Hidden fanfic preferences laid bare...

[dangermousie]

So, I decided to come out of the closet. Fanfic reading closet, that is. And list my secret fanfic opinions/preferences, the ones I normally wouldn't. And I am curious what are yours? Share?

1. I don't like slash. I have nothing against a canon gay relationship being ficced but pairing two boys together just because two boys hotter than one is just as appallingly sexist as men with silly lesbian fantasies where the lesbians always look like college cherleaders. Blah. Taking a canonically straight character and writing them as gay just because he is hotter with a fellow boy than a woman? Yuck.

2. And yet I love Clark/Lex. I am a nasty hypocrite.

3. RPF/RPS, real people fic about anything, even if it's just them communing with trees? Makes me want to take a shower. I won't read it, I won't comment on it, I won't even skim it. That includes everything from the simplest authorial Mary Sue self-insertion to 'actors A and B are aliens fighting Martians in space' fic.

4. I don't mind incest fic, if it's either:
a. as messed-up as it should be
b. canon (I am a canon Nazi).

5. This said, if it's sibcest, OK. If it's parental figures, I don't care if it's messed up and/or canon. I will never ever read it.

6. Mpreg should die. So should gender swap fic. No, it's not OK for your character to suddenly wake up as a girl/boy.

7. Most humor fic is horrible. It's not funny or clever or anything. Just horrible.

8. The same is true for most cross-overs. Except for the few awesome ones.

9. I like Lord of the Rings Mary Sues. When they go for Gimli.

10. If I never read another Draco centric fanfic, it will be too soon.

11. If it's for a pairing/fandom there is little fic in, I will read anything, no matter how badly spelled.

12. Some fandoms there should never be any fic for, because the source material just won't be matched/won't work with fanfic. That includes Dorothy Dunnett, Shakespeare and Battle Royale.

13. Hatefics deserve hate. Any fic that is just about 'I hate character X so all canon characters do now too, all of a sudden?' Sucks.

14. I will never review if the story asks for reviews.

15. It takes a lot to make me flame (I'd rather not leave a comment at all), but I've done it. And didn't feel a bit sorry afterwards.

16. Deathfic. I just can't. No matter how good it is.

17. I used to read and like Highlander fic. h/c Highlander fic. Yes.

18. I don't get Buffy/Angelus fics. Not even S7 Buffy would be OK shacking up with a soulless murderous monster. And yes, DB is hot in leather pants but not enough to overlook that.

Any of your unpopular/hidden fic views?

Note: this doesn't mean I mind anyone else having different preferences etc. These are just my own.

Comments

[equustel.livejournal.com]

Re: slash - word.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[morwen_peredhil]

• Little-known fact: When I first started to read fanfic (LOTR), I read mostly slash because that was just about all I could find. Once I found LJ and the het I wanted all along, that was it for the far-less-satisfying slash.

• OMG, I thought it was just me! Slash for the sake of slash bores me, but I love Clark/Lex!

• Most incest squicks me. For some reason, though, the idea of Jon/Dany from ASOIAF works for me. Also, a bulletproof kink of mine is two brothers in love/sleeping with the same woman, separately or at the same time, but no matter what they can't actually have sex with each other.

• I just pretend RPS doesn't exist. Everyone is happier that way.

• Mpreg is about as low as non-RP fic can get. Even lower if it's furry mpreg.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Furry mpreg? There is such a thing? Oh God.

The only time I didn't mind mpreg was farscape with Rygel because, dammit, canon :D

What is ASOIAF?

[strippedpink.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, first of all I hope you know I respect you and your opinions very much, and I know you said you're not trying to come down on others for having different opinions, but this really strikes a chord with me and I can't NOT say something:

pairing two boys together just because two boys hotter than one is just as appallingly sexist as men with silly lesbian fantasies where the lesbians always look like college cherleaders. Blah. Taking a canonically straight character and writing them as gay just because he is hotter with a fellow boy than a woman? Yuck.

I dunno. I mean, I know I for one write fic only when the pairing calls to me - slash or not. It's not about who's hot and who's not, you know? For some people, sure it is, but labeling an entire genre as "appallingly sexist" kind of seems a bit unfair.

Then again, you are completely entitled to your own opinion, so there it is.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't necessarily think all slash is the equivalent of those 19th century lesbian paintings I've seen (don't ask) but I do find that tendency in a lot of slashfic (to be fair, there is an equivalent trend in hetfic where the author is writing het characters getting it on for tittilation).

I love Clark/Lex so my attitude is far from consistent btw. No idea why C/L gets me, but it does.

[katranna.livejournal.com]

Ha, none of this is news.

as appallingly sexist as men with silly lesbian fantasies where the lesbians always look like college cherleaders.

I know you're not talking about all slash (as ha, you can be totally slashy yourself far more often that you admit here), but I just have to note... I know what you mean here, but it just makes me realize how far we've come. Just 5 years ago, the idea of women enjoying m/m slash was in itself so unheard of that even slash-just-for-the-pretty-men was revolutionary in terms of gender relations. Now slash has become taken for granted enough and accepted enough that we can worry about sexism within it. This is honestly pretty cool.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Ha, none of this is news.

LOL. But then I've known you for what? 24 years? I still remember you when we fruitlessly used to try lock aliterati away because she wasn't cool enough to play with us at almighty 4 and 8 or whatever.

you can be totally slashy yourself far more often that you admit here

I did admit my Clark/Lex fetish here after all (blame aliterati and her corrupting influence). But yeah, it's interesting about slash being so recently mainstream. I wonder if RPF is next?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Just a thank you for the first one...I have NEVER understood that. I mean, canon gay...fine...not canon, why waste your time?

Ever look around the anime/manga fandoms? In most(that I've seen), fangirls will insist until they're blue in the face that 2 straight characters are the perfect pairing. They also hate most anime females because they're a love interest for a character they want to slash with someone else and they see them as an OTP interferer. BTW, this is where a LOT of the hate for Miaka in FY comes from.

I'm so happy that's mostly absent from the dorama fandom(at least, aside from a few Shuji/Akira NWP bits-which, while not canon and both guys are straight, I can at least see where the idea would spring from, certainly much more so than 99.9999% of other slash pairings-I haven't encountered)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, anime fandoms are the worst for this. In fact, point number one was brough up by looking for Ceres fic and finding oodles of Yuhi/Toya fics which just...Dear God.

HUH?

Forget canon straightness of both. Forget the fact that they are both in love with Aya (hell, for Toya it's literally his reason for being). But bwaaaaah? Why? What in their interaction (the little they have) would lead there, except, hey they are both hot.

And agree on Miaka hate reasons. A silly reason to hate a character but there it is.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

1. boyslash, agreed. Girlslash.... when there's as much girls as boys, then I'll agree. (If I hear OMG we are subverting the patriarchy crap one more time... 'cause, guess what, supporting female characters does far more good than making random men have sex.)
3. I would like to say I can be counted on to never write RPF, and then I'm reminded that I've written the Python boys and Douglas Adams into numerous Subreality bits.
6. Maybe someone will write me Kara/Anders genderswap. Until then...
7. *makes note*
8. Also guilty.
9. Mine went for Gandalf, she should totally count. ;]
11. Woe.
14. How I wish that everyone else followed this, instead of showering ten thousand words of praise on them.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Agreed on girlslash. I think it's quite telling there isn't much there. I don't have interest in most of it, but I don't have an ick reaction to it.

Maybe someone will write me Kara/Anders genderswap.

Hey, she totally wears the pants already :D

9. Mine went for Gandalf, she should totally count. ;]

LOL. Indeed.

[ayn-rand-fan-13.livejournal.com]

I don't have to tell you how I feel about slash.
I totally agree about RPF/RPS fics.
My new favorite thing in fanfic is crossover fic. It's like one fandom just isn't enough for me, I have to be reading two at a time.
I think just thinking about badfic is messing up my spelling, because I just almost wrote "to" as "two".

[ancarett]

I find m/m stories boring for the most part. Even canon ones! (I have made exceptions for Remus/Sirius stories in HP fandom, but that's about it.) However, I am often a fool for femslash.

I have one favourite Draco-centric story which I re-read every now and then: The More is My Unrest by Arabella & Jedi Boadicea over at Sugarquill

I generally don't read WIP, especially long, multi-chaptered sprawling epics. Which is why I'm writing and sporadically posting just such a story right now, I guess.

I hate second-generation stories.

And TV characters getting sucked into a TV or movie world, having to work through the plots of the author's favourites shows or films? Augh!!!

My second grade teacher said "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" and that's usually what I do with fic that I don't like. Having once made one snarky aside in a public journal about some fic I didn't like and having been slammed across the internet for the same, I guess that's still probably the best advice. But I don't regret the snark one little bit.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Anti-slash gang sinez!

[tassosss.livejournal.com]

1. I have two slash pairings: McKay/Sheppard and Jim/Blair. These are the only two that I can legitimately see if you squint at the canon (Though I never could stomach much TS canon so...) Everything else pretty much makes me cringe.

2. I ship most canon het pairings but anything outside that that doesn't have a long enough buildup to convince me makes me want to gouge my eyes out.

3. RPS doesn't exist in my little world. The one or two that I've clicked on (by authors I trust) I spent reading completely embarrassed.

4. Incest in any way shape or form makes me want to curl up and hurl. Just no. Never.

5. Genderswapping and mpreg I will read if I trust the author, and I've liked those.

Really if the author handles it well I'll give it a try. At the first sign of poor execution I hit the back button. I agree with you on humor fic and crossovers. I don't read Mary-Sue fic and if the author asks for reviews then I won't even read it. To me that's a sign of a bad writer.

[callmecaito.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with a lot of your dislikes, but at the same time you're tempting me to write exactly what you hate. It's like I'm really inherently obnoxious or something.

[summertea.livejournal.com]

but pairing two boys together just because two boys hotter than one is just as appallingly sexist as men with silly lesbian fantasies where the lesbians always look like college cherleaders

Er... that's sort of oversimplifying why people write slash. Some of us actually LIKE the characters and feel they play off of each other well or whatever. *stoic face*

[callmecaito.livejournal.com]

ARE YOU SURE IT'S NOT JUST FOR THE HOT PORNINGS?

[janlake83.livejournal.com]

okay if your coming out of the fanfiction reading closet then i have something to confess myself, i don;t just read them, i also write them... i know shameful but i can't help it....

[calledinvain.livejournal.com]

I prefer femmeslash myself, but it's always an adventure to find real gems, and not just gratuitous PWP (though, there's something to be said for the simplicity of p0rn) or the overwrought, overly flowery purple georgia o keefe flower licking.

But slash for the sake of slash does irk me a little bit, which is why I always sail on the good ship Gen at all times.

I have some RPF tendencies, but only in small small doses. *cough*

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

... wow, good femmeslash? Willing to share any recs? That's like the holy grail, right there.

Hee! I only like my RPF when it's as crazy as can be, and there's no pretense at realism.

[kitsune714.livejournal.com]

Ooh. This is hard for me, because I've been in so many fandoms and have been reading and writing fic for so long that it's hard to figure out what my "do"s and "do not"s are. I have a fairly open mind when it comes to reading fanfiction, but I will say that there was a time in my life when I avoided RPF like the plague. I am mostly okay with it now (even RPS, but that's JE related, and a whole other beast entirely), because I kind of compartmentalize it into fiction rather than fact, and because there are some really excellent writers out there who dabble in this medium, and...yes, my logic sounds very weird in my head, but you know where I'm going. I stay away from "hatefic". It is very stupid. I just don't go there--it'd make my brain bleed. I try to avoid Fanfiction.net most of the time (it's the Pit of Voles for a reason), but I will say that I've uncovered a gem or two while sifting through all the offerings.


11. If it's for a pairing/fandom there is little fic in, I will read anything, no matter how badly spelled.

I admit to this. And then when I got frustrated with what I did find, I'd just start writing my own.

When it comes to writing, I'm a canon Nazi myself, you know this, but I have no qualms about sticking canon characters in a canon relationship in a totally AU situation...so long as they're still the same characters, the same people. That said, I am not above crack!fic, wherein all rules are out the window (except for my always, always, always present rules of writing -- coherence, grammar, and for god's sake, no idiocy!).

Sap kills me. I struggle with writing romance or fluff that isn't too OTT or unrealistic. I just can't do it, because I write what I know, what I can visualize, what I see. I could never write a "Miaka falls into mortal danger and now Tamahome must go save her and Miaka's DYING AND OMG" fic, because I wouldn't trust myself with it.

7. Most humor fic is horrible. It's not funny or clever or anything. Just horrible.

I struggle with writing humor fic. I think it's harder to make someone laugh than it is to make someone cry, mostly because humor is a delicate and personal thing.

4. I don't mind incest fic,

Score one for Asian media! Welcome to the dark side, my dear, we're happy to have you.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Just wondering. Where do fanfic readers find these fanfics? :D Not only through LJ I suppose?

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

LJ communities have become the v. v. big source for fanfic in most fandoms, I think, though there are always specialized archives and (of course) fanfiction.net.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. Just out of curiousity, what is:
1. Canon
2. Mpreg

I used to read a lot of La Femme Nikita fics, but they were pretty much normal stuff. The worst they get (I think) is getting their fave actor(s) to be a gay >_< Eeeeeeeeeek.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

Mpreg = Male pregnancy. Usually very, very creepy and disturbing fic where a character falls pregnant. "Michael wakes up and realizes that he is pregnant! Read as what kind of whacky adventures ensue as he battles morning sickness and swollen feet!"

Canon = whatever happens in the source material. I think the word orginally was mostly used in religious matters. The religious texts are the canon and various scholars argued whether a certain text was "canonical" meaning whether it should be considered part of the sacred works. In tv shows, the tv shows and what we can see the characters do on screen is the canon. People can argue whether for example supplementary comic books or deleted scenes or writer interviews are canon too or if canon is only the stuff that is tangible or canon is only what the original writer has written. Contrast to that is fanon = things that fans made up themselves to fill the holes in canon. Those ideas fans about the characters can always be negated by canon, a process that is often referred to as "being Jossed" ;D

[thelana.livejournal.com]

I guess my unpopular opinion then that I'm mostly looking for fanfic to find things that aren't in canon. Or rather, I watch most shows I like live and therefore I want fic to cover things that aren't covered in canon (prime example: there isn't much background exploration for character X or pairing Y/Z, so I want fic that tackles that) because after all I'm still getting canon. Now if I like something in a *closed* canon source, then I'm more likely to want very canonical fic, because dammit, I loved the canon and it's over and I want more, I want more, I want more.

Though I'm guessing fandom size has a lot to do with it. If there is not much fic, I'm likely to want it to be canonical. If there already is tons of fic, then I'm more accepting of exploring more varied and more extreme possibilities. [for example, I wouldn't see the point of I don't know, tons of Paul/Duncan Idaho fic when there isn't a substantiate amount of work to explore Paul/Chani first]

On the other hand, while I do like fic that strays from canon (A and B are not in a relationship together, how would they be like in one; what would happen if C and D got stuck in a room together), I also don't want it to stray from canon too much. For example, I have a deep dislike for random AUs. AUs can be a really cool thing (what if Harry was sorted into a different house, what if his parents were still alive, what if there was no Harry), but I have a deep hate for AUs that seem to be designed just fix whatever realistically keeps the characters from hooking up in canon (Harry and Draco get along just because! Mulder suddenly doesn't care about his sister quest anymore!) and/or seem to be because the author apparently can't think of any good story about the characters (X is an interior designer and Y is a sexy house owner, X and Y highschool AU! X and Y meet on the Titanic!).

In the end, raging OOCness is the biggest turnoff in any sort of fic. After all, the *events* can still be canon [like a canon pairing hooks up], yet the way the characters are written can still be OOC (like simpering emotional damsel in distress Buffy who clings to big, powerful Spike/Angel). The same definitely goes for "Everybody is gay, YAY!" slash fic. Makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Guess I like some amount of leaving canon, but not too much.

I think my prime rule on what is acceptable is that you should at least never directly go against something that is canon. If character X loves character Y, that doesn't mean that you can never write X with another person. It just means that you better give me a really good explanation of why X/Z would happen. Of course there are degrees of it. Buffy's love for Angel would be a bigger hurdle to overcome than for example Xander's love for Anya. I guess a big pet peeve of mine in slash is writing a character as fully gay when we *know* the character has been interested in women in canon. To me that just doesn't compute because it *directly* goes against canon.

In the end, I admire a creative story. If somebody can come up with an alternative explanation of how to properly fill the holes in canon that is still in line with the events of canon, then I'll probably respect that story even if I know that it probably wouldn't be the author's interpretation. (and that was probably my deep issue with Lex/Clark; I realize that Clark/Lana sucks; but they are still canon; These are still certain things that Clark did. I'm all for Lex/Clark, but please, throw me a bone and explain where and how you divert from the Clark/Lana canon and make Clark's actions come off as realistic)

slash stuff

[thelana.livejournal.com]

BTW, I have read somebody's very interesting suggestion of why people slash (or incest or UC couple). They see a tension or a deep relationship of sorts (friends, enemies, even relatives) and the tool of sex/romantic declarations is any easy way to "peak" a relationship. Let's say you really love a certain relationship (like Clark and Lex and the way they act around each other; or I dunno, get fascinated by the way Lily and Veronica or Lily and Duncan act around each other), you want to write about it. Fairly or not, we consider romantic and/or sexual fullfillment the highest type of story. If there is no romantic resolution and angle happy ends often don't feel as full to us. So people easily fall into telling the stories of their preferred relationship in a romantic or sexual way because that's a type of story, a progression that we are all familiar with.

Misogyny in fandom, I have mused and rambled on that quite a bit and yeah, I do think that it's a topic that people should wonder about (for themselves). It's kinda like the "Hey, look at your shipping/character fannishness pattern. How many black characters like you. How many of them are you willing to ship with other characters? The answer is not a single one in all the fandoms you have been in and from all the characters you have ever liked? Is that normal? What's your explanation? Would you say that that is a problematic situation?". [going with the whole idea that it is the *personality* and the character that matters rather than the gender or skin color; by that logic how is it possible that of all the characters out there not a single black or female character is cool and interesting enough to deserve fannish or fanfic attention? Doesn't feel logical to me.]

I do think that there are many different angles to the whole issue. For example, I think lot's of people automatically ship the main characters. Meaning if Sam and Dean are the main characters they will ship Sam and Dean. If McKay and Shepard are the main characters they will ship McShep. If Buffy is the main character they will ship her.

DTA: Just wanted to add, I have never gotten the point of happy!incest. I just don't get it. At all. Then again, I've generally never gotten the point of most happy!fic if it doesn't fit with canon. And having an incest relationship means immdiate grim and dark canon.

My problem with RPF is that I don't get it. It's not that I dislike it, but that I usually just generally find it boring. David Boreanaz might be nice and hot guy, but last time I checked he wasn't an angsty cool vampire with a soul. Sorry dysfunctional vampire with a soul is just more interesting. I like these characters because they have stories and unique backgrounds. Actors are just normal people who I assume are just living their lives. Not to mention, most actor RPF I have met seems to intentionally have no canon. "Viggo is a hot artist and Orlando is a sexy photographer! SRK is a business magnat and Kajol is his sexy maid!" I can see why that might make RPF writers feel better about themselves, but this makes the whole thing even more boring to me. If there is no canon that you try to adhere to, what's the point really? After all, if you changed the names you would have an Original fic and I wouldn't read your Original fic either.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

2. And yet I love Clark/Lex. I am a nasty hypocrite.

Dude, I have seen the show. That shit IS canon.


PF/RPS, real people fic about anything, even if it's just them communing with trees? Makes me want to take a shower.

*shifty eyes* Then I... won't show you the cracktastic fic where Kristen Bell and Jason Dorhing join forces with Joshua Jackson to save Katie Holmes from the evil clutches of you-know-who...


10. If I never read another Draco centric fanfic, it will be too soon.

Bwaha! In my never-ending quest to find decent Hr/Dr fanfic (so far yielding a grand total of THREE. And a half.), I stumble across so many stories that make me go, "bwuh? Have they read the books?"

Then I realize of course not, because Hermione is the Pink Power Ranger in the movies and hey, who needs canon when you have pretty hair.


I don't get Buffy/Angelus fics.

*digs toe in the ground* I've never read any fic for this pairing, but always thought it sounded hot.

Herein lies the problem: you grew up on 19th century French novels, where the heroes are all desperate romantics. Me? Russian realism, where they're all magnificent bastards.

I feel like this explains so much.

[scottishlass.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I not only read fanfic but also write it, even *cough* RPF /cough and I have written a blatant Mary Sue once (a complete series).

What I don't like in fanfic are slash and dark fics (where either RP or character suddenly turn all dark/vampirish/murderous etc.) they give me the creeps.

As for slash, I have a problem with it as most involve either pretty boys with older men (Harry Potter *shudders*) or it is mostly PWP and soooooo unrealistic (concerning homosexual sex) that it either creeps me out or makes me want to fall down laughing so hard. Now with my recent obsession with JE, I am in somewhat macabre fascination that there is so much slash around but I guess that is even wanted by JE for whatever nefarious reasons they they spur these pairings with the obvious fanservice but I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole - one slash story about SMAP (but as Host Men Club characters) which wasn't labelled properly was enough to want me poke my eyes out. Period.

I have been blessed to start out in two of the best fandoms that have tons of real good fanfic which is not only coherent and a pleasure to read but also grammatically correct without silly netspeak. This of course also turned me into a very tough reader. Even if a story sounds okay, but grammar and spelling mistakes want to make me pull my hair out, I don't continue reading (I guess that is the editor in me in RL). Additionally, I turn down stories for archiving if they are badly written (Space Above And Beyond Fanfic Flightdeck).

As for incest fic - as long as it is sibcest (and here strangely enough I don't mind the occasional slash) anything else weirds me out on so many levels.

[lydzi.livejournal.com]

1 - WORD!! I feel the exact same way.
2 - Ah ah. I dont like Smallville ^^ *dodges the projectiles*. Hum, the only ship that made sense for me at the time that all my friends were watching it, was Chloe and Lex. 4cause they were the only ones with an actual brain *-*.
3 - They are not very much of it né? I think I read maybe five of it only in my life...and I read a lot (LOT) of fanfictions (less now, but that's all because of Asian drama and music ^^). One about Rupert and Emma (HP actors) and one about Jake Gyllenhal and can't remember his name-Dennis (Brokeback mountain). And also about the kids of Narnia (but it was all about friendship and love and therefore cute as a button ^^). They don't make a lot of sense though.
4 - That's the two primordial thing. I'm not very fond of incest. Maybe because I have a brother and just the thought of it is eurk!
5 - Agreed. Double eurk!
6 - YES!!!! I never read it but just the summary makes me wanna burn the damn computer *-*.
7 - It's all about sugar and high speed. But when you find one fic really humoristic it's priceless. I kept some of them and I just love to re-read it ^^. Never gets old ^^.
8 - Crossovers are too difficult to write. I wrote one once about the Baudelaire Orphans and Harry Potter. I just did the first chapter and never continued :/.
9 - LOL
10 - LOL bis
11 - It depends. Sometimes it's too bad spelled. Seeing my english, I won't understand anyway if it's too badly written.
12 - How can you make a fic out of Shakespeare? o_O
13 - Does that exist? o_O
14 - Héhé. If they ask politely I do. If they say something along the "If you don't review, I won't continue" well...
15 - I never did. I guess I'm too lazy for it anyway.
16 - Emo.
17 - LOL! Highlander fics? ^^ Methos is the win ^^.
18 - Not a fan of Buffy so...and even so, I never liked Angel/Angelus. So don't know ^^.

[fivil.livejournal.com]

1. Lalala ignoring. Nah, heh, it's also about character dynamic for me. I'm sort of a pairing whore so honestly? Canon, not canon, slash, het, I don't care. If they're in the same frames and I think they'd have an interesting chemistry, I'll totally want to explore that, either in fic or just in my head, by writing it, not writing it - whatever goes.

9. Gimli's a PIMP, yo.

My own, hmm. I was a writer before fandom and often wrote half-biographical pieces just to get some thoughts and feelings out of my head and onto the paper. Other times something around me would happen and I'd write about it, just be fascinated by it all as an observer. So basically I've never been a stranger to fictionalizing real people, and even though I can see why people would find RPF deeply disturbing, I do get why it gets written. If I do write it myself, though, it's borderline original fic and mostly just vaguely inspired by actual people and I keep it to myself. Maybe because of that I see my own RPF as very different from the other RPF. The the other RPF is a sick fascination for me. A real guilty pleasure of sorts, though there are times when I'll go "Oh that's just wrong!" and avoid it like plague.

I can't come up with any other confessions for now.

[partypaprika.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I started reading fanfics due to an Orlando Bloom obsession, so I definitely have read a lot of RPF. That being said, I'm not so much a fan of them anymore, but they'll definitely hold a special place in my heart. : )
And I do like fics with humor. Most of the ones that I tend to find also focus on other things, but when an author is witty and funny, I eat it up. If it's really well written, I'll even let it get away with not having a romantic subplot.
Draco? *looks sheepish* I've been known to like Draco fics upon occasion. I'm not too sure why, because I really don't like him in the books. I guess it's the extreme romantic in me that thinks that he's secretly angsting inside, and therefore hot and angsty : )
When I first started reading fanfics, I was very selective about pairings, but now I've found that the pairings aren't as important of the quality. If a story is really well written, it could be about anything and I'll probably be able to get into it. That being said, I still haven't read the one about Dumbledore and the goat.

[pangea-maru.livejournal.com]

A big fat WORD to almost everything you've listed! :-) As a general rule, I'm a canon whore - especially canon characterization. In fact, I'm gonna have to insist on this point; nothing annoys me more than reading a fic in which everyone's OOC. Once read a train wreck of an Adama/Roslin fic (on the Vole Pit) in which they acted like sex-starved teenagers, then lived happily ever after with their twin Jedi children; I needed mind bleach for a week.

I tend to avoid slash & incest fic (although I'm ashamed to admit I once read a Lee/Zak fic that was seriously hot.) Dark fic (or hurt/comfort fic) disturbs me; it's one thing to write about kinky consensual PWP, but storylines involving rape/torture/stalking? Count me out please. If you really think Scully just has to be raped by aliens to get Mulder to sleep with her out of sympathy, please euthanize your creative muse.

There are some things that are just wrong to me; RPF is one of them. It's one thing to understand the characters within a given fandom, but this doesn't mean you know the actors who play them. I see RPF as an invasion of the actors' privacy, so I avoid it altogether.

I have a healthy ability to suspend disbelief, but even that only goes so far. Things like mpreg, gender/body switching, gee-whiz science that saves the day and other inane plot bunnies can ruin an otherwise good fic for me. If the pregnant McKay & Sheppard's lives depend on Teyla communicating with her secret twin sister from beyond the grave so she can switch bodies with Ronon to save them, you might want to rethink that plot. This is not to say I hate this stuff; I just find it too silly to read.

Character death fics make me sad (even if I hate the character.) I avoid baby!fics too - just a personal preference. I really don't feel like reading a play-by-play of someone having morning sickness, stretch marks & labor pains. Extra points subtracted if it's a miracle baby being born.

My final pet peeve? For the love of all that is holy, please spell the characters' names correctly! There's no excuse for this. I'm willing to forgive grammatical errors & other misspellings, but if someone hasn't bothered to spell "Roslin" correctly, can I really hope they've paid attention to anything else about the character?

My guilty pleasures? I love well-written AU, crack!fic and cross-overs, as long as characters remain in character. In my imaginary world, all the characters of my favorite fandoms interact with one another; it's like one giant cross-over fanfic-in-progress. :-D Then again, I'm weird like that.

[druidspell.livejournal.com]

Re: RPF/RPS, Hatefics, asking for reviews: WORD. Lots of them, in fact.
Re: Incest: I'm very iffy on what I'll accept in this. It has to be written/recced by someone I'd either a) read their grocery list and love it, or b) trust with my life savings that our taste in fic is similar.

I also have huge squick buttons for humiliation, rape, amtdi, and certain pairings in my fandom (Stargate: Atlantis)

(here from metafandom, btw)