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

[jwalkontherocks.livejournal.com]

So many comments for you, bb! Of course I had to join in.

"Well-written" is something I've been trying to pinpoint for a long time now, mostly in terms of my own writing. I find myself thinking "Am I a good writer? I must be a good writer, I thoroughly enjoy my own writing, I enjoy doing it, it must be." But I simply cannot pinpoint what it is that makes it good. And I totally feel like I'm sucking my own cock right now (lol, figurative to the max) btw, but then it is my own writing I know the best.

There are so many picky things like "can't have pages of simply dialogue where you forget who's talking" and grammar and run-on sentences that just don't work (here's an example: I consider Kerouac to be a wonderful author, but an entire book of his was run-on sentences, and while he is a good author, that was just not well-written). But all these things are picky.

I'm taking it out of fanfiction context right now, but I'm thinking about the book Naked Lunch and how it's revered as one of the greatest books of the last century, and how I respect Burroughs...but the plot was impossible to follow. I didn't really consider it to be well-written, but I do consider it to be a masterpiece. There's something to ponder.

But coming back into fanfiction, I guess it really is whatever floats your boat. I know I'm pretentious in what I read on here, but because of where I'm coming from (using slash as a means to come into myself more as a writer) that just makes sense. I dunno, I don't even think I'm making sense anymore. Now I see why everyone's comments were so long, this is so hard to answer! So to sum it all up, perspective is key and I don't think Degrassi is the the most well-made tv show of all time, but it's my absolute favorite.