[ 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

[(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*