Well... I'm a new author to FFN. I used to publish short works back in the late 90s on a couple sites that have long since been lost to internet history.

I've been reading a lot of Harry Potter and Naruto fan fiction, so as you can guess... that's what I'm going to write about.

My #1 pet peeve when it comes to fan fiction is the inheritance test. Having one sucks out all of the suspense from a story whilst it reveals the characters powers in the most boring way possible: on paper. After the inheritance test, no new powers can be created and the reader is just left wondering when are we going to see him use his metamorphagus ability, or his healing ability, or the mountains of gold he apparently got from being heir to a magical line no one ever heard of till today.

My #1 love is stories that take a good long look at cannon, and run away very fast in the opposite direction. This isn't to say that I love crack-fics, but I do love stories that don't simply present the same situations from the books or anime, and have the characters react in a different way without changing the overall plot-line. For instance, if Hermione makes friends with Draco, it should have far reaction consequences. Having them be friendly, then hide their relationship for 4 years while publicly miming hatred is just pointless. It reads just the same as the canon books, interspaced with a few chapters where they make moony eyes at one another.

My current work is called In Sheep's Clothing. It's a test of this question: can I write a story where Harry is dark or evil without touching too many cliches?