By authors?
Who usually write about your favorite character?

Who always write the same kind of story so you can depend on the same emotions every time?

Who write  stories with variety - there's no formula that lets you know after the first page how it will end.

Who write so beautifully or humorously or whose work is otherwise interesting that the plot or main characters hardly matter.

By characters?
Most everything in which a certain character takes center stage regardless of the author.

Will avoid any story in which your favorite does not at least play a strong supporting role.

Dislike major added characters (wives, children, live-in wards, etc)

Added characters are fine if they bring out something interesting in the canon characters, aren't Mary Sues or fantasy versions of the author.

By Genre?
Main interest is H/C?  Comedy?  Cartrights as boys? A little racy?  Action?

By Recommendation from other readers?
 

Have an opinion:  choosing@williamsmith.org

Helen:
The first thing I look for is author.  There are many great fanficcers out there whose name on a story guarantees that I'll put everything else on hold long enough to read their new story.  Likewise, there are certain authors whose work I avoid, knowing we simply have incompatible taste.   Also, if the author is unknown to me I give the story a shot out of curiosity.  You never know when you'll stumble onto a treasure!  :)

My second criteria is character.  A Joe story will always come first and a whole family story second, but a good story about any of the Cartwrights is a worthwhile thing.   I like canon stories, but ones that take place post-series where we see Adam return or the brothers marrying and having children are also very nice.  It gives me a nice feeling to think that the boys found happiness after all those years of burying every woman they fell in love with.  And added characters can be a terrific bonus as long as the story isn't more about them than about the series characters.

My main plot interest varies.  I read the same way I write: comedy, action, drama, spookiness, h/c, and even downright parody are fine by me as long as the writing has a good flow and the characters are recognizable as the Cartwrights I grew up loving.

Helen Adams

I absolutely despise Jamie and Griff in stories.

Candy is Ok if he isn't the major character.  I think he is a good addition, but only in a supporting role.

Can't stand stories where the author thinks it is necessary to give Ben a daughter or a pseudo-daughter, such as a ward.  I do like stories where one or more of the boys marries (if wife doesn't get killed off) and has a family.  (I wrote 2 of those myself, if I can inject a commercial here. LOL)

I read anything written by the Tahoe Ladies and Helen Adams.  Their stories are consistantly great.  (I have had the pleasure of meeting Irish and Helen)  Also anything by Puchi Ann and Kate Pitts,  Becky S, Karen Fedderly,  Karen Stevens (deer), Laura Brodie, Libby Armstrong, or the woman who wrote the Lorna David stories (sorry, can't think of her name).  [Editor's note - that would be Kate M. Teal] There are a few other authors I always enjoy but their names escape me unless i see them (old age creeping up).  There is also  an author who writes good stories but ruins them by having Ben married to a young chickie and having a baby son.  I can see Ben married again, but to someone his own age, and JOE IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE YOUNGEST.  That is why I can't take to Jamie.  IMHO, they should have left it that Ben was his guardian rather than adopted him.

Another thing that ruins a good story, IMO, is when the author can't put herself in a male perspective and has the boys acting like sisters instead of brothers.  There are so many stories that have a Joe yelling "I hate you!" and running from the room like a teenage girl with PMS.

Most Joe as a child stories are too cutsey pie.  However there are some exceptions, such as Helen Adams's "Strawberries" and Gramma Goose's stories.

Sorry if I ran on too much, but when invited to express an opinion, I express one.

Thanks

Ginny
Flackdg@aol.com 

I like post-timeline stories in which Adam returns and/or the others get married.  I also like alternate reality stories in which Hoss doesn't die.  I always thought the series should have let him get married to allow the show to explore that aspect of the family.  Adam, Joe and later Candy were better candidates for the romance stories with that rotating parade of women.  I enjoy R-rated stories but nothing stronger than that in the Bonanza fandom although I enjoy them in less family oriented fandoms like Mag7.

Randy - virago@inreach.com

I choose by author first. Quality of the writing is more important than anything else. There are some authors who I absolutely avoid, as they either cannot understand the characters or their own psychological issues come out in the stories and I am left feeling a voyeur. But there are others whom Iove!

I won't read anything with poor grammar or bad spelling--if the writer doesn't care enough to fix these things, I don't care enough to take the time to read it. Sound harsh? It just takes too much effort to guess what the author is actually trying to say.

I love authors who try to show me new depths in their characters by putting  them in new situations. This can include Post-Bonanza stories (when the boys get married). It does NOT include alternate reality stories unless it is a comedy like B2K (Laura Brodie's hilarious take on the C's in the1990's).

The boys as children don't really appeal to me, since Joe is almost certainly written as this nauseatingly cute, precocious child who can't pronounce the letter "r".   I guess kiddie stories in general just don't interest me. They usually involve Joe being bad and running away and getting spanked. A few authors have done good child stories but its rare.

I am also not big on stories where the author adds a daughter.  It seems like that is usually herself, where she gets to be sister to the boys.  Unfortunately the daughter stories end up being all about HER and not the C's. Who cares?

I don't like Jamie stories but I can tolerate it if he is a minor, minor character and doesn't say much LOL.

Another stinker is when people go so far away from character or add inappropriate things to the story--such as giving Doc Martin a flashlight (wow, that EverReady bunny sure was busy back then!) or having Ben call Joe "precious". Sorry, I can't see Ben being all sappy like that. And historical accuracy can be played with a bit (some people go to the other extreme and footnote any historical mention, leaving the reader feeling as if they are wading through somebody's thesis).

I guess I've said more about what I avoid, then what I look for. I will try any story (unless I know that author is bad) and have enjoyed many stories that are not even about Joe. But bad writing can't save even a Joe story for me. Its weird to me how people lavish praise on some really terrible stories--as if they will read anything as long as it mentions the C's. Not good enough!

Libby

  Now, I have been around long enough to have developed some discrimination (at least to me) about what I spend time reading.  I've watched enough writers go from their first story to their 15th.  Many of them develop better writing skills with practice, which means the grammar, punctuation, sentence structure improves.  It's always nice to see progress, but too often they continue to use the same tired plotlines or situations to tell the story. The characters keep acting the same, making the same mistakes, using the same scene with minor variations to end the story.

   So, I choose my stories first by the writer that I've enjoyed before.  I always checks out the new stories of certain writers because I'm reasonably sure I'll get a good read.  I readily admit to favoring the stories where Adam is prime character, but I equally enjoy the stories where the family relate to each other realistically. I will always give a new writer a read, just to see the style and direction of the story.  I do confess that after I've read the 14th story where Adam ... bosses, fusses, scolds, belittles, nags, abuses,choose your word... is mean to Joe and Joe goes off to prove him wrong, I skip the next 8 stories by the same writer.

  I do love h/c and generally I prefer to have the one I love hurt.  That doesn't keep me from reading stories where others are the hurt one and Adam helps with the comfort.  I prefer stories where the injuries can be healed by standard rest and medical practices of the day, rather than by untested medical procedures, miracles, or constant begging by the family to survive because the rest of the family can't live without them.

    With some trepidation, I voice a particular complaint of mine at this time.  When I read a story, I assume I'm intelligent enough and sensitive enough to know what the author is trying to tell me without the synopsis telling me what I am supposed to learn or feel.  I refer to the "box of kleenex" warnings and to the "Adam (substitute Hoss, Joe, Pa or whoever) learns to appreciate the finer qualities of (put in Joe, Hoss, Adam, Pa, or the horse, whoever).  I generally can figure out how I feel without the instructions.  When all else fails, read directions.

    It's nice to have Best of the West, where I can assume the stories are of high quality and pretty much in keeping with the telecast characters from the show.  I don't always like the stories here either, but certainly the writing and characterizations are better than pages where any writer can get a story posted, never mind the quality.  A page where everything can be posted is very important for beginning writers and for writers who want to keep all their stories in one place.  But it's equally pleasant to have a page for a selected number of good stories.

Vickie JAX

Hi, I have to chime in on this...

I can't imagine "hating" stories about any character.  I can imagine not wanting to read stories on some character, but not *hating* them.  This almost seems to me like a four year old proclaiming hatred of his new baby brother - just angry because the interloper exists in his/her once pristine kingdom.

I don't read Adam stories, unless they are returned Adam stories that fall into the "Lost Episodes" timeline.  The Bonanza I remember is the one set in the last few years, so that's the universe in which I write.  However, I don't hate stories or writers who write stories surrounding other characters.

I'm sure there are wonderful writers crafting beautiful stories in other years...I don't read them, but I don't hate them.  And I don't hate the early Adam character either, for heaven's sake.  As someone else pointed out, these *are* fictional characters.

I swear one day I'm going to do a study on the Odd Brother syndrome...there's always one dynamic that pits two individuals against each other.  In Beatle fandom, it's John/Paul - the Johnites despise Paul, while the Paul folk generally like John, they just prefer Paul's work.  I stand with the latter category (hi, Libby!).  In Bonanzadom, it seems to be Adam and Jamie, or Adam and Candy/Griff, what have you.

I'm all for good stories, no matter their mint.

Thanks for a great site, which is clearly a labor of love.

Hi, I am Kathy E, previous owner of BBAB.  I just wanted to say you have a wonderful site and I really enjoy it. I currently am not on any Bonanza related list or such, but I do enjoy visiting your pages and getting my Bonanza fix :)

One of the most important things to me when I was doing BBAB was to try to keep people civil to each other and hoping they would enjoy themselves. I hated the Joe/Adam fan arguments, I just saw no reason for them. There is nothing wrong with someone liking Joe more than the others, or Adam being a favorite, or any of them. Thus that argument never made any sense to me. All it did was cause a lot of hurt/grief to the various fans.

The reason I say the above is it looks like you have accomplished a happy medium on your pages. I am so glad to see that :) What should and DOES count is we all love Bonanza, sometimes ppl forget that temporarily, and need to be reminded of it.

I am really grateful that there are standards for the stories on your pages, some I know were quite upset with me when I declined their stories, I hated doing it. Yet that is something one must do at times when things are written that are not in the Cartwright spirit and would/could cause problems for the page owner.

Again a great job, knowing how much work it takes, I hope you continue with the pages :)
--
Kathy E.
The most destructive force in the universe is gossip

Firstly nice to 'see' you, Kathy E. Miss the BBAB, it was a good site.

When choosing stories I look first for the author, there are certain authors that when a new story by them appears I'll drop everything and go read it. Authors like Becky Sims, Helen Adams, Susan Grote, Puchi Ann and the Tahoe Ladies. If I see a new author I'll always give her story a read through, have come across some wonderful stories that way - and some pretty bad ones too.

Next I go for character. I prefer a Joe story or a whole family story but I do read Adam, Ben and Hoss stories as well. In fact it's nice to come across Hoss stories occasionally, he's sadly underused in fanfic. The most important thing about a story, to me, is that the Cartwrights are the way they were on Bonanza. I don't like fanfic's in which Ben has a daughter, and I  must admit that I prefer wives and children stories to be set post-Bonanza.

I prefer drama, angst or h/c, though I like a well written comedy like those of Lissa B and Lily of the West.

Kate

I read just about every new story that comes out, regardless of author or subject.  There are some authors and subjects I'm more wary of than others -- prime culprits being those stories that are particularly rough on Joe for the purpose of having the family tell him how precious he is and how they just couldn't survive without The Heart of the Ponderosa.  Stories I particularly can't deal with are the sub-genre of these where Adam sets Joe up for emotional and/or physical damage.  That said, I read (or at least skim) them anyway, because I've been pleasantly surprised a few times to see an author I thought was hopelessly mired in recycling that plot rise above it and turn out something special.  Doesn't happen often, but it does happen.
 
There are authors, however, that I will practically drop everything for, and then there are those rare stories I will actually print out. (I have an ink-jet printer, and long stories in particular take forever!)  The story doesn't have to focus on Adam, though that's my preference, but it does have to have something special about it -- that certain something that touches my heart.  Generally, it's a story where "show not tell" is the byword, and it involves more than one Cartwright.  I like relationship stories (which can be built around action, of course) that explore the family dynamics.  This can be post-timeline, AU, young Cartwrights -- doesn't matter as long as it's well-executed.
 
The occasional misspelling or grammar mistake won't stop me, and I will roll my eyes at stories where the verb tense fluctuates at random from present to past tense, but I won't read anything, regardless of author, that doesn't have clear paragraph markings.  Sometimes it's due to the site where it's been loaded, but I can't keep track of what's going on when entire sections of the story contain line after line of action and dialogue.
 
I think Helen put it well: " . . . as long as the writing has a good flow and the characters are recognizable as the Cartwrights I grew up loving" . . . though I would add the caveat that the story must be about a canon Cartwright (including Griff, Candy & Jamie), not an added character.
 
Becky