[ SECRET POST #2357 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2357 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 112 secrets from Secret Submission Post #336.
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

Your views on fandom OCs?

[ryttu3k]

Inspired by secret 10, how do you view fandom OCs? Especially those who are just in the universe, but not involved with the bigger plot - a random student at Hogwarts, say, or a Pokemon trainer in another region who goes on their own adventure.

I have to say, I don't mind them much when they're not connected to the plot - big, wide worlds like Harry Potter or Pokemon or Star Trek have a lot of people living in it, and it's nice seeing different stories sometimes. (And some of these can be done WELL. Pokemon fans, look up a fic called 'Pedestal'.) But I know that a lot of people heartily dislike them. What's your view?

Re: Your views on fandom OCs?

[(Anonymous)]

OCs often equal Mary Sue for a lot of fandoms and I think that's what people mean when they say they hate them.

I like OCs, even in main or pivotal roles. But I can't stand Mary Sues unless it's an OTT crack Mary Sue that was written as a joke.

Re: Your views on fandom OCs?

[(Anonymous)]

Personally, I don't care for them. I have no problem with other people liking them but...I'd really really rather not have much to do with them myself. [Admittedly, this is probably from having too many people pull the 'I WANT YOU TO DO THIS WHOLE PLOT I PLANNED OUT IN DETAIL WITH MY OC - EVEN WHEN YOU SAID YOU DON'T WANT TO RP WITH OCS.'

Re: Your views on fandom OCs?

[pantswarrior]

They're necessary. I mean, I write Star Trek fic. There will always be a need for random redshirts to get killed off in creative ways. :D

But seriously, that's the principle that applies. Most fandoms are set in an entire world full of people. The canon is very unlikely to provide a character that can fulfill every single need a story may have. If you're in a medieval fandom, for instance, and your character needs a piece of armor. Is there an armorer/blacksmith available in canon? Or say they do something that attracts the wrong kind of attention. Is there a canonical town guard to apprehend them or chase them away?

Basically the approach I prefer is to treat original characters like NPCs in a video game. They provide a service or give the original characters a clue as to what they're supposed to be doing next. Maybe they join the party for a side quest. But since most people are reading fic for the characters they already know and love, I make sure the focus remains on the actual canonical characters.

One exception: when the setting itself is the point of the story, and you're trying to make a point about the canon of the WORLD, rather than a character. I recall an excellent FFVII fic that was set in Midgar featuring a bunch of young people and how they used materia (after all, it was sold in shops to anyone, not just AVALANCHE) and what their life was like under the plate. Once I wrote a fic about a boy in the Pokemon world that did NOT want to be a pokemon trainer but kept getting pressured into it - because it struck me as bizarre that apparently everybody in that canon wants to be a pokemon trainer/breeder/doctor/researcher whatever, and what would happen to someone who just wasn't interested? If the story is making a valid point about the canon, then OCs as main characters are fine by me.