When I first started my recommendations page, I had no idea that it would
grow to the extent that it has, or that it would ever get as so many hits. But since that
is (happily) the case, it has been suggested to me that I set up some kind of boundaries
to outline just what kind of stories I tend to favour. Please keep in mind that there will
always be some exceptions to the rules. So without further ado, here are the...
Recommendation Guidelines
“Oh baby, you know what I like...”
“I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me...”
Characterization. I’m a big believer in good characterization. The best
stories to me are ones where I can actually ‘hear’ the characters *saying* the dialogue
in my head. Now, granted, there are some stories that I love in which the characters
aren’t anything like what I see on tv, but such cases are rare. I make exceptions for
these kinds of stories only when the author takes the time to successfully convince me
with words why the people I know and love from the screen have become so different
than what I expect them to be.
“I’m out of my head...spelled ‘H.E.D’...”
Typos. As a writer myself, I know better than most just how easy it is to
overlook the occasional boo-boo in a story, even with one or more beta readers
pouring over the text first. As a reader, if such things are infrequent, I will happily
overlook them. What I can’t tolerate are stories that are filled with errors -- especially
stuff that the average spellchecker should detect. If a writer doesn’t care enough for
his/her story to check it over before posting, then why should I care enough to take the
time to read it?
“It was over in a minute...”
Story length. I’m a big believer in the longer-type story. Call me picky, but I
almost never read anything under 10K unless it is a humor piece or it’s by an author
that I prefer. I hate getting into a story, only to have it end abruptly like 5 pages later.
It’s usually much nicer when an author takes his/her time to go into detail rather than
just providing a skeleton of a plot.
“And all the girlies say he’s pretty fly for a white
guy...”
Dialogue. Obi-Wan talking like a character out of ‘Clueless’...Blair calling
Jim ‘baby’ in the heat of passion...Star Trek characters asking the replicator for blue
jeans...Buffy and Xander conversations sprinkled with words like ‘obsequious’ and
‘propensity’... There is nothing I hate more than poorly constructed dialogue.
Authors: Please write dialogue in the manner in which characters actually speak!
Unless you’re writing Data from ST:TNG, don’t be afraid of contractions. And if I
have to read one more story with human characters (Methos excluded) that utilize the
terms ‘Gods!’ or ‘Gawd!’ -- I’m crackin’ skulls! If you are that afraid of the religious
connotations, please come up with some other oath for the character to utter!
“Feels like the first time, feels like the very first
time...”
First times. Yup. I’m a big sucker for first time stories. In fact, I rarely read
anything but. Almost every slash or adult story on the recs list will fall into this
category for one simple reason. For me, it’s always the best part -- reading each
author’s interpretation of how the characters initially get together.
“I’m not talking about red roses or wedding bells; I’m talking
pure sex...deep sex...hard sex...rough sex...”
Romance or Nailing-someone-to-the-mattress? Hmmm, this is a toughie.
The problem here is that I like both, depending on what my mood is at the time.
There are days when I find myself looking for the most graphic, steamy sex scene I can
find. Yet, there are other times when I’m more interested in the ‘hearts-and-flowers’
part of stories while I simply scroll on down past the ‘knockin’ boots’ stuff. Usually
I’ll make a comment on the hotter stories, and the more...um...gentile ones are labeled
as ‘non-graphic’ for slash and ‘gen’ for m/f relationships.
“Wham...bam...thank you, ma’am...”
PWP’s. (aka ‘Plot? What Plot?’ or ‘Porn Without Plot’) I have to admit that
I’m not a big fan of this type of story -- see my earlier comments on stories length and
first times. Either the sex needs to be of the ‘monitor-melting’ variety or there must
be one hell of a ‘twink’ to make it worth my while.
“On some pretense paper-thin...”
Realism. To my way of thinking, the best stories are those that fall under the
heading of ‘could be an episode’. I love stories that reflect something that could
possibly happen in real life -- mutant powers/immortality/demon possession/heightened
senses aside. Sure, so many of the characters have some kind of supernatural status,
but the interesting part to me is putting them in situations where they have to deal with
more common problems -- whether in the past, present, or future. Which leads me to
my next point...
“I wish the real world would just stop hassling me
...”
AU’s. Have to say that I’m not a big fan of this genre, unless it involves
‘fix-it’ stories for canon plot decisions I like even less (eg. the endings of SW:TPM or
Due South). As for the standard, run-of-the-mill AU’s; for the most part, I’ll pass.
“Hail, hail, the gang’s all here...”
“aka ‘Come together...’”
Character involvement. Okay, yes, I’m a sucker for stories that utilize a lot of
supporting characters from any given fandom, rather than just the two leads. Bonus
points go to stories that bring past guests or minor characters back (in a non-sexual
capacity) to interact with the ones in the spotlight. Hmm, I guess a good example
would be Connor MacLeod making a cameo in a HL story, or Amidala and Anakin
showing up in a TPM fix-it.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are...”
Slashing everybody. This is HUGE pet peeve of mine -- stories
where the writer suddenly decides that everybody the leads know/are friends
with/work with are secretly gay themselves...and (gasp!) are already in an established
relationship with another minor character! This definitely stems from the sense of
reality thing I mentioned earlier.
“I know all there is to know about the crying
game...”
Feminization of slashed characters. If I visualize ‘em swishing from the way
they’re written, I’m outta there. This includes (but is not limited to) stories that
contain cross-dressing, excessive crying, mushy ‘saccharine’ dialogue, and (with the
exception of the ‘Left Hand of Madness’) all gender-swapping stories.
“Is she perverted like me...?”
Mary Sue’s. Hate ‘em. Don’t read ‘em. End of story. (For those that
require an explanation, ‘Mary Sue’s’ are where the author writes him/herself into a
story with established canon characters. All too often, these original characters are
perfect -- tall, beautiful, 38-24-26, super-skilled -- that invariably do something to save
the lead characters’ asses at least once in any given story before taking the canon guys
to bed and having their wicked way with them).
“David Duchovny, why won’t you love
me...?”
Actor fic. I find all fic of this genre to be in incredibly poor taste as well as an
enormous invasion of privacy for the actors involved. I promise that you will never
find any actor fic recommended on my site.
“Everything runs right on time...”
Conventional ‘ships. Boring. If I can see it on-screen (a la Buffy/Angel or
Duncan/Amanda), why would I want to read about it? I like fic that centers around
relationships that I will most likely never get to see, like slash pairings...or even
Mulder/Scully.
“Then the night exploded and you begged him
no...”
Rape/non-consensual sex. I know this is an uncomfortable subject for a lot of
folks, but surprisingly I don’t mind it -- provided that it is handled realistically. I
abhor stories with ‘oh, I only have to spend one romantic evening with my one, true
love and all the horrible memories are completely forgotten’ plotlines. If a writer
attempts to tackle this subject, he/she should have the decency to delve into the
emotional turmoil and seriousness of this kind of violent crime. IMHO, anything less
is an insult to the real survivors out there. I will always put warnings on any story that
contains any type of rape scene.
“You treat me like a dog and get me down on my
knees...”
BDSM. Okay, this genre is not really my cup of tea. All too often, the
authors end up taking the characters...well...too far out of character for me to believe.
Either that, or they reduce the ‘sub’ partner to a sniveling, pathetic shell of the person I
know from the screen. I will also put warnings on these kind of stories.
“Don’t fear the Reaper...”
Death Stories. I can go either way with these kind of stories, but I know that
a lot of readers are easily squeaked by this. Again, there will be warnings.
“A poor husk of a man, look at what you’ve
become...”
Torture/character debilitation. Given my propensity of doing harm to Angel, I
have to walk a very fine line with this one. To me, a certain amount of
character-ouchies are acceptable -- provided that they have some kind of plot purpose.
But there is a fine line between hurt/comfort and the ‘abuse abyss’ that ruins so many
stories. There is nothing I hate worse than an author who reduces a character to
drooling lump. Bleck.
Well, that about sums it up. Like I said, there will be exceptions to many
of these points in the various stories listed. So, if you’re still interested please proceed
to...
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