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What Boys Want In Fanfiction

 
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LadyoftheDeadlyDance
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 8:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've been writing fanfictions for a couple of months now, and I know for a fact that most, if not all of my reviewers and readers are female. So, my dear brothers of shameless fandom, what do you want to see in a fanfic? The only two guys who have read one of my stories (that I know read it, anyway. I made them read it, really ^-^; what are cousins and boyfriends for?) believed it to be "too mushy". So, what do boys like in exchange for a romance (since that's really all i've been writing so far, and I have a huge crossover in the works)?
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amerowolf
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 8:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

on one of my stories at ff.net i have 56 revie and like three of the are guys. i think guys go the way of blood or angst mo so than romance but that's jut my theory as a chick
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LadyoftheDeadlyDance
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 8:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hmm...more blood and gore....I can deal with that. I'll just have to be a tad bit more morbid in my ficies then.

So far, I know only 2 boys who have finished the fanfic, and for my other ones, I suspect that all of my reviewers are girls. I also know only one male fanfic author, which is extremely strange to me...
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Stratadrake
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 9:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't read much fanfiction, so I can't give any specific things on what I like to see. All I have are general tastes:

- Give me good descriptions, scene setting, etc. Or as we writers like to say, "show, don't tell". Do not summarize the visuals of a scene down to twenty words or less. Describe the four walls of the room, describe the lighting, the sounds, the mood.

- Do not rely upon staples of the genre you're writing in in lieu of good description. For example, if you're writing a Pokmon fic and describing a pokbattle, don't describe things like "Pikachu cast Thunder on the other trainer's Squirtle, knocking it out in a single hit". Describe for me what such an action actually [i]looks[/i] like. Make me feel like I'm observing the battle first-hand, rather than being told it by someone else. If all you do is summarize using token names from the genre, you discriminate against those not versed in that genre. In other words, the story becomes less accessible. (Another example: if you write a Final Fantasy novel for those who've played through Final Fantasy, you can get away with a lot of summary. But if you do that, you'll leave non-FF players completely in the dark when saying stuff like "Guado mercenaries chased the team out of Macalania Templte")

Yup, I can be especially naggy about item #2. I feel left out when I don't know what's going on solely because I'm not well-versed in the genre of a fic.
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fallenangel
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 10:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Titties and booze? I'm just guessing... Oh, and something has to explode.
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silver_dreams
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 4:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i agree with Fallen. Laughing
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Silver_Charm
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 4:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a fanfic on another site, and I know that for sure that at least one regular is a guy... Very Happy I dunno about fanfiction, but stories in general... I go for books that are usually more aimed at guys than girls, so, yeah. ^^

Keep the story general. You don't need gore as much as you need normal stuff. Stay away from most mushy, lovey-dovey, particularly OOC/Mary Sue romance, as a rule. Have stuff happen; action and active description (um... what Stratadrake said ^^) keeps the reader engaged.

There's one writer in my main fandom, who's a guy and a kinda BNF. He tends to write AUs, using things like 'what if so-and-so got killed, and so-and-so had to avenge them?' The stories are generally action-packed (guns! Don't forget the guns! lol) and angsty. So yeah... comedy, angst and action seems to appeal more.

Hope that helps! ^^ *re-lurks*
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Zekk
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 5:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm a fanfiction boy and to me theres not realy a "Too mushy" (No i'm not gay!!!! Just a romance idot) Let me check out your fanfic's...

{Edit} You've only got one and its rated to high for me to read (Damn being only 11)

{Edit} *Sigh* Lasher... you taking acout of most guys...... some of us like plain romance (Or romance and adventure). I'm pesonaly not a big fan of action, gore, and alot of vilence (Not much of a guy type guy... bite me for it). Difrent story types apease diffrent guys. Heres my bacis verson of what the types are and like:

Normal and perverted (Not calling the normal perverted): What Lasher said.
Odd: (Like me) Romance.... adventure... romance and adventure, werid story... stuff like that.... (Not good at elplaining thing)

Thats [i]my[/i] basic explantion of it.....
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Lasher
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 6:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What stratadrake said is right on the mark. I've been writing for awhile, only started posting anything of mine in the past year for people to read. And i'm currently rewriting what i have up to improve it. But from what i got from my reviewers, i was told what stratadrake explained that the male readers wanted. Detail.

Readers like to feel involved in the story, like they're there, they're one of the characters or right on the side lines watching the show, having it surround them. Telling someone something is boring and dull and just kills the mood that you had to read in the first place. But showing the reader is what pulls them in, and showing what they want is more likely to keep them drawn in and continuing with the story.

Guys like action, sex, and comedy. And the it's all easy, you don't even have to take it all the way. Slap all three together at a lower rating and you can simply have a girl/woman in tihgt jeans, low slung, nice bust (nothing to porno unless your aiming for that) decently small top, with an attitude and knows how to shot and gun. Right there, the guys are interested and attracted to the story (or maybe the character Wink ) put in some humor where the chick can joke with the guys, and they love it.

The best thing in the world is when you get a reader to tell you they don't like reading, it bores them, it's dull, but that you somehow captured they're attention and drew them in.



In the end though, the female readers are much more likely to review. Guys don't do so as much, trust me when i say you probably have at least 5 good male readers, they just don't comment.
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Stratadrake
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 10:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote]Slap all three together at a lower rating and you can simply have a girl/woman in tihgt jeans, low slung, nice bust (nothing to porno unless your aiming for that) decently small top, with an attitude and knows how to shot and gun.[/quote]

Sounds to me like a description of the Eidos Interactive Cash Cow, formerly known as Lara Croft :rolleyes:


For me, I don't really do romance, and I outright don't go for sex scenes. I'm fine with violence and fighting, just as long as it's kept to about a PG-13 level (in other words, little blood/gore/dismemberment). Also, keep in mind that what level of violence you use will reflect itself in the description. For example, take the final blow of a swordfight. I could describe it in any number of ways:

"G"/"PG" level violence:
[quote]He cut down the enemy in a single swipe of his sword.[/quote]

"PG-13" level violence:
[quote]He swung with his sword into the enemy's armor, slicing through and knocking the foe down in a single mighty blow.[/quote]

"R" level violence (you have been warned):
[quote]He swung his mighty cleaver through the air and sank it through the chest of his opponent, collapsing his opponent's lungs and sending the dying man down in a bloodied heap.[/quote]

Like I've said to a few authors on FF.net, when you're writing for the G ~ PG-13 audience, I don't want to see fountains of blood, dismembered limbs and heads, hear bones snapping or vital organs being ripped out in front of me. That's stuff for the R crowd.
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LadyoftheDeadlyDance
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 10:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

*is taking bunches and bunches of notes*

Okay, I think I got it. Pretty much, boys will enjoy well-written fanfictions, so long as the romance is genuine and not too "fluffy". I'll have to make sure my newest fanfic is like that. Thanks guys!
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fallenangel
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ha, ya know, that's one thing I've always thought was funny when people use movie ratings to rate books. 'Cause it all has to come down to the description. You could have a naked person in a pg movie or NC17, all depends on how they do the shot. But in a story, if you say "she was naked"...you really have no control over what all the person's mind shows 'em. I always suggested people rate based on what they describe (like one girl was writing a story and in one scene what's-his-face (forgot his name) jumped out of bed nekkid, but she didn't describe anything. So regardless of what the pervy people are thinking, she didn't give them a visual. Yeah.) Still a weird system.

On a different note, I'm watching the Skid Row video for I Remember You and other than the fact Baz kinda looks like a butch chick... thinking of what I'd like to see in a fanfic about him, I'm pretty sure it's a very manly "storyline". Ah well. Tight pants, hair pulling, and those pouty lips. That's what men want, promise. Wink
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power9x
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 7:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I'm a fanfic loving guy, but the main things I look for in a fic (and this isn't at all gender specific, it may be, but I don't think so) are as follows:

1. Originality. I hate fics that are like: Gaara says something funny only to the author and a few other people, some random event happens, the author is adored by thousands of main characters.
2. Heavy Emotional Conflict. This is probably just me, but I'm one for the heartbreak, I love a sad ending. The characters don't need thousands of layers of depth, but they do need enough to feel and have the audience feel.
3. Big battles. Period. Wheither they be blood and gore fests with swords or a PG rated ninja fight or even a PG-13 gun battle, it needs to be epic.
4. An Alternate Universe. I prefer AU fics, because they let these things happen. All my fics are AU fics. The main reason is that it allows someone important to die, or all hell to break lose, or an impossible romance to happen.
5. Description. All beginning writers (including myself) jump into the plot and forget the fact that they are the only ones that can picture the story.

Those are what I look for. I think number 3 & possibly 4 are guy things, but 1 & 5 are definately just in general, and 2 is just a preferince. That's all. Bye.
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Emrys
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 1:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For the record, I agree with Stratadrake's post. I keep most of my gore probably at the R level. I do that mainly because A) i'm very fluent with anatomy and placement of organs. Even my fist fights are pretty graphic Cool It's boring to say "he brought the sword down and finished his opponent with a mighty blow." That leaves me with alot of open questions.

Was it a diagonal cut? Did it cut through the armor or through a weakness in the armor? What kind of sword? Why didn't the opponent block? Was it a shortcoming? Was he tired? What's going on in the background?

I've noticed in my writings, if he said he fired his gun and missed... you never miss. You always hit something. Let me give some examples here...

[i] The man in the red cape spun, pulling his pistol free as he dove under a hail of gunfire that ricocheted off the wall behind him. He fired at his opponent as his shoulder hit the ground but the impact twisted his aim and he overshot, his bullet slamming into the wooden balcony over his foe's head.[/i]

I'm actually gonna go read your stuff though, cuz i'm curious so now you have three guys. and one you didn't make read it Razz

And I only found one story Sad but it's a lovely poem and from my profession's standpoint it almost made me cry. (me a US soldier) Hat's off to the writer... namely you Razz
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Tarlrulesher
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

rapeing
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"Do not risk your life for me," she said.
"Why not?" he said.
"Because I am really only a slave girl, " she said.
"It is for such that men most cheerfully risk their lives," he said.
"Oh?" she said.
"Certainly," he said, "you would not expect them to go to all that trouble for a mere free female, would you?"
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Ashvati
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 8:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have to disagree with everyone here who says "sex, violence, rape, explosions, booze", personally. Yes, conflict is essentially, but on a more interpersonal level than just DBZ style. I have to mostly agree with Power9x. Another thing that I've noticed seems to be a difference in fanfic for girls and for boys (I could be wrong, btw) is that in a lot of stuff for girls, the main character seems to have really bad things happen to them one after another, and the character is more and more damaged emotionally by it. A good example of this (while not quite a fanfic) is the online manga Drow Tales. At first it was good and I really liked the character, but she grew up too fast (which is ironic because her kind take over a century to grow up) and it turned into just one emotionally scarring event after another until I just knew she ould never be the character I liked before again and just stopped reading it.
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