[ SECRET POST #2435 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2435 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 049 secrets from Secret Submission Post #348.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

01. http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/6609/51r.png

[(Anonymous)]

are you

are you new to fandom?

ps

[(Anonymous)]

a good author doesn't need to "warn for OCs"

[transcriptanon]

[Picture is the drawing of a black pony/horse in the style of the cartoon "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", with red eyes, the drawing of a pink pentagram on its flank, black wings, red wings, glowing hair of all the colors of the rainbow and holding a keyblade (item that looks and sometimes works like a giant key but also is a sword-like weapon from the videogame series "Kingdom Hearts") with magic atop a piece of rock on space. The picture has the following caption on the bottom: "Princess Sugarlicious Bonquisha Shanana Sparkle Doombringer The Third (C) Dream 2013"]

If your fic summary says "an OC" or "some OCs", I'll probably read it. If it says "my OC"? I'll take a pass.

I'm seriously starting to think "my OC" is the non-furry equivalent of "my fursona"--the only difference in the kind of stories they star in is that fursonas are more likely to fuck one other character, whereas Original Characters called "my OC" are more likely to fuck every character the author thinks is hot. Sometimes all at once.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree a bit. My OC always proves to be worse but honestly, I've stopped reading fics with OCs in them at all as a main character. They're never good.

[hwc]

Objection!

OCs work really great with outsider POV fics. Canon characters work as well, but with OCs you can literally do anything. And there are a lot of good OC outsider POV fics.

[ryttu3k]

Pokemon fandom? Pokemon fandom has some GOOD OCs - Original Trainer fics are a genre that consists almost entirely of OCs, and they're done extremely well. Look up fics like Pedestal!

[(Anonymous)]

I don't mind if it's an OC main character with an OC cast with a new or AU plot set in the fandom world with the canon characters doing cameos or something. But if the OC is a main character within the canon cast...... yeahhh I never even click into those fics. Nope.

[souljelly]

Same here.

[kallanda_lee]

I sort of get it. I've seen it done right, but never if they become the focal point of the story.

[(Anonymous)]

'my OC' literally just screams 'mary sue/self insert' to me.

Also that text on the very bottom - is that an actual OC name? Because loool.

(I'm not against OCs in general, I've used them a lot myself in smaller roles mostly as an observer/NOT a focal point.)

[(Anonymous)]

This particular picture is a parody on some of the more egregious cliches that crop up in MLP fanfiction and fan art

[(Anonymous)]

It depends on the setting for me mostly. If the main draw of a setting is the world itself, then I don't mind OCs so much (most comic book settings, sprawling sci-fi or fantasy settings, pretty much any tabletop RPG style setting). In settings where the main draw is its characters, then no a main character OC will pretty much turn me off of a story right from the start, like the picture example, if I read MLP fanfiction, I'm mostly reading it because I want to read about the Mane 6 or the other show characters, not the author's alicorn OC with a mysterious past.

[(Anonymous)]

OC (assuming you don't mean Orange County) has never been anything other than a quick way of saying "my self-insert Mary Sue".

LOL

[(Anonymous)]

So EVERY OC since the beginning of fandom has only EVER been a "self insert Mary Sue"

Sorry but that statement is stupid. I can understand get behind "I don't read fics with OCs because I'm here for the canon characters" because you like what you like that that's cool but..."they are ALWAYS this, no exceptions" is narrow-minded and wrong.

Original Character means character that was created by the author and does not exist in canon. That's it. No more , no less.

man the fanfic writing community is such a strange place

[(Anonymous)]

Write about characters you like? Cool. Write them in all sorts of situations AUs or crossovers. Sure why not?

But heaven help you if you dare include a character made by you because creating a character yourself is horrible terrible writing and should just not be written. Cause like seriously Ew who does that?

...Like geez...I get that some people are young and create bad characters...but why should that be a reason that NO ONE can do it or it's bad? Let's just not let anyone create anything new because it might be bad. Why should it be discouraged all together because of some bad examples.

Here's a thought why don't we teach people to create characters WELL rather than saying they should just avoid it.

You like what you like....but don't be an asshole about it for crying out loud.

[silvereriena]

The fandoms I'm into these days don't seem to get very many OCs but man, back in middle/high school I remember having to slog through countless Inuyasha fanfics to find one that didn't include an OC main character who was paired up with Sesshomaru.

I'm not averse to the idea of having OCs in fanfic but it is very hard to write them seamlessly into an existing canon in a way that most readers would be willing to accept, especially if they're given a prominent/leading role in a story. So I rarely tend to read OC-centric fics.

[(Anonymous)]

I have some questions about the OC in the picture of this secret...

1) Is its unicorn/alicorn horn literally a rainbow beam, or does its horn merely glow rainbow colors when the character is using magic?

2) Why is there a halo around the character's party hat?

3) The character appears to have horns and sharp fangs--is the character a demon, a vampire, or both?

4) Why is the character in outer-space?

5) The character appears to be Earthbending. Is the character the next Avatar?

[mimi-sardinia.livejournal.com]

I remain in the belief that OCs are meant to be the background extras in fanfic. Sometimes one will slowly build more and more characterization until they become a major character, but their whole reason for being there is how they interact with canon characters.

If you cannot write a fic summary without making your OC the centre of it, I am rather less likely to read the fic, as I will suspect that the fic concentrates more on your OC than on the canon characters.

I am here to read about the canon characters. OCs are a case by case basis.

[anonlulz]

If people can't write a fanfiction without using canon characters, they are doing it WRONG.

Unless the OCs are characters that are secondary and will die in a few chapters after being introduced. And an OFC is unreadable (one-dimensional, uninteresting, so on).

Most writers are unable to separate themselves from the OCs. This is a known fact. It cannot be argued.

Hence, I do not read stories with OCs. I hit Backspace as soon as I see that crap.

I sort of agree

[(Anonymous)]

"My OC" does suggest a certain level of over identification. I can see why someone would be wary of fics with that in the summary.

A couple of recs for SGA writers who do OCs well

[(Anonymous)]

I think I maybe agree with you, there is a certain sort of preciousness that exists with those OCs. An original character should feel organic to the story and, honestly, their introduction has to be handled with more finesse than the original canon introduces new characters (as an example, I like Sam Carter on Stargate: SG-1, but if a fic writer had introduced her as an OC the way they introduced her on the show, I would have x'ed out of that story so fast).

That said, some writers do an excellent job - for Stargate Atlantis, miss_porcupine's fic with Major Lorne's team, just, all of her stories (http://miss-porcupine.livejournal.com/tag/sga, http://www.offpanel.net/dmz/sga.html) and sheafrotherdon's A Farm in Iowa Verse (http://archiveofourown.org/series/4775).

[tabaqui]

I have always had OC's in my fics, mostly because it's hard to write some stories (casefic, etc., ) with *only* the canon characters. I've even had the OC be the *main* character a couple of times (outside pov fic). And, basically - it comes down to what you do with the OC and what kind of a writer you are.
Some are awesome, some are horrible self-insert Sues. 'My OC' could be either, really, but i do get that most often it probably means a self-insert that is too pwecious for words.

[(Anonymous)]

I kind of agree in the differentiation there. If an author just says OC's in general, it usually means that the OC's won't be an integral part to the main story or at least that they won't be romantically involved with canon characters. But when it's their OC, then yeah, I'd definitely be wary because we might be creeping into self-insert territory.

I used to have a firm "NO OC's" policy when it came to reading fanfiction, but a couple of really good stories changed my mind on that. When they're done right, they can be an enjoyable part of the story. I still don't want to see them get involved with canon characters though, that's still a big NOPE for me.

[(Anonymous)]

And this is why I've never put anything I've ever written on the internet. I don't need a bunch of elitists lumping my writing in with the rest of the crap because they saw ONE element they didn't like and didn't give the rest a chance. My dialogue is snappy, my plot is amusing, my descriptions are rich, and my pacing is spot on, but horror of horrors I'm using an original character. *sigh* Guess I'm doomed to back buttons and bad reviews. Thanks.