fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2806 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2806 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[Five Nights at Freddy's]

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03.

[Star Trek, MCU, Batman Begins]

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04.

[Twilight Saga]

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05.

[Xenosaga]

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06.

[Doctor Who]

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07.

[Great British Bake Off]

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08.

[Law & Order: Criminal Intent]

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09.

[Minecraft]

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10.

[Macklemore]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 044 secrets from Secret Submission Post #401.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I remember that thread, but didn't participate at the time and yeah, thought that was a dumb accusation, too. A lot of people really get their shorts in a bunch about OCs, it's like some irrational hatred. Then they try to justify it by saying well, so many OCs are inserts or Mary Sues or poorly written, as if that's an intelligent reason to dismiss them all.

The idea that an author would be trying to sneak original fiction into fanfic like someone's mom trying to sneak pureed vegetables into a meatloaf is hilariously paranoid. I'd only expect that viewpoint from people who don't write or read original fic, or who are so immersed in fandom they've lost all perspective.

Yeah

The sad thing is? This isn't the FIRST time I've heard it.

I've had someone tell me before how OCs in fanfiction where they "have no place" is always done so the author can get page views they're desperate for by disguising their original fic as a fanfic is terrible and akin to 'whoring yourself out'. (yes I'm not even fucking kidding)

Honestly I don't understand why someone would assume that I'm writing the kind of fic that gets dismissed the most, gets the most criticism and hostility for other people's approval. That doesn't even make sense! If I were writing just for page views and attention I'd write canon ship fic and smut fic, because it seems like those are the two kinds of fic that are always okay.

(not to say that all shipfic/smutfic writers ARE doing it for attention. Just it seems to be the most accepted)

I don't get it, either. I wrote original fic loooong before I got into fandom, so maybe that's why I don't have the fandom knee jerk reaction against OCs. It doesn't make sense to me, why would you limit your characters to only canon for a purely arbitrary reason? Well written OCs have the potential to expand your story and plot.

Given the strong anti-OC feeling a lot of readers, how would disguising your original fic as fanfic even work? So the original accusation doesn't make any sense, which is not really a surprise to me at this point.

Exactly. I also write both original and fanfic. I am aware that a lot of fandom prefers to read fic for the canon characters,however I also write fanfic for exploring settings.

I get that its not common but I feel like since at least since I tag and warn correctly and am honest about me fic, there's no reason why I should be kicked out and told to "go write original fiction".

Some people see original and fanfiction as being two separate things, which is weird. It's like they have this notion that what makes fanfiction good and what makes original fiction good has no overlap when in fact they'll have more in common than otherwise. A well written character is a well written character, original or canon.

I'd ignore such people, frankly. They sound a little sheltered at best, and perhaps a little young. I never hear of such bizarre opinions from people who are old enough and experienced enough to have known Life Before Fandom.

Yeah

I honestly LIKE adding a little something of mine, something original into my fanfic. Because I feel like I'm making the story individual that way.

Of course as I got older I learned to take steps to avoid the original overshadowing the canon and how to be more skilled about it.

I just feel like it makes the fic just a little different from your average "fic where this/that happens". I understand what makes an OC annoying and it has more to do with taking over and stealing the scene than just...existing. Like last night I mentioned a fic I loved where the main character's sister had an OC boyfriend and it was just a little thing, a little thing that showed that she had a life of her own, and someone was like "yeah I wouldn't touch that". I respect their right of course but it just....confused me.

"why not? Is it really so terrible that the author created someone rather than pairing the sister with an existing character? Who else was she going to pair the sister with? The guys that bullied her brother through his early high school years? Um....ew. A ghost character? Um.....not sure that would work. A classmate with little to no characterization? Practically an OC anyway.

I just don't get the whole "ew ew ew it's OC/Canon so it MUST be bad". I've seen many cases where just using an OC would have been preferable to the route the author took. The Other Woman is dead set on breaking the main couple/ the slash couple apart for cheap melodrama? Ew no, just give her a new someone to be with if she's so desperate. Fic where Ginny kills Harry and her kids for insurance money and is generally SO OOC she's not even recognizable anymore? Eh...woulda worked better with an OC.

Also I've seen so many Possession Sues (Canon characters that are turned into Sues) that I don't even automatically worry that an OC means "Mary Sue" anymore.

I honestly think that people latch on to something that used often be associated with "bad writing" and latch on to the idea that's bad....to the point that they forget the why.

All they know is "it is bad. Always."

I hear that the reason for it is a couple of authors who who basically wrote OC-Fiction as Harry Potter and Twilight fanfic, then used the fanbase to get attention of a publisher, whereupon they stripped the last few canon bits out and put it out as Original Fiction. That opened the floodgates and a lot of wannabes are still trying to use that route into the publishing industry. Can't blame the reader for not being psychic enough to not spot the people who like writing original fiction with a few fandom elements from the the people wanting to steal a fandom to get a contract.

Yeah...but from what I've seen they're a minority.

Many of the OC writers I see either make sure to tag correctly , or in the case of young writers can't wait to announce their shiny new OC.

I can see frustration in that situation, but I don't see why every OC writer needs to get a bunch of shit and scrutiny.

It's kind of like geek girls who don't like getting quizzed on how 'real" they are just because some people have met people who faked it for attention.

Two people did something, and that now means that everyone has to come under suspicion (and asking for people to be given the benefit of the doubt = asking readers to be psychic)?

It's okay if they are doing it for attention, though. I mean there's nothing really wrong with that.

(Also I felt like popping in and saying that I write shipfic/smut because I have to get it out of my system or it burns me up, lol)

Yeah to be honest.

I mean I know sometimes i do get a bit blue when my fic doesn't get any hits. Just a little.

(ah. I'm sorry for my example there. It was kind of rude)

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