I may speak like a hillbilly but I really dislike writing and reading fanfiction that has terrible grammar and spelling. (Although I try to make people talk like normal people, not as if it was the 1800s) Also, if there are sex scenes in a fanfiction, I can't handle certain description words that are used. Words that sound too science textbook, or, on the opposite side of the spectrum, too childish. "Meat" for example. Yuck. I usually exit off right there.
I found the official biography for two real-world active duty O-6, just to use as examples. Both were commissioned as 2Lt in 1991, both were promoted to 1Lt in 1993, to Capt in 1995, and then to Major in 2002. One made LtCol in 2006 and the other in 2007. Finally, the first made full-bird Colonel in 2011, and the other in 2013. Assuming both were 18 when they went to Academy / college in 1987, they were 42 and 44 years old when they made O6. Can it be done faster / younger? Sure. But not by much. I would not be surprised to find examples of modern-day US military officers who make Colonel / Navy Captain before turning 40 or 39 or even 38 years old, but they are probably few and far between.
One pet peeve I have is when fanfic writers give their crew a Sovereign- or Galaxy- or some brand new, even bigger, class of ship. I find stories focusing on smaller or older ships to be far more enjoyable and realistic.
I find sex scenes the hardest to write, to avoid going too porno or too flowery and Mills and Boonish is difficult.
When it comes to writing sex scenes in my fan fiction stories I've evolved over the years and I don't get too detailed. I keep it vague, or I might write about what's about to take place and/or show what happened after the deed is done without going too much into the deed itself. The last time I wrote a sex scene I can recall was in "Conspirata" and there I kept it vague. For the story I'm working on now, "Hearts of Glass" it's more I'm writing before and after scenes.
Thanks for this, its helpful for a closer to real life career progression, but I guess in the Star Trek universe since Starfleet is semi military or so it insists, its not unusual for faster promotions or for folks to jump ranks ala Kirk style in ST09. Although I still find that concept ludicrous. In my head canon Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, Chekov etc promotion was all a publicity stunt.
There are a few FF writers I admire who are extremely talented (fanfiction.net and the Archive site), I read their sex scenes to get an idea of how to write a good erotic scene without it being too extreme or ridiculous, so far my readers are happy with what I wrote and are encouraging. Maybe they are easily pleased!
Every reader is different. What you look for in a fic to make it 'great' may not be what every other reader looks for. I've personally read and absolutely loved numerous fics that have suffered from terrible grammar and punctuation problems, simply because they have addressed a scenario or plot line I've always wanted to read. I don't like bad grammar or punctuation, but if I really, really want to read that story, I can look past the problems. If I enjoy what I read, I'm gonna tell the author. Other readers may read my comment and think I'm losing my mind, but that's their problem :-) If a story has what I consider to be terrible characterization, I'll hit the back button very quickly. But other readers may think the characterization is spot on, and absolutely love it. Who am I to say that it's bad?
Wesley Crusher was about 16 when he first applied to the Academy, and dialogue from Sword of Kahless dates Worf's entry into the Academy at "after his fifteenth birthday" and cut material from Ressurection implies that he was an ensign (or perhaps an "acting ensign" as a cadet (similar to Saavik and Kirk's acting commissions while at the Academy).
Worf is a Klingon and they do age rapidly (see: Alexander). Humans may have an entry age of 16/17, but other species may be allowed to enter at 10 or 100, depending on when they reach maturity.
That makes sense, Alexander first enlisted in the Klingon Defence at the age of eight (in human years at least, biologically he's probably about his actor's 13).
It could've been worse and stuck to canon and have Chekov be 13 (he was born in 2245). I find it's better just to ignore the NuTrek timeline in it's entirety, makes for a happier life
One of the biggest pet peeves I have with Sci-Fi fanfiction usually happens in crossovers. Crossovers themselves aren't the big sin; I enjoy some crossovers and I've indulged in imagining some crossovers of my own, but the pet peeve I'm talking about is when a canon character gets killed off. I recall one youtube video of Dr. Leonard McCoy getting killed off because he was impregnated by a facehugger and the subsequent chestburster scene. Like I said, I detest canon characters getting killed off during such stories. If killing off a character is absolutely vital to the story, then at least have some way to mitigate such a fatality and bring the character back to re-establish some sort of normalcy and status quo at the conclusion of the story, like put Dr. McCoy's body in some sort of regeneration machine and defibrillate him back to consciousness. I actually enjoy the idea of a crossover between the Star Trek universe and the Aliens/Prometheus universe, and to a lesser tangent the AVP and Predator universes. But please don't make me read something about Spock getting his spine ripped out by a Yautja.
My guilty pleasure crossover is Star Trek x Doom, where events reveal Leonard McCoy is actually John Grimm, still alive, thoroughly pissed off at the universe about being immortal, still highly distrustful of interplanetary transport devices. It's silly, but I love it anyway...