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

[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]

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?

[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.

[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!

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

t would be good writing, but not a good story!

Ooh very good point!

[itsallhushhush.livejournal.com]

I'm a firm believer in that.

Some people know how to tell a story and some people know how to write.

idc how well you can write, if there is no story there to pull me in and interest me, it's just a bunch of aesthetically pleasing words.