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

[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?

[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.

[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

[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.