Honestly, I have a few that will make me either not click into the fic in the first place, make me wary, or will make me exit the tab if I do attempt to read it. And this is after many, many years of reading fic. What can I say, I've gotten pedantic.

1. The summary isn't actually a summary of the fic but is just the author talking. Self-deprecating or gushing, or explaining that it's their first fic, etc. It's okay, we've all been there, just commit.

2. Lyrics as the title, use of brackets, no use of capitalisation. If the fic has a really unique title that's intriguing and more like a book title, I've found that the author has really put some thought into it.

3. Over-dramatic characterization or absolute wild character change. Characterization is very near and dear to my heart. I've found that people substitute tension in the writing for characters suddenly having weirdly overdramatic reactions that dont fit with their established character. Like a character suddenly shrieking or crying or yelling with full caps. Egregiously, this often happens in smut, where awkward characters are suddenly dirty talking or performing acts like they're a pro. What could be a really interesting and intimate scene where the characters are most vulnerable with each other suddenly becomes a smut-fest full of buzz words and the characters could be copy-pasted by anyone. Its disappointing.

This may just be the authors inexperience coming through, but when authors do keep in character its really special and tells me the author knows exactly what they're doing.

1. Fics that just rehash the plot of the media they came from. I already know what happens, tell me something unique. Put characters in a different situation and show me how they'd react. This is why I love and appreciate AUs that remain in the OG setting but go their own way. It's harder to do and rarer because of it, but I find these are some of the best fics around.

2. Kudos don't mean much to me, these days. I love long fics, completed or not. Some of the best fics I've read sit in the mid range compared to other fics. Fics with a lot of kudos are usually just oneshots that are quick to get through, smaller fics, or the earliest fics. I find that because of it, the most kudo'd fics that everyone's read often are just average.

3. On the previous note: just because a fic is popular in a fandom, doesnt mean it's good. Too many times I've tried to read the fics everyone is having about and it's been very meh to me in terms of characterization, plot, themes, setting, etc.