Nekosmuse is my new god.

[icarus]

amethyst_lupin pointed me in the direction of a great meta by nekosmuse The Ten Commandments of Fanfiction.

Thou shalt never use epithets. Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou. If I never see Draco referred to 'the blond' or Ron called 'the redhead' again, it will be too soon.

Thou shalt use warnings. Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou. I cracked open a fic the other day and halfway through it - Surprise! - was the rape scene. Ack. I still have that unpleasant image in my mind, and I'm glaring at author and never want to read them again.

I shalt not spoil the rest. Enjoy!

Comments

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind it's 3am here, but hopefully my answer will be coherent.

Different genres set the reader up for different expectations. In mystery, the reader knows they're supposed to hunt down clues, and they take great satisfaction in cleverly disguised hints and a plot they couldn't figure untangle.

In other genres such as romance, we expect to be able to trust the writer, so we take what they tell us at face value. So we feel like fools when the writer's sneaky.

It's interesting the cues that the writer uses to indicate the genre and set up the expectations of the reader.

Icarus

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Oh. Good night. Have a decent rest. You shouldn't have stayed up this long only to answer me!