It's funny that the main thing I got out of your great post (we share so many similar views) about fanfic is that I need to find this Rivers of London book at the library. (Already done.)
On the flip-side of tags and everything being useful to finding what you want, I'm not always happy about getting so much info up front. A warning for character death is the one that always bugs me. I 100% understand why it's there and why it's really important for some people but I'd personally rather not know ahead of time. But it's not like I don't like it so I don't think it should exist. It's more of I ignore tags and then realize what I've clicked on is one of the rare things I'm just super not into.
I've often wondered when AO3 will get to the point where you can exclude certain tags from your search results entirely. As someone who's super into these little rare pair ships it always makes me sad to see there are a good number of results but then the vast majority of them are with my pairing being the bad relationship prelude to the overwhelmingly popular ship.
Oh yeah. Rivers of London is kind of like Harry Potter for grown ups, with policemen instead of students. I haven't been disappointed by a Rivers of London book so far, and I hope it keeps up. *g*
I know what you mean. AO3 does give the option of not warning for things, but you can easily get spoiled from the notes and most people use the warnings anyway. The best warnings are the ones where you can decide for yourself if you want to take a look or if you'd rather be surprised. But I still find tags infinitely useful in finding just the right thing to read.
But you can eliminate things from AO3 searches. Take a look at this. It explains how to filter out a pairing (but it also works with other tags, I think). (And I'm pretty sure I've used the minus sign on the regular search page to exclude things.)
Okay, I have now read Midnight Riot (which is what the first book is called in the US) and I have a question. The first scene we get between Nightingale and Seawoll, Seawoll says "I don't care who you're currently fucking, I don't want any of your X-files shit getting in the way of proper police work." I kept waiting for that line be become relevant and it never seemed to. Does that ever come up again in a future book? I doubt I'll read any further into the series any time soon but I'm super curious about that bit.
Not so far. There is some speculation about Nightingale and relationships (as there always is), but no official liaisons as far as I remember. (...but now you've made me wait for it to become relevant.)
Totally agree with everything you said in this section: What is it that is so compelling about reading fanfiction? All the what-ifs brought to fruition, from the creativity and imagination of a fellow fan. Yes, sometimes the what-ifs do not hit the mark, but when it does, it's magnificent.
Yes, sometimes the what-ifs do not hit the mark, but when it does, it's magnificent.
One of the beautiful things about fanfic is that there is so much of it. So even if you don't like a particular line of stories, you still have hundreds or thousands of others that take the same idea in a different direction.
On the flip-side of tags and everything being useful to finding what you want, I'm not always happy about getting so much info up front. A warning for character death is the one that always bugs me. I 100% understand why it's there and why it's really important for some people but I'd personally rather not know ahead of time. But it's not like I don't like it so I don't think it should exist. It's more of I ignore tags and then realize what I've clicked on is one of the rare things I'm just super not into.
I've often wondered when AO3 will get to the point where you can exclude certain tags from your search results entirely. As someone who's super into these little rare pair ships it always makes me sad to see there are a good number of results but then the vast majority of them are with my pairing being the bad relationship prelude to the overwhelmingly popular ship.
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I know what you mean. AO3 does give the option of not warning for things, but you can easily get spoiled from the notes and most people use the warnings anyway. The best warnings are the ones where you can decide for yourself if you want to take a look or if you'd rather be surprised. But I still find tags infinitely useful in finding just the right thing to read.
But you can eliminate things from AO3 searches. Take a look at this. It explains how to filter out a pairing (but it also works with other tags, I think). (And I'm pretty sure I've used the minus sign on the regular search page to exclude things.)
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One of the beautiful things about fanfic is that there is so much of it. So even if you don't like a particular line of stories, you still have hundreds or thousands of others that take the same idea in a different direction.
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