I've read hundreds of wonderful stories here and it has resulted in a few plot bunnies roaming around my head. I've started one and it's going slowly due to real life issues, but still fun to play around with. I'm not sure about actually posting it but if I can get a little further than I am, who knows? I know my story has cliches as many great stories have already done (with over 1/2 million stories on the site it's hard not to have similar elements overlap), but am trying my best to include fresh ideas scattered amongst the general trend.

I've read so many stories with differing views of the main characters, I find the more enjoyable stories to be the ones with Harry becoming independent the most appealing. Manipulative Dumbledore and different schools for Harry are also interesting, along with some Weasley bashing (Molly especially- she's SO overbearing!)

I'd love to see more stories where Harry becomes less attached to Ron and Hermione and forges an earlier/strong friendship with Neville. Any story that has Harry making more friends from other Hogwarts houses catches my eye also.

Least favorite stories are slash, esp if they do not use time travel to make the slash couple at least the same age. I mean really, Harry with ANY teacher or Voldie, can we say pedophilia?, HarryHermione (she's just to "always right and set in her belief of her muggle viewpoint being the "only one that matters"), HermioneRon (he's just too immature for my taste and would take too long to grow up for Hermoine to put up with), Dumbledore bashing can be a fun read. I just feel (esp. now after reading fanfiction), that Harry naming his second son after Dumbles and Snape is just wrong. I mean, yes the wizarding world is backwards and so "last century", but Harry started out living in the non magical world of the '80s and '90s-- those type of names just wouldn't sit well with the amount of teasing and bullying they would bring. I would think Harry would be more inclined to give his children names that would be acceptable in both worlds so they would be able to pass easily between the two. I also have less fondness for Harry/Ginny stories when there are other young ladies that I feel I'd rather see Harry paired with (Daphne/Susan/Tracey/and if it isn't done too quickly, maybe Fleur).

Several of the stories I read early on seem to have been removed from the site or I just can't find them. One of them introduced an American cousin of Vernon (Mike Dursley), who if I remember correctly was ex-army and took Harry under his wing while visiting Britain.

If I ever get my story more off the ground I may be tempted to run it past a beta reader to get feedback, but for now am just taking it slow as I develop the story and will have to work on it more as my time permits.