Reccing/Reading philosophy
So, I figure since I seem to be reccing so much nowadays, I ought to explain my reccing philosophy a bit.
Yes, I know that I tend to like things on the dark side, and a bit more on the literary side. But when I rec, I look for pretty much only one thing:
ORIGINALITY. Things that interest me are things that either haven't been done before, have been done in a completely different way, or were just so superbly written that they seemed new. Sometimes that means I don't rec the stories I got the best warm squishy feelings from, because they tend to be pretty much alike. Darkfic tends to be more original.
Pretty much, the more a fic makes me think, the more likely I am to like it.
Things that an author can do (through no fault of their own) that mean that I will probably not read their fic (no matter how good it might be) and therefore not rec it:
1. Have that annoying LJ style that post a string of pictures down one side of the screen. First off - it's distracting. Two - those of us who don't like manips really don't appreciated them being shoved in our faces. Three - not always work/home safe.
2. In the same vein, having a large manip invovling head pasted onto bodies at the head. I know a lot of people are really into this thing, but . . . it turns me off like no other.
3. Het. I only read het if it was recced by someone else. I'm sure there's a lot of good het out there, but for me its not worth wading through all of the bad het to get through.
4. A bad title. I judge books by their covers all the time. An interesting unique title entices me. A title with the words 'love', 'kiss,' 'forever', 'dance' or a combination/variation thereof tend to make me think that the story will be cliche.
5. PWP. I have my favs, don't feel the need to expand.
6. WIP - too many parts = too confusing. If you want to hold my attention for a WIP, write story-length parts with a beginning middle and end all unto themselves, and don't post every few days.
I don't know if other people have similar standards for what they will or will not read. Please feel free to comment.
Yes, I know that I tend to like things on the dark side, and a bit more on the literary side. But when I rec, I look for pretty much only one thing:
ORIGINALITY. Things that interest me are things that either haven't been done before, have been done in a completely different way, or were just so superbly written that they seemed new. Sometimes that means I don't rec the stories I got the best warm squishy feelings from, because they tend to be pretty much alike. Darkfic tends to be more original.
Pretty much, the more a fic makes me think, the more likely I am to like it.
Things that an author can do (through no fault of their own) that mean that I will probably not read their fic (no matter how good it might be) and therefore not rec it:
1. Have that annoying LJ style that post a string of pictures down one side of the screen. First off - it's distracting. Two - those of us who don't like manips really don't appreciated them being shoved in our faces. Three - not always work/home safe.
2. In the same vein, having a large manip invovling head pasted onto bodies at the head. I know a lot of people are really into this thing, but . . . it turns me off like no other.
3. Het. I only read het if it was recced by someone else. I'm sure there's a lot of good het out there, but for me its not worth wading through all of the bad het to get through.
4. A bad title. I judge books by their covers all the time. An interesting unique title entices me. A title with the words 'love', 'kiss,' 'forever', 'dance' or a combination/variation thereof tend to make me think that the story will be cliche.
5. PWP. I have my favs, don't feel the need to expand.
6. WIP - too many parts = too confusing. If you want to hold my attention for a WIP, write story-length parts with a beginning middle and end all unto themselves, and don't post every few days.
I don't know if other people have similar standards for what they will or will not read. Please feel free to comment.