Maybe because the characters are too familiar that it’s hard to bring it somewhere. If there’s something to say about such writers, I’d say “tell me something I don’t know”.

Because you’re right in every single aspect. Including the crossover ones. I admit some craky crossovers might just work but most of them don’t. And crossovers between more than two things will tend to go down the too many characters route.

I just read your little article here and laughed heartily. You nailed some issues of fanfic nicely. But why “admit” that you read fanfic now and then? It’s not a crime. I love reading books, and I amuse myself by reading fanfic if I feel like it.
But to be fair – an admission on my side. I write fanfic now and then. Why? Because it forces me to write in English. You can’t imagine what doing some dozen pages for a fanfic can do for your ability to write a foreign language. And there’s always some nice soul willing to betaread your stuff and tell you what you are doing wrong.
There was one thing on your article that made me frown, though: You won’t read a fanfic where nothing happens in the first paragraph/line? Sorry, I usually skip fanfics that throw too much action at me on the first paragraph. I admit, there are rare exceptions, that managed to built up a strong start like that. But fics a la: “The night Ginny Weasley was murdered her brother crossed the sund of Azkaban on the boat to the mainland..” are very rare. I usually enjoy some good describtions in the beginning, or a dialog – sequence if it is well done. Many good novels need an entire chapter before getting anywhere significant. (I particularly well remember reading J.F.Cooper as a kid, giving huge describtions of the Canadian landscape before anything else happened.)
Ah yes, and in your terms I tend to overuse adverbs. Mainly because most of the stories I write play in my head like a movie, and I try to describe what I “see” there.

Valandhir

A quick word about this, I think it depends… it helps people waste less time– taking the HP fandom for example, if I find Draco/Hagrid repellent, and a blurb announces that it will have that pairing, I will not need to waste time reading the fic before I realise the point of the fic.

On the flip side, sometimes I just want to read about a certain pairing. Having the pairing announced in the blurb doesn’t have to kill the surprise/tension, sometimes the best pairing fics are those that reinvent a familiar pairing with a fresh approach/perspective.

my best works are my evagelion fics, “Requiem” and “At World’s End”, i think. “requiem” especially–i was channeling some serious mojo when i wrote that one, and it kicks an unbelievable amount of ass, if i do say so myself. it’s also pretty much completely unlike anything else i’ve ever written (*cough*yaoi*cough*).

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3182385/1/Requiem
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3515932/1/At_Worlds_End

“DBZ Condensed”, which is a fic of…well, you know…is also a rarity in my work, as it is a comedy, and it *really* rips into the subject matter.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3849986/1/DBZ_Condensed

there’s other stories that people love to death, but quite frankly, i’m not so sure about all of those people.

if you decide to check out my profile page, do NOT look at “Breaking,” as it’s…well, plotless smut. really, if i had any shame, i’d just delete it. the people love it, though–see what i mean?

Sincerely,

pronker

pronker

Sounds like MaryJanice Davidson’s “Betsy, Queen of the Vampires” series, some of the most goofily fun paranormal romances that my wife drags home…

“If you have to have long expanses of narration without dialogue, put in paragraph breaks every so often. For my eyes.”

As someone on the rec.arts.sf,fandom newsgroup remarked: “Mr Paragraph is your friend.”

“Or: ‘he shouted angrily.’ When someone shouts, she is probably angry. And, hopefully, you’ve already made it clear through the dialogue and narration that the character is angry. Don’t be redundant.”

(1) “Hopefully”? for shame.
(2) In James Blish’s SF criticism written under the name “William Atheling Jr” i encountered the phrase “said bookisms”. He was death on them. And, as i recall, he wasn’t real big on using adverbs with them.

(Incidentally, i can whole-heartedly recommend to would-be writers in any fictional field – not just SF/Fantasy)the collections of the “Atheling” SF crit, “The Issue at Hand” {http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Advent/Blish-1.htm} and “More Issues at Hand” {http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Advent/Blish-2.htm}.)

“6. I will not read your fic if there is a Mary Sue in it.”

Case in Point (and by the original author, not fan-fic, no less): Lackey’s “Exile’s Valor” – which has other problems that ought to be typical of fan-fic, not the author’s own work, too. {http://electronictiger.net/reviews/exile.htm}

“7. I will probably not read your fic if it’s a crossover; I definitely won’t read it if it crosses over too many canons.

“Who in the world has seen all of those shows and is familiar enough with all of them to get your references?”

The late David McDaniel, who recognised every fan-boy’s dream and got PAID (and by the original creators, too) to write fan-fic (“an from UNCLE” novels) always had zillions of in-joke/obscure references, particularly in the book “The Rainbow Affair”, which is well-beloved by fans of the series (of books, that is, not necessarily of the show), and the equally-late John M Ford’s “How Much for Just the Planet”, and the not-so-late Barbara Hambly’s “Ishmael”, two “Star Trek” novels, revel in their refrences. Hambly crosses over “Star Trek” and “Here Come the Brides” (there is a certain inner logic to that, of course), and tosses in “Dr Who” and “Have Gun, Will Travel”, “Bonanza” and original “Battlestar: Galactica” references…

“Back to Batman, since it’s a shared text for most of us. Let’s say you decided to write a fanfic about Alfred. Why not? Alfred’s pretty great.

“What’s Alfred’s problem? Well, his main goal is to help Batman save Gotham. That’s his thing. I guess he also buttles from time to time.”

And he apparently is something like former SAS and was a mercenary in the 1960s or so… I think you’ve defined what i found irritating about “Batman Begins” and “Dark Knight” – the characters are out of character. And, oddly enough, the least out of character is Alfred who, the comics have shown us, was a commando in World War 2 and often takes an active part and frequently delivers rather crushing and sardonic commentary on “Master Bruce”‘s activities which obviously masks a deep concern…

Incidentally, a whole long page of nothing *but* “crossover fan-fic” (just the opening or a typical paragraph or two) is entitled “If Lord Of the Rings had been written by someone else!?” {http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=1265}