I know someone commented that there shouldn’t be complicated fics out there, but I think if they’re well written and understandable, why not? If you can’t understand it, that’s one thing entirely. I’m writing something complicated now, and I’m viewing it as a challenge to see if I can do it, and make it come out cool in the end. So far, my readers are still with me nine chapters in.
One thing that really bugs me is a perfectly good story that goes to smut in the end just because the writer can do it. The smut oftentimes ruins the perfectly good story because there’s no reason to put the smut in there. If the smut serves no purpose, don’t put it in. I just don’t like reading constant smut, which seems to be a lot of fics. Use it in moderation and make it well written, then it will be worth more, in my opinion. I also agree with whoever it was that said not to go into the details of their every move. Unless it’s the characters first time together and things go wrong, or it ends up funny somehow, glossing over smut usually does tell the reader a lot more than pure porn.
I can’t stand when people don’t include a summary for their piece. Either they leave it blank or just say “Summary inside,” or “no summary, just read”. I want to know what the story is about before I click the link! Writing a summary is hard, especially when it can only be a certain number of characters long, like on ff.net, but I view that as a challenge. A challenge to me, as a writer, to write the best summary I can to entice readers to check out my work. Of course, don’t forget, the summary should be properly labeled as MacsGirlMel said above. I don't care if it's a GSR fic or The Love or whatever, I like to know what ship it is because that can determine whether I read it or not. It’s annoying to think a story is one ship, and find out its another. Labeling fics also helps to lower the amount of flames too. I can understand getting defensive over one’s ship, because there are a lot of flamers out there who don’t leave nice reviews just because of the ship, but there are pleasant ways of being defensive, all caps is not one of them. Some I’ve read are really quite funny: If you flame my work, I’ll just use it to make Smores. Those I like.
As for slash fics, it all depends on the writer's imagination, sure. But also, when I watch CSI, I don't see the chemistry between Griss and Sara. When I first started reading fics about The Love (Nick and Greg) I was shocked that people wrote about it. But now, after going back and rewatching old eps, I can see the chemistry, and there's loads of subtext there. It's just that you might not be able to see it the same way I can't see GSR, and that's even cannon. So, besides the writer's imagination, it's also in some cases, just a matter of who can see the chemistry and the subtext between the actual characters and who can't. I also agree that I find most slash fics to be much better written than most het fics. I think they tend to be written by older people who have more writing experience, but I could be wrong on that.
Another challenge is keeping the personalities of the characters. If their personality or their past is different than the cannon, explain it. When writing AU stories, of course these two things can change, I’ve read very good stories where both have changed, and it’s worked out, but it all needs to be plausible, and properly labeled as AU if that’s what it is. I think what really bugs me is the little things when characters speak, and not necessarily their speech patters, but the actual words they say that you know they wouldn’t say. For example, Griss is older and more intellectual, so he wouldn’t be speaking like a fourteen year old girl. Of course, fanfiction is AU, technically anyway, so some leeway should be allowed, but still, I wouldn’t go overboard depending on what’s being written.
As for ignoring latest shippings when writing slash fic, I don’t think it matters either way. Sure I write for The Love, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to explain away CatNip if it were to ever happen on the show. The same goes for Het pairings too. Sexuality doesn’t matter.
I will admit, a while ago I was writing a long chaptered story and life got in the way and I took forever to update, and hence, I lost all my readers. When I finally did finish it, no one came back to read it. At all. I learned my lesson. It bugs me too when I’m left hanging on a story for months, or for the rest of my life. When I write, these days, the reviews keep me going, keep me excited about my work, but I don’t leave anything unfinished. If I have to take a break for a while, I state that’s what I’m doing, and approximately when I’ll post again. I feel like that helps create a bond between writer and reader and will make the reader want to stick around for more if they like the story.
I’m also bugged by readers who put my story on alert and on their favs list but never review. I can’t really put a name to how it makes me feel, but it’s not a good feeling. Almost as if I’m not good enough to deserve a review, even though they seem to like the story. I’m confused by the reader’s actions.
Song fics bug me too, because you can write something with so many songs out there. I usually do ignore the lyrics, because they tend to get in the way and the story is usually very unoriginal. If you’re going to do a song fic, work hard to make it original and not dependent on the song so much.
And one last thing that really bugs me is when the POV changes without warning in a story. Sure you can change it up a bit, for example have every other scene with a different POV, or every other chapter, or whatever, but don’t say: Catherine knew Grissom wasn’t happy the way things had turned out in the meeting with Ecklie. Walking down the hallway, Grissom felt like he was walking on the yellow brick road to Oz the way the case had turned out. (Random example, I know, but still.) Even if you’ve got a paragraph break, it’s still annoying. If you’re changing POVs put in a scene break at least, and have the whole scene from one person’s pov. It helps the solidify the story and helps the reader understand what’s going on. The same thing with tenses too!
And of course, I agree that writer's shouldn't write to the masses. They should write for themselves first, write what they want to write. As you've all pointed out, just because it's written doesn't mean you have to read it. Put a good label on it and people will do with it as they will.
One last thing, there have been a lot of words thrown around this thread that many people might not know as well as millions of others not mentioned here. One example is Mary Sue. I’ve created a wiki dictionary for fanfic terms, and invite you all to add to it! You can find it at fanfictiondictionary.wetpaint.com. It just might help the reader and the writer.
