently. Of course, it was completely fabricated, because I know practically zip about the actors' real lives. Moreover, I don't want to know anything about their real lives, because then that makes them actual people in my eyes. I don't want to write about actual people. I want to create a character who seems real, using the public persona of the actor, which is a very different thing.

So what does a writer do when one of her characters makes it into the news? Finding out that David Duchovny is being treated for sex addiction didn't completely take me by surprise. I've been with and around a lot of men. I watched his TV appearances and read the articles about him. I knew there was something there between the lines, I just wasn't willing to put it all together, preferring the illusion to the truth.

Truthfully, I still do. But the act of using him as a character now feels invasive and wrong, in a way that it didn't before. I don't know that it is any more wrong, but it sure feels that way. The RPF story set in the same universe as my first has been completely derailed, for now. I can't even look at it without feeling-- shame.

This is really too bad, because he is a much more interesting character now than he was before. See, this is how writers think. And maybe it is-- kind of exploitative. The truth, though, is I am always looking at the lives of others and even my own life for the little details I can mine for the work. Because it is the work that matters to me, more than people or their feelings.[24]

Places to Find RPF

Further Reading/Meta: Usenet

Further Reading/Meta: Other

References

  1. ^ Fan Fiction Oral History Project with Deirdre (2012)
  2. ^ Was posted to this site with this link, but was not archived by the Wayback.
  3. ^ from Fanfic about DD and GA wanted, see that page for much more (September 1998)
  4. ^ comment at Earth to Hattie: Reality vs Fantasy, August 8, 1999
  5. ^ comment at Earth to Hattie: Reality vs Fantasy, August 8, 1999
  6. ^ comment at Earth to Hattie: Reality vs Fantasy, August 8, 1999
  7. ^ Decency question , Tinka, March 26, 2000
  8. ^ Decency question , Kipler, March 26, 2000
  9. ^ comment by Pam at HAD question - "actor-fic", May 30, 2000
  10. ^ comment by Rambo Dawson at Any *NSYNC/XF crossovers????, Archived version (April 2000)
  11. ^ comment by Kate at Any *NSYNC/XF crossovers????, Archived version (April 2000)
  12. ^ 2001 Spookys -- possible new location (please read) , Lauryn, September 20, 2002.
  13. ^ from RPS and privacy (2007)
  14. ^ from RPS and privacy (2007)
  15. ^ from RPF: Actors, Characters, Writers, Readers
  16. ^ from RPF: Actors, Characters, Writers, Readers
  17. ^ comment by wendelah1 at Real Person Friction, Archived version, January 14, 2009
  18. ^ comment at fail-fandomanon, November 4, 2015
  19. ^ comment at fail-fandomanon, November 4, 2015
  20. ^ by Flourish Klink in RPF & Why I Write It, February 2016
  21. ^ shit between us, Archived version (May 5, 2016)
  22. ^ X-Files Undercover, Archived version
  23. ^ comment at fail-fandomanon, November 4, 2015
  24. ^ from RPF: Actors, Characters, Writers, Readers
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