Default AO3 search when I want to read something new: pick a fandom or relevant tag (like time travel), sort by update date, searching only those >10000 words. That way I'll hopefully see a few interesting things that are long enough they might get big, recent enough that I believe the author will still update. When that doesn't pan out or I don't know what I'm looking for, I go bookmark chaining. I've found some enjoyable things that way. On FF.net, I usually stick to bookmark chaining. If I do go searching, I tend to ramp the length up to 20,000+, and exclude fic tagged with OC characters and Romance as a major genre. I'm probably mixing out on a few good stories... But I'm weeding out dozens to thousands of ones I'm not interested in. And hopefully, if an OC fic is good, I'll find it in someone's bookmarks eventually.
I like author's notes so much that I feel a bit disappointed if I get to the end of a chapter and there aren't any. I mean, my level of interest in the actual content varies, but overall I like hearing from the author/learning a bit about them/hearing extra things about the story through the notes. And I'm with @littlemissCodeless on the placement of notes. Front or back of the chapter is fine, but sticking it right into the chapter is kind of jarring for me.
me too, actually! they really add a more personal feel to a story when you can see how deeply someone cares for a story, and the ones detailing out what they did and why they made the writing choices they did are pretty cool to see from a layman's(my) pov too. i... actually have a separate email specifically for fanfics. i'm a bit obsessed, and probably follow at least a hundred different fics by now on ff and ao3; accumulated throughout the years. i just really, really like fanfic and ff especially makes it a pain to unsubscribe.
I actually think a lot of the fics recced there are...not amazing. Harmonystuck is so OOC that it's barely even a Homestuck fic, A Hand In Holding Hands is ridiculously overrated and gets some basic things about canon totally wrong (and has those misconceptions being CRITICAL to the plot), Red Dead Virgo is OOC even keeping in mind that it's an AU and I think it's really only popular because it was one of the first bloodswaps AFAIK, Veil Death isn't bad but the writer has done so much better, Nepetaquest 2011 has a lot of interesting ideas and isn't bad but also isn't amazing...and don't fucking get me started on Battlestuck. It could've been so good and it was solid to start with but the characterization was bad and the author was a douche about everything and THE ENDING PISSED ME OFF SO FUCKING MUCH LIKE I WAS LEGIT FURIOUS. There's good stuff on there, obviously (and while I understand the reasoning, I will forever be sad that Just Saying Get Better is a dead fic), but there's a lot of stuff on there that's kinda meh, and some that just kinda sucks, and FUCKING BATTLESTUCK UGH. Someone please commiserate with me about that fucking fic. I'm practically caliginous for the fic itself.
I do agree that it does not seem to have nearly enough of a bar to entry but it's where I go when I'm looking at a new fandom; I'll have to try the bookmark chain thing for fandoms I'm in (as in that never occurred to me at all). I'd write a Homestuck/Hunger Games cross to make up for Battlestuck, but I'm full up on projects right now. This being said here's the sketch of what I wanted to do with it: - The Condesce is the ruler. - Each District is staffed by a troll blood color. (Karkat is from District 12, which is where all the "mudbloods" go - i.e. D12 is the other districts' gulag. Or started out as the gulag, several generations ago, and slowly got lightened up on as the rebel ostensibly got bred out of them.) The responsibilities and numbers of the Districts may need to be shuffled around to accommodate this. - The kids live in the Capitol or Capitol-equivalent. I have not decided if this means the kids are now all trolls, or the trolls are now all humans. - Things go off the rails pretty much immediately, due to all the kids and trolls having completely different talents from the HG crew. - District 13 is staffed by limebloods. - Helmsmen are the equivalent of the Focused in A Deepness In The Sky, rather than anything to do with transportation. Anyway. Maybe I should drag this over to the obscure fandoms/crossovers thread. Or the Homestuck thread. Or something.
I actually want to write my own crossover with BR with blackjack and hookers. Just because I love the idea and I know I could do it better. Spoiler: fic spoilers So far all I've decided is that all the kids and trolls, plus the cherubs and carapaces, are in the same class; the only ones who are biologically related are Sollux and Mituna and Calliope and Caliborn, who are obviously sets of twins; Roxy and Dirk (along with the alpha trolls, save for Mituna and Damara, the latter of whom is related to Aradia by adoption) are gonna have different surnames as a result, because Not Related; Damara is the daughter of a past winner, and was placed in foster care as a tween due to her mom having developed Issues after the game (she's placed with, and later formally adopted by, Aradia's mom); and Aradia dies halfway through the game after being mortally wounded and then convincing Sollux to shoot her because she's aware she's going to die without medical intervention and she doesn't want to suffer longer than necessary (and to spite Vriska, long story).
Are you planning on only having one character die in a BR setting? Because one of the reasons BR is among my favorite books (haven't seen the movie or read the manga) is that Spoiler: BR spoipers it developed 50 characters and then brutally murdered all but two.
Oh no, I'm definitely killing most of them. It's just that Aradia is the only one I've concretely planned a death scene for so far. :P Spoiler: fic spoipers I'm honestly considering killing all of them, actually, either via the winner being unable to cope and killing themself, or by the winner succumbing to their wounds. Part of why I hated Battlestuck's ending was how they handled Rose and her behavior after winning, and I want to avoid shit like that, but I also don't want to have the ending be a carbon copy of BR's ending--which was good, for what it's worth, but yeah. But if you wanna brainstorm shit I am SO down. C:
My problem tends to be that either the piece of media I like isn't extremely popular, or when it is the character/ship I like isn't extremely popular so since beggars can't be choosers I just end up just reading everything. I have really bad luck when it comes to things I actually want to read fics about, apparently.
I like author's notes a lot too! (exception: when my personality clashes with the author, and I just get super annoyed by them and the fic, but somehow still keep reading because I don't know how to stop, but that doesn't happen very often.) I read super quickly and super much, and usually go through fickle fanfiction cravings where I really want to read that fandom or that character or that kink, so I generally sort by popularity cause I know I won't be in the tag for long. If I'm in a fandom I've been in long I kind of have to look at the newer ones, cause I've probably already read all the highest rated ones. Same goes for when I want fic focusing on a character or a ship that's often featured in the background but not up front? I remember having this issue with Homestuck way back, when I was looking for Rosemary fics, and all the top rated ones tagged with Rosemary were actually Johnkat or Johndave or Davekat with Rosemary as a background couple.
I always go by characters, and then by genre, because there is usually a specific thing I have in mind that I'd like to read. Maybe it's an angsty story about a character I like, or two characters that I think have good chemistry interacting. Also I pretty much never read fanfics that have OC's in them. They could be really well written and not mary-sue self inserts in the slightest; but what I usually look for in fanfiction is an extension or side story of canon. I like that world and those characters and want to see them interact more. Not meet someone new that the author thinks is cool and almost always end up romantically with another canon character. Though OC's are okay if they are side characters that are needed to move the plot forward that would exist is canon but were never really introduced. Like if some dude worked at an evil organization and there was some espionage going on between branches and they have to trick those other dudes for the thing they want to happen. not the best description ever but *shrug* basically I like things to feel natural.
But wait, there's no option for A L L T H E F I C... (My usual method for pairings I like is usually to start with the lowest amount of kudos on AO3 and then work my way back up to the good stuff.)
