What do you look for in FanFictions?

I personally look for characters and their development. I love the way a writer portrays their character in a way where you can either relate or see something in a totally different light. Whenever a writer goes in depth about their character, it really begins to feel like they're real.There's that personality in the writing.
Without characters, what is a story? Characters make the whole piece move, shift, change. I think whenever a character changes, or grows, it really causes the story to become something more. That's what I love and look for in fanfiction, and in writing in general.

 

I love if the characters develop over time. I love seeing development in characters. Like a scaredy-cat guy changing into a brave guy at some point,learning to fight and protect his love ones instead of running away from danger. ;D

 

Above all else, I look for characters. As an occasional editor of fanfictions I've seen firsthand how beautiful a character can be, and how terrible. Characters are an integral part of a story. You can have a brilliant message and a wonderful plot, but if your characters are grating, overpowered, or painfully obvious self-inserts, the story will never get off the ground. Many people don't seem to understand that you can have a shit plot, an odd theme, and a whacky setting, but if you write characters with soul who react in their own unique ways like actual people, you can still have a great story. It's one of the reasons why I liked John Green's Looking for Alaska so much. The plot was nonexistent at points, the setting was a boring old boarding school, I still don't think the story had a theme, but the characters were so rich in soul and depth that they seemed to be alive within the pages of the story.

The second thing I look for in a fanfiction is effort. This can be in a lot of different things, whether it be evidence of proofreading, asking for constructive criticism or editing, or even just the author asking for help in the comments. I have downvoted stories with beautiful characters and writing before just because the author was a giant dick. A mediocre fanfiction headed by someone wishing to improve and having a level head on their shoulders is to me far superior to a brilliant fanfiction written by a jerk who never seeks to improve.

 

There isn't any one thing I look for in fanfictions. I look for a variety of things to see how the different components of the story fit together. While I do have a fondness for strong main characters who have good interactions with each other, I don't go looking for stories based just off that. I stopped that habit after I found a story that has no characters at all, and yet somehow managed to be the most beautiful thing I've ever read.

After realizing that there is no one good thing to look for in stories, I began solely looking for effort. Those who try the hardest at their writing are normally among the best, or are quickly learning to be the best.

 

I read for the characters and the plot. I especially love it when the author includes world-building and interesting back stories to the story as a whole. I love fanfiction and reading the characters I have chosen to adore go through different scenarios and growing, especially if the show they are from is over or cancelled.

I especially like certain tropes within a fandom like in Bleach it's time-travel (turn back the pendulum) which is usually a lot of fun with the right POV and handling of the characters~~

Nowadays I read more fanfiction then I do published books. I can't go a day without reading at least one fanfiction now! I'm an addict!

 

I'll read anything that catches my eyes, I'll admit but what I crave in fanfiction is a good storyline.

A good storyline, good characters and world development. The first two are self-explanatory. I've read stories with world development and without it, and it makes all the difference.

World development is something like world building; when you create a story, there is a lot that you create that isn't shown. Some authors don't look past that, they only see the face of the clock without looking at the gears.
In my fanfic, A Shade of Grey (shameless self-promotion) I'm developing the Pokémon league system because it's real, it isn't some game for them. They are real trainers in a real world. So I need to be able to reflect that, which means real villains also.

On a related side note, if anyone is interested in A Shade of Grey, it's a Pokémon black AU in which the harsh realty of life met our heroine - despite her protests of becoming one.