My experience in seeing really
bad badfic - like this sample - comes from people who write down a storyline from their heads, which is fine, but then don't reread and self-edit the stream-of-consciousness infodump whether on paper or word processor. Nor do they allow beta readers to suggest changes (sometimes really drastic ones) to improve the narrative. I haven't read the whole story, of course, but judging from this fragment I don't know if it could be saved.
You do
not fall - and
never have fallen - in that category. You want to make your story plain to your readers irrespective of the plot's complexity. There are those who write it down and submit it and think, "Wow, the readers didn't like it? They're all idiots! I'm an undiscovered genius!" Those young writers don't understand that writing is a craft as well as a skill. Anyone who writes, whether for fun or profit or for his/her profession,
can get better!
I reread my older stuff too, and I wince at some of the phrasing I used in places and the descriptions I dealt out. I can see now why no publisher wanted my work from three decades in the past. It's just not very good.
It doesn't have to be a Mary Sue (or a Marty Stu) to be bad. Nor need Mary Sues necessarily be badfic. I've read some self-referencing stories on this website that are excellent. Case in point: Yvonne Connell's
The Ultimate Mary Sue. If you haven't read it, go devour this gem.
For the ultimate in bad fanfic, I refer you to
My Immortal, a truly horrific story that will kill brain cells. You have been warned!
