fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2862 ]

[ SECRET POST #2862 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2862 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 042 secrets from Secret Submission Post #409.
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Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
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Likes, dislikes, scenarios that you'd like to see done well, scenarios that make you go NOPE, etc.

If it's fanfic, then I dislike the OC to be the protagonist.

(It's different for original fic, of course). To me, OC's should be there to flesh out the world or progress the story - but in the end, I want to read about my fav characters, not 20 paragraphs about an OC.

This, pretty much. I've read some great fic that had awesome minor OCs, but I also tend to love minor characters in published books.

I hate it when people's OCs just take over a fic, or where full chapters are devoted to the OC. I'm not going to bother to read that shit.

Yes, this. Perfectly said.

What you said sums up my feelings as well.

In general I don't mind OCs in fanfic "fleshing out the world or progressing the story" -- but I don't want them center stage. I'm in a fandom because of the canon characters: they are the ones I want explored.

I don't mind if ocs play a major supporting role in fic. As long as they're written well, don't steal the spotlight from canon characters and aren't paired up with them then I don't mind them.

One type of oc I can't stand are children characters, especially if they're the offspring of official characters. I've never seen a fic where they were written decently, didn't annoy me or had a name that didn't make me want to facepalm.

I agree, children OCs are usually the worst.

They really are.

Acceptable only if the show being ficced doesn't have their own set of supporting characters. If, for example, an NCIS fanfic has an OC as a supporting character, I want to know what they bring to the party that Vance, Jenny, Ducky, Palmer, McGee, Kate, Tony, Gerald, Abby, Abby's midget boyfriend, Sister Rosita, Ziva, Jamie Lee Curtis, that Gibbs love-interest from the Coast Guard, Brianna, Dorneget, etc and so on for quite some time, do not bring which requires an OC to be slotted in instead.

Before writing an OC I'd recommend all fanfic authors sit back and ask "is there a canon character that can carry this role?" if the answer is "yes" or "I just want to use an OC", then they are writing an author insert and should step away from the keyboard. Turns out, very few fanfics actually need an OC as a supporting character.

I think OCs can be very interesting in almost any scenario if they are done right. But I will admit that I tend to avoid Main Character/OC (or OCs in any relationships).

The OCs I like best are family OCs. For instance, I just read a story with Thranduil's extended family (wife, other kids, sister). That's the kind of thing I like.

I don't like OCs as main characters, but well done OCs can absolutely enhance a good fic and make it wonderful. I remember reading a fan fiction of preteen Luke being raised on Coruscant with Vader and the OCs were STUPENDOUS -- doctors and personal assistants and members of the Imperial military and classmates. The father-son relationship was still the focus, but the wonderful OCs really added to the story instead of detracting.

I don't mind well-written OCs that much unless they overshadow the story, and prefer to have them in the background as classmates or colleagues or other things like that.

I really don't like OC/main character of fic as a pairing though, but I can have OC/canon character as a background pairing, and honestly prefer that to "pair the spares".

But really, as long as the OCs doesn't take over the fic I don't really mind them. (Granted that they are well-written and feels real/fits the storyverse)

I've developed a fondness for OCs who come from a different culture than where the series is primarily set. I find that they're good at playing off of the things that are strange or silly about the show's setting.

My OC dislike list pretty much begins and ends with gun-users in settings that don't canonically have guns. They tend to be really obnoxious, and no one can question them by right of superior firepower.

For some reason I just can't get into OCs that are directly related to a canon character-- as in siblings, parents, potential future children-- unless their existence was already mentioned/implied or given some description in canon (but without that character actually appearing). Just feels tacked on and weird if they have no actual attachment to the canon besides their relation to X, even if figures like parents would obviously exist. Maybe it's the result of some subconscious headcanon thing where these OCs don't match my general perceptions of the characters' personal/early lives, even though I don't make such OCs myself and aren't trying to "compete" with them or something.

But I think people too often ignore the potential for OCs in settings where they have a good reason to exist, like in a large community or group or something similar that the canon characters are already a part of, and so fics featuring only canon characters can feel really... insular or something, especially if the canon has a small cast to begin with. It's especially noticeable if it's for a TV show, where one-shot characters frequently appear anyway. I don't think they should take over the entire story or play the starring role, but I have no problem with a fic heavily featuring an OC if the other characters play equally large roles and are portrayed well. It can actually be a strong way of challenging or proving a character's canonical beliefs/viewpoint by presenting them with a perspective from the "outside."

...hope some of this is intelligible.

I don't like when an OC is the main character/main love interest in a fanfic, but I don't mind when they are included in fics or are a love interest on the path to another pairing. I read a really good fic (that I can't find now) where the main canon character was married years before canon began, and the story was about him meeting some of the other characters and gradually separating from his wife in the way that marriages sometimes break down. It was really good.

From a non-shipping perspective, though, OCs are also necessary in most fandoms. Unless your character lives in a bubble, stories need bodies.

I actually like OCs, and think they can add to the plot and make a fan fic more interesting and well developed. But OCs are a big no to me when they feel like a wish fullfillment or self-insert fantasy of some kind. Like some adorable magical mpreg slash child who is mothered by the characters, or a cool special female friend who helps get a slash pairing together. That kind of shit. Just a big, big nosirree for me.

I like OCs in fanart form much more than fanfic. With art I'll fave it, comment on it, and read headcanons about the OC, but would never put that much effort into reading an OC fic.

Basically I like to see their design and whether it jives with the canon characters.

Yeah, same here. I really enjoy seeing OC's in art, but not so much when it comes to fanfic.

I'm open to anything as long as the writing is good enough to support it. The phobia fandom has about OCs is just ridiculous.

I like OCs, the problem is that they (for a great deal of fic) aren't well fleshed out--or are obnoxious. This is specific to romantic lead/protagonist of the story. I'd love to see something well done where both the canon character and OC (if romantic) are both written out, more than just two dimensionally.

OCs in gen and everything else are fine...but if they're having a major role that isn't romantic yet is central, I tend not to like it. Minor/secondary roles are fine, as long as either the Canon character is the focus of the story (unless, again it's specified it's going to be a romantic lead with an OC). I think it depends on the age of the OC. If the OC will have a big role, that is not necessarily romantic, I prefer an older (40s-60s) character. Sometimes contemporaries are okay. Flesh them out just right and OCs are wonderful additions to a story. I think it just depends on what the reader is looking for.

(Most of my fic is centered around OCs).

Unless you are using an OC as a talking piece of background scenery, or prop for moving a plot, then they are a huge case of "nope". Even then they should be used with caution. Most long running canons and ensemble shows already have canon versions for you to use. If an OC has more than a couple of lines, then chances are they a self-insert. The only exceptions are for shows with a monster-of-the-week format, in which an original antagonist is acceptable as long as you don't make them too clever or too sarcastic. A smart, sarcastic, jerkass sue is yet another reviled form of self-insert. If an oc is a romantic interest of any sort, then nope, its a mary sue self-insert.

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[ SECRET POST #2862 ]

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