What fanfics are objectively bad, but you enjoy reading anyways?

 

A Butterfly Effect by SlyGoddess is probably the first that comes to mind. The writing's competent enough, the idea is good, but it just gets buried under piles of angst and fluff and despite everything, that's kiiinda why I like it.

 

Every fiction by jbern.

 

Most Yandere fics. Don't ask, seriously.

 

Any fic by The Morrigu. All are bad on so many levels and I would never recommend to anyone objectively but hey, guilty pleasures right?

 

Time Braid by ShaperV. I read it at least once a year. So bad.

 

The Horror! The Horror! by DisobedienceWriter.

 

Almost everything there is about Young Justice
To this day, I am yet to find a high quality fic but I still like them all.

 

Grow Young With Me. Harry/OC!waitress slowly fall for each other. Competent writing, but the premise is pretty much unbelievable and the story is angsty as hell. Somehow, I still find it enjoyable enough to read updates.

Pretty much everything Jeconais did falls into this category but my favorite guilty pleasures are the "Blazin' Goblet" series, Harry the Hufflepuff, and far too many Harry/Hermione fics. Oh, and that megasmut fic that Erotic Adventures posted that was in horrible need of a beta.

 

God, this just reminded me that I really want to read an any way half decent Harry/Hermione fic. I haven't had that for years.

 

Fascinating.

Please, continue.

 

Well I was commenting on a thread called, "guilty pleasures".

I outlined how I don't particularly seek out such a pairing but the posts above have made me reminiscent.

Now, for your benefit, I'll continue.

I rarely enjoy a fic where Harry is paired with Hermione because of the obvious trope of Hermione fixing Harry's life and generally being the best thing since sliced bread.

Now and again though, I want to see a fix where it happens, hoping her character is written in slightly a less obnoxious fashion.

Now, is that okay with you?

 

Sixteen Years by Council. It has annoying WBWL stuff, extreme Dumbledore Bashing, and a lot of Backstory that doesn't really make sense. But I love it anyway for its relatively unique (if non-Canon) take on Magic, Harry's strangely sweet big brother relationship with an OC, and Ron being a good, likeable character. The fact Council also wrote The Amplitude, Frequency and Resistance of the Soul Bond, home of the funniest Dumbledore ever and the only good Soul Bond story ever written, certainly helps.

 

Some fics with obvious problems with characterization (among other things) that I found to be enjoyable (at the time I read them) nonetheless:

Equal and Opposite

The Golden Age

Some Days I Wish I were in Slytherin

Unbecoming

The Rebirth and its sequel

The Enigmatic Headmistress

Dust

A lot of Tsume Yuki's stuff

 

I give A Butterfly Effect a pass on the cliches because quite a few originated there. It really shouldn't be in my top 10 when it's like that and not even finished.

 

Pretty much every HP and Naruto fic by cywscross. Her writing is technically very strong, but it's mostly cliches strung together by pretty words. Oh, and the inevitable abandonment.

HP & Wand of Uru (by joe-who-shall-not-be-named). It's a bit of a train wreck, and it's gone through so many revisions... it just keeps getting weirder. It's hard to look away.

More stuff that I can't really be bothered to dig up...

 

Same Destination, Different Journey by AJ freas and its sequel. My main issue with it is that its characters seem to be incapable of smiling. It's always lopsided grin, smirk, or some such. Also, it is mostly canon rehash. I read it solely because of romance. Those Harry/Hermione scenes are just so sweet... In fact, it is my favourite Harry/Hermione story.

 

A Cadmean Victory by DarknessEnthroned
Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin by The Sinister Man (although the first arc doesn't even count as guilty pleasure, it's plain awful)
The first chapters of "Rise of a Dark Lord" by Little Miss Xanda, but now the fic is just absolutely boring.

In general fictions with a decent premise and a reasonably competent Harry but often wrong portrayal of Dumbledore/order members, unnecessary fillers and sometimes inconsequent characterisation.

 

Hm.

I think Knowledge is Power is a pretty good guilty pleasure. So much of it is utterly ridiculous, and yet it's just fun in a way a lot of fics aren't. Like, you have Harry swordfighting with busty vampire queens and scaring off Dementors and making snarky comments to everyone, and it's so close to being awful, but it's just... yeah, guilty pleasure sums it up pretty well. It's also got an, er, interesting attitude towards women that kind of swings from "nervous chuckle" to "back away slowly".

Basically, the whole fic reminds me of this Calvin and Hobbes strip.

 

I despise elitist ravenclaw harry.

For guilty pleasures though you can try this:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9735652/1/Salvation-in-Shadow So cringeworthy at times ,yet one of the better horcrux Harry fics.