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eleanorjaneSo, that fic meme going around - why not! Of course, these are all really about romance-genre stories; in established relationship stories my preferences are quite different (and half the questions aren't relevant).
Slow burn OR love at first sight: Definitely slow burn, because it allows for interesting story to happen. If it's love at first sight, the obstacles to success become external and frustrating rather than character or relationship growth, and that's a downer.
Fake dating OR secret dating: Fake dating, because of all the same reasons as the above question. :)
Enemies to lovers OR best friends to lovers: I like them both, honestly, provided the writer does the necessary work to show the build. I think a well-done enemies-to-lovers is more satisfying, but best-friends-to-lovers is easier to pull off well.
Oh no there's only one bed OR long distance with correspondence: Correspondence. a) I have slept next to someone I had a crush on (who also, I discovered later, was interested in me) and it caused very little angst, drama or sleeplessness for anybody. maybe some concern about "uh oh, what if I fart in my sleep?" but that's about it.
Whereas correspondence, oh please yes gimme. I love epistolary stories in general, and stories told through something other than straight narrative - "reconstructions of ancient texts", chat logs from the backchannel of the USS Enterprise, hard-hitting journalistic exposes of Tony Stark, whatever. It is very very much my jam.
Fantasy AU OR modern AU: I don't have a strong preference, but probably modern AU if anything. Of the various types of AUs, my favourite type are those that are AU due to storyline deviation (What if Qui-Gon lived? What if Darth Vader was a double agent? What if Harry Potter was Sorted into Slytherin? What if Tony Stark didn't have wealth and privilege?) that then explore the consequences, that paint the picture of what that world would be like. Much more interesting (to me) than just finding ways to shoehorn every Avenger-adjacent character into working at a coffeeshop. (Also, why is Darcy Lewis always such a good baker in these stories? Is it a 2 Broke Girls thing?)
Smut or fluff: Fluff. I rarely read fic for the porn, and in fact will very often skip over sex scenes entirely, unless they're relevant for character-building or relationship-building.
Mutual pining OR domestic bliss: Pining. Occasional domestic bliss is fun, but mutual pining is crack.
Alternate universe OR futurefic: I like specific kinds of AUs (see above) better than anything, but overall I'd probably take futurefic.
Oneshot OR multi-chapter: I don't mind, provided I don't have to wait too long for fulfillment. I understand why people post WIPs but not only are they hell when you're impatient and want to read the story nowwww, they also mean that later chapters are written in reaction to peoples' comments, and that often warps a long running story away from the path that interested in me in the first place.
Kidfic OR road trip fic: I don't really have any strong preferences here; kidfic needs to be done well, but often is, and there's some kidfic I've really loved, while roadtrip fic can be pleasant but rarely stirs strong emotion.
Reincarnation OR character death: Reincarnation, largely because I'm mostly not a huge fan of character death (unless it's the point of the story and I'm ready to have a crying day.) TBH though I haven't seen much reincarnation-fic -- is this a Thing in some parts of fandom?
Arranged marriage OR accidental marriage: I like both okay to be honest, but if I had to pick one I'd say accidental marriage, mostly because I have found some hilarious examples of same. I tend not to read in the fandoms where arranged marriages are a thing, so I've encountered less; are they typically well-done?
Time travel OR isolated together: again both good; I would have to pick time travel, I think, because I've read a couple of amazing groundhog-day-ish fics lately (one about Killmonger redoing the events of Black Panther over and over again, very badly, and one about Hera Agathon saving a whole lot of lives and a couple of civilisations) and I am full of love for the concept.
Neighbors OR roommates: Neighbours, I guess, because it allows for more mystery and more gaps for the story to close.
Sci-fi au OR Magic au: Sci Fi, if the writer puts the work in. Magic is easier, because we all have a bunch of shared assumptions about what a magic setting (i.e. probably historical fantasy) looks like, whereas sci fi could be anything from near-future cyberpunk to far-future high-tech transhumanism. Magic is probably Lord of the Rings (or D&D, or Magician, or Game of Thrones, or w/e) whereas Sci Fi looks a lot different if it's Altered Carbon or Star Trek or Jupiter Ascending, y'know? (I have a lot of thoughts about this, because this is a problem you get in tabletop gaming when introducing people to new game settings - fantasy is just easier because of the shared cultural assumptions.)
(All of the above presupposes that the Magic AU in question is White Western High Fantasy. But let's face it, it almost always is.)
Bodyswap OR genderbend: woof. Both of them can hit a bunch of body horror squicks, which makes them both minefields. If they're both done well, I'd pick genderbend, especially the Always A Wo|Man variant which lets you explore a bunch of really interesting stuff. (Even if most writers usually just use it for a different flavour of porn.)
Angst OR crack: Both are sometimes foods for me. I don't have a high tolerance for angst in general because if it's done well it tanks my mood and if it's done badly I sprain my eyeballs rolling them at the wangst. Crack on the other hand is usually a safer bet, provided I share the writer's sense of humour.
Apocalyptic OR mundane: I'm not really into apocalypse, so I'd pick mundane. Post-apocalypse, on the other hand, I am THERE for, provided it's not a wangst-fest. I adore stories of people building something new with the wreckage of the old.
Slow burn OR love at first sight: Definitely slow burn, because it allows for interesting story to happen. If it's love at first sight, the obstacles to success become external and frustrating rather than character or relationship growth, and that's a downer.
Fake dating OR secret dating: Fake dating, because of all the same reasons as the above question. :)
Enemies to lovers OR best friends to lovers: I like them both, honestly, provided the writer does the necessary work to show the build. I think a well-done enemies-to-lovers is more satisfying, but best-friends-to-lovers is easier to pull off well.
Oh no there's only one bed OR long distance with correspondence: Correspondence. a) I have slept next to someone I had a crush on (who also, I discovered later, was interested in me) and it caused very little angst, drama or sleeplessness for anybody. maybe some concern about "uh oh, what if I fart in my sleep?" but that's about it.
Whereas correspondence, oh please yes gimme. I love epistolary stories in general, and stories told through something other than straight narrative - "reconstructions of ancient texts", chat logs from the backchannel of the USS Enterprise, hard-hitting journalistic exposes of Tony Stark, whatever. It is very very much my jam.
Fantasy AU OR modern AU: I don't have a strong preference, but probably modern AU if anything. Of the various types of AUs, my favourite type are those that are AU due to storyline deviation (What if Qui-Gon lived? What if Darth Vader was a double agent? What if Harry Potter was Sorted into Slytherin? What if Tony Stark didn't have wealth and privilege?) that then explore the consequences, that paint the picture of what that world would be like. Much more interesting (to me) than just finding ways to shoehorn every Avenger-adjacent character into working at a coffeeshop. (Also, why is Darcy Lewis always such a good baker in these stories? Is it a 2 Broke Girls thing?)
Smut or fluff: Fluff. I rarely read fic for the porn, and in fact will very often skip over sex scenes entirely, unless they're relevant for character-building or relationship-building.
Mutual pining OR domestic bliss: Pining. Occasional domestic bliss is fun, but mutual pining is crack.
Alternate universe OR futurefic: I like specific kinds of AUs (see above) better than anything, but overall I'd probably take futurefic.
Oneshot OR multi-chapter: I don't mind, provided I don't have to wait too long for fulfillment. I understand why people post WIPs but not only are they hell when you're impatient and want to read the story nowwww, they also mean that later chapters are written in reaction to peoples' comments, and that often warps a long running story away from the path that interested in me in the first place.
Kidfic OR road trip fic: I don't really have any strong preferences here; kidfic needs to be done well, but often is, and there's some kidfic I've really loved, while roadtrip fic can be pleasant but rarely stirs strong emotion.
Reincarnation OR character death: Reincarnation, largely because I'm mostly not a huge fan of character death (unless it's the point of the story and I'm ready to have a crying day.) TBH though I haven't seen much reincarnation-fic -- is this a Thing in some parts of fandom?
Arranged marriage OR accidental marriage: I like both okay to be honest, but if I had to pick one I'd say accidental marriage, mostly because I have found some hilarious examples of same. I tend not to read in the fandoms where arranged marriages are a thing, so I've encountered less; are they typically well-done?
Time travel OR isolated together: again both good; I would have to pick time travel, I think, because I've read a couple of amazing groundhog-day-ish fics lately (one about Killmonger redoing the events of Black Panther over and over again, very badly, and one about Hera Agathon saving a whole lot of lives and a couple of civilisations) and I am full of love for the concept.
Neighbors OR roommates: Neighbours, I guess, because it allows for more mystery and more gaps for the story to close.
Sci-fi au OR Magic au: Sci Fi, if the writer puts the work in. Magic is easier, because we all have a bunch of shared assumptions about what a magic setting (i.e. probably historical fantasy) looks like, whereas sci fi could be anything from near-future cyberpunk to far-future high-tech transhumanism. Magic is probably Lord of the Rings (or D&D, or Magician, or Game of Thrones, or w/e) whereas Sci Fi looks a lot different if it's Altered Carbon or Star Trek or Jupiter Ascending, y'know? (I have a lot of thoughts about this, because this is a problem you get in tabletop gaming when introducing people to new game settings - fantasy is just easier because of the shared cultural assumptions.)
(All of the above presupposes that the Magic AU in question is White Western High Fantasy. But let's face it, it almost always is.)
Bodyswap OR genderbend: woof. Both of them can hit a bunch of body horror squicks, which makes them both minefields. If they're both done well, I'd pick genderbend, especially the Always A Wo|Man variant which lets you explore a bunch of really interesting stuff. (Even if most writers usually just use it for a different flavour of porn.)
Angst OR crack: Both are sometimes foods for me. I don't have a high tolerance for angst in general because if it's done well it tanks my mood and if it's done badly I sprain my eyeballs rolling them at the wangst. Crack on the other hand is usually a safer bet, provided I share the writer's sense of humour.
Apocalyptic OR mundane: I'm not really into apocalypse, so I'd pick mundane. Post-apocalypse, on the other hand, I am THERE for, provided it's not a wangst-fest. I adore stories of people building something new with the wreckage of the old.