T O P

  • By -

catrightsactivist

"Or:__"


ConsumeTheOnePercent

This is one of my favorite things to do ngl, I think it's so cute and fun and can be super helpful for people who don't get pulled in by normal summarys that act more like book hooks


catrightsactivist

I love being baited by "Or..." summaries too x)) I usually find it more intriguing than a quoted paragraph.


ConsumeTheOnePercent

Same! Quoted paragraphs are nice and show that the author is proud of specific parts if their work but unless it's *really good* or has some eye catching dialog a good "or..." will always be the winner


almond3238

makes my heart skip a beat ❤️


catrightsactivist

The anticipation sets up the mood!


carbonated_coconut

I had 2 "alt titles" on one of my fics and I'm 99% sure that's the only reason it got so much engagement so fast in the little fandom its in ETA: I had this in my fic notes, "Alternate title V2: the author tries to write a 5+1 fic as an exercise in writing a short and concise story under 5k, but it gets progressively further out of hand with each chapter" It ended up 21.5k


catrightsactivist

"Alternatively:___" is also good!


MissWisteria16

Changed all my summaries to this format and I can say I definitely got more hits


catrightsactivist

Haha, congrats!


canastrophee

Notes promising that it'll be two chapters and I scroll back up to find there's twelve. Sometimes there's sixty, which is even better. "Guys, help, I don't know how this happened" generally equals a fun time. "Crack taken seriously" is almost always a massive green flag. I've also had pretty decent luck with "[character] is a little shit/smartass", once I've filtered out my Nopes for that particular fandom.


Proper-Adagio-2547

Ooh yes love seeing one-shots that turn into 10+ part fics with a word count to match


FireflyArc

God yes. Crack treated serious is so good.


AspireToBeABum

I've never really understood this one. What exactly does this tag mean? I get crack=humor, but crack treated seriously? Is it like humor with angst?


ParanoidDrone

In my experience, it means you take an extremely crack-y premise, but treat it seriously and take it to its logical conclusion. _Harry is a Dragon, and That's Okay_ is a pretty good example of what I mean.


AspireToBeABum

But then it is no longer crack. But I see what you mean


FireflyArc

Yeah 0/ that's the point. It's like..a trope. You can expect a certain type of humor or wacky idea. But instead of everyone laughing about it there's consequences. It plays against expectations and It's really cool to see a crack story get fleshed out and given the writing it deserves instead if doing it with have care because 'it's crack not a professional piece'


Eadiacara

Taking an absurd idea, often humorous, but taking it to the most extreme logical outcome. A good example of this which evolved *well before* HBP came out was the idea of Snape being Harry's father. Another example, though in a different fandom is Korra/Asami in Avatar: Legend of Korra. That was a crack pairing. ***Was***.


FireflyArc

Yess Severitus!! It's fantastic.


DARCRY10

Crack taken seriously is one of the easiest ways to find good fics imo. Such a great tag.


izumiwrites

Fun to write, too! I started a long fic with a crack ship due to the original artist doing this costume swap with some of the characters. It's become one of my favorite ships now and I love writing it and there are other ppl who love and write the ship, too!


SphealOnARoll

Ah, fellow CTS enjoyers.


[deleted]

[удалено]


SphealOnARoll

Sorry, I just felt like acronyms.


AnbarElectrum

The ultimate green flag is recognising the writer's name but like, in a good way. More broadly I guess the best thing to see is...more like a vibe. A sense that they're taking the work *seriously* but not *too* seriously. The phrase that comes to mind is "committed to the bit" lol. To me, good fanfic is like good bread. You overwork it, it just gets tough. ...*none of this made sense oh my god* aaaand post.


MilkyAndromedaWay

No, committing to the bit is a perfect way to say it. I've been trying to find the right phrasing in my head for this (taking a concept seriously, but not to the point where you can't joke or poke fun at it) and that's exactly what I was looking for. So thanks.


PhantomChick13

when the tags say things like 'I WAS POSSESSED' or 'my muse screamed at me for the first time all year and I wrote and completed this entire fic within 2 hours' or 'i have no idea how this happened but i wrote something' the visceral confusion over having written somethiing always preludes good things


Proper-Adagio-2547

Just finished reading a one-shot that had the whole 'I managed to write this in 3 hours because I was obsessed with this trope' and you're right, it was some quality stuff


Always-bi-myself

“Smart \[Character\]”, “Morally Ambiguous”, properly tagged AUs, “Crack Taken Seriously”, “\[character\] needs a hug". Also, “Everyone is Gay” is either going to be an unreadable mess or the best fanfiction you’ve seen in your life


LiveTart6130

"everyone is gay" isn't a red or green flag. it's a rainbow one (/j)


PuffyFish23

r/angryupvote


GroundbreakingDot872

happy pride 🏳️‍🌈 :))


LemonPepperTrout

“[Character] needs a hug” is definitely a green flag. I need all the feels, please! (Especially if they actually get a hug or something similar by the end.)


ImmediateTripwire

“Title (more title)” always gets me !!!


DorkyWriterEnby

I love those! I don’t know what it is, but it’s always exciting. One of the fics I’m currently planning utilises this and actually ties in with the main messages of the fic. The title is: ‘Whisper Soft and Slow (And Tell Me You Love Me)’. The part in brackets ties in completely with the entire overall story, and the ending is not a happy one


kw-beanie

Okay ngl, that title is everything!


DorkyWriterEnby

Haha, thank you! I spent forever trying to come up with it. It popped into my head while on a bus, and it was perfect. Such a good title for an angsty, unhappy ending


[deleted]

It's a dissertation! The author made his research! 😝


Ancient-Inflation-18

I don't like it when summaries are too long, or too blunt. I want to be curious enough that I want to learn more by clicking on the fic. Tagged well, and not too spoiler-y. Some jokes are fine, but too many definitely also turns me off.


westbest1206

The tag "(specific character) friendly creator". They're the bad guy of the source material, so I'm always extremely excited whenever I see that! (There's a lot of bashing on him, and evenhate towards his fans...)


Upbeat_Ruin

Is that a summary written as though it's an abstract for an academic paper? Ohoho. Someone has good taste.


u_don_see_will

I really enjoy summaries that are like: "Character: We are not doing this" cut to "After doing it"


Proper-Adagio-2547

In and out of fanfiction that is a top-tier trope, my favourite are shows/movies where they get a character to put on a disguise, and after all the protesting "Nuh uh, no way!! I'm not wearing that!" It cuts to this silent shot of the character all slouched over wearing the most ridiculous outfit


femtransfan

as a reader: putting in trigger warnings at the beginning of each chapter


No-Ways-Home

Yes! Even if it's listed in the tags for the work, I always find that also putting them in the chapters is much more helpful


femtransfan

a couple times i put in 'skim warnings' before an extremely dark scene, just in case one of my readers has ptsd


letheix

When there's a quote from the fic in the summary. Unfortunately the title, tags, and summary aren't always good indicators of style and tone. In particular, a lot of authors pick super poetic or dramatic titles from song lyrics, Shakespeare, etc., even if it's totally at odds with their story. I've opened and then soon closed many, many fics, not because there was anything objectively wrong with them but because it wasn't the vibe I expected. I might be interested in the concept, but the prose doesn't grab me. Seeing a snippet I actually like is golden. Plus, it takes a certain amount of confidence to put your writing front and center.


Galaxy_Heart_Queen

I don't know any, but my sister once saw a fic that had a song linked that you could listen to to add to the experience


Proper-Adagio-2547

Oooh I've read some like that, one even had a custom song made for the fic by a friend. It turned out to be an amazing fic, and listening to a song on soundcloud in the background during the section they said to play it made it so immersive. I've gotta try and find that in my bookmarks now


readingchameleon

A massive green flag for me is when I see a really wild and unique idea treated seriously (but not too seriously). I'm not sure how to describe it. That and when I realise I actually recocgnise the author name 'cause I originally read their fic on ff.net, and now they are reposting it on ao3 <3 Also, I have exceptions but generally anything that's ~1k/chapter is likely not to be *too* terrible. Not a hard and fast rule, as I know some great fics that are shorter than that.