Wank and decision making.

[taffimai]

Some background: A significant number of Torchwood authors are currently posting a few hundred words a day of longer stories. This has the effect of making their stories into huge sprawling epics which, when cross-posted all over the place, EAT MY FLIST. Beyond the effect on my friendslist, I find that the teeny tiny parts make it very difficult for me to get into the story and make my reading experience feel choppy and disjointed.

This weekend the mods at one of the Torchwood communities asked that authors please try to post more substantial parts. This caused moaning and wringing of hands and leaving of the community and standing up for their principles and general wankiness.

All of it inspired me to make this post.

Here are the things I look at when deciding whether to read a story, more or less in order of importance:

1) The characters. Is my OTC in the story? Currently, this means Jack Harkness.
2) The author. Is it an author I know and whose work I generally enjoy? If it's a writer I trust with my time, I will always give their work a chance.
3) The summary. Does it look especially interesting or look like it might hit any of my bullet proof fic kinks? For example, if the story is Jack hurt/comfort or my OT3 or Jack/Suzie I will nearly always read it.
4) The header formatting. Does it contain all the standard information? Does it use a standard format, with no strange colors, bolded content, etc. Are there grammatical or spelling errors? I have found that a writer who understands fandom conventions and/or has researched them is far more likely to produce high-quality work. And of course, a well-formatted header usually means that the story will be formatted in such a way that it is readable. I don't think I need to explain the grammar and spelling criteria.
5) The beta reader: Is the author using a beta? Is it a beta with whom I am familiar and whose taste level I trust?
6) The word count: Is the word count appropriate to the type of story/formatting? If it is described as a drabble, it is 100 words? If it is listed as a story chapter, is it at least 1,000 words?
7) The number of parts: Is the total number of parts listed? Is it reasonable? With some notable exceptions, I have found that higher quality stories tend to have a number of parts that is below twenty and that the better writers usually know how many parts the story will be. Even if it changes during posting to accommodate changes, the fact that the author is willing to put a total chapter count on a story implies the existence of a story draft or a detailed outline.
8) The graphics: Do the icon and story header (if applicable) show good taste?

Please understand, I do not expect writers to cater to my tastes or other readers to use the above criteria to determine whether to click on a cut tag. This is just how I make my decisions. I'm curious whether other people do this and if so if their standards are similar.

Comments

[hllangel]

Which comm posted this? I can totally understand the request. I've had to ask one person on Decaf to back off the everyday posting because of comm cluttering.

I'm with you on pretty much all of what you've put here. A post with color/strange fonts/typos/grammar mistakes make me hit the back button.

[dameruth.livejournal.com]

I know (not terribly well in some cases, I admit) people on both sides of this one, and it seems to me like a fairly reasonable attempt to bring posting into line with the standard comm format -- which then set off this whole tinderbox of simmering Issues that were just beneath the surface, and which didn't really have anything to *do* with guidelines for formatting fic. I think that's why it all went to hell so fast.

Of course, that's the secondhand impression I've been getting. I wasn't there for the festivities . . .

As for me, I follow a set of decision-making criteria similar to yours when picking fic to read. I think most folks do the same sort of thing, even if they don't consciously consider it.

[crayonbreakygal.livejournal.com]

Should be that way for every fandom. Yeah, sometimes you don't exactly know the number of chapters, but it can work out nicely if you sort of know. OMG, sometimes I'm guilty of not using a beta, but I'm into grammar and such. Formatting is king. I hate it when people use weird fonts, colors, etc. It hurts my old eyes. I agree with your post in general, for every fandom.

[laligin.livejournal.com]

*bows down and worships you*

Yes. Just, yes. The number/? stories get on my nerves, and if I'm going to be a dedicated follower of any story for more than 50 chapters I want a decent amount of fic each time to keep me going. Chapters, not scenes.

This is basically why I started tw_finishedfics.

(Though I don't use a beta far too often... But I'm usually pretty good at catching all my errors.)

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Yes! My standards are similar, definitely, and a few hundred words is not a "chapter." I just can't get into a story if there are only a few hundred words here and there to sustain me. I even find it hard to read a long-ago-posted story when there are many chapters of a thousand words each -- all that clicky and waiting for pages to load is so distracting, and I end up wishing that the author had put the story all up in one place once it was finished.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I do something very similar with all of the fic communities I'm on. The other criterion I use is whether or not someone whose taste I respect recommends a story. If so, I'll read authors I've never read before.

[morgynleri]

I generally want stories with longer chapters and fewer of them, and I'm picky about characters and/or pairings most of the time.

But I have a couple authors who I'll read regardless - and there is one story I'll read where the chapters are short, and the story has been going on with no chapter count determined yet. However, I know the author, and the style works for the story, and I know she's going to deliver quality goods, even that short.

And that's where my standards on length tend to break down, because I do know the author, and the quality is there.

Of course, then there's drabbles, and I tend to read those from authors I know, and in coms I'm comfortable with, and nevermind character, pairing, or anything else other than spelling and grammar.

[chatona.livejournal.com]

I make decisions pretty much the same way, based on pretty much the exact same criteria, minus perhaps the beta reader one.