JMO here, Arawn, but I'd pick the story that "rubbed me in the right spots" (so resisting that straight-line opportunity
) over the one with "the silly premise or the off portrayal of a character". But then I probably wouldn't have finished reading the latter story.
That said, though, I take "well written" as a given; I wouldn't have finished reading the story otherwise.
Unless the "silly premise" was a short comedy fic which is a whole other matter.
However, the "well-written" becomes more important to me in the final vote - if I'm trying to decide between two or three fics that have told great stories, have spot-on dialogue, good characterization etc, it's the quality of the writing that's the final filter for me. Does that make sense or have I contradicted myself?
I'm impressed by the 1-4 ranking system! One year I set up a lovely flow chart which would have been a huge help if only I'd actually used it.
Wish I had done it this year too. There may be fewer fics this year but there are a great many good ones.
This year the toughest category for me is turning out to be the Alt/Esleworld/Next Gens - there are a lot of good stories in both the Elseworld & Alt, plus several in the Next Gen. Sort of apples and oranges choice. I hesitate to dismiss stories in one of those three genres because even though I generally don't care for stories in that particular genre (Alt World for me) I've found a few stories in that genre that I really like a lot.
Still not finished checking out all the 2006 fics yet - thank goodness there's still 2 more weeks.
