Likes and dislikes in stories · 4:40am Nov 16th, 2012
So, to answer another question nobody asked: What do I look for in stories, and what turns me off them, pony fanfic in particular?
Dos and Don'ts:
-You're playing on a field that has some established ground rules. If you want to do something completely unrelated to Equestria, colourful ponies and the power of friendship, that's your call, but then it won't be pony fanfic. Stick at least to some elements of the canon, otherwise why bother? This is why I don't get humanized/anthro stories, because there's mostly no point to them other than "I don't want to get into the mindset necessary to write ponies, so I'll give them hands and breasts".
-You're working with established characters. Stir them up all you want, give us a heretofore unknown side (I sure as hell did), but don't completely re-do them unless there's an in-story reason. There's a line between "plumbing unknown depths" and "turning the character inside out". At the same time, though, don't let the presentation in the show bind you too tightly. Most guest characters have a few scenes in one 22-minute episode to establish who they are and what they're like, so there's bound to be gaps and empty spaces - utilize those.
-Proofread. This goes double if you think or know you're really bad at spelling. I've seen "but I'm dyslexic!" as an excuse for badly spelled stories more often than I care to count, and it doesn't get any less stupid with repetition. If you know you're dyslexic (goodness, that word is a pain to type on a German keyboard...), get someone else to proofread for you. No one is going to read your masterpiece all the way through when it's literally not readable. It might just be packaging, but the packaging does count.
I regard the above three points as pretty much non-negotiable when it comes to MLP:FiM fanfics. (In fact, they're non-negotiable for any fanfic, or any work in an established universe.) Everything else is subjective.
So what do I enjoy reading?
Quite a few things, actually. Well-written adventures, romances, slice-of-life stories, comedies, and crossovers with franchises I like (Doctor Who comes to mind). Sad depends on the mood I'm in - there are days where I wouldn't touch sad stories with a ten-foot pole, and others where I can't get enough of them. They're easy to write, but hard to write well. Tragedy is pretty much a dealbreaker for me. I'm not saying there are no well-written tragic pony fanfics out there, but it's not what I usually read pony fanfic for. Also, the warning about sad stories applies tenfold here - easy to do, hard to do well or convincingly, especially in a universe as optimistic as this.
The "Human" tag is usually a turnoff. I don't see the point, unless it's blatant wish fulfillment. There might be exceptions, but I'm not willing to dig through a hundred badly disguised author insertion characters to get to the one story with the tag worth reading. Same goes for "Random", which a lot of people seem to regard as a license to do whatever the hell they want, with no regards for literary niceties like making sense in any way. Not something I usually enjoy reading. And of course crossovers with works I don't know - your MLP/(insert any random anime except Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z) crossover might be the best thing ever, but there's no point in me reading it if I don't get half the references.
That little red warning label is usually enough to turn me away from a story at lightspeed. "Gore" doesn't belong in this universe, period. Also, I don't get the appeal. Why would I want to read about a character I like getting slowly and painfully eviscerated? The purple one, I have no issues with - quite a few mature fics are on my favourites list. Never ever cross the streams, though. As little as I enjoy reading about violence, sexual violence is on yet another level of unease. I've yet to read a fanfic that doesn't fall into the common traps of utilizing rape as a story device.
Characters: There are pretty much no characters in the MLP universe that will immediately trigger a reaction of "oh hell no, not reading that". The only exception that comes to my mind is Prince Blueblood - not only is he a massive jerk, from what we've seen, he doesn't even deserve redemption. I'm also wary of OCs, simply because they easily fall into author insertion territory. (This is why, even as a huge fan of "Groundhog Day", I never could get into "The Best Night Ever".)
Pairings: Ah, now here's an eternal battlefield, isn't there? There are a few I enjoy reading more than others, as with pretty much everyone who doesn't consider shipping to be of the devil (I don't, but then my stories should make that much obvious). Spike/Rarity and Spike/Apple Bloom are probably my favourites, and I've seen pretty much every intra-Mane Six ship done well. I get queasy when I see Spike/Twilight as a pairing, because they have such an obvious brother/sister vibe, and incest is a big no-no. Also, I have a personal pet peeve when it comes to shipping stories: Fics that ship Rarity without acknowledging Spike in any way. It's canonically established that he's in love with her, and not even mentioning him in a Rarity romance story is just lazy. One sentence can make all the difference here. Another thing that rubs me the wrong way is sudden unexplained massive intra-M6 shipping. Two of them who haven't acknowledged their feelings for each other, fine, but any more than that and you get into really difficult territory - you don't usually fall for good friends. I'm leery of intra-CMC shipping for the same reason; I don't have an issue with shipping minors, because that's definitely something that happens in real life, but the CMC have even less of that vibe than the Mane Six do.
And there you have it. My personal likes and dislikes when it comes to pony fanfic.
Amen bro
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Gore creeps me out.
Cupcakes was the first gore I read, and the last, it just doesn't fit well with the universe this was set in, especially with the characters being incredibly likable, I just don't understand.
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Personally, I'm sick to death of porn stories - it's gotten well beyond the point where that tripe is reaching topbar - often first in the list. And that sickens me; the 'mature (IE:sex)'tag is practically a read-count magnet and says quite a bit about the community.
And nothing particularly complimentarily.
As it is now, most stories only get any real attention until someone post an 'x fucks y'story - then it gets flooded with readers like team of beagles on a roast beef.
I guarantee you that could type the text from my dishwasher instruction manual, tag it 'mature' and have fifty reads by the time I finished making coffee simply due to the tag.
507734 I have no issue with that - hell, I did that myself. Basically, I turn away when it becomes torture porn, gore for its own sake.
507775 That admittedly has become annoying, yet it doesn't mean a Mature story can't be good. I still hold up "Like Fine Wine" as a shining example of how Spike/Rarity should be done, sex notwithstanding. Sex for sex' sake, though, I don't get, same as with gore for its own sake. Why bother? To prove that you can write something others can get off to?
507790
If you want to see that sort thing done well, read The Decendant's 'A Sweet Taste of Cake'.
He doesn't feel the need to get into specifics - he tells just enough to allow the reader to envision the scene for themselves. Even in the final chapter in which the two make love, it's done in such a way that you feel as though you had just witnessed them create a work of art.
another thing that enrages me without limit:
summaries with plot-important information.
Thankfully, you hardly ever run into them to begin with, but when I do it just ticks me off. People, the summary should be based upon the plot of the story, not part of it.
508000 That, or summaries that don't tell you anything at all (check this story for a particularly insane example). I don't want to be spoilered, but I do want at least a slight idea what I'm going in for, thank you very much.
508014
Story in question reported. The story has no physical existence on the site (ie: it cannot be downloaded), ergo, by textual standards it does not exist. Thus the story in question does not contain the requited minimum of 1000 words and is apparently nothing more than an image file.
508000
People actually do that!? Oi...
508925
thankfully, only ever so rarely. Strangely enough, the only stories I ever ran into that were both Twilight-becomes-an-Alicorn fics.
this is one of them. The story itself is... forgettably bland, and the Summary-as-part-of-the-story is the only reason I remembered it even existed.
Don't know if the author fixed that bit though.
508474 Trust me, you're not the first to notice. Check for Poultron's (I think it was him, anyway) comments on that story. I still agree with you that it violates just about every rule this site has ever had, but he obviously thought it appropriate for some reason to make an exception. I have no idea why.
507734 Also, just thought about this: if it's used sparingly and as a dramatic high point, chances are it won't lead to a Mature rating, which in turn means I'm not likely to see it.