nny | (no subject)

I've been thinking about what I want from fanfic. I mean, not that I'm making requests, but what it is that I go into fanfic looking for.

The truth of the matter is that it changes with the fandom, according to the feel of the canon you're working with.

Canonical feel is something that's very important to me in stories, which is why I will rarely read anything that's an AU - or, at least, an AU more extreme than 'what would happen if...'. Good Omens very much wins in that respect, because it enables more crossovers (historical or in the future) and likewise makes a lot of things possible that would otherwise be severely AU. But I will accept a lot of things if the mood and the dialogue are believable. Character voice is something that is hugely important to me, and if that's off then I'm really not interested in reading the fic, no matter how good otherwise the writing might be.

Spent a long time trying to get over that in X-Files fandom, actually, because one particular writer was enormously prolific and wrote amazingly long and involved stories which I would have loved to have lost myself in... if the two protagonists, who hated each other, hadn't become lovebirds. Buying houses together, and setting up the garden. It read like... relationship wish-fulfillment, I guess, and that's not something I'm interested in.

Now I'm not going to say that I don't screw up here. My character-voices do tend to be good but I'm hopeless at plot and character motivation, which is why I largely stick to vignettes and missing scenes - I'd really appreciate if anyone could suggest ways of possibly practising at this. I admit that I need a lot of work, here. But I do what I can to keep my characters IC, because OOC characters might as well just change the names and admit it.

I'm gonna go into specifics about fandoms and what I love/what I'm looking for :

Lord of the Rings:

Merry/Pippin, mostly.

Turn-ons: A strong sense of place. Descriptions of the furniture and the rooms, roaring fires or blossom. Good food. Pranks and teasing. Strange and sweet metaphors and analogies that you can just imagine hobbits coming up with. Understated sweetness.

Turn-offs: Over-described sex, wangst, hurt/comfort, OMG PEOPLE RAPING PIPPIN DEAR FANDOM PLZ STOP.

Good Omens:

Aziraphale/Crowley.

Turn-ons: Again, a strong sense of place, particularly St James Park or Aziraphale's bookshop. Gradual awareness, generally on Crowley's side. 'Making an effort'. Slight clumsiness with the actual sex part. SNARK. How much a part of each others' lives they are already.

Turn-offs: Pet names, violent and/or over-detailed sex, too much romance in a traditional way, whateverthatwordisthatmeansexceedinghot!Aziraphale, overuse of unfunny footnotes.

Brian/Wensleydale.

Turn-ons: Strong sense of the Them, teasing and scuffling, grubbiness, a sense of innocence, Brian having totally been in love with Wensley forever. To be honest, there's not much available in this pairing, so I mostly happily entertain myself.

Turn-offs: Again, not really enough of this pairing to have traits I particularly don't like as a general theme.

Master and Commander:

Jack/Stephen.

Turn-ons: Subtle bitching and ridiculous fondness, canon pet-names, the epicness that friendship can achieve, Stephen being absolutely awful for the h/c cliches, strong understated feelings.

Turn-offs: easy acceptance of buggery, over-romance. I confess I've not read enough of the series to risk reading enough of the fic to know if these are common.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Withnail & I

Turn-ons: Dysfunctional dependent relationships.

Turn-offs: I HAVE NO IDEA. I'VE NEVER READ ANY! *SADFACE*

Er. Yeah.

No conclusions, really. Consider it my thought for the day?

ETA: What the fuck I like totally italicised every third word in this post!