Most of us have ranted on the usual subjects, characterization,
grammar, writing technique, etc. But do any of you have "unspoken"
nitpicks/rules of thumb? Things that you wouldn't mention because it's
too generalized or would be too likely to get you flamed?
I was thinking about this because I was just over on one of the
due
South
archives and I ran across something that pinged one of my "rules." It's
not something I've ever mentioned to more than a couple people in
private emails because it
is a generalization and it's likely
to generate flames and hurt feelings. Which is why this is friends
locked.
The Rule:
The author with more than ten stories archived over the last three
months is the author to avoid; the stories will suck. This can also be
applied to an archive in general or a personal website: the author with
more than a dozen stories is likely a badfic author.
Of course,
this rule needs clarification. If I already know the author and the
high quality of their work, that's a completely different matter and
the rule doesn't apply (chances are that said author is just archiving
already completed stories anyway). This rule usually doesn't apply to
an author who has amassed a large body of work over a number of years
either. And I do mean years. Not one year, or usually even two, but
three on up. In that case, I'm more than willing to give their work a
chance because they've had that long to build up a collection of
stories. (However, if it's an absolutely
huge collection, many
hundreds or something, then I'll have a few more reservations.)
This
rule applies to the author who has an incredibly large number of
stories to their name and has only been writing for a year or less. Or
for the author who seems to come out with a story a day, fifteen
stories a month, something like that. Those are the ones that set off
my WARNING: BADFIC! alarms.
This rule derives from experiences
I've had in all the big fandoms I've read in. As a newbie to online
slash (seven years ago!), I'd plow through all the archives and read
anything I could get my paws on. So, of course I ran into the badfic.
And I also began seeing the pattern with certain authors. So the rule
developed.
It's not, however, a very nice rule or even one
that's always true. There are exceptions, I'm sure, but I rarely see
them anymore because I tend to abide by my rule and don't venture near
the more prolific authors -- unless, of course, I see reccs from people
I know and trust in their fic tastes.
Anyone else have something similar to this "rule," or an interesting
"rule" of their own? I'm curious to find out.