Fanfic likes/dislikes list!

[lauren3210]

I was inspired by nia_kantorka's recent post on her likes/dislikes in reading fanfic, and thought I'd give it a try myself! Then I looked up at my open tabs, and saw that I have 4 Drarry fics, 3 Merthur fics, 2 Stucky fics, 2 McShep fics and a Destiel, all waiting for me to read, and I realised I may have a slight problem, but anyway, here's my list! And I kept it general, rather than pairing specific, because otherwise I'd be here all bloody month just writing them down!


General Fandom Likes:

• Tropes. I'm a sucker for them. Give me all the pretend boyfriend AUs, the forced bed-sharing, teacher/student, magical bonding, meet-cutes; basically if there's a cutesie cliche going on, you can guarantee I'll be all over it.


• Banter. Pretty much all of my ships are argumentative little fuckers, full of sarcasm and snark, and they show their love for each other through calling each other names and doing things specifically to piss the other off.


• Plot. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally also in it for the sex too, but what really gets me going is a good long, well thought out plot. I'm fine with the occasional PWP just to get in a quick fix, but when I'm trawling through AO3 tags, I'm looking at the word count and the description of the story. Plot gets me hot, what can I say.


• Possessiveness. I love it, and I'm not even sorry. Give me all the boys scowling because someone else dared to lay their hand on the arm of the person they love, all the growling and marking and whispering mine while they're shagging against a wall because they're too desperate to wait until they get to a bed, all the stepping in front of each other and grabbing wrists and pulling them closer; I just love it, and I don't even care.


• Hand-holding and forehead-touching. There's just something so intimate about it, about the fingers lacing together and making it hard to see where one person ends and the other begins, sharing breath as the space between their bodies reduces down to nothing. This is guaranteed to have me whimpering and crying into my hands about how in love they are (and also possibly swearing about how unfair and rude these characters are for putting me through this tbh).

General Fandom Dislikes:

• Bad grammar. Nothing throws me out of a fic quicker than seeing 'then' instead of 'than', or 'could of' instead of 'could have', and general spelling mistakes (it's is short for 'it is'; its means 'belonging to an object' this is not that hard to understand). I can forgive a few errors, because that happens all the time, even in professionally published works, but if I'm tripping over half a dozen in the first paragraph, then I'm not likely to finish the fic, sorry.


• Bad fanfic words. 'Cum'; 'channel'; 'member'; 'orbs'. Just, please don't. Ever. Remove those words from general vocabulary please, before I puke all over my keyboard. 'Moist' *shudders*


• Gender-bending. I am completely fine if someone wants to gender-bend both characters, making them both female, because we need more stories about females out there as far as I'm concerned. I'm probably not going to read it, because I have my own femslash pairings that I would rather read about for that. However, I do not like it when one character is made into a girl and the other stays a boy, because I think that kind of takes away the point of slash fanfic. You can't open up your laptop without tripping over half a dozen het pairings on your way across the room, so I don't understand why someone would try and make a slash pairing into yet another het one. I mean, if you're doing it in order to get around the mpreg issue, then... okay, I guess I can understand it. But if you're doing it to make yourself more comfortable with shipping two guys together, then you're an asshole, tbh.


• A/B/O. I don't understand it? It's such a big thing in so many fandoms, and I don't get it. Is it because it makes lube unnecessary? Is it the dominance/submission aspect? One partner being physically stronger than the other (as I've seen in some fics)? The scenting? I just, I don't understand it (although I know others love it), and if I see it tagged I'll probably scroll on by, unless it's part of a fest I'm involved in, or someone has recced it and said it's a must-read.


• Major Character Death. (Still not over that surprise! Dead merlin, haha! fic I read a while ago tbh.) I can't read it, I just can't. It could be the most beautifully written story in the history of the universe, and I still can't do it. I read one once, and the damn thing still makes me literally sob whenever I think about it, even 3 years later. So nope, not for me.


• Unhappy endings. For me personally, I read fic because the tv show/book/movie didn't give me the happy ending I wanted for those two characters, and fic is my way of 'correcting that mistake' (not in a literal sense, just in an emotional, feels sense). I'm not interested in reading yet more about how the two characters I ship end up not together. I get that some writers have a story to tell, and I would never take away from that creative decision, it's just not something I want to read about.


• Homophobia and racism. I deal with that enough in real life, thanks. My brother is gay, I am bisexual and biracial, and we've both heard enough homophobic and racist comments to last us a lifetime thanks very much. I consider fanfic my 'happy place', where everything is made of rainbows and glitter, and I don't need these truly nasty aspects of our society ruining that for me. I will make an exception if the fic is set during a time when these things were legal and expected (WWII for example, in Stucky fics), but the fact that homophobia and racism still exist today is a travesty and one that I use fanfic to escape from for a little while.

General Fandom Things I Am Truly Not Bothered By:

• Sex. I don't need a fic to contain sex for me to enjoy the story. I know this is a must for some people, and I respect that, but for me it doesn't really matter. If it is there though, I need there to be a reason for it (unless it's a PWP); I'll actually just be turned off if sex is just shoved in there without any kind of thought to it.


• Sexuality. I truly don't care what sexuality is given to the characters. Gay, Bisexual, Pan, Demi, Ace, I'll take them all. This is also the only time I'll read a gender-bend fic too - if the reason for it is to explore the dynamic of a genderqueer/intersex/trans* character and their relationship with others. Fanfic has long been a safe space for people to write about characters like this, and it's important that we keep it that way, imo.


• Sexual acts. Rimming, fingering, intercrural, intergluteal, full anal, blowjobs, handjobs, I'll take them all, and I'll thank you for it. There really isn't a kink that I'm averse to reading about tbh. Although I am very picky about any BDSM fics - I find that a lot of them don't bother with SSC and proper aftercare, and as someone who dabbles in that lifestyle, I find that very hard to swallow.


• Tops/bottoms. I have my preferences, for each ship I have, but not to the point where I'll skip a fic because of it, or even that I'll pay much attention to it once the fic is over (unlike some people who like to leave comments about how they were hoping for the other person to top or whatever. Like, good for you? But I don't... give a fuck?). My smile might get a bit of an extra quirk if a fic happens to coincide with my own personal preference, but other than that, I don't think much about it.

Wow, that was longer than I thought it was going to be, things just kept coming to me!

Comments

[this-bloody-cat.livejournal.com]

Yay! A list! ♥ I don't really get A/B/O either, to be honest. I do read it though -- often, too -- but it's mostly because some of my favourite writers love it, and not so much because I love it myself. I certainly love their writing though, so fair's fair? :D

people who like to leave comments about how they were hoping for the other person to top

I often wonder if they realise this may put other people off their preferences. See, when I joined the fandom I preferred to write bottom!Draco but I didn't really care either way. But these days I'm so ridiculously opposed to writing bottom!Harry, and I suspect these comments are at least partly to blame! :'D And oddly enough, that makes me happy. Although possibly very sad for all the bottom!Harry shippers who quietly walked past my stories, and didn't insist on forcing their preferences on me.

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

I just don't get what makes it so popular, tbh, but it's okay. I wouldn't click on it for the tag itself, but I'm not too bothered if it shows up unexpectedly in a fic.

LOL, it does kind of make you wanna say, "Oh, you don't like that? Then I'll write MORE JUST TO PISS YOU OFF THEN" lmao! I'm just like, "well, thanks for giving me your opinion that I neither needed nor wanted, but I'm just going to keep on writing whatever the hell I want, kay thnx bye."

[gracerene]

Yay! I'm so excited to see all of these popping up! I think I'm going to post mine today, actually. :D

But all your dislikes are pretty much exactly my own (except a/b/o , I LOVE a/b/o! But i totally get why it wouldn't be someone's thing.)

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

They're so interesting to read!

YES A FAN, TELL ME WHY YOU LIKE IT?? It's not that it's not my thing, just that I don't really get the appeal, or understand why it's so popular? Maybe my thoughts would change if I understood what it is that others like so much about it, idk

[amorette.livejournal.com]

LOL personally I like it for the inherent power play, the dubious consetniness (I cant HELP myself I just NEED sex now), the claiming and possessiveness, the wantonness of the omega.... Mostly the power play :D Its like a world where theres a D/s structure built right into the fiber.

[gracerene]

LOL, I'm with amorette I think. I adore D/s and power dynamics, and I love it even more when the power dynamics are sort of built into the relationships (cross gen, teacher/student, boss/employee etc). I also do love dub-con, I love knotting, I love possessiveness and marking and biting and claiming.

I also like that there is some creativity to be had with a/b/o universes, a way to play with social structures that hits on the inequalities in our own world, but without necessarily hitting too close to home.

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

All those make a lot of sense actually, so I think I can see why people would like it. I'm not so into dub-con myself, although I LOVE mating fics - like Sterek for example, I love when a fic explores mating with them, but I much prefer it when there's some sort of explanation of how Stiles chooses it right back, if you know what I mean?

Thanks, I think I understand the trope a bit more now!

[amorette.livejournal.com]

ALL OF THESE THINGS!! Esp claiming! Gahhh

[amorette.livejournal.com]

This awesome and interesting:) Thanks for writing it up!

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

And thank you for the interesting explanation of a/b/o! I'll admit to liking a good D/s dynamic myself, but I tend to prefer the ones that explicitly show the power a sub has in giving over their control rather than the ones that lean towards the dub-con aspect; just a personal preference that I'm not really sure of the reasons for, lol!

I do find all the different ways we all enjoy fanfic really interesting to read and think about!

[amorette.livejournal.com]

Oh for sure! Not everyones going to like dubcon lol

And Im sure there are other reasons people like ABO. Those are just my reasons :D

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

Excellent list!! I also love reading these things. I think we have exactly the same dislikes. Bad grammar, bad words, gender-bend (ugh), death fic, unhappy endings, homophobia and totally A/B/O. It isn't that I don't 'get' or understand the whole appeal of the power dynamics of D/s, bdsm and a/b/o. It just doesn't do anything for me. I admit to a total spanking kink. (Not the brutal/bloody kind.) But beyond that I am not turned on. Pain doesn't do it for me. Neither does humiliation or domination. It's just a big fat nothing. What totally turns me on is a relationship built on equality with lots of snark, sarcasm, bickering, and two people who are so hot for each other they can hardly breathe. I do love the complete surrender that happens when they lose control. That is hot, hot, hot.

Yeah, I don't care who's on top. Honestly, I won't even remember after the fic is over.

Dub-con - I admit to struggling a little there. Back in the dark ages, when people were still allowed to pursue someone without being called stalker or rapist, there was something called seduction. It was a fine art of persuasion. Someone who initially says no might just be saying, "convince me". It's pretty much of a no-no these days, but I sort of like the dubiousness of it. I'd totally hate a non-con, but dubious leaves room to be seduced.

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

I do like the occasional D/s, but only when it's written right. When a fic exploring this kink gets it right, both characters are equal, and it's the constant exchange of power that I find appealing. Unfortunately, I've come across way too many fics where the writers haven't really understood that dynamic properly, and instead the story turns into one of dub-con rather than a pairing on equal footing.

And I can totally get behind a good seduction fic, because there is a big difference between that and stalkerish behaviour. Again, unfortunately, we still currently live in a society where too many people think those descriptions are interchangeable, which can be troubling for some wary people who are reading the fics with this content. I'm okay with dub-con though, as long as by the end both parties are enjoying themselves immensely, lol!

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Hey! I actually enjoy gender-bending, but not for any of the reasons you mention. Not that I'm trying to convince you to like it--I'm not, at all. We like what we like and we don't like what we don't like. But I thought I'd at least try to explain why I enjoy it.

First, to me, genderbending has nothing to do with not being okay with slash. I LOVE slash and certainly have no discomfort about that. Nor does it seem a tool for mpreg. (Though, I DO enjoy mpreg, but I probably enjoy it more without any genderbending.)

So why do I like it? In HP particularly, we are allowed a world that has potions and spells and all sorts of lovely magic with which we can do many things that we can't in the real world. (The same applies to Merlin, another fandom I really love.) This magic gives us a way to explore gender and sexuality in new ways, and to me, that's a rich area. For example, take potion and Harry's physical body changes for a few hours--what does that mean? What is that experience? What is his reaction and what about Draco's reaction? How does a physical body change alter a deep emotional connection? What happens to physical attraction?

And then the fluidity between genders can be explored--with magic it there's no either/or, no need for male/female dichotomy. It can be And. It can be Both. It can be Neither. Gender doesn't have to match sex organs, which we all know by now. These topics are getting more attention in the real world these days, and maybe our characters also have these experiences, but in magical universes, we can poke into some of this with an intentional spell that lasts 3 hours or an accidental potion that may last 5 days (or until Hermione finds the answer in a book).

What I don't care for when a transformation from male into female means the character becomes weak or any other bullshit stereotype. But beyond that, I say play with gender as much as possible. I love the fluidity of a well-done genderbend. To me, I think it can be fascinating, thought-provoking, and yes, sexy. :)

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

I realise now that my post could have easily been interpreted as bashing the trope and people who like it, so I apologise if you felt in any way slighted; that was not my intention. :)

It's possible that I may have had my impression of this trope skewed a little by some of the gender-bend fics I have stumbled across - there are a lot of them in the Teen Wolf fandom, with tags like always a girl!Stiles, which seem to be an excuse for turning that character into The Girl That Everyone Wants To Bone. And that's... annoying, because for me that plays into the gender stereotypes of how girls should be because what more could a girl want than the attention of all the boys, right? *eyeroll* So maybe I've just been negatively influenced by the fics in this trope that I have actually read, because the vast majority of them have literally been about trying to conform to heteronormative gender stereotypes, unfortunately.

However, I can understand your point about having the opportunity to explore gender and sexuality, because that does make sense to me. I once read a Dean/Castiel gender-bend fic, where Dean was turned into a girl for a few months and during the course learned that he can still be a 'macho' man while also being queer, and that the way he treats women in general is really not very nice; it was actually quite a nice way to explore and deal with sexism, in that way.

I can also understand the desire to explore gender fluidity and its impact on relationships (as I said later on in the post), so I get why some people would want to read and/or write about that. You've actually given me a lot to think about in that regard, because one of my best friends is gender fluid. They told me when my eldest daughter was 2 years old, so I gave them some of my dresses and taught them how to do their make up while my daughter told everyone about her Uncle Dave and how "he has a willy but sometimes he likes to pretend that he doesn't." (bless her, we still tease her over that.) But as easy as it was for me to accept, I know that others wouldn't have found it so simple, so I can understand why that would want to be explored in fic.

So in retrospect, maybe my 'dislike' would actually be more specific, in that I don't like gender-bend fics when they are written purely as a way of conforming to heteronormative gender stereotypes?

Thank you for your thought-provoking comment, I'm going to be mulling this over all day now! <3

(also, I love mpreg too, but for some reason only when it can be explained away by ~Magic!~ haha!)

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

So in retrospect, maybe my 'dislike' would actually be more specific, in that I don't like gender-bend fics when they are written purely as a way of conforming to heteronormative gender stereotypes?

And that I completely agree with. :)

(Also, I'm with you on the mpreg exactly! I really like it but only in universes rife with magic.)

Thanks for the discussion and for making me think, too!

[nia_kantorka]

Sorry, hon, I was busy finishing a fic (yay for havign a draft now) and saw it but didn't find the time to answer right away.

Love your list. I love all the lists and mine was inspired by Birds' and FTS' and Grace's prodding and to see the whole idea spreading is great.

Ha, did you rec To Shame the Devil or has that been neoen during rectober? That's the gender-bending fic you mean, right? Totally had a deja-vu for a moment until I remembered its title and author.

Well, I love gender-bending for all the reasons ICMezzo said and for some more. If I could do one magical thing for one day, I would happily switch my gender and do all the things I couldn't have done before. I love the opportunity HP fandom gives me to play with the boundaries of genders. Since I've read my first SiFi hermaphrodite story as a teen I'm fascinated by the whole topic and all its philosophical aspects too.
All those questions: Would we change if we had suddenly another body and other hormones? Would we stay the same? Would we abuse our power if we were suddenly stronger and be forced to be more alpha (in lack of a better word)? What would a big/tall/strong man do when he would suddenly be declared delicate/fragile/weak? Yeah, the whole thing is fascinating.

And yay, for the top/bottom thing. But now the child's awake and I need to go. Maybe some other time. *hugs*

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

LOL no, it must have been noeon who recced it, because I haven't heard of that fic. I wasn't even talking about any fic in particular, just like I said to ICMezzo, the general ones I see that are obviously trying to adhere to heteronormative gender roles and I'm just never going to be here for that, tbh.

The thing is, I'm fine if someone wants to explore those questions, but it doesn't really do anything for me? If my gender changed for a day, I know that I would be the exact same person, because I've never conformed to gender ideals - even as a kid, my mum let me pick and choose what I wanted, and I had a nice mix of pretty dresses and jeans and superhero t-shirts and dolls to play with and tool kits to pretend taking things apart with. Who I am has never had much of a connection with my gender, and I make sure to pass on that mentality to my kids too (it's my youngest's 5th birthday today, and she asked for a barbie doll and a remote control dinosaur, so that's what she got). Anything I could do as a male I absolutely can already do as a female, so those questions aren't really something that I'm ever going to think about. However, I do get that others don't feel the same way about these things as I do, so if someone wants to explore questions of sexuality and gender through a gender-bend fic, then I'm all for it. I'm just probably not going to read it, because it does absolutely nothing for me.

So, I guess gender-bend fics are a dislike for me because 1) way too many of them seem to be literally about just turning a slash ship into a het one for no reason at all, and 2) I kind of really fucking wish that everyone already understood that gender and sexuality are not actually synonyms for each other and that the answer to the question of "what would happen if a boy was turned into a girl for a day" was absolutely fucking nothing because we're all the same on the inside. But that's actually less about gender-bend fics and more about my own issues with our society, lol! <3