Thinky- what makes fic well written?

[slashxmistress]

How do you decide that a fic is "well-written"?

I see this all the time in seek comms and elsewhere- asking for "well-written" fics and well - that just seems so generic and unspecific to me. (and actually kind of pretentious too tbqh)

Is it 'well-written' because you like it? If you don't like it does that make it not well -written?

What quantifies something as well- written? Good grammar? no typos? Long, pretentious, character studies?

I judge a fic by if I enjoy it , if it makes me think , or feel (and yes horny is a feeling :P if it's hot that totally counts), but some of my very, very favorites are probably not that "well-written" in the English major kind of way. Does that matter? Not to me.

Comments

[patchworkwounds.livejournal.com]

It's well written to me if I don't have to stop halfway through to c/p it into a word doc in order to filter out the typos. :D

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

LOL! I hear you there- if the typos/grammar are so bad that it rips me out of the story I cringe.

But even that I consider bad beta/bad editing/posting too soon - not bad writing . Good authors are not necessarily good grammarians. That's why publishing houses have editors- lots and lots of editors :D

[jamie-dear.livejournal.com]

A fic is well-written when you don't have to click the back button because you grow weary of typos. And if they actually suck you into the story and it's describing what's going on, what the characters are feeling, etc. I could go on. :P

[katilara.livejournal.com]

I will, on occasion, enjoy things that aren't well written, and vice versa. 'Well-written' is a qualitative judgment that I try not to make about me, but rather about what I know about literature as a whole. If I tell someone that something is well-written I mean that there were no or few grammatical errors and typos, that the story flowed well and was paced appropriately, and that the over-arching plot came to a satisfying conclusion. Also, something that shows intense research will make me kind of giddy. ♥

But I do agree that asking for something that is 'well-written' is very vague. What I use to define that won't be the same as what the next person uses, and it sets us all up for disappointment.

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

I could go on
Well please do! - I really am interested in what people think about this.

As to typos- that drives me crazy too - but as I told patch - I tend to think of that as bad editing. - SO maybe people should be asking for well edited fics :D

[tuesdaysgone.livejournal.com]

To me, well-written means no major spelling, grammar, or syntax errors. I may stop reading a story completely if I reach my threshold in the first few paragraphs. It's really hard for me to get into the plot of a story if I'm distracted by wanting to edit it immediately. But it's subjective and depends on how intrigued I am by the plot.

[itsallhushhush.livejournal.com]

I think of "well written" as having very few grammar problems/no typos.

I think a fic can be well written, but not necessarily good. So, you know...idk, it's kind of subjective...

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

But isn't that just bad editing?
Is that what people really mean when they ask for 'well -written ' fic?
I mean if you read an early copy of -say- Crime and Punishment (just pulled that out of thin air w/e :D) and it was full of typos - would that make it badly written?

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

I'm noticing a pattern here :P
Again - isn't that just badly "edited"

A fic can be typo free, grammatically correct - and boring as hell

If I wrote 20 pages of say, Brendon , counting pebbles on the beach and describing each one in nauseating detail - all with perfect grammar and spelling- would it be good writing?

[patchworkwounds.livejournal.com]

Weird grammar doesn't bother me, unless it's the wrong kind of 'there' etc, but spelling really gets to me, that and missing punctuation XD

Although, if something sucks me into the story and I get the scenes from it replaying in my head over and over I completely forget about typos because the whole thing is worth it.

[jamie-dear.livejournal.com]

uh, okay! lots of things bug me about fics. like, sex scenes are sort of a do or die, they're either good or bad, there's no in between.I hate it when people use the 'scientific' terms of the body. Well-written fics to me have a good flow to them, it doesn't branch off into some completely irrelevant little detour.
They have interesting plots that haven't been used before (though, that is very difficult in the Patd fandom nowadays) and actually make me want to read it.
And I know this is 'judging a book by it's cover', but it always helps to have a good summary. One line from the story doesn't really get me hooked, I want to know what I'm about to read before I click on a link and slow down my computer. I've seen people use whole paragraphs, and that works a bit better, but it has to be one that actually describes a little bit.
And that's all I can think of right now. :]

[redorchids.livejournal.com]

LOL. Nice topic. :-)

To me, well-written means the following:

- Good enough grammar/spelling/syntax/punctuation that I don't have to re-read sentences to understand what the writer is trying to say. Language should be flowing nicely and easy to read.

- Internal consistency. Characters should not become strangers to themselves half-way through the story (fluffy-puppy!brendon should not suddenly turn into sexy-showman!brendon with no warning or plausible explanation)

- The plot needs to work well enough that the writer doesn't have to resort to stupid gimmicks to keep it going in the right direction (like making all her characters randomly forget all the magic they learned over the past six years whenever it's convenient *cough, cough*) I don't care if the plot is an epic space AU with a full cast and 95 different sub-plots and intrigues or a simple "Ryan and Spencer are playing Halo in Spencer's room and then they make out." (That is a completely awesome plot, btw :-)) but it has to make sense all the way through. Direct contradictions like "I erased my parents' memories and sent them to Australia" / "I don't know any Memory Charms" are an instant *headdesk* for me. So are shoddy timelines where people end up doing stuff with people before they actually met them and such. (Or when it takes Voldemort EIGHT HOURS to zap around and check on his horcruxes in a universe where you're able to Apparate. :-))

- There needs to be some kind of interest in the story for me (aka, I want to enjoy reading it). There should be a purpose behind (like "this is supposed to be hot" or "this is supposed to be sad" or "this is a Ryan character study") This tends to go hand in hand with the above points though. A story with no defined purpose ("hot porn! hot porn with toppy!brendon \o/") will tend to ramble, forget about its own characters and what the plot was all about somewhere half-way through.

Wow. Long comment. :-)
But yeah, that pretty much sums up "well-written" for me.

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

if something sucks me into the story and I get the scenes from it replaying in my head over and over I completely forget about typos because the whole thing is worth it.

Absolutley!- That's how I feel too.

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

&long comments; !:D

This is a great comment!

Consistency is a big thing for me. It's one reason I can't read a lot of the 'epic' 400 chapter fics- especially when they are WIP's and the author is making it up as he/she goes. They almost always get ridiculously lost :P

And I agree! There needs to be some sort of point- even if that point is only "Brendon is a hot top"- you should stick to showing me how that is and not ramble off into how good he is at Guitar Hero or how many Skittles he can eat :D

[tuesdaysgone.livejournal.com]

Editing is an integral part of writing, though. Presentation counts. An early copy of anything is bound to have typos and grammar mistakes, weirdly phrased sentences, etc. And that's what a beta reader is for. But an author isn't resolved of all responsibility once they've handed a fic off to their beta. A finished work shouldn't have any of these things; or at least as few as possible. Yes, the story is the most important part, but the words and sentences are the building blocks, and they need to be as strong as the narrative. I fully admit to being a perfectionist, though, so that is probably coloring my opinion.

[redorchids.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you on the well-written/well-edited distinction. :-) Well-written is in the execution of the story, not the amount of typos. Syntax plays a part for "well-written" for me, though, because syntax affects the story flow in a whole other way. Like, I read this one fic that was pretty made up of short sentences piled on top of each other.

Illustration of this: "Brendon walked on a road. There was a cat on the road. "Hi, kitty," said Brendon. The cat purred. Brendon petted the cat. The cat walked away. Brendon continued to walk on the road. His shoes were white." (And so on and on and on for five pages without ANYTHING interesting happening.)

That's a good example of badly-written for me. And there were NO grammar mistakes or typos in that one.

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

Oh- Sex scenes! There really is no in between- it's bad when you find yourself scrolling through the sex scenes to get to the "good" parts LOL

I totally agree about the summary!! It doesn't necessarily have to be long- I have gotten hooked into fic by one single sentence - many times.
(one good example of that: Brendon keeps accidentally having foursomes. !!)

But I really hate when an author says " I hate summaries- just read it" -I skip right by those without looking back.

[lastchanceache.livejournal.com]

I think, in addition, to redorchids pretty decent list, that 'well-written' is a sort of overall term for 'mature'. No clumsy syntax or awkward lump paragraphs of description. An ability to experiment as well as adhering to the plot you've got going and the characters you've set up.
Here, I had a mild rant about a well loved author, who I think is interesting, but doesn't write well. I replaced it with this: I think too, that an important word in the definition of 'well-written' is grace. Everything you write should come with intention and every tactic you use should be deliberate. If a paragraph is hurried and confusing, it should be reflecting your characters state of mind and their actions, it shouldn't feel like it's hurried and confusing because you ran out of words.

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

That is a good point. A very good one actually.

So neglecting to get a good beta/ check that it's edited well yourself is in a way a form of bad writing. At the very least it's lazy :P

[ryrolovesbden.livejournal.com]

As long as I enjoy it and it isn't full of typos and horrible grammar, I'd consider it well-written. Sometimes I think people just get too picky. They need to just kick back relax a little. That's one of the things that turned me off of writing slash fic -- I kept seeing my friends doing their little critiques of everything. This isn't college English. This is for fun and entertainment. ;)

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

But I do agree that asking for something that is 'well-written' is very vague.

I usually just offer what I liked ;D But then I'm always wondering if people are judging me for what I consider 'well-written' :P Especially since I usually don't hesitate to rec something I really enjoyed even if it wasn't perfectly executed.

[itsallhushhush.livejournal.com]

This is true, just badly edited. I mean, I suck at grammar, and if I didn't have a beta I'd have a lot of typos etc.

If I wrote 20 pages of say, Brendon , counting pebbles on the beach and describing each one in nauseating detail - all with perfect grammar and spelling- would it be good writing? -- It would be good writing, but not a good story!

[redorchids.livejournal.com]

I can't read a lot of the 'epic' 400 chapter fics- especially when they are WIP's

Same here. I used to both read and write WIP's, but I don't anymore, because the story almost always ends up suffering from it. Especially the "epic" ones, and especially the ones where the author only thought as far as "hey, I'm going to get these characters into bed and get hot porn \o/" but, for some unfantomable reason, decided to write a long drama instead of a PWP. (This thankfully doesn't seem to happen nearly as much in Bandom as it does in HP. PWP is a totally legit genre here. So awesome. :-D)

Basically it takes loads of skill for a writer to stay focused over a longer story arc, and re-writes are usually crucial to it all sticking together in the end (which you can't do if you're posting it as you go along)

Loved the Skittles comment, btw. So true. :-)

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

This isn't college English. This is for fun and entertainment.

omg - I couldn't agree with you more. I think so many people need to lighten up sometimes!

[tuesdaysgone.livejournal.com]

So neglecting to get a good beta/ check that it's edited well yourself is in a way a form of bad writing.

Definitely. If it's my name on the finished product, I want to make sure that what I'm presenting is as good as it's going to get, in every way possible. It's worth the extra time, to me.