I just finished my first chapter of my first fan fic (with some help of some friends) but my question is: What do you find most important about a fanfic?
Of course all of these have to be in there but which one do you look for most in a fan fic?
Not necessarily directing any of this at you:
First, and foremost, I prefer one be capable of wielding the English language with a respectable degree of competence. I have infinite patience for someone who is a secondary English speaker who is willing to respect the language and wants to learn how to properly use it. I have absolutely no patience or respect for someone who grew up speaking/writing the language and butchers it as a matter of course.
For example: "u" in the place of "you" does not belong in proper literature. It is "through," not "thru." And for God's sake, learn what "too," "to," and "two" mean. I've come across enough fan-fictions that make my eyes bleed.
Second: A good sense of setting and kicking off a plot. Fan-fictions live in an especially competitive environment when it comes to grabbing someone's attention. Why should I take time to read a plot written by someone who starts off with: "Hai, I made a Naruto fan-fic with zombies in it! Hope u liek!"
Then I cry when such abominations receive 50 reviews for their first 'chapter' consisting of 500 words.
Third: Some sense of character. Everyone has their own ideas of how a character is and should behave. Being able to depict a character's behavior and make the attempt (where appropriate) to encourage the reader to empathize with that character is crucial. Realistic, believable, identifiable characters are important. They bond the reader to the story.
Fourth: Some sense of plot conflict/progression/interaction. The offenders of this one are people who, basically, try and write a Naruto High-School blog. There are some school fics that pull it off alright - but it's an abused theme often written by high school students who seem to think that school is all there is in life (can't blame them... half of them are looking at spending another 2-4 years in school after they graduate). The plot should be going somewhere, and it should be somewhat believable.
I'll address the idea of "suspension of reality" for a moment. "Suspension of Reality" is where you get the reader (or viewer) to pause (suspend) their own perception of reality and receive the one you are outlining in your story. Proper suspension of reality is like a dream that you believe is real. When you interrupt suspension of reality with blatantly obvious plot-holes, out of character scenes, and blatantly plot-armored or forced scenarios; the reader/viewer realizes this and rejects the subject reality. Interrupted suspension of reality is much like a dream that tells on itself and lets you know it is a dream.
So - you want everyone to be able to suspend their reality and accept your portrayal of a different one.
Fifth: Personally, I tend to dislike god-characters. Odd that I say that on a Naruto forum... but the story gets really monotonous when god and/or plot-armored-to-hell characters get involved. I call it the DBZ phenomena. In order to "up the ante" and drive suspense, the story devolves into a single dimensional concept of power and a never ending series of arbitrarily stronger bad-guys.
Characters should have strengths and weaknesses. Even if you make one character particularly strong, or god-like in a narrow range of things, they should never be without gaps in their abilities (and their strengths should never be so ridiculously strong as to simply over-power anything in the way, nor should they ever be so strong as to render 'the basics' irrelevant). I've seen many fan-fics where Naruto is just given more jutsus than Orochimaru can throw a library at, or simply pulls the strength out of nowhere to nuke the problem away. Such cliches should be used very, very sparingly; if at all.
For example - giving a character the "on-death's-door power-boost" to arbitrarily destroy an antagonist is lame. Using that power, instead, to delay or foul the plans (or in some other mildly creative manner) of the antagonist is much less "BS" than simply "I'm going to die... I need to kill this guy! *I-win-button*"
And sixth: A 'living' environment. The ability to portray that there is more to the world than the characters. Even if the focus is on the characters - far too many people give the impression that it's the characters - and that's it (unless some other extra character is needed for strong, direct interaction with the main characters). Along with this is character interactions - teasing, inside jokes, the occasional heart-to-hearts... all of the things that people really do. I like to see that in a fan-fiction.
I don't need 5 chapters on some character that doesn't matter... or a long, detailed description down to the thread-count of some extra character's dress. It is very nice, however, for a fiction to have enough flesh to its bones for you to feel like you're peering into another society rather than simply reading a novelized autobiography.
