We have a pet peeves thread, why not something similar for various things that we read that we quite like to see.

For example, I really like it when people actually mention what Harry is eating. I feel that it enables me to connect with the scene more, and shows that they have actually thought it more than "there is a plate of food", and it feels more realistic to me.

Just little bits of some stories that you quite enjoy for no particularly good reason as an opposite to the existing thread where it's things that you hate for fairly good reasons.

 

That's more of a peeve for me. I hate overly long descriptions of food. Too much of reading Enid Blyton when I was a kid. >_>

 

When Dumbledore is shown as the good guy.

When the fic is DH-compliant.

Time travel fics are a favorite.

 

I like fics with exceptional plots. That is why love A Stranger in an Unholy Land so much.

 

I like to see characters use magic in their daily lives for mundane things like brushing their teeth.

Also, in depth descriptions of magical homes, especially if the house would be a piece of crap without magic.

 

Good character development.

 

Characters using their brains.

Completed stories.

 

Not terrible romance and relationships.

 

Filling in the gaps, seeing the lives and actions of character we dont usually see, and expanding the magical world beyond the 5 places we see in canon.

 

Romance for me as well. And although it's hard to do well in fan-fics, mystery plot is always awesome.

As for the little things, the weather. For some reason, I freakin' love reading about Hogwarts in the rainy season. Reminds me a lot of a few scenes in PoA and GoT movies. Love picturing the large castle with pouring rain outside and Harry and Co. cozily sitting around the common-room fire.

Only other description of Hogwarts that I loved reading was Joe's latest fic, The Unfound Door.

 

A well done Dumbledore, like NMB's. A Harry who thinks on his feet and kicks ass like Sesc's Unatoned or Big D's Slytherin!Harry. Some debauchery, there isn't enough nowadays.

As for the genres, mystery, suspense and noir is something I like to enjoy. But there aren't easy to pull off. So when I find one, it's glorious.

 

Balanced Luna. Yes, she's odd, but she's also a teenage girl who gets angry when Hermione makes snide comments about The Quibbler or supposed mythical creatures. Any story that doesn't turn her into a Manic Pixie Dream Girl is better for it.

Magic that is kept mystical, but also grounded. Duels that feel like a back-and-forth game rather than a western shoot-out.

 

I really like after hogwarts fics.

 

Now that I think about it, I like magic that is unscientific, that cannot be explained. I feel that magic is also something that the reader should feel while reading.

 

This title makes me slightly uncomfortable.

I like stories where Harry isn't powerful, he's precise. Or he becomes a specialist in something. I'm not a big fan of him acting on the same scale as Dumbledore or Voldemort.

 

Everyone so often, I like a romance flic. I'll admit I've reread Hope a couple times.

 

I like stories that remember that Hedwig is Harry's little buddy. She's like his only friend during the summer. :b

 

A Harry/Tonks fic that actually works
A Harry/Daphne fic that actually works
A Harry/Fleur fic that actually works

Needless to say, it's been lacking. Seriously though, I like it when an author explores the background of the wizarding world's heritage, such as in Journey from Oidhche Shamhna. I also like it when there's depth shown to Death Eaters, rather than just mindless zealotry, such as in On the Wings of a Phoenix. I like it when the line between good and evil is blurred, and the author manages to balance such a thing without using the terms 'Light and Dark side'. I like it when Slytherins are shown as different, but not insofar as everyone else showing rabid and instant hatred of the house. I like stories that involve Rowena Ravenclaw. I love stories that show the slow fall of characters we hold to be mighty, though without blatant bashing, such as Harry still holding Dumbledore to still be the man he though he was when he was a first year, but as he grew up, he's not, and has flaws like everyone else. I like stories that show a skillful Harry, done well where he's not just thrown a bunch of random super abilities on the spur of the moment through inheritance or bullshit, but done in a subtle way rather than just brute forcing it and showing off, that is to say, it can't be an easy path. I like stories that have Harry using spells other than just stupefy and expelliarmus, without going overboard into cliche territory by sticking 'maximus' at the end of every spell.

 

Everything I've ever written is the stuff I'd want to read; hence why I wrote it. Even the bad ones are like the guilty pleasure fics that are only half decent but have a pairing or some crack humour I like, and make for a good 80k word timesink. And 'sides, with my policy on not releasing fics until they're completed, it means I have an archive of unfinished stuff to read, but I don't run into the problem of hating that it'll never update/be completed 'cause I have outlines with the ending on hand too. And if it's been like two years since I wrote it, I don't remember everything, so yeah, it's like reading a new fic made just for me. I write for future me, and future me likes it.

More specific, I know about a million pairings or so across as many fandoms I like trawling through fluffy oneshots and stuff (And desperately hope some more obscure pairings get love). 'Cause not only am I a giant ego - see above - but I'm also a big ol' girly girl with ribbons in my hair and I want to kiss all the boys. But the feels, guys. The feels.