Curious

[lady_karelia]

So, there seems to be a new trend in the newbies' writing styles... Don't ask!

I figured I'd ask here what gets you or puts you off a fic...

[Poll #1307086]

Comments

[kribu.livejournal.com]

Woo, another utterly fascinating post. :-D

For me, it largely depends on my mood. Sometimes I want a story with new ideas and depth, other times I'm tired and my brain isn't working and I'd love to read something entirely clichéd, with a plot that has been done a few dozen times before, as long as it flows reasonably well and isn't littered with spelling mistakes.

But in general... hm. I read most anything that was at least somewhat readable when I first got into fic, but have become a lot more picky in the last year. So it's the usual - too many spelling and grammar mistakes (there are some I mind more than others; if the author uses "would of" and such, I'm going to stop reading). A plot that bores me. Randomly thrown in sex scenes, or a story that is otherwise well written but seems to consist of nothing but sex scenes and hasn't been labelled PWP. Characterisation issues: I can give quite a bit of leeway to the writer there, but if they're either quite unrecognisable or just not appealing to me (doormat!Hermione, nasty!Snape who keeps humiliating and hurting her on purpose chapter after chapter), then I stop reading.

Then there are a lot of small things, such as misspelling canon character names (happens even outside ff.net - I've seen far too many Pavartis on Ashwinder for example). Snape wearing knickers or Hermione washing her hair in the loo. Or anything to do with my very personal preferences, such as smoking Snape, a Snape who is a heavy drinker, a Snape who uses prostitutes, a Hermione who happily sleeps around during Hogwarts years... these are things that a good writer can probably make believable, but they just don't appeal to me.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Glad you like the post! For me it was simple curiosity.

For me personally, it comes down to one thing: if the writing is good, I'll read it. And while my OTP is SSHG, I'll gladly read any pairing or gen fic that is well written. I totally hear you on misspelling canon character names.

On other 'personal preferences' that you mention as off, I recently started writing a fic that just about defies every belief I have. I have no idea where it'll take me. Usually I write an outline before I start writing the fic. This time around, I started writing before I even thought of the outline... It might never see the light of day. LOL

[kribu.livejournal.com]

I recently started writing a fic that just about defies every belief I have.

I've found - from my admittedly limited experience so far - that it's easier for me to go against my personal preferences when writing, compared to reading. When I read, I want to read stuff I like. When I write, I'm also interested in seeing whether I can go a bit further, outside my comfort zone. There are still places where I wouldn't go, but it's a rather interesting difference there.