i camp the fic gripes thread as much as anyone, but sometimes what you noticed and need to share is a good thing. for instance: i love when ‘man from uncle’ fics are titled with lyrics from period songs. such a nice touch.
(not sure this is what is meant? but an attempt was made) when fics expand on the worldbuilding of a setting. i shall read ten thousand words of elaboration on a throwaway detail that has wide-reaching implications if you think about it. who cares about the plot.
I owe my entire life to all the authors who do justice to the characters whose traumas are mishandled if not entirely forgotten by both canon and fandom alike
Unrepentant, gleeful, kinky id fic. Genuinely, one of my favorite things is when an author, no holds barred, goes “I’m writing this for me and hope you enjoy it too but I refuse to be ashamed of this glorious trashfire I am currently kindling.”
Oh, here’s one I LOVE: mundane AUs that manage to keep the characters in-character. One of my absolute favorite fics, for instance, is a humanstuck Pearlmethyst fic—it’s so well-done that you just find yourself going “this is exactly how they’d be as humans!” (Frankly, that one is more IC than a lot of canon ‘verse fics I’ve read...) It’s rare to find good examples, of course, but when I do it’s an absolute treat. <3
Authors and mangaka like this are a fucking godsend for Fate T. Harlaown fans tbh. Same with shit handling Nanoha's near fatal accident. Somewhat related to like trauma shit...I really like when people manage to pull off a fic centered on anxiety well. Like I found this ritsumaya fic that was pre-show and was focused around like the anxiety of knowing that shit is about to go fucking down and just these two dealing with the whole 'Wow. Giant monsters are just going to start appearing soon and we might all just fucking die if things don't go right' in their own ways together. Found a good way of utilizing Maya's unrequited crush on Ritsuko too. As someone who is very familiar with all consuming, soul sucking dread and anticipation that's really fucking appreciated to see done right.
I love outsider POV stuff. There's just so much potential for hilarity. The weirder and harder to explain the observee(s) is/are, or the further the observer's assumptions are from the truth, the better.
LOVE this too! Honestly I love self-indulgent fic in general—stuff where you can just tell the writer was having a blast writing it.
I hecking LOVE those fic where you can tell like the author sat down and went "okay. there's not enough of this in fandom. someone needs to do something about it AND THAT SOMEONE IS ME."
my absolute jam is well researched, plotty spy fic. i find it mostly in man from uncle, winter solder, and person of interest, but it occasionally pops up in other fandoms. like harry potter, of all places. the auror harry tag is only a little more plotty than the average, but the auror malfoy tag is a gold mine.