[ SECRET POST #2999 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2999 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 06 pages, 131 secrets from Secret Submission Post #429.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 (repeat) - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Writing a Good OC (and/or recs?)

[(Anonymous)]

Make sure they don't have a name which sounds like someone you might meet in your highschool. Even shows set in highschools rarely have common current highschooler names. If it is a fandom in a foreign country to you, do not use commonly stereotyped names (if I never read another anime based fanfic with an OC called Sakura or Hikaru it'll be too soon). At the same time, do not try to make them sound cool and mysterious either, go with what sounds common to the world you are fanficcing. Do not use them as a love interest for a main character, ever, not even in a girl/boyfriend of the week type shows, just don't do it. Don't give them awesome superpowers, if you are writing in a magical setting then aim to have them be sitting in the mid range of the canon characters neither too powerful nor woobie level, barely a squeak, either. Able to speak no more than two languages, maximum. No long lost family.

I think that is enough to be going on with. Your OC should not feel different in any way from any other character within canon. Anything that makes them stand out is a bad thing.

Re: Writing a Good OC (and/or recs?)

[(Anonymous)]

Do not use them as a love interest for a main character,

I'm just curious, why is this such a bad idea?

Re: Writing a Good OC (and/or recs?)

[(Anonymous)]

It is a big red flag for a crude self-insert. Besides, look at most canons, when a new love interest of the week shows up for a main character, how does it usually turn out in fandom and on the show in question? Nine times out of ten, somewhere between general antipathy towards, and often outright hate for, the love interest. That is with the canon pros doing it too. Think about that for a moment.

Re: Writing a Good OC (and/or recs?)

[(Anonymous)]

Self-insert or Mary Sue alert. Most people frown upon canon/OC stories.

Re: Writing a Good OC (and/or recs?)

[(Anonymous)]

Anything that makes them stand out is a bad thing.



No, tell me again why OCs should never have any distinguishing characteristics.

Re: Writing a Good OC (and/or recs?)

[(Anonymous)]

IA

Honestly, the type of OC AYRT is advising would annoy me because the writer is trying so hard not to do something that could possibly bother someone that they're making the character really boring.

This kind of philosophy is actually terrible writing. Try to please everyone and you please no one. This smacks of the really toxic "Mary Sue paranoia" bullshit that caused the writing comm I'm in to consider retiring or banning the term altogether.

Re: Writing a Good OC (and/or recs?)

[ginainthekingsroad]

I mean, there's being a distinctive character (likes, dislikes, skills, failings) and then there's being sorted into Sparklypoo. It's not really that hard to tell the difference.

Re: Writing a Good OC (and/or recs?)

[(Anonymous)]

Do not use them as a love interest for a main character, ever, not even in a girl/boyfriend of the week type shows, just don't do it.

What if it's actually a villain trying to catch the main character off guard?

Turns out, everyone was right to mistrust/dislike that super hot person!

Re: Writing a Good OC (and/or recs?)

[(Anonymous)]

All of this depends on the property. If you're doing fic for a James Bond or Thomas Magnum type, a girlfriend of the week is totally appropriate. In certain settings, Awesome McCoolname is practically required.