101 Fan Fic Kinks
I came across an old LJ meme called 101 Fan Fic Kinks, and I thought I'd try to write one. For the past few months, I've been keeping track as I write off the things that, for me, are automatic wins when it comes to fic. Now, of course, I like all sorts of things, and I've read stories that work for me despite not matching the things on my list. Fiction can touch me no matter the subject matter or type.
That said, there are certain things in fic that I gravitate towards.
1. Dialogue.
2. Snappy, witty dialogue.
3. In-character dialogue.
4. Seriously, I love when characters talk.
5. Banter. Flirty banter. Sexy banter. Annoyed banter. Just banter.
6. First kisses.
7. hate!sex
8. Friendship.
9. Male/female friendship.
10. Female/female friendship.
11. Male/male friendship.
12. Romantic friendships. I’m not talking about friendship turning into dating, though that’s often neat too. I mean friendships that echo romantic relationships. Friends are important! Often moreso than romantic relationships.
13. Team dynamics. How is the group working together to make whatever happen? I love it.
14. Ensemble fic. Always.
15. Silly, slapstick violence.
16. Characters that choose to forgo marriage/babies/traditional relationships.
17. Consent. Explicitly obtained, discussed, negotiated consent.
18. Though I also really love the tropiness of a drunken hook-up, but only when both characters are drinking, and not really that drunk, and mostly just using it as an excuse to say the things they wish they could say while sober
19. Kissing!
20. Making out in general. Often even hotter than the actual sex act.
21. Sucking on earlobes. Holy hell.
22. Moaning.
23. Biting necks. Not in a vampire way.
24. When a couple gets together to make other people jealous and then they fall for each other and YES
25. SHENANIGANS. ALWAYS.
26. Misunderstandings.
27. Found families.
28. Workplace families.
29. Conversations among a group of people where some of them know something and some of them don’t. Bonus points if one of the people who knows enjoys screwing with one of the people trying hard to keep it a secret
30. Consensual non-monogamy that’s in the story, but isn’t the story itself
31. Character A touching Character B’s hips, especially in public
32. Secret dating
33. Especially when everyone else finds out
34. And keeps from the secret couple that they know
35. Freudian slips
36. Characters being devious, especially when it’s for the greater good, but also when it’s because screwing with their friend is hilarious
37. When one character plays with another’s hair. Sexual, non-sexual, it’s all good.
38. Talking during sex. Not necessarily dirty talk-- after all, seeing it written out sometimes gives me second-hand embarrassment-- but discussing issues during sex.
39. Epistolary
40. First time sex, either first time ever, or first time with this current partner, that sucks. In fact, when a female character makes her sexual debut and has an orgasm, I tend to roll my eyes. Sometimes I’ll give that a pass, if the character has a history of masturbation to build on, but- come on. I can buy it felt good, but....
41. Snark
42. Meta
43. Crackfic
44. Interventions
45. People who work out their issues while having sex. Arguing about who needs to do the dishes while naked? Yes.
46. Stories, especially historical stories, that ignore historically-accurate gender norms and racial realities. While I would certainly never want to discount the very real ways these things have and continue to affect people, and while I think there are plenty of interesting ways to explore those issues in fic, I also don’t need every story about a minority to be about the ways in which that time period kept that character down. Sometimes, I just want to read about an awesome black lady who was the Queen of England in the 1700s.
47. Complete AUs
48. Dramatic confrontations. Especially when they involve other people in the drama, be they observers, greek choruses, or otherwise.
49. A character’s fascination with their love/crush’s hands. Putting on gloves? Sucking on fingers? Watching them lick something off their fingers? Holy hell, yes.
50. Sex scenes that involve laughing
51. Sharing a bed, but not having sex
52. Though if that ends in some sort of mutual masturbation, that’s hot
53. People who wash their hands before sex, because seriously you just got off a horse/shot a dude/ touched the bar
54. Character A is a romantic. Character B is ridiculously practical. B plans a completely romantic evening.
55. Bonus points if everything goes wrong (seriously, have you ever tried to have sex on rose petals? It’s... not good)
56. Sexual fluidity
57. Couples separated for years due to circumstances or breakups, and then A hears B before they see each other...
58. Characters standing up for each other
59. Partners in crime
60. Gallows humor
61. Men deferring to women
62. Men in suits
63. The hero/heroine losing
64. Adversaries who are evenly matched in abilities.
65. Work partners who are basically married but never even kiss
66. Outsider POV, especially when they notice that Main Couple is going to get together/is flirting/totally hate each other but are totally going to do it, and basically they are rolling their
eyes at them
67. Characters addressing each other by last name
68. Characters being mean to each other, but underneath, there’s love, affection, or at least respect
69. Oral sex on women
70. Ladies who are ridiculously feminine but still able to injure the bad guy when the situation calls for it, especially if that injury is caused using really girly weapons, ie: stabbing him with
a nail file. Because take that, patriarchy.
71. Pining
72. Food porn
73. Scenes of characters cooking. It can be one character cooking while working through something, two characters flirting, a group having a disaster in the kitchen, anything.
74. Mentions of safer sex practices. If not during the actual love scene, then later references to it. Especially if it’s their first time together, or they’ve been reunited recently. Established relationships don’t bug me in the same way, but otherwise I need some sort of acknowledgement at some point
75. The morning after.
76. Spy AUs. Always.
77. 1920s speakeasy AUs.
78. Oral fixations in general. If A’s crush is chewing on her pen, A should be watching and dying a little inside.
79. Everyone else knows they’re secretly in love, except the two of them
80. I loathe you, I love you, I loathe that I love you
81. Character A is turned on by Character B’s brain
82. Character A touches Character B’s forehead with hers. Are they friends? Lovers? Something in between? I I don’t care, because foreheads touching always gets me
83 Growing and changing in ways that are in-character.
84. Characters who appreciate when their peers are funny. On Friends, no one ever laughed at Chandler’s jokes. What sort of friends don’t laugh at your jokes?
85. Men who are caregivers
86. Women who seduce to get what they want
87. There’s a war happening. I don’t want to read about the battle, but I love knowing what’s happening on the homefront
88. Fractured fairy tales.
89. Makeovers! But, B liked A before she changed.
90. Also, A changed for herself, damnit.
91. Character A is a human disaster. He spends twenty minutes trying to hail a taxi. B walks up to him, sticks out a hand, and has a taxi a moment later. A and B have always been friends,
but A has some quiet resentment simmering there.
92. Motifs.
93. Bad blind dates.
94. Awesome titles.
95. Mysteries.
96. Especially locked room mysteries.
97. Locked room scenes in general.
98. Parties! How did I not mention parties earlier? I love a good party fic /sequence/day- after scene. People drinking at parties. People flirting at parties. People making out in the front-
hall closet at parties. Boring parties, and then A shows up and it’s awesome. Ragers. Wine-and-cheese. Birthday parties, always.
99. Secret dating
100. Accidental kissing.
101. Hopeful endings. I don’t necessarily need things to end happily, or even end, really, but ultimately, I am an optimist through to my core, and I can’t end with despair. The world is good, and things can get better, and I just always am going to believe that.
That said, there are certain things in fic that I gravitate towards.
1. Dialogue.
2. Snappy, witty dialogue.
3. In-character dialogue.
4. Seriously, I love when characters talk.
5. Banter. Flirty banter. Sexy banter. Annoyed banter. Just banter.
6. First kisses.
7. hate!sex
8. Friendship.
9. Male/female friendship.
10. Female/female friendship.
11. Male/male friendship.
12. Romantic friendships. I’m not talking about friendship turning into dating, though that’s often neat too. I mean friendships that echo romantic relationships. Friends are important! Often moreso than romantic relationships.
13. Team dynamics. How is the group working together to make whatever happen? I love it.
14. Ensemble fic. Always.
15. Silly, slapstick violence.
16. Characters that choose to forgo marriage/babies/traditional relationships.
17. Consent. Explicitly obtained, discussed, negotiated consent.
18. Though I also really love the tropiness of a drunken hook-up, but only when both characters are drinking, and not really that drunk, and mostly just using it as an excuse to say the things they wish they could say while sober
19. Kissing!
20. Making out in general. Often even hotter than the actual sex act.
21. Sucking on earlobes. Holy hell.
22. Moaning.
23. Biting necks. Not in a vampire way.
24. When a couple gets together to make other people jealous and then they fall for each other and YES
25. SHENANIGANS. ALWAYS.
26. Misunderstandings.
27. Found families.
28. Workplace families.
29. Conversations among a group of people where some of them know something and some of them don’t. Bonus points if one of the people who knows enjoys screwing with one of the people trying hard to keep it a secret
30. Consensual non-monogamy that’s in the story, but isn’t the story itself
31. Character A touching Character B’s hips, especially in public
32. Secret dating
33. Especially when everyone else finds out
34. And keeps from the secret couple that they know
35. Freudian slips
36. Characters being devious, especially when it’s for the greater good, but also when it’s because screwing with their friend is hilarious
37. When one character plays with another’s hair. Sexual, non-sexual, it’s all good.
38. Talking during sex. Not necessarily dirty talk-- after all, seeing it written out sometimes gives me second-hand embarrassment-- but discussing issues during sex.
39. Epistolary
40. First time sex, either first time ever, or first time with this current partner, that sucks. In fact, when a female character makes her sexual debut and has an orgasm, I tend to roll my eyes. Sometimes I’ll give that a pass, if the character has a history of masturbation to build on, but- come on. I can buy it felt good, but....
41. Snark
42. Meta
43. Crackfic
44. Interventions
45. People who work out their issues while having sex. Arguing about who needs to do the dishes while naked? Yes.
46. Stories, especially historical stories, that ignore historically-accurate gender norms and racial realities. While I would certainly never want to discount the very real ways these things have and continue to affect people, and while I think there are plenty of interesting ways to explore those issues in fic, I also don’t need every story about a minority to be about the ways in which that time period kept that character down. Sometimes, I just want to read about an awesome black lady who was the Queen of England in the 1700s.
47. Complete AUs
48. Dramatic confrontations. Especially when they involve other people in the drama, be they observers, greek choruses, or otherwise.
49. A character’s fascination with their love/crush’s hands. Putting on gloves? Sucking on fingers? Watching them lick something off their fingers? Holy hell, yes.
50. Sex scenes that involve laughing
51. Sharing a bed, but not having sex
52. Though if that ends in some sort of mutual masturbation, that’s hot
53. People who wash their hands before sex, because seriously you just got off a horse/shot a dude/ touched the bar
54. Character A is a romantic. Character B is ridiculously practical. B plans a completely romantic evening.
55. Bonus points if everything goes wrong (seriously, have you ever tried to have sex on rose petals? It’s... not good)
56. Sexual fluidity
57. Couples separated for years due to circumstances or breakups, and then A hears B before they see each other...
58. Characters standing up for each other
59. Partners in crime
60. Gallows humor
61. Men deferring to women
62. Men in suits
63. The hero/heroine losing
64. Adversaries who are evenly matched in abilities.
65. Work partners who are basically married but never even kiss
66. Outsider POV, especially when they notice that Main Couple is going to get together/is flirting/totally hate each other but are totally going to do it, and basically they are rolling their
eyes at them
67. Characters addressing each other by last name
68. Characters being mean to each other, but underneath, there’s love, affection, or at least respect
69. Oral sex on women
70. Ladies who are ridiculously feminine but still able to injure the bad guy when the situation calls for it, especially if that injury is caused using really girly weapons, ie: stabbing him with
a nail file. Because take that, patriarchy.
71. Pining
72. Food porn
73. Scenes of characters cooking. It can be one character cooking while working through something, two characters flirting, a group having a disaster in the kitchen, anything.
74. Mentions of safer sex practices. If not during the actual love scene, then later references to it. Especially if it’s their first time together, or they’ve been reunited recently. Established relationships don’t bug me in the same way, but otherwise I need some sort of acknowledgement at some point
75. The morning after.
76. Spy AUs. Always.
77. 1920s speakeasy AUs.
78. Oral fixations in general. If A’s crush is chewing on her pen, A should be watching and dying a little inside.
79. Everyone else knows they’re secretly in love, except the two of them
80. I loathe you, I love you, I loathe that I love you
81. Character A is turned on by Character B’s brain
82. Character A touches Character B’s forehead with hers. Are they friends? Lovers? Something in between? I I don’t care, because foreheads touching always gets me
83 Growing and changing in ways that are in-character.
84. Characters who appreciate when their peers are funny. On Friends, no one ever laughed at Chandler’s jokes. What sort of friends don’t laugh at your jokes?
85. Men who are caregivers
86. Women who seduce to get what they want
87. There’s a war happening. I don’t want to read about the battle, but I love knowing what’s happening on the homefront
88. Fractured fairy tales.
89. Makeovers! But, B liked A before she changed.
90. Also, A changed for herself, damnit.
91. Character A is a human disaster. He spends twenty minutes trying to hail a taxi. B walks up to him, sticks out a hand, and has a taxi a moment later. A and B have always been friends,
but A has some quiet resentment simmering there.
92. Motifs.
93. Bad blind dates.
94. Awesome titles.
95. Mysteries.
96. Especially locked room mysteries.
97. Locked room scenes in general.
98. Parties! How did I not mention parties earlier? I love a good party fic /sequence/day- after scene. People drinking at parties. People flirting at parties. People making out in the front-
hall closet at parties. Boring parties, and then A shows up and it’s awesome. Ragers. Wine-and-cheese. Birthday parties, always.
99. Secret dating
100. Accidental kissing.
101. Hopeful endings. I don’t necessarily need things to end happily, or even end, really, but ultimately, I am an optimist through to my core, and I can’t end with despair. The world is good, and things can get better, and I just always am going to believe that.