Gimmicks

Gimmick: n
a : an innovative stratagem or scheme employed especially to promote a project; "an advertising gimmick."
c : a trick or device used to attract business or attention
— gim·micky

Let me preface this by saying that gimmicks are not inherently bad. In a fandom this bloated with content, gimmicks can help you stand above the crowd. They aren't always successful, and they don't always improve stories, but they are a very old marketing tool. And of course, it may be the author just enjoys writing those kinds of stories.

Lately I've been seeing a lot of authors who employ the same gimmick for everything they write, or at least most of it. Again, this is not bad: it can create consistent expectations and allow authors to hone their skills by repeating themes without repeating stories. Sometimes, however, I find the gimmicks they choose to be a little bit unintuitive.

An author who writes a single genre is not employing gimmicks. Genres are universal, gimmicks tend to be more narrow (otherwise they wouldn't be noteworthy).

An author who is only noteworthy for one story is not employing gimmicks; they are simply a One Hit Wonder (or more likely, they haven't had a chance to show off their other stories yet).

Some author-wide gimmicks I've seen;
* Single-character crossovers; that is, taking one character from universe A and dumping them in Equestria. Usually Hilarity Ensues, but occasionally Drama does instead.
* OC-Only; Intentionally avoiding the main characters. I think the MLP fandom enjoys this type of story because OC StandIns are so plentiful. It's the classic fanfic draw; you get to write your stories with your characters without having to go through the trouble of constructing your own world or building immersion.
* Uncommon Ships; These are distinct from Crack Pairings because of tone and intent (naturally overlap can occur). Some authors enjoy the challenge of unorthodox pairings, I suppose, but the novelty tends to be the defining feature of fics like these from a reader standpoint. Heck, I have a CelestiaPie fic in my favorites solely because of the novelty, and I still intend to write the site's first-ever Lunarity fic just to say I did. This is probably the least gimmicky gimmick on this list (if that makes sense), because it can have the least impact if done well.
* Porn; there are so many subsets and variations here, I could fill five blog posts on this alone. For taste reasons I'll leave it at that. The odd thing about this gimmick is that many users have SFW and NSFW accounts, so there's a good chance that those employing this gimmick aren't doing so intentionally.
* Alternate Universes; This is distinct from an AU tag: this is for those authors who write multiple stories in the same 'verse and rarely stray out of it. This is another debatable "gimmick"--perhaps said author merely finds their universe more enjoyable to write in than the show's. I've seen a few authors treat 'verse's as a ticket to more attention, however, and that's why they made it onto this list.

Most authors are either Jacks of All Trades or specialists with a much looser focus, which makes these single-gimmick authors all the more noticeable.

Am I over-thinking things, especially considering how loose the definition of "gimmick" is? Did I miss any?

Comments

[Nopony in Particular]

What about something like 'X Does Y' i.e, Luna Eats an Oreo or Fluttershy Kicks a Puppy? Would that be a genre or a gimmick?

[Showmare Trixie]

I look forward to that fic of yours.

I think you, however forgot shockfics, or more specifically sequels. The massive amount of unofficial Cupcakes sequels for example. Parody fics as well, I think, would fit.

[cleverpun]

1028723
Definitely a titling gimmick, unless the story is way more complicated than the title.

1028745
Cloudy Skies may beat me to first Lunarity fic, depending how fast they work.

I would hesitate to count unofficial sequels as gimmicks; certainly most are but some are genuine responses to the work instead of merely piggybacking on its popularity (like all those alternate Cupcakes sequels that make it into a dream or whatever).

For this post I was mostly focusing on gimmicks that authors do exclusively (i.e. someone who ONLY writes AU stuff or ONLY writes porn, etc.). I didn't include shockfics because I don't read them and thus haven't encountered any authors that made that their sole output.