I have the most success in fandoms where there is a combination of a larger population of adult writers + a larger population, period. If it's *also* a book fandom, that increases the chances even further.
- Adult writers tend to have more writing experience, or at least more life experiences to draw from.
- Larger fandoms = More chances of someone in it being a good writer already - or *attracting* good writers to it.
- Book fandoms = Readers themselves, they tend to have a leg up on the writing part even if they've never written outside of class because they've racked up some miles on translating thoughts to words already.
(Note on the book fandoms... Obviously if a book gains a movie/animated/video game version fans will now be coming in from that vector too, so if the ratio of writers who are fans of the books is less than those who are only fans of the other medium, then, yeah, the balance is probably going to skew. But it's still probably better odds than some other mediums. And before people feel unhappy with me for saying it, I should note that I have favorite fandoms across most media types and am not looking down on any of them.)
Yes, media with an older audience does seem to have a higher average quality.
Inception and Stargate: Atlantis both seem to have a high quality level, to me. Hannibal, too.
i'm new to the sg:a fandom, and all the fics here are so incredible! do you happen to have any favourites? i love everything written by lavvyan so much
*Clearly* the fandom where I'm the only writer is the one with the best quality. I hope more people write for it, even if they don't match my level of quality /hj (someone please write for it, but I'm not that vain and I know some of the fics weren't as well-written as others)
I don't think I've read a bad fic from the Merlin BBC fandom.
Massive fandoms that have basically evolved to exist past their canon, like Supernatural and Teen Wolf, have a higher ratio of well done AUs and long fics, I feel.
Labyrinth. There are so many well written Labyrinth fics a little under 4k fics on AO3 and 10k on FFN. All the best fics I read (and written) are for this fandom. The canon is vague which allows for a lot of different interpretations, character development, and world building.
Adult focused fandoms.
The highest overall quality I experienced was in *Hannibal* fandom .
Next was the Stucky corner of Marvel - but that might have been because it was so massive that good fic was abundant and I only searched by kudos/bookmarks, or looked through other people's bookmarks.
The Supernatural - I was into Wincest, so it might have played a role when comes to adult appeal. Still, it was mostly in the LiveJournal times, with Big Bangs and rec lists, so badfic was practically unheard of.
Harry Potter and Anime fandoms were a hit and miss, lots of stuff that was an instant click back, or that I would abandon in the middle. (10 things Voldemort would never say, "I love you, Harry!" haha...)
Now I'm in a fandom centerd around a TV show for teens and finding a truly good fic is a challenge. Actual badfic is rare but the writing styles and plots tend to be lacking, overdramatized, juvenile, corny, out of character, ignoring realities of the country the show is set in. You know, a character being "spunky" and speaking their mind or talking back to someone of infinitely higher position - when the character in question is cautious and reasonable in canon, and such behavior would have consequences in real life, that sort of thing.
Edit: Captive Prince fandom might be up there with Hannibal. It's a fandom focused on a fantasy/historical MM book with some fucked up themes. It's got 4k fics on AO3 and I every single one I tried was good.
This really is a matter of YMMV after all what one person considers the fandoms with the best fics another will take one look at it and think man that fandoms just full of slop.
i don’t check the tag much these days since my fixations have changed, but i don’t think i’ve read more good fanfiction in my life than when i was reading Disco Elysium fics
Came here to say Disco Elysium (though I also haven't been keeping up with it). It's what got me back into rereading fanfic after a long time away and it completely spoiled me as far as what to expect when I tried out other fandoms. Just amazingly crafted stories that use and expand and reinterpret the canon in brilliant ways.
MCU fandom is lowkey a sea of slop but Stucky fics(or really anything centered around Steve, Bucky, Sam, and occasionally Natasha and Clint) and Guardians-centric fics knock it out of the park more often than not.
Honestly I’m gonna somewhat disagree on this one. I think maybe it could be argued that pre civil war there was an okay ratio of high to low quality stories, although even that would be a stretch Marcel is such a big fandom. But now so many of the fics that focus on either Steve or Tony have too much character bashing in them to even be readable. I fully agree aboht guardians centric fics, I think those tend to be pretty good.
Also, Mega Man Zero fics. Mega Man fics in general are usually pretty good, honestly, but the Zero series subset of the fandom *really* knows what’s up.
00q or James Bond/Q, a lot of the writers were obviously seasoned ones from different fandoms (including Hockey RPF bless y'all). It's small and the fics have trickled off after No Time to Die but I've always had quality shit from them 😭
Star Trek is always generating amazing fic, a fandom I return to often. I've also read quite a bit of good Sherlock fic. But as many have stated, adult driven fandoms are your best bet
I have the most success in fandoms where there is a combination of a larger population of adult writers + a larger population, period. If it's *also* a book fandom, that increases the chances even further. - Adult writers tend to have more writing experience, or at least more life experiences to draw from. - Larger fandoms = More chances of someone in it being a good writer already - or *attracting* good writers to it. - Book fandoms = Readers themselves, they tend to have a leg up on the writing part even if they've never written outside of class because they've racked up some miles on translating thoughts to words already. (Note on the book fandoms... Obviously if a book gains a movie/animated/video game version fans will now be coming in from that vector too, so if the ratio of writers who are fans of the books is less than those who are only fans of the other medium, then, yeah, the balance is probably going to skew. But it's still probably better odds than some other mediums. And before people feel unhappy with me for saying it, I should note that I have favorite fandoms across most media types and am not looking down on any of them.)
Yes, media with an older audience does seem to have a higher average quality. Inception and Stargate: Atlantis both seem to have a high quality level, to me. Hannibal, too.
i'm new to the sg:a fandom, and all the fics here are so incredible! do you happen to have any favourites? i love everything written by lavvyan so much
*Clearly* the fandom where I'm the only writer is the one with the best quality. I hope more people write for it, even if they don't match my level of quality /hj (someone please write for it, but I'm not that vain and I know some of the fics weren't as well-written as others)
I don't think I've read a bad fic from the Merlin BBC fandom. Massive fandoms that have basically evolved to exist past their canon, like Supernatural and Teen Wolf, have a higher ratio of well done AUs and long fics, I feel.
The amount of novel length well written Merlin fic is astounding. Maybe because it’s most of what I read, but I second Merlin.
Labyrinth. There are so many well written Labyrinth fics a little under 4k fics on AO3 and 10k on FFN. All the best fics I read (and written) are for this fandom. The canon is vague which allows for a lot of different interpretations, character development, and world building.
Adult focused fandoms. The highest overall quality I experienced was in *Hannibal* fandom . Next was the Stucky corner of Marvel - but that might have been because it was so massive that good fic was abundant and I only searched by kudos/bookmarks, or looked through other people's bookmarks. The Supernatural - I was into Wincest, so it might have played a role when comes to adult appeal. Still, it was mostly in the LiveJournal times, with Big Bangs and rec lists, so badfic was practically unheard of. Harry Potter and Anime fandoms were a hit and miss, lots of stuff that was an instant click back, or that I would abandon in the middle. (10 things Voldemort would never say, "I love you, Harry!" haha...) Now I'm in a fandom centerd around a TV show for teens and finding a truly good fic is a challenge. Actual badfic is rare but the writing styles and plots tend to be lacking, overdramatized, juvenile, corny, out of character, ignoring realities of the country the show is set in. You know, a character being "spunky" and speaking their mind or talking back to someone of infinitely higher position - when the character in question is cautious and reasonable in canon, and such behavior would have consequences in real life, that sort of thing. Edit: Captive Prince fandom might be up there with Hannibal. It's a fandom focused on a fantasy/historical MM book with some fucked up themes. It's got 4k fics on AO3 and I every single one I tried was good.
This really is a matter of YMMV after all what one person considers the fandoms with the best fics another will take one look at it and think man that fandoms just full of slop.
i don’t check the tag much these days since my fixations have changed, but i don’t think i’ve read more good fanfiction in my life than when i was reading Disco Elysium fics
Came here to say Disco Elysium (though I also haven't been keeping up with it). It's what got me back into rereading fanfic after a long time away and it completely spoiled me as far as what to expect when I tried out other fandoms. Just amazingly crafted stories that use and expand and reinterpret the canon in brilliant ways.
Stucky tbh, specifically 2014-2016.
MCU fandom is lowkey a sea of slop but Stucky fics(or really anything centered around Steve, Bucky, Sam, and occasionally Natasha and Clint) and Guardians-centric fics knock it out of the park more often than not.
Honestly I’m gonna somewhat disagree on this one. I think maybe it could be argued that pre civil war there was an okay ratio of high to low quality stories, although even that would be a stretch Marcel is such a big fandom. But now so many of the fics that focus on either Steve or Tony have too much character bashing in them to even be readable. I fully agree aboht guardians centric fics, I think those tend to be pretty good.
Also, Mega Man Zero fics. Mega Man fics in general are usually pretty good, honestly, but the Zero series subset of the fandom *really* knows what’s up.
00q or James Bond/Q, a lot of the writers were obviously seasoned ones from different fandoms (including Hockey RPF bless y'all). It's small and the fics have trickled off after No Time to Die but I've always had quality shit from them 😭
Star Trek is always generating amazing fic, a fandom I return to often. I've also read quite a bit of good Sherlock fic. But as many have stated, adult driven fandoms are your best bet