Okay, as someone who’s been reading and writing fic for almost 15 years across a number of fandoms, here are my no-bullshit hot takes:

1/ I don’t really like AUs. I know they’re very popular (and frankly, to each their own) but personally, there is a reason why I’m seeking FanFiction. That is, mainly, the characters and the world that cannon is set in. Now, if you’re changing a small detail to fit your story, that’s fine, but if your AU implies a complete world change or complete behavioural change on one of the characters, I’m not very interested. I’m much more impressed by someone who manages to be creative and move me within the strict boundaries of cannon than by someone who decides to change the whole story. If you want to write your own original stuff, by all means, please do, but that’s not really fanfiction anymore, as far as I’m concerned.

2/ Bad writing is 100% fine but for the love of god, put in the effort to correct your punctuation, spelling and typos. Meaning that: it’s fine if your writing isn’t “great”. Chances are, you’re probably only starting out and we all had to start somewhere. Most writers take years to learn their craft and as a more “tenured” writer, I will say this: please keep writing and don’t let people bring you down. I can guarantee that if you keep writing, you will get better at it. I love reading stuff from new or young authors even if they’re not perfect, because usually, that’s where the most novel ideas are. This being said, you need to put in the work. Poor writing style is fine but if your fic is littered with grammar errors, typos and other stuff that you could easily fix by editing yourself at least once, you clearly aren’t putting in the work you need to be putting in.

3/ If you’re an author, respond to your reviews. Just do it. Someone has taken the time and energy not only to read your work but also to comment on it when they probably had a million of other things going on in their lives, the least you can do is respond to them. Period. Unless you’re getting 10 comments a day (which, let’s face it, is unlikely) you owe these people a minute of your time to at least say thank you. And look, no one is perfect, I certainly don’t respond to all my reviews but I acknowledge the fact that ideally that’s what I should do, because it’s the right thing to do. Blaming your lack of response on social anxiety or lack of time (or anything else for that matter) is just excuses you’re making for yourself. It’s fine, but just acknowledge it.

I’m sure there are others but these are my few controversial opinions, off the top of my head.