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chris_lang_mdrfI've been getting back into fanfiction lately, reading stories on AO3 a lot this past year. And there are some stories I've read that are actually pretty good, or at least are interesting new angles on characters and settings.
All in all, I like good fanfiction that endeavors to keep most of the characters recognizable as the characters from canon even if they're taking those characters down roads canon would never take them. Sometimes I might not agree with an author's interpretation of a character, but if the story's good enough and if it's not TOO far off from the established characterization that it might be a reasonable interpretation, it probably won't hurt my enjoyment of the story too much.
However, if a story is tagged 'Out of Character' or if the summary given sounds incredibly out of character, I probably won't read the story. If it becomes clear that the character in the story has little in common with the canon character other than the name, then I'm probably not going to read any further unless morbid curiosity gets the better of me.
Examples: Crack pairings. Pairing people who are mortal enemies in canon, or have NOTHING in common with each other. While I'm not big on 'shipping', I'm not entirely opposed to it, as long as the pairing makes sense. But crack pairings just pair characters together solely because the author thinks it's funny. How else does one explain Impa/Ganondorf shipping, for example?
I also haven't read very many 'High School AU' or 'Coffee Shop AU'. Unless the writer goes out of their way to make the characters still recognizable as the characters even in those different settings, then those fics are likely not going to be my cup of tea.
All in all, I like fanfics that basically endeavor to stay true to the characters or are reasonable re-interpretations of the characters.
But this is just my opinion. I know others may disagree with me here.
All in all, I like good fanfiction that endeavors to keep most of the characters recognizable as the characters from canon even if they're taking those characters down roads canon would never take them. Sometimes I might not agree with an author's interpretation of a character, but if the story's good enough and if it's not TOO far off from the established characterization that it might be a reasonable interpretation, it probably won't hurt my enjoyment of the story too much.
However, if a story is tagged 'Out of Character' or if the summary given sounds incredibly out of character, I probably won't read the story. If it becomes clear that the character in the story has little in common with the canon character other than the name, then I'm probably not going to read any further unless morbid curiosity gets the better of me.
Examples: Crack pairings. Pairing people who are mortal enemies in canon, or have NOTHING in common with each other. While I'm not big on 'shipping', I'm not entirely opposed to it, as long as the pairing makes sense. But crack pairings just pair characters together solely because the author thinks it's funny. How else does one explain Impa/Ganondorf shipping, for example?
I also haven't read very many 'High School AU' or 'Coffee Shop AU'. Unless the writer goes out of their way to make the characters still recognizable as the characters even in those different settings, then those fics are likely not going to be my cup of tea.
All in all, I like fanfics that basically endeavor to stay true to the characters or are reasonable re-interpretations of the characters.
But this is just my opinion. I know others may disagree with me here.
