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

[iamiamamachine.livejournal.com]

is it 'well-written' because you like it? if you don't like it, does that make it not well-written? no. i can really enjoy fics that i don't consider well-written, and not every fic i consider well-written i actually like.
i know i'd never post a "get me a well-written fic!" post in a seek community, because it's obviously subjective. to me, a well-written fic is about balance, i think. i honestly can't stand pretentious prose in which the use of high-flown words and difficult sentence structures feel forced. i'd rather read a very simple, straight-to-the-point story than a forced one. that being said, i sometimes catch myself thinking 'this would've been an even more awesome fic if someone else had done it' after finishing something written in a very simple style. for example, i could've liked twilight, if it hadn't been such low-key prose and every other sentence hadn't started with 'but' or 'and'. i think the general idea is nice, i just wish someone else would've worked it out because i think they could've done a better job with it. that happens with fics, too.
i also think originality is a part of ~well-writtenness - not even plot wise, just in general. i honestly don't care how often i read the same storyline, as long as there's little details in there and the portrayals of the characters feel realistic and actually thought out. it doesn't need to be overdone - overdone is, in my eyes, an absolute fic killer. writing should feel natural. i sometimes spend half an hour on one sentence, and that's fine, but it shouldn't be noticeable to the reader. not every sentence needs to be a miniature work of literature on itself.
i guess i haven't even answered your answer with this, because the more i write, the more i find out that 'well-written' for me has to do with talent of the author, and who am i to decide that someone is talented over the internet? how could i possibly judge someone over one or a few pieces of their work? i think sierra of versaemerge has talent and potential and that cassadee pope doesn't have either of the two, but how can i ever be sure of that? all i heard of her is one cd. but following this line of thought, you could never be able to make your mind up about someone... which is an interesting idea.
sorry for most probably wasting your time with this, haha! ♥

[slashxmistress.livejournal.com]

Oh no- that's not a waste of time!

I agree with basically all of it!!
I often think - wow - this would be better if someone else had written it! I have read or well, started and then skimmed through, some really horrible fics and thought it was a shame because if "___" had written this it would rock!
(Hell - I often think that about my own writing :P)