“This reads like fanfiction (it feels like it was written by a preteen, and most of such things posted publicly are fanfic)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (it has a focus on character and relationships, like the style of a lot of modern fanfic)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (it keeps referencing people and events with the assumption that the audience is already familiar with them, like how fanfic doesn’t need to rehash the source material)”
Some further suggestions from the notes:
“This reads like fanfiction (it’s a love story for the ages as long as you can overlook that the author keeps misspelling ‘you're’)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (you can tell the author was having a blast writing this and now so do you reading it)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (the author is clearly info-dumping about a very niche hobby of theirs that they’re passionate about)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (the characters keep getting put in increasingly weirder situations which you’d normally only find in fanfic)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (the author felt the need to rehash the characters from when they were first introduced instead of after several years’ worth of character growth)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (it feels like it had no editor)”
“This reads like fanfiction (I’m pretty sure I can identify the filed off serial numbers)”
“this reads like fanfiction (it’s SO FUCKING LONG)”
"This reads like fanfiction (just the author's way of writing out their own fantasy-wish-fulfillment that diverges from canon)" vs. "This reads like fanfiction (just the author's way of writing out their own fantasy-wish-fulfillment that does NOT diverge from canon, but maybe adds more details or extra scenes that could still plausibly be in the canon story)" vs. "This reads like fanfiction (the author is working through their own trauma/emotional stuck points/psychological baggage through using these characters that strike a chord with them somehow)" vs. "This reads like fanfiction (the author is experimenting with different forms of writing/storytelling that is distinct from the way the canon story is told, i.e. epistolary format, poetry, mixture of prose and images, etc.)" vs. "This reads like fanfiction (the author is writing crack and the reader is enjoying every second of it)"







