Things you like to see in writing

Julie suggested in the Biggest turn-offs when reading fics? thread that someone start a thread for things we like to see. This isn't just about plot; it's about everything that makes writing good.

So I'll start.

I love believable characters. I love to see established characters written convincingly. Original characters can be even better when they're not cut from patterns out of cardboard.

Your turn...

 

I like clever dialogue. I'll always remember great lines in a book.

 

I would have to say originality and detail.

I agree on the believable characters. There must be something there to identify yourself with.

 

Humor. Not silly or weird humor, but humor nevertheless. I like a slightly dark and very dry sense of humor in stories I read.

 

I love unexpected but apt metaphors and similes.

 

I love a post that leaves me wanting to cry for good reasons. Like the post-tattooing scene between Anakin and Leia in The Penitent, anything from the last half of Soldier's Dance, or Jade_Angel's last post on Tests of Time. In the EU, I just finished SxS and one scene (around page 456) involving Han, Leia and a certain spoilered event had me on the verge of tears for an hour. Writing that digs deep and reminds me of my own humanity is what I love.

I also live for tongue-in-cheek humor.

 

Thinking about SBS, I love hopeless stands against impossible odds. When hope is gone, when there is no hope of victory, and a character makes one last defiant gesture. Even when it?s a character that I don?t like, showing that sort of heroism in the face of disaster is still heart-wrenching. When a character I like does it, it?s even better. I just love it when a character knows that they?re going to die, and still continues on, still fighting until darkness falls.

 

lines, humor, and believable characters. main 3 components, IMO.

(though sometimes humor comes in wrong places; I'm not including those times)

 

I'd already started a thread on this.

 

I love love... dun ask... and I like humor... all rihgt ask... and I like torure... dun even