What makes you keep reading?

[emmagrant01]

A few days ago I asked what your fic-reading back buttons offenses are, and the response was kind of overwhelming. And they say LJ is dead, really?

But I felt bad about it because it kind of turned into a bit of a snark-fest of negativity, and that wasn't my intention at all. So now I want to try to ask another question. I'm very curious to see if this one will get a similarly enthusiastic response. :-P

What about a fic makes you want to keep reading? What are the things you see in those first few paragraphs that suck you in and make you think, "Oh, this is going to be good!"?

For me, it's a strong opening with good action or perfectly IC dialogue, where the author is showing (rather than telling) something happening that I haven't seen before and simply can't look away from. A really good fic throws me in the middle of an interesting situation from the get-go and gets me invested in the plot and in the characters immediately.

What about you?

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Comments

[mijeli.livejournal.com]

perfectly IC dialogue

THIS, so very much. I can pretty much always tell whether I'll like a story from the first few lines an author lets their characters exchange. Tone, word choice, rhythm - hell, even punctuation. All kinks of mine! :D

Some fics start with a lengthy narrative which might be AMAZING even.. and then their characterisation doesn't convince me. I'll feel bad, but I'll leave. However, no yawn-worthy backstory makes me click the back button if broken up by clever banter. So yeah, for me it's mostly in the dialogue.

(Exceptions are short-ish fics that live off their writing style, and that alone. The ones with disrupted timelines or in that dreamlike tone that makes you all wistful. And those I will stick with, too!)

You know what this reminds me of? Metaphors :) Good, original and well-fitted metaphors make me believe in a writer's writing. Whoever comes up with a new metaphor and makes it sound right, can - I believe - write anything at all. ♥

Oh, definitely in character is paramount

[lillian78.livejournal.com]

Well since we all are aware any fan fic is an automatic AU it's quite important to that the author shows me why a character I know from books/tv/movies can account for their actions in the fic. Since I read mostly slash pairings I don't want to see the characters jump into bed by page three with no explanation as to why they got there. So, obviously PWP's are not a favorite of mine.

Re: Oh, definitely in character is paramount

[mijeli.livejournal.com]

Exactly! And if an author manages to sell me why those two canon characters DO end up in a very non-canon arrangement, I'm all the more impressed :)