What kind of fanfics do you love?

[Battlekrome]

lets see...

well written fics regardless of content are always a blast to read...

crossovers i love... some are well done... most are horribly done... (not to mention there at least 3 diff ways to do a crossover...)

Uberpowerful ramna works... sometimes... (Just Won't Die comes to mind... though someone needs to stick Oneshot with a hot poker to get him writing again)

however uberpowerful doesn't always mean solves things in a flash

some SIs are decent... however alot tend to be fix everything in a flash...

i'll read anything that seems good (ie most thats get into updated list)
though its a shame some authors have basically fallen off face of the planet...
(though spam has really been a part of it to some)

[CJN]

Comedy, but not crackfics.

Character centered, but not angst.

Interesting crossovers.

[Crescent Pulsar]

I like character-driven stories, but good plots are nice as well. Just a decent amount of both in one story is not easy to find, for me, so I enjoy them when I find one.

I definitely like authors who try to explore and bring in new ideas, or even being creative with old ideas... So long as they make sense in whatever they're working with, be it canon or alternate universe.

I'm a sucker for gender-bending stories, which is, of course, due to personal interest.

[Seraphim]

Comedy, well written crossovers, good action/fight scenes, (most) continuation fics, some short fics/drabbles, mostly mildy WAFFy, ones that poke gentle! fun at the characters, >.> <.< crack fics

[Comartemis]

Well-written complete Ranma/Sailor Moon crossovers are my personal favorites, especially 'Heir to the Empire' and '1/2 a Neko Moon', though Neko Moon isn't exactly finished, it at least wraps things up nicely in the first chapter before promising more content.

Divergence fics like 'Sailor Moon V' and 'A Tale of Two Wallets' are interesting to read as well, provided that the author knows what he's doing.

UberRanma fics, if done right, can make for very entertaining reading.

[Bjorn]

Tend to like anything as long as it's written decently, and sometimes even if it's not written decently. Star of War comes to mind.

Crossovers that are done with uncommon material are always fun, as well as stories that take cliches and try to make them feel fresh again.

I don't actually have much against SIs (one of my first introductions to fanfiction was Twisted Path). This might indirectly be because of Bubblegum Zone.

Anything that can actually make me smile - as in, while I'm sitting there in front of the monitor reading, I actually smile - is great.

Fics that have a dark ending I'll read and enjoy, but the probability of reading it again later is significantly reduced.

Fics that you feel could actually be inserted into serialized manga/comic/book/what-have-you volumes and not feel out of place.

That's about it.

[Seraphim]

Anything that can actually make me smile - as in, while I'm sitting there in front of the monitor reading, I actually smile - is great.

Seconded!

[Quizer]

Things I like in fanfic?


First of all, it needs at least decent spelling and grammar. If it's above that and includes a good grasp on proper writing style as well, even better. Something that is written flawlessly gets a lot of leeway with me, regardless of actual content. On the other hand, poor diction can ruin the most ingenious of plots.

I absolutely love seeing annoying clichés crushed, especially pertaining to relationship issues like jealousy or misunderstandings that lead to excessive amounts of angst. There are many annoying things out there that keep cropping up like bad money. Seeing such plots dismantled with extreme prejudice is very rewarding and can make a fic worth reading all by itself.

I like stories that deal with time-travel, time loops and foreknowledge - the possibilities are endless. These are difficult to do well because the author has to sit back and think very carefully about what their characters would do with that potential, forgetting about their precious plotline for a minute. The 'Harry Potter' fandom is full of these, but only a select few are truly well done. In the 'Ranma 1/2' fandom, the only two truly outstanding examples I can think of are Right Moments by Judah, and Ozz's short story Exact Change.

I'm also fond of other divergence stories and AUs. The best of those change a single selected fact (or several), and then have the changes propagate through the timeline, the (re-)actions of the characters changing events further. I don't like stories that follow too closely along the lines of canon; for example, I want my 'Ranma 1/2' fics to turn away from what is lovingly referred to as the 'Fiancée Wheel of Destruction'. The Status Quo has gone on long enough in canon - why prolong the torture?

Another theme I like is evil guys being crushed with overwhelming force - sure, a narrow victory works and everyone is safe afterwards, but isn't it far more satisfying to see them utterly destroyed, never seeing their doom coming and spending their last moment wondering 'Just when did I drop the ball this badly?'

Something else that is also very fun to read is to see the bad guys suffering from 'Murphy's Law' for a change. Nothing better than seeing them fail from good old-fashioned, ironic bad luck from time to time. It's a great way to add some hilarity to a story.


More things as I think of them.


Quizer

[Quizer]

I agree on character-driven stories. In my opinion, a character-driven story does not preclude events being introduced that aren't readily attributed to any one character, but their integrity should be preserved. I've seen otherwise great fics fail because the author had his/her characters make decisions that are illogical in the extreme, just so the story can continue to move in the direction the plot dictates.

I definitely like authors who try to explore and bring in new ideas, or even being creative with old ideas... So long as they make sense in whatever they're working with, be it canon or alternate universe.

I absolutely second that. Some authors have the sheer skill to take an idea or plot that has been thoroughly exploited and create a story out of it that leaves all others of its kind in the dust, redefining the genre forever. Sadly, such genius is extremely rare.


Quizer

[Drawde]

I like some of the more psychological fics, where someone is mentally adjusting to a new situation, good or bad. Like in Chrysalides, Lost Innocence, and newRanma.

[Comartemis]

Huh. If the activity difference between this thread and the 'What types of fanfiction do you hate' thread is any indication, then it seems like everyone has pet peeves they'd like to rant about but not so many things they actually like about fanfiction. Time to revive this old dinosaur so people can prove me wrong on this!

There's a few Naruto fanfics I've read where the authors deigned to make the Kage Bunshins sentient; that is, to be actual clones of Naruto with all his personality quirks instead of just tools to be used in combat. There's one fic whose name I can't think of at the moment where individual clones start to take on their own distinct personalities. This by itself enhanced the quality of the fic by a fair amount simply because it made for some very entertaining interactions between Naruto and his clones at various points in the story.

Now obviously good spelling and grammar and all that jazz are good things for a fanfic to have, but why don't we focus on the little things for a while? Specific details and little things like sentient Naruto clones that make the story a more enjoyable read.

[CRBWildcat]

Humor. Clean humor. Good clean humor. I'm a self-depressing guy; I need humor to cheer myself up (and a bowl of ice cream wouldn't hurt, either). This was why I started writing fics (long before I came to know them as such), and it's one of the reasons why I read 'em. If there's some action/adventure interspaced throughout, well, that's a bonus.

One scene that comes to mind is from Griffinkhan's Epilogue (Mega Man) (I've made references to this story several times, and with good reason). Getting thrown into the future would be jarring for anyone; Bass especially, since he can't really claim to be the world's strongest robot anymore. It doesn't stop him, though, from making smart-alek remarks on Vile's similarity to Boba Fett right before a five-on-one fight; since three of the fighters are drastically underpowered, the fight's not as much of a blowout as it seems.

Fics with minor-to-no humor content work for me as well, as long as they don't depress me.

--Edited at 10:49a.m. CST. Edited AGAIN a few hours later to correct a slight mistake.--

[Atlan]

First point: Ballenced Characters
Characters in a story need to be people, not steryotypes or one-dimensional cardboard cutouts. A good story needs complicated characters, ones with their own personalities, oddities, hobbys and opponions. They also need to develop- to change (no matter how little) over the course of the fic. Be it in a life changing way or a small way, some amount of change is nessacary.

Second Point: Good writing
For a story to be good, it needs more than a few good ideas, it needs good writing. It needs snappy dialogue, it needs fight sceens which arn't boring to read (be it a 5000 word scene in which the two people just slug at each other, or a 100 word fight).

Third Point: Characters who act like they did in their cannon media
This is a big point. A good author has to find a ballance between a character acting like they origionally did, while still doing something new and exciting. Any author can write Ryoga a guy who randomly appears, screams out death threats, and starts throwing around Shi Shi Hokodans. It takes tallent to show Ryoga as a strong, lost, PERSON. A guy with his own problems, his own fears, and his own story.

Fourth Point: A Plot
Sadly rare, I like a story with a plot. One where the author has a good idea of where he's headding, and some idea of what's going to happen along the way. There are quite a few (otherwise good) fics out there were the cast of Series X meets Series Y, and then the story stops or flounders, becuase the author has no idea of where they are going with it.

But to sum it all up- I like The Shaddow Chronicles. The more a fic is like them, the more likely I am to like it.

http://www.shadowchronicles.net/

[CRBWildcat]

Stories that end on a high note. Protagonists are alive and well (not neccessarily unchanged), problems raised in the story are solved, and the overall view is optimistic. Kind of narrow-minded, yes, but that's just how it works for me.

[Comartemis]

And me as well. I read fanfiction partially as a means of getting away from real life, which can be very depressing at times. Hence, depressing fanfics will be dropped almost as soon as I pick them up, and Bad Ends are simply unacceptable.