Reply To: What do you look for in a story?

[snatcher]

There are a few things I like in haircut stories.

Just like any story, the setup is really important, and maybe even more interesting than the eventual reward at the end.
I typically dislike when a character is physically forced to cut her hair, feels really wrong to me. However, I do enjoy it when a girl decides to get a haircut and it ends up not the way she expected it. Or when someone is forced into a position that they can’t refuse so they end up accepting. When there’s good buildup the story turns out believable by the time the cut actually happens.

One of my favorite stories on the site, “All of It” by klaatu84, is all about the buildup. At the beginning we see the main character get the idea of a cut. Throughout the story she contemplates that idea, and at the end the pay off is really great.
Another form of buildup is when it gets progressively worse for a character, like in Ginger Harten’s “Crew Standard”. They find out they have to get their hair cut, and it just gets worse for the first girl (Jill). It builds up in a great way.

Another recent story that I really enjoyed up to a certain point is “Change Is Good” by PT. The buildup is great – we hear about this relationship between the main guy and his girlfriend. She forces him to get his hair cut, then he forces her (they were both at a barbershop). While a bit bizarre, it was still believable. However, it turns messy towards the end. The girl had really long hair, so even a bob would be a drastic and difficult change, but the story takes it a bit much further and she ends up with a flattop. That story is still great in my opinion, just because of the buildup, but the pay off is just not as good.