Maybe I just plain don't get it. Maybe I'm a terrible writer.

Maybe I 

don't have a taste in writing. 
  But what is it that makes a good fanfic? 

Isn't this one of those threads that falls under "don't beat a dead
horse"? 

  All over the place I see loads of praise for stuff like Hearts of

Ice 

or DnR; is the time precedent working here? Is the number of

pre-readers 

proportional to the success of the story? 

No.

  Or are long, descriptive passages describing the minute details

of a 

Stephen King novel, that grabs people? 

No.

  Back to point: what makes a fanfic good? 
  And so far I've come up with the following critera:

1. The author feels it's good (the easiest part)

Dr. Thinker and Oscar thought their stories were good, too. Scratch.

2. Readers tell the author and others it's good

This one's more or less okay, but since no two people are likely to
have exactly the same opinion of something...

3. More than five people read the story and think it's good 

Isn't this pretty much the same thing as #2?

4. Pre-readers catch all the little glitches in the story

That should be the author's job in the first place...of course,
that's also why we *have* prereaders, but the author should be able
to catch at least most of the technical snags before shipping it out
to the prereaders. 

5. Long descriptive passages describing minute details of a Stephen

King 

novel

Not in a fanfic. In a fanfic, describing details of a Stephen King
novel wouldn't make sense. 

...oh, you mean long descriptive passages describing details of the
fanfic. Hmmm...nope. It depends on the author's style. Some of the
best works out there have *no* long-winded descriptive passages.

6. Said fic must exist for an extended period of time 

I'm sorry. This statement makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

7. Said fic must be recognized by established reviewers as good 

Much in the same way a movie has to be recognized by Siskel and Ebert
as good? I think not. 

8. Said author mustn't be overly desparate for C&C or MSTs 

Well hell, if that's true, then none of us are any good. <smirk> 

9. Said author must've written about something that makes sense 

That one's pretty much a given.

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"Try to control yourself..."
"Hey, I'm 20. I'm male. I'm single. I'm not 
getting any. What do you expect?"
"...I stand corrected. And you...just...stand."
-Conversation between Lurker and an 
anonymous AOL user
---
The Eternal Lost Lurker
"You lika de fic? De fic is good, yes? 
...I writa you de fic." 
EternalLostLurker@worldnet.att.net
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/9502

Oh my God! South Park is coming to video? 
Those bastards!
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