The stepping stone: rarepair is tagged, but it’s only used as a pathway to a ship you don’t care about. they disappear by chapter 3 after the characters the author actually wants to get together do.
The weird smut: They are both in this story, and may or may not have had sex with each other at some point. It’s kind of hard to tell because there are at least seven other people having sex, three subplots, eleven niche kinks, and maybe characters from several other fandoms.
The why-is-this-even-tagged?!: One character or both is in love with someone else. The ship actively dislikes each other if they do not hate each other. There is no positive relationship between them at all, but the ship is tagged regardless.
The mention: They’re mentioned in line 722 out of 2180. They never come up again.
The okay, I guess: It’s a semi-normal story about them. The grammar isn’t the best, but it’s readable. The plot is cliche, but it’s tolerable. They’re somewhat in character and you settle for it because it isn’t great, but it’s probably the best you’re gonna get.
The *sigh*: It would be cute, if the author was actually a good writer. Sadly, it’s so god-awful you cannot stomach it, and must abandon it completely.
The nice- oh, wait: The summary sounds good. It seems like it has decent grammar and it’s one of the only fics for your ship on the site. You click on it. It is written entirely in German.
The holy grail: THIS IS IT. THE PERFECT RAREPAIR FIC. EVERYTHING IS GREAT AND INCREDIBLE AND WONDERFUL, AND THIS IS THE GOLDEN ONE YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU WOULD FIND. THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE ONE.
The dammit-my-standards-are-too-high-now: You read The Holy Grail and now everything else seems garbage. Oops.
when you read a fic and you see a reference or a hint about something that is likely to happen later and you just know the writer knows that u know and ur both like
““He frowned at them. “Is… is the Flowey of your world a jerk?”
Frisk considered it. “Well, let’s just say he wouldn’t have been out of place in this world.”
Flowey scoffed, turning away. “Heh. Of course. He probably would be just fine, wouldn’t he? He wouldn’t be like me. Some crybaby who dies all the time.”
Frowning, Frisk sat up and reached for Flowey, forcing him to turn and look up at them. “The Flowey of my world stopped caring about others. He was a firm believer in ‘kill or be killed’ in a world where that was the farthest thing from the truth. He hurt others because it was the only thing he had left to amuse him. He is not better than you because of that. He was misguided and he changed his ways. He became kinder. But you? You’re already kind.” They smiled at him. “You’re more like how he used to be. Someone he might want to be more like now even. Don’t compare yourself to him.” They paused and leaned down to press a kiss to his petals. “Kindness is not a weakness, Flowey.””
~ Ch. 10, The World, Upside Down by @last-haven (on Ao3)
Sometimes I like to look at the reviews of fanfics that I like because the author may divulge some other information regarding the story.
And then I get disappointed because sometimes…the reviewers are such assholes. Like can’t you just say “hey i enjoyed this” instead of getting your nose all in it and notifying the author EXACTLY what you personally didn’t like? The author isn’t writing for you, they’re writing because they have a story they want to tell.
I don’t know, it just sets me off and makes me feel all squiggly wiggly inside seeing all this…bleh. It’s just rude and…bleh.
I sorta feel like it’s super rude to leave critical reviews on any fan work that the creator hasn’t actually requested con-crit for. This isn’t critique day at school. You aren’t their editor. No one’s doing it for a grade or a paycheck. This is for fun folks. Keep it fun.
SliceOSunshine 