What makes a fic popular?

[Pink Parka Girl]

This is a question my inner sociologist has been mulling over for a while; and I'd love to see what people think on the topic. Basically...what makes certain fics so much more popular than others? Why are some fics by an author more popular than other fics by the same author? Why are some fics popular on, say, fanfiction.net; but attract no attention on Serebii? (Or vice-versa?) I'll talk about some of my own theories, but I'd love to see what others think XD

My own theories boil down to a few things:

1. Wish fulfillment. I think the reason some fics are popular is because they fill something in many readers. They can easily identify with the main character and live vicariously through them. Mary Sue fics that become popular and successful I think do so in part due to the wish fulfillment element; Mary Sue is who many readers wish they could be. Rules bend for a Sue; luck comes to a Sue - she gets to do everything, and be everything, that many of us wish we could. And even in non-Sue fics we may find ourselves able to fulfill a deep daydream through a fanfic (or a published book, Sues or no, for that matter - as low as my personal opinion of Twilight and its sequels is, I can see exactly why so many of my fellow females fawn over it, the poor writing be damned - based on comments I've seen, many of them seem to wish for their own perfect, sparkly Edward to sweep them away). Who doesn't wish they could be swept out of their mundane existence to be personally appointed by a Legendary to save the world? To leave behind parents who "just don't understand" and aim for glory in the League, seeking the recognition many of us wish we could have? To be famous? To finally be the one to win the heart of (insert canon character here)? Because we cannot live it (or the equivalent of it in real-world terms), we latch on to the fics (and books) that show us our own deep dreams coming true.

2. Genre. This can also come into play, I think, in figuring out why some fics are popular on some sites and not on others. On Serebii, I've noticed a decided trend towards Original Trainers and Dark fics (especially dark, Pokémon-centric stuff); with certain comedies deemed appropriately funny also securing a foothold. Darkfics also seem to be popular across the board in Pokémon fandom, and part of why I think this is is because the canon has so much potential for a dark side, but rarely explores it. Many of us are older fans; ready, willing and able to seize upon this mostly-untapped-by-canon outlet for their creativity. Trainer fics have also always been one of the most perennially popular genres despite being very centric to canon; the Trainer seems to be the "heart" of the Pokémon franchise, and I think that's why so many like the ideal (Wish-fulfillment rears its head again?) - at least, as long as the Trainers don't totally upstage their pokémon. As for the popularity of Pokémon POVs; I have a few theories:
-Underexplored in canon; and when it is, it's not always done well; either over-humanized to the point of ridiculousness (Pokémon PiPiPi; the newspaper comic; the anime in some regards) or too animal-esque and not human enough (Pokémon Special in some regards; the games - even if I personally prefer this sort of portrayal in part due to the fact that so few others want to try and write fic based on it). Writers, in much the same way I suspect so many of us have the desire to write - and voraciously read - Darkfics, work to fill this hole, generally avoiding the two extremes as they tend to be unpopular with readers.
-Many Pokémon fans also like animals, and find the appeal of intelligent animals with amazing powers to be a strong driving force in writing about them. I'm a big fan of books in the Watership Down vein myself; so I can totally understand this perspective, even if I seldom write Pokémon fics in the same style XD

Conversely, canon-character centric fics (especially those based on major characters in canons) seem to attract little attention on Serebii; while fanfiction.net readers seem more receptive to them. I suspect this is due to the demographic of the Serebii Fanfiction section - it tends to skew older and more mature than fanfiction.net, and I've noticed a lot of disparaging comments made towards many of the most major canon characters by posters here. The canon-character based fics struggle here, I think, due to lack of fans of the characters in question (I honestly feel like the only Ash fangirl here sometimes! XD ), and/or familiarity. The Twerps/Team Rocket/Red and co have already been well examined and developed by their canons; the thinking sometimes seems to go - "why should I be interested in a fic about them? I've seen enough of these characters and I'm sick of 'em." Ff.net's much larger fanbase and younger age skew seem to lead to better success for canon-character centric stories - with so many users, it's a lot easier to catch the attention of your fellow fangirls and boys XD

Genre appeal also differs from archive to archive, and again I suspect it's due to traffic level and having a better chance of "snaring" your target audience. Fics that appeal to a fetish crowd (alas, my Paws for Alarm falls into this category as much as I wish it didn't), such as transformation fics, pokémorph fics, human/pokémon shipping fics and varied other "unorthodox" shippings (even if they weren't written to be fetish fuel), have a much better chance of scoring an audience in such a vast archive than appealing to the tastes of the average Serebii reader; who tends to read to think rather than be titillated (except, perhaps, through wish-fulfillment). The "stigma" of such fics often being written as fetish fodder seems a well-ingrained one; the lack of love for Pokémorph fics here that I noted back in 2006 still seems to be going strong, with the exception of Dragonfree's Morphic.

Teal deer version: Darkfics are appealing due to the lack of canon material; Trainers are appealing as the "heart" of the franchise; Pokemon are appealing for rather obvious reasons. And much like how the Academy Awards seem to hate animated films no matter how good they are, "fetish fics," canon-character centric fics, fics that focus on humans to the exclusion of Pokémon ("Pokébots"), and fics featuring Pokémon that are either too humanized or not humanized enough, tend to be left in the dust here on Serebii forums due to demographics, tastes, and ingrained bias. XD I know I have my own biases, too, that lead me to choose certain fics over others... ^^;

3. Update speed. Many of the most popular fics are those that are constantly being presented to the public eye due to frequent updates that push them to the top of the page. After seeing a fic enough times, you're likely to be tempted to click and see what it's all about XD Not all fics are like this, though - I've seen fics with large fanbases that haven't been updated since 2004 over at fanfiction.net, despite fan clamoring. Something about those fics, I think, leave a lasting impression on the readers - indeed, my own favorite fic ever has been left unfinished since 2004, and the author confessed recently that they never will finish it, and yet I still love it more than any other. Which leads to my next point -

4. Concept. Some fics are loved simply because they do something so differen and unique. Based on my own experience; the people who do like my fics, here and on ff.net and deviantart, do so because they find them unique. The concepts are ones that have been done before (and many times! XD ), but they think the WAY in which I use the basic concepts makes them stand out far more than similar fics. I'm hardly the only writer who does these things; and I think that in my case that sometimes my ideas are TOO far out to score large readership; but I've noticed many "high concept fics," even on fanfiction.net, score large readerships and heaps of praise. Many of these kind of fics are naturally AUs, which may also add to their appeal.

5. Plot. Fast paced, plotted thrillers will grab and hold readers much more than any high concept ever will - it's why thrillers and mysteries are such a preinally popular genre in the world of published fiction ("popcorn books", I sometimes call them XD ).

As for why fics by the same author can fluctuate wildly in popularity - I've been puzzling over this myself in terms of my own work. The least favorite of all my fics is one of my most popular. It got more reviews than any of my other works here on Serebii (though to your guy's credit, most of the reviews I got here were rather mixed and more heavy on the critical side ), and has quite a lot of reviews on ff.net (the vast majority giving nothing but praise), despite the fact I hate the thing for being so poorly written. The only reason I can fathom for its popularity is for being the first Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fic that was also a darkfic, though many other, better written darkfics have been written since then. (Much like Acey's hugely overrated Pokémon MASTER, oft-stated and much beloved for being the first Pokémon "darkfic," at least in English. Sure, it may be the first, but much better work has been done since then, that don't involve Canon-Stus and clumsy writing...). In terms of all my fics, Paws for Alarm has turned into a runaway hit on ff.net and deviantart, despite being mostly ignored on Serebii. With over five thousand hits (four times as many as my second most popular story) and a "story alert" list stretching into the sunset (despite minimal reviews), I still can't explain it, other than the fetish-fuel nature of transformation fics in general...

Things I've noticed that do NOT contribute to popularity, at least not much; includes the actual technical ability to write. It does help somewhat, but I've seen some fics that were poorly written mechanically, but well written in terms of plotting and characterization, gain huge readerships. I've also seen amazingly-written stuff languish in the dustbin; due to being the "wrong" genre; not being updated regularly; or not being as tight in areas such as plot and characterization. Mary Sues, as mentioned above, also do not always stop a fic or book's rush to popularity; wish fulfillment; or greater attachment and liking for side characters that offset the Sue, seem to be the factors at work.

But what I want to know is, what do you think? Why do you like the super-popular works that you do? What do you think makes others like em? Are you confused by your own popularity? XD

 

[Mrs. Lovett]

I agree with most of what you said. Here are my thoughts:

Genre. If, on a forum, there are more people who like OT fics than horror fics, a new OT fic will gain faster popularity than the second. The horror fic will get readers, but not as many because the majority of members like OT. So genre can play a big role.

The author. Most likely, a new fic written by a well-known and well-loved author will gain rapid attention. This is simply because his/her work has been seen before, and people know to expect great things.

Revolutionizing the fanfiction age. Basically, a fic that strays from the normal standard will gain attention. If an author discovers a whole new method of storytelling, their fic will be known for it.

Frequent updating can bring the thread to the top of the page, so new visitors will see it and check it out. Also, for those who have seen it before but haven't clicked on it, they might view it 'just to see what it's about'. In contrast, if an author posts one or two chapters and lets his fic fade away, then it will most likely go unnoticed.

Strangely, fics that need more improvement gain a lot of attention. People post in this threat to help the writer at first, then keep coming back to see if they're considering their advice. Over time, a not-so-great fic can blossom into a great fic.

 

[Bay]

I think plot is one of the biggest factors here. Heart of the Sea is a parable/drama which was a big hit when I first posted it in 2006. Back then I actually have people loving it because it’s just so different. I have people saying the same thing with Nothing, Everything explaining how it’s a different Pokémon story like no other. Simplicity, however, is comedy and not much action going on, so that’s why no one reviewed it actually (part of it is also how it’s a sequel to a one shot, but that’s a discussion for another time. ).

One other factor is probably word of mouth. I know some fics I read were recommendations from friends and someone suggesting it in another thread and such. For instance, for Nothing, Everything at Serebii, the story didn’t get too many reviewers at first, but then later on more reviewers came, saying how they heard about this story and liked it very much.

Another thing is probably the time factor. Back then I remember in 2006 the fics popular then are ones not OT fics. However, 2008/2009 OT fics are the rage. Probably part of it is Serebii’s age demographic changing. The older members are fading and there are new blood coming in.

 

[//Mix\\]

I can tell you it often has little to do with quality and plenty to do with luck and word of mouth. One person with forum connections likes it and spreads the word, and more flock to check it out.

This is just a personal observation, but I think that the fanfiction forum is populated more by people looking for an easy read than people who want an extraordinary fic. Of course, the latter type generally makes a more noticeable contribution to the forum, but quantity can beat quality when it comes to readers.

Naturally, it depends on how you measure popularity and which definition you prefer; a fic that's recognized by several people known to distinguish the good from the bad, or a fic that's just overwhelmed by readers.

I'd personally prefer the former, but I've only ever experienced the latter. My first fic was awful, but it was one of the more popular ones.

I completely agree with your Wish Fulfillment theory, Pink Parka Girl. People want to feel good. They want things that will make them feel good. When they can't actually experience the feel-good thing (like having legendary powers or being beautiful), they find movies/books/fics with main characters who have shoes they can step into.

(This isn't entirely related, BUT)

Is it just me, or has the fanfiction forum become less of a busybody and more of a sloth? I've only been back a few days, so I can't say definitively, but when I refresh the main forum page every hour or so, the newest post in the fanfiction section has been the newest post for a while.

Maybe it's just because, as Bay said, the old members who made the fanfiction section what it was are fading out, and the newest generation is more interested in the more basic aspects of Serebii (e.g, games, trade forum.)

Or maybe the majority of readers here are new and therefore less inclined to make contributions to the forum (such as reviews) hence the lack of frequent posts.

Or maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about?

Either way, this is the longest reply post I've typed in a large amount of time.

 

[Shinneth]

Conversely, canon-character centric fics (especially those based on major characters in canons) seem to attract little attention on Serebii; while fanfiction.net readers seem more receptive to them. I suspect this is due to the demographic of the Serebii Fanfiction section - it tends to skew older and more mature than fanfiction.net, and I've noticed a lot of disparaging comments made towards many of the most major canon characters by posters here. The canon-character based fics struggle here, I think, due to lack of fans of the characters in question (I honestly feel like the only Ash fangirl here sometimes! XD ), and/or familiarity. The Twerps/Team Rocket/Red and co have already been well examined and developed by their canons; the thinking sometimes seems to go - "why should I be interested in a fic about them? I've seen enough of these characters and I'm sick of 'em."

While I definitely can't disagree with you here, I'm always baffled at how my mentality functions in the opposite way. I'm going to be 24 years old this month and I've been off-and-on with the Pokemon fandom for around a decade now. In spite of that, I've never had any love for OT fanfics and am primarily interested in only the characters the canon gives us; my reasoning being "why should I be interested in a fic about fanmade characters who I don't know/care about already?" - 'cause, you know, when I want to read a fanfic in any fandom, I come with the intention of reading about the characters I know and love rather than having some new ones forced on me that are only loosely tied with what I'm familiar with. If I wanted to read about brand new characters, I'd just skip the fanfics and go straight to original fiction.

That's not to say I think all OT fics are bad/pointless; I just never understood the reasoning of the fanbase's preferences, especially of the "older" and "mature" ones. At my age, I'm still only interested in writing/reading fics solely based on the anime, Special, or another canon with a full cast of established characters because that's what I identify with in Pokemon. There's plenty of canon characters out there who've been severely overlooked and could make fantastic stories as a result, but I think I'm veering off-topic. XD

I think the point I'm trying to make is that popularity is sort of... a beast that's difficult to comprehend. I think a lot of it is involved with word of mouth and how many people you know will read your work and spread the word accordingly. Reputation's got a lot to do with it, especially if you've written a slew of good/bad fics before. Advertising yourself also goes a long way, even if it's not direct. I imagine reviewing many other fics will prompt the authors of said reviewed stories to look and see if you can put your money where your mouth is and review back appropriately.

Frequent updating's important since it'll stay fresh with the people who've already flocked over towards the story and will almost always gain more since I know from experience a lot of people get antsy waiting for new chapters to come out. Then there's genre, obviously, which probably doesn't need to be expanded on more than it already has because lol shipping's teh bomb.

... Interestingly, I see a lot of bad fanfiction getting craploads more attention than good fics. Which I really think is wrong on so many levels when you look at the big picture. And that sort of "popularity" isn't the kind you want to garner, but if you show a steady, dedicated level of improvement, the people who hate your fics usually take time to point out and appreciate the better quality. Which just sorta sucks for people who already started out good and get no attention anyway.

... I think I'm rambling at this point, but yeah. It's really tricky to understand and I sorta gave up on trying ages ago. Just going with the flow at this point. Popularity in any form, be it fanfiction or freaking high school, just doesn't make sense.

 

[bobandbill]

(This isn't entirely related, BUT)

Is it just me, or has the fanfiction forum become less of a busybody and more of a sloth? I've only been back a few days, so I can't say definitively, but when I refresh the main forum page every hour or so, the newest post in the fanfiction section has been the newest post for a while.

Maybe it's just because, as Bay said, the old members who made the fanfiction section what it was are fading out, and the newest generation is more interested in the more basic aspects of Serebii (e.g, games, trade forum.)

Or maybe the majority of readers here are new and therefore less inclined to make contributions to the forum (such as reviews) hence the lack of frequent posts.

Or maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about?

Either way, this is the longest reply post I've typed in a large amount of time.

Hmm, it has been a bit quiet recently, and a few people have moved on as well. But then again, it's just been the Christmas-new year period so that may explain the lack of activity with new writing releases at least partly, I'd wager. That and forums tend to go in periods with bursts of activity and a lack of it as well, from what I've seen. There was for instance a lot more activity around when the last contest occurred. XD

Definitely agree with the point that authors who have been around, maybe reviewed a number of fics, and established themselves tend to get more 'popularity' than a newcomer would even if the latter has a better story. Word of mouth, the fact you've seen that person x amount of times and the new person never a(who may very well like a lot of others stick around for a few chapters before disappearing, never to be seen again), etc seem a pretty big contributor.

I think also the lighter, less serious fics can at times get more attention as well, simply as people prefer that sort of read. My current fic seems to fit that, and gets a lot of readers - I can't help but think I'm overrated (especially recently), especially when there's a number of other fics I feel are really well written but don't get much attention. Oh well? =/ 'Popularity' is an odd thing.

 

[BlitzBlast]

Damn, that's one hell of a wall of text.

I'd say that the most important thing in getting your fan fic to be popular is placement, and effort extremes.

By that, I mean you'd want to put a pokemon fanfic in a pokemon fansite, and that you either want to put as much effort as possible into making it good in the genre you picked (horror, humor, etc.) or you need to put as little (or possibly even more) effort into it to make it one of those widely acclaimed bad fics (like My Immortal).

And it should probably have some advertisements, like putting it on TVtropes.

 

[Breezy]

2. Genre. This can also come into play, I think, in figuring out why some fics are popular on some sites and not on others. On Serebii, I've noticed a decided trend towards Original Trainers and Dark fics (especially dark, Pokémon-centric stuff); with certain comedies deemed appropriately funny also securing a foothold. Darkfics also seem to be popular across the board in Pokémon fandom, and part of why I think this is is because the canon has so much potential for a dark side, but rarely explores it.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to agree with the "dark fic" part of this statement. Sure, they are written more frequently today, but in terms of "hits", only a handful seem to a good number of views/reviews. In fact, sorting the threads by "number of views", a good amount aren't purely dark fics but journey fics. I still think a journey fic, OT or not, with at least mediocre quality will still get a huge number of hits. The secondary genre (dark fic, OT, game-based) depends on the year the story was written due to trends. The reasons you listed for why people like OT fics can apply to why people like (to read/write) journey fics.

I wouldn't pinpoint it as "genre"; it's more about the forum's current trend, like in real life. "Chosen one" subgenre was pretty big for awhile. Dark fics kind of fade and reappear every few months, as someone writes one good dark fic that gets everyone all excited to write their own. Game-based fics appear/are demanded when a new game comes out. I remember comedy crack fics that were pokemon centric were huge in '04-'05, too. Etc. Like I said, the only ones that really withstand time are journey fics with varying subgenres, depending on when the story came out. And again, I argue that has more to do with the frequency of the genre posted by authors rather than views/reviews.

A lot of fanfiction popularity comes to who you know and how well known your own name is. People may simply click your story because of the account name attached to it, whether it's out of adoration (this guys rocks!) or spite (this guy sucks, and I bet his story sucks too). If you want people to read your fic, you really need to make effort and get your name out there, whether it's reviewing other people's fic or getting in touch with the community in other ways. I've always had problems with people that say they have a great story that is underrated, yet the author makes no attempt to advertise his/her story. The "my work will speak for itself and attract attention" philosophy is almost a fairy tale. IMO, anyway. I've seen cases where it has happened like that, but for the most part, most authors need to get off their rear and post here and there to get their name circulated.

A lot of it also has to do with the age group of the site you're posting on. Ff.net, for example, has a lower age range who are really looking for crack-like shipping or easy/lightread journey stories. Something complex and dark just doesn't attract them easily. SPPf's fanfic community has a higher age demographic (around fifteen to early twenties) so there is a higher demand for more mature content (i.e. the dark fic, or at least a fic that isn't just Ash and Misty hooking up).

I've had an interesting experience as a writer here and on ff.net, and I seem to have done relatively well on both sites. I know for ff.net, I got involved deeply with the community that wrote stories with the same canon characters I used. I had to tackle SPPf differently, considering the characters I used weren't popular there, and reviewed whatever I could.

You know, it really does boil down to getting your name out there in the forum hopefully a positive way. You can be "infamous" I suppose, but that's a bittttt different.

 

[Synthetic]

Nice to see you reappear, Pink Parka Girl.

I agree with a lot of your points there, and what Breezy says about being active certainly helps a lot as well. I'm not so sure it is a factor that works alone though, because in my lurking about over a few months, there were a few authors who I think are pretty darn good and well known and I thought, "ah, they will get a load of reviews for sure, ^^" but it seemed like they were struggling to get responses, which I thought was strange. Still, having a strong, positive presence around the forums certainly helps matters.

Reader appeal seems to be the deciding factor, although I doubt it is often the only factor involved. People probably prefer things they can relate to, as well. It can be as basic as "yay, they're using a pokemon I like!" or "this is my favourite region!" which I think could be a reason for journey fics popularity, in particular. I'm pretty sure that the reason Journey fics are so enduring is because they strike a particular chord, because they echo the core of what pokemon is; journeying and capturing pokemon, striving for some kind of goal with complications along the way. They probably strike some nostalgia, too. But it can really be anything about the fic that keeps a person going; they might just like the concept, or a character or something. A great technical ability does not make a reader more likely to want to read a fic that has characters or themes that they don't like.

Comedy is usually popular because... well, people like to laugh, I guess. Anyone can sit down and enjoy a comedy, although they might vary in what sort of comedy they like, or what parts of the same comedy fic they like. Lighthearted humour, especially humour that focuses on canon in some way seem to be more enduring. I think it also is a great way to wind down and overall, they're an easier read.

I guess dark fics' popularity fluctuates on the mood of the reader and their personal taste. I suspect there are perhaps a smaller number of people who enjoy them all the time than there are people who are in the right mood to sit down and read one, who then are willing to reply. I agree that it might have a lot to do with age demographics.

There are tends, fics of a particular sort become popular, then something other sort of fic becomes popular... tends to go in a bit of a cycle, I suppose.

 

[Scrible]

Lets be honest with ourselves.

The only thing that makes a fic popular is being God awful. The crappier the better.

This is overly apparent at those fic sites. Most people who say, "Wow, you write so good!" have probably never written themselves and don't understand squat about writing. Deny it all you like, but it's the truth.

 

[Chozo]

Lets be honest with ourselves.

The only thing that makes a fic popular is being God awful. The crappier the better.

This is overly apparent at those fic sites. Most people who say, "Wow, you write so good!" have probably never written themselves and don't understand squat about writing. Deny it all you like, but it's the truth.

Nice to see it only took ten posts for this thread to begin down its inevitable path to despair and oblivion.

 

[Yami Ryu]

Nice to see it only took ten posts for this thread to begin down its inevitable path to despair and oblivion.

Actually I'm surprised no one has posted the actual reason stories are popular Chozo.

I mean everyone knows it's all about the Sex factor. As the OP said, Twilight is a good example of this. All you do is put yourself in Pants place- I mean Bella's and profit

 

[Scrible]

Actually I'm surprised no one has posted the actual reason stories are popular Chozo.

I mean everyone knows it's all about the Sex factor. As the OP said, Twilight is a good example of this. All you do is put yourself in Pants place- I mean Bella's and profit

Twilight was successful because the writing captivated audiences. The story is one-dimensional and odd for a kids thing but the writing is what sold it.

Even the crappiest story can be captivating if you know how to tell it.

 

[Desert_Rain]

It all depends on what kind of "popularity" you're talking about, really. :/

Is it having a whole bunch of people posting "OMG I liek ur fic cuz it haz MUDKIPZ" or having a small number of core readers that read your story every time a new chapter and gives a decent opinion on it, because they actually like your fic and not the MUDKIPZ?

Like everyone said, it comes down to a lot of factors, but I think fics with the former "popularity" tend to be mostly journey/OT fics since it's easy to read without having to think too much, and a lot of people don't like to think. Especially those who are after MUDKIPZ and not an actually good story. But fics with the latter "popularity", which has a perhaps small but loyal and intelligent fanbase tend to be fics with a story that has an interesting plot and characters that hook the readers into reading more, even though the standard of writing may not be that good. Plot and characters are probably more important than good writing technique in terms of gaining popularity, regardless of what kind of fanbase you are looking for.

So basically summing up...
1. add MUDKIPZ
2. add sex
3. ????
4. PROFIT

 

[Dragonfree]

Lets be honest with ourselves.

The only thing that makes a fic popular is being God awful. The crappier the better.

This is overly apparent at those fic sites. Most people who say, "Wow, you write so good!" have probably never written themselves and don't understand squat about writing. Deny it all you like, but it's the truth.

Unfortunately, no matter how cynical you want to be about the average reader's sense of quality, this cannot possibly make sense. You can argue that the average reader often has absolutely no sense of quality, but that means they will indiscriminately praise anything (which happens on FanFiction.Net, I admit, but not really here), not that they will praise the worst works the most but actively dislike the better ones.

I would say that every reader has their own threshold of quality. Below the threshold, they can pretty clearly judge one fic to be better than another, but once past the threshold, all works are regarded as good, and they have a much more difficult time distinguishing which works above that threshold are better than others because they don't have the knowledge or experience to tell. If the reader also writes, their own writing will usually be above their own quality threshold at the time of writing, often not very far above it but still sometimes. Generally, this threshold slowly moves up as the reader ages, matures, reads more, or gets criticism on their own work.

What a story needs to be popular, then, is 1) to pass the average quality threshold in the community where it's posted so that it will be generally regarded as "good", 2) to get enough people to read it, and 3) to appeal especially to these readers to make this story stand out even among others above each reader's quality threshold.

1) depends heavily on the community involved, as individual readers have different quality thresholds and as such the average quality threshold depends on the individual readers frequenting the community. Here on Serebii, I would argue, the average quality threshold is much higher than on for instance FanFiction.Net, but then you could have other communities with a higher concentration of experienced writers where the threshold is in turn much higher than here.

Despite being higher than FanFiction.Net's, however, Serebii's average quality threshold is nonetheless not very high on an absolute scale - it never is for a large community only party composed of experienced writers. It's just that FanFiction.Net has people praising things to high heaven even if their spelling and grammar are awful and they have no paragraphing, which Serebii generally does not in my experience. The threshold is also technically split into several thresholds, with individual requirements for spelling, grammar, paragraphing, punctuation, plot, originality, writing style, characters, etc., and the relative placements of those also vary between individuals and communities.

2) is the publicity aspect and mostly requires the author to be active in the Authors' Café, review other fics, maybe have a very intriguing title or signature banner, be updated often enough to spend a lot of time on the first page of the forum, or have already gathered enough of a readerbase to spread through word of mouth.

3) is where most of the stuff in the first post of this thread comes in. This part has very little to do with quality; as long as you've passed the average quality threshold, you're fine in that regard. This is where you have to stand out somehow as not just "good" but "omg the best fic ever". As Pink Parka Girl noted, this can for instance be done through gratuitous wish-fulfillment or a unique concept or plot that makes the story set itself apart. I think people generally tend to perceive the quality of stories above their quality threshold as higher if they seem dark or more mature than otherwise; it doesn't need to be the genre of darkfic per se, but I get the impression that when characters die and Pokémon battles are bloodier than usual, even if the story still isn't particularly dark, people perceive it as being a better story because of this bias towards the "darker and edgier". I would never call The Quest for the Legends a darkfic, for instance, but it has a couple of deaths and somewhat bloody battles, and a lot of people seem to be all over that because they think of it as being more realistic than the anime and therefore better.

This of course also depends on the community and its general popularity trends at the time it is posted. If epic plots are popular, fics with epic plots will stand out; if anti-heroes are popular, fics with anti-heroes will stand out; and so forth.

 

[Akiyama]

There is a quote from Writing the Breakout Novel by Agent Donald Maass that explains what I think:

What causes consumers to get excited about a work of fiction? Reviews? Few see them. Awards or nominations? Most folks are oblivious to them. Covers? Good ones can cause a consumer to lift a book from its shelf, but covers are only wrapping. Classy imprints? When was the last time you purchased a novel because of the lego on the spine? Big advances? Does the public know, let alone care? Agents with clout? Sad to say, that is not a cause of consumer excitement. In reality there is one reason, and one reason only, that readers get excited about a novel: great storytelling.​

(Slams book on desk) now get out there, and beat Nintendo at its own cliches. In fact, go and be New York Time's Best-Seller and you beat them anyway at storytelling.

Some might agrue that "how dare you call the anime/manga/games inept." The story is okay, not good and not great, just okay after all these years. I wonder if the writers they have for Pokemon got their jobs just because they knew someone instead of real skill and caring. I mean, Nintendo is a buisness, and a buisness isn't meant to take risks as an artist would (yet the housing market crashed because of "buisnesses"). Those fan-fic authors out there creating OCs with whatever creative plots, regions, and voice are onto something. A constant hint that there needs to be change, you may say "oh no no, it's fine." Yes it is fine, but how many movies best the Pokemon movies? How many games? Manga? There are thousands of books that best the Pokemon series, but behold Nintendo's moolah that brought Pokemon to its well-known status in popular culture -- the early anime got you on TV, didn't it?

If your story -- I mean fan-fic -- is that good that it's one of the top 100 novels ever then everyone shall come kinda like how all my family talks about Avatar everytime we gather now. If it happened, and it can happen, well I don't know that, but it could be really interesting. Now, top 1,000 is great, top 10,000 is good too maybe even top 100,000 novels of all time is still good. But if you got an idea that good you might as well flip off Nintendo and just write down the outline and all for writing it as a story that is totally your own. Some people here might have those ideas, and they keep it maybe for that reason, good, I still need a good book to read.

That's all I got on this.

 

[Dragonfree]

In reality there is one reason, and one reason only, that readers get excited about a novel: great storytelling.

...and then you move on to how the Pokémon canon doesn't have good storytelling, thus defeating your own point. Pokémon is popular, and it's certainly not thanks to the storytelling, so clearly there's something else to it. At most you could be making a point about why people like to read and write Pokémon fanfiction - namely, there's usually little in the way of a story in the actual canon and thus you look to fans to make up something - but you're not really saying anything about what makes one fic more popular than another, or at least if you are I can't make it out from your post.

 

[Giratina!]

I wouldn't know the exact answer, since my stories seem to be all but popular, but I'll give my two cents on the matter anyway.

I think it's all about three things: what the story is, who it's written by, and how it's presented. Let's take the third option first. I myself know that I have definitely felt tempted to read a person's story based solely on how awesome the user's sig banner looks, but I've also found after clicking that link that half of the stories with a fascinating banner are not particularly good at all. That's why I don't often trust that one. But it definitely seems to work for some people, and for those who do have a good story they want told, an awesome banner is a definite must. (Yes, I know my banner makes the story look light and fluffy when it's somewhere in between. I'm currently planning to draw one from scratch.)

And next, who it's written by. It may not count for as much as the others, but still. Now, in my experience, this can come in three flavors (not including 'unknown' people), even though they all have to do with board 'celebrities'. One of them is a user popular in all parts of the site, like an Admin or a person who's so darn notorious that everybody knows him. Another is someone who is fond of hawking the forum and who reviews absolutely everything (usually unpleasantly - like Farla to FFNet or our own Yami Ryu), and so people know their name and want to see if they're good enough to live up to their expectations for others. And third is someone who each individual user knows is a good writer, and trusts to make a good story. (Obviously, this is the rarest kind.)

Third is the simplest in concept but the hardest in practice: what's in the story itself. As some others have mentioned, people in different forums tend to gravitate towards different things. For example, in another Pokémon forum I frequent (PE2K) I recieve reviws constantly saying that my story is amusing and original - here, though, one of the two reviews I got complained that I need to torment the main character more. People in Serebii seem to enjoy darker, more serious fics, just as FFNet will ignore all but romance and PE2K tends to lean towards the moderately serious or totally comedic stories. Of course, people who tend to enjoy 'darkfic' or just more serious matters can read lighter stories and enjoy them, but they're less likely to discover the story in the first place.

Feel free to dissect and attack with guns a-blazin'.

 

[Akiyama]

...and then you move on to how the Pokémon canon doesn't have good storytelling, thus defeating your own point. Pokémon is popular, and it's certainly not thanks to the storytelling, so clearly there's something else to it. At most you could be making a point about why people like to read and write Pokémon fanfiction - namely, there's usually little in the way of a story in the actual canon and thus you look to fans to make up something - but you're not really saying anything about what makes one fic more popular than another, or at least if you are I can't make it out from your post.

Boring rant I wrote if you ask me. Certainly on one extreme the #1 story ever will bring crowds, but what's in-between is a fight. Of course I haven't got a solid opinion on it really, I haven't done a fic here. Maybe having the time and energy spent on storytelling is more worthwhile than being a market-person, I think that was what I went after. Oh yeah, knowing that kids read fan fiction a lot, maybe lowering the bar to 8th grade reading level would do the trick, or maybe that kills the story too much. Something, I don't really know.

 

[Praxiteles]

Has anyone else seen this? There seem to be surprisingly few (and irrelevant) factors that go into actually clicking that story link. (I'm not talking about the reading and reviewing bit for now; when you go into a story's thread you intend to get through the first chapters at least, unless it immediately and obviously turns you off.) Maybe the banner looks interesting. The summary could be enthralling, but given even a slightly unconventional story idea you could work out a billion ways to make a tagline stand out, while excellent and experienced writers are making quiet little lackluster summaries. On average a summary tells about as much of the quality of a story as a banner, not counting the concept of the story which might be a spoiler anyway. The title might say something about a story, but usually not in the way you'd expect, and it can be quite misleading. If a fic has been hanging around for a while, you can assume the writer is putting real work into it, but old and veteran stories might be unnoticeable if they don't get reviewed often.The number of replies to a thread only tells you about popular opinion, which is only loosely connected to actual quality.

Back to the point. At least with me, unless I've heard acclaim for the fic before, I often just read new stories on a whim. But maybe other people make more intelligent guesses about stories.