The Wolf and the Thief by whoson1st is great. It’s something that every fanfiction-reading Doctor Who fan should read some time. The plot is canon with some deviations that always have a good reason behind them; the writing style is refreshingly flexible; the grammar is excellent.

All of this, however, pales before the character development. The main focus of this story is on deconstruction and reconstruction of the Doctor’s personality. Let’s face it, the Doctor has issues, both in how he deals with himself and with his companions. The inherent conflict of the character is one of the main reasons behind the show’s popularity, and whoson1st takes that conflict apart and builds it back together through Rose.

Excellent characterization, no retconning, and just plain old great writing—highly recommended.

I read and enjoy a whole lot of fics, but many of those I can’t recommend in good conscience. Here is the incomplete list of requirements for work to be recommended by me.

1. Half-decent grammar. When I wrote about things to avoid when writing fanfiction, grammar mistakes had the lowest priority. I don’t mind a couple mistakes in a long paragraph, but when that turns to several mistakes in every sentence, it can destroy a good story. I still read some of those fics but they require flushing the brain with Game of Thrones or something afterwards to get rid of the horrible grammar patterns.
2. Character development. That’s all. Not great character development, not completely realistic character development—just character development.
3. No bashing. I don’t like it when a fic writer takes their frustration out on a character the creator of the original obviously cares about. It’s like kicking another person’s puppy. It’s not even okay when it’s your puppy.
4. Acceptable amounts of flab. Flab is ‘an energetic, exuberant person’ (just ‘exuberant’ would do). Flab is walking into a room and having to describe it in minute detail, no matter that we won’t ever see the room ever again. I don’t like stories where half the text can be skipped without any issues whatsoever. That said, fanfiction isn’t professional literature, so it’s okay when stuff could be trimmed. Just not seventy percent of the whole fic.

You wouldn’t believe how much stuff with tons of favorites and reviews gets cut after applying these simple requirements.