Chronicle X Interview with FirePhile
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Chronicle X Interview with FirePhile |
| Interviewer: | uncredited |
| Interviewee: | FirePhile (Rachel Ehrentreu) |
| Date(s): | December 1998 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | X-Files |
| External Links: | Interview with FirePhile (Chronicle X); copy |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Chronicle X Interview with FirePhile was conducted in 1998 by the Chronicle X archive.
The name "Rachel Ehrentreu" is used in the index, "Rachel" is used in the text of the interview, and "PhileFile" is used at the top of the interview.
Some Excerpts
Mulder and Scully<g> [is why I write fanfic]. Seriously, the characters themselves are so incredibly interesting and deep that they almost beg to be written about. Every character on the show has a murky past and unwritten future. Since XF has always been a show where every tidbit of information about anyone's life is treasured and analyzed, it leaves a lot of room for imagination and interpretation. Beyond the main characters it's also the universe they inhabit. The darkness, the angst -- the mythology itself. I'm a strong believer that without the mythology the X-Files wouldn't have lasted more than a season.
I used to be a NoRomo, thinking that Mulder and Scully only liked each other as a brother and sister type relationship. I accepted they loved each other but weren't in love with each other. Well, I've since changed my mind (I fell onto the shipper side after The End). Their relationship cannot be explained in words. They are at once family, lovers, brothers in arms, companions, friends, partners in almost every sense of the word. The incredible tenderness and love they have for each other takes my breath away in those episodes where it's allowed to shine through. They are deeply in love and it's beautiful to watch. There is also an incredible trust which ties them together and one thing some of my stories tries to explore is what happens when that bond is in danger. I am absolutely fascinated by their relationship in all its forms.Mulder and Scully also break stereotypes. Scully is the strong, stable, unemotional one who uses medical science to save people. Mulder is the unstable one who keeps losing fights and getting into dangerous situations. It's one of the things I love about the characters. They are two of the most interesting people and one of the most interesting partnerships/couples ever on television and perhaps all of modern fiction.
A caveat: I cannot imagine Mulder and Scully married no matter how hard I try...it just doesn't fit in with my view of them at all, at least not happily married with a few kids.
I was on Prodigy a few years ago and a few friends of mine and I were talking in a chat room. They mentioned something about Mulder dying and this image struck me and wouldn't leave. The idea of Scully mourning Mulder's death and getting revenge really appealed to me. I wrote it over a period of a few weeks, maybe months. I gave it to friends to read but they were a bit too nice with the comments and I made a lot of new author mistakes. If I wrote it today it would be a much different story. I didn't write another story for about a year after my first fanfic and started putting out stories consistently around April or March of this year.
My Mom is one of my best beta readers (and the best when it comes to grammar). When I first started out I didn't know any fic writers so my mom read all my stories and commented on them. She was an English teacher and writes poetry so she knows a lot about editing. I've since gotten her pretty much hooked on fanfic. She's now a member of XAPEN and we've had long conversations about characters/characterization, motivations and even the mytharc. Mom's very proud of my stories, and one of my greatest supporters.My Dad is another story, he believes that I'm wasting my time, giving ideas out to other people, I'm sure people have heard this line before. Dad for some reason thinks that writers of other television shows will read my fic and steal ideas from it. I don't think I've ever heard of this happening, and I thought I was paranoid. Still, he thinks I'm a talented author just wishes that I would write and create original characters. This pretty much sums up the feelings of the rest of my family.
A couple of friends off-line know what I write and one of them is a poet/short story writer so I talk to her about writing technique and things like that. As an added bonus she watches X-Files so she will read my stories. I have no problem with telling people "My name is Rachel and I'm an X-Files fanfic writer".... I only do it when someone is an X-Phile and has heard the term before. They usually react pretty well.