Female college student who enjoys well written fanfics. Been a lurker on this site for close to a decade now. But now i'm going to try to be more active, leave more reviews ect.

You know when people say they read to escape the real world? I guess that's kind of the reason why I like to read fanfiction. That's why I'm drawn towards fanfics and fandoms that are impossible in the real world.

I'm admittedly pretty anal when it comes to fanfiction. If it's bad, I'm not going to read it. And most of the stuff on this site is pretty damn bad. It's a stereotype that all fanfiction is poorly written with a weak plot. And it's true- most fanfics are poorly written with a weak plot. But there are a lot of good fics. And even some exceptional ones. Some fanfics on here are way better than some published works I've read.

In my opinion, there are three main things that separate a good fic from a bad fic:

1) Grammar and punctuation.
Having the occasional typo isn't too big of a deal. But when a fic starts out with improper grammar and punctuation every other sentence- I immediately click away.

2) When the author focus on SHOWING the reading, rather than flat out TELLING the reader.
I hear this a lot when it comes to film. But I think it also applies to written work.
Example: "Jane Doe is a 5 foot 3 inch high school girl with medium length blonde hair and blue eyes that wears a black hoodie with blue jeans."- Yeah, that's bad writing.

3) The situation is believable.
Obviously I don't mean this literally. It's fanfiction- none of it is going to be realistic. But a good author can still make something unrealistic seem believable. They can make the reader believe what the character does and feels is realistic. Otherwise, it just takes me out of the story and I just can't continue reading.

Lol I hope that made sense...

Then you have things like writing style and being able to elicit strong emotions from the reader - that separates an exceptional fic from a good fic.

Also, let it be known that I'm a reader and not a writer. So all of this is just my opinion, and I respect everyone who publishes their story on this site. Even if I think your fanfic is awful, you still have my respect for putting your work out there for people to judge. I don't think I'd ever have the balls to do that.

Feel free to PM me! I swear I'm actually nice.