For fan fiction writing, there is something to be said about knowing your audience. As many have stated, most of us enjoy "Lois & Clark" because it is a lighter, positive show (compared to "Arrow" or "Gotham"). Personally, I lean towards reading and writing angst or darker stories. If I post those types of stories on this board, I'm aware that I won't have as many readers.
Terry brings up a good point about out of character behavior. That unique circumstances can bring this out and that in itself can produce a great story. Out of character behavior isn't necessarily set in stone. We all would agree Clark would never be cruel to some one but all bets are off if he's been exposed to some variant of Kryptonite. To me, that's part of the fun, what would bring about such behavior? To others, it's not as appealing.
As a writer, it's frustrating if people respond to your story, "That's out of character" and immediately drop it. If they'd continued to read, they might've found out why this was happening. I think that is part of what Terry is saying.
I used to beta for a girl who wrote CSI fanfiction. She focused on a minor character and also created an original character (a blatant Mary Sue) as the love interest. Both of those were automatic turn offs for me. But she was a friend so I helped her. Her stories were very well written, great use of language and descriptions. Good pacing and excellent plot. I didn't care for the Country western song lyrics showcased but it suited the stories. However, she presented the CSI crew totally out of character - they all hung out together, went bowling and square dancing, got ice cream, etc... They were all best buddies. This would be the equivalent of Lois, Clark, Perry and Jimmy routinely going to strip clubs and getting wasted every weekend. Not like the show. Not even remotely resembling the show. Like I said, her stories were good but she didn't get much of a response because that wasn't what most CSI fans liked.
Ultimately, people read what they want to read. And that's okay.
