[ SECRET POST #3496 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3496 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 48 secrets from Secret Submission Post #500.
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.

Comments

[mrs_don_draper]

I get what you mean. I don't like reading about OCS or seeing them in fanart. I think if you're going to have an extensively thought out and developed character, just write an original piece. I mean, I read fanfic because I already know everyone involved, and I back button if suddenly there's some new guy/girl.

[(Anonymous)]

*eyerolls into the sun*

"If you put effort into your own characters make them original. Fanworks mean you're only allowed to use other people's ideas. No creating your own."

I respect peoples prefrences. But the bad "advice" people like to give writers based on preferences is so tiring.

[silverr]

Personally, if I'm reading fanfic at all it's because I want more of the characters that already exist in the fandom, not because I want to read about the long-lost daughter of canon characters.

[(Anonymous)]

Well yes but advising/telling other people to change their writing to fit one's own preferences is bullshit is what im getting at.

[mrs_don_draper]

I'm not telling anyone to do anything. All I said was that I back button out.

[(Anonymous)]

"I think if youre going to have an extensivly developed original character just write an original story" sounds like it. Worse its piss poor logic. So only shallowly developed original characters should be in a fanfic?

The logic that you can only put so much work into something or you need to make an entirely new world and shit for it is garbage.

Sometimes you can feel theres a niche canon didnt cover and create something to cover it. Creating a whole seperate story for it is pointless and not what the author wanted to do in the first place. Its kind of annoying to constantly hear "well why dont you just create a new story for this?"

Honestly i dont even care about the backbuttoning thing. I just hate that "suggestion" with a passion. So you dont want to read about it, big deal backbutton away. But dont assume that an author just wants to create original stuff for the sake of creating original stuff. Sometimes they have a reason for that particular character whether you see the need for it or not.

Ps: Im not a named user.

[mrs_don_draper]

"So only shallowly developed original characters should be in a fanfic?"

Personally, I don't think any original characters should be in fanfic in 99% of fics. Like, sometimes you need a doctor to call someone and give a test result or you need to reference an ex-partner. I get that. But if that character is involved in more than like five lines of a story, then I don't want to read it.

[silverr]

This is not something that I would tell people to do. Even if they ask, "Why didn't you comment on this?" or "Why did you unfollow me?" unless pressed to be brutally honest I would only ever tell them that the content didn't interest me.

[(Anonymous)]

I know i was mostly talking about what the user above me seemed to be saying. I find "i dont know why they dont do this inatead" suggestions irritating.

I dont do that because its not what im interesting in writing.

I honestly find unwanted suggesuons more irritating than " no ones going to read it"

[mimi-sardinia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't want long-lost daughters, I just want the messenger or random guardsman who pops up with one line here, one line there, a couple of line a few chapters later, help out the main characters with a task, maybe insert a pithy point in a major scene.

They remain a secondary or even tertiary character, but they grow in little steps, and act as support for the canon characters.

Unless it's roleplay or a protagonist for a Create You Own Character RPG computer game.

[(Anonymous)]

Unfortunately, some of us don't have any interest in writing original fic. Some of us love writing fanfic, and sometimes you need to come up with a character to fill a niche. I always use minor/one-shot/background characters whenever possible (which is basically an OC in canon clothing), but sometimes there just is no other alternative than an OC.

Take "Inu Yasha" fandom. Canon currently stops with the main female character, Kagome's, return to the Feudal Era. We see Inu Yasha and Kagome's friends Miroku and Sango with three canonical children. Canon doesn't go far enough yet to give us canon offspring for Kagome and Inu Yasha.

So if we want to write post-canon stories and have any couple have any more children, they have to be OCs. Also, some of the best continuation fics breathe life into the characters of Inu Yasha's village, of whom all we really know is the priestess Kaede. But there's a whole village of people shown with no names or backgrounds. So again, OCs fill that gap.

Sorry, it's just something I feel very passionate about.

[(Anonymous)]

I felt that way about Lost when it was on, like who are the other crash survivors that don't get any play? The principal cast was really large, but there still tons of unnamed people on the beach. Sometimes the writers delved into that well, like with Artz or Scott/Steve, and sometimes they overcorrected, like with Nikki and Paolo. OCs can be done the same way, I think. Useful color to the known situation, or... too much.

[(Anonymous)]

This. If you're going to write a fic that delves into the canon world beyond the main characters, OCs are pretty much a necessity just to fill in the gaps.

[(Anonymous)]

Crime drama fandoms are a good example of this, too. If one is writing a case fic, at some point they'll have to bring at least a few OCs in to fill the roles of victims/police/suspects/witnesses/etc.

I can't speak to the fanart side of fandom and its use of OCs, since it's not one I've really had any experience with. But as for fanfiction, I personally have no problem with stories involving OCs in and of themselves. I get people's annoyance with a fandom being flooded with stories where an OC falls in love with whatever character the author finds hot or things of that sort, but that doesn't automatically mean ALL stories with OCs are like that. And I do understand the "I'm here to read about the characters in canon" attitude, too-that's my main focus when looking for stories as well.

But I've found stories where people could balance OCs and the canon characters nicely. And sometimes the canon characters' interactions with OCs can give readers a whole new perspective on the former group of people. We get used to the canon character dynamics, but sometimes it's interesting to bring an outsider in and see how those characters respond to them as well.

To each their own, though, of course. *Shrugs*

[(Anonymous)]

I completely agree with mrs don draper. The word "fan" is in there for a reason. I like the canon and I want to fic/art of the characters I like.

[(Anonymous)]

Then find it. But dont tell people who are doing things differently to stop and go away, or make snooty judgements about their character. Or tell them to go somewhere else. Theyre showing their love for the canon their own way.

This isnt about whether people like OCs or not. Its about how you dont have the right to tell others to go away or do it your way.

[(Anonymous)]

"fan"is in there because its a fan based work. Based off something the creator is a fan of.

It's not all about you, you know.

[(Anonymous)]

You can both go find it? There's plenty of fic/art out there and it's not all going to be to your taste. Move on, let the people having fun with their OC's have fun with their OC's, just don't act like fandom should only be what YOU like.

[(Anonymous)]

This is such a narrow-minded point of view. You know, this argument completely ignores the idea of being a fan of a concept or worldbuilding or universe.

Being a fan of something does not always or only mean being a fan of the characters. Sometimes it's not the characters themselves that draw you in, but the world they inhabit. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with exploring that, and using original characters or concepts to do so.

[(Anonymous)]

There's also nothing wrong in not being interested in drawings of other people's headcanons about the fanworks that you're interested in. Draw or write whatever you want, but stop pretending that anyone but you is obligated to care about it.

DA

[(Anonymous)]

No one's telling you that you have to be interested in it. Just quit acting like it's wrong and people shouldn't do it.

How fucking hard is this to get? Every time this debate comes up you people act like asking you not to condemn it is the same as making you be interested in it.

No one is saying you have to love it. Just don't be a dick to people about it.

Re: DA

[(Anonymous)]

OP: "I don't like this, but I keep it to myself"
Butthurt OC artists: OMG, you're narrow-minded and suck! Stop oppressing us!!11!
You: "I'm a giant hypocrite who wants to be above criticism while criticizing anyone who dares to not like the things I like."

Re: DA

[(Anonymous)]

Oh my God you're such a big baby.

There's a bunch of people in the thread saying "these kind of fics don't need to exist" which people are replying to. Not just the OP.

[(Anonymous)]

+1

I'm often more or at least as interested in the concept or world as the canon characters and I so love fics with OCs that explore them more widely than just the lives of the canon characters. Just as much as I love fics about my favorite canon characters.

[(Anonymous)]

I 100% agree with this.