Fanfiction- To OC... or not to OC? - That is the question.

[Dr.Research]

Original characters in fanfiction are shit at least 90% of the time. However, every so often, a writer can actually introduce a new character intelligently and coherently.

What are your opinions on OCs? Like 'em, hate 'em, use 'em, self-insert 'em- talk about it.

My two cents: When I began to write fanfictions I would almost always include self-insert OCs into my multi-chapter fics. Once I realized all my characters were more-or-less me, I stopped with them. Now I avoid stories with OCs since they tend to drag me out of base lore.
Right now the Pendergast series is my main focus and since the community is relatively small, it seems the OCs are exclusively self-inserts or wishful thinking. Same goes for most of the art () but that's for another thread.

 

[Warden Cross]

While OC's are pretty frequently poorly written, I've never seen the harm in them. If I happen to think one is shit, well, I don't have to read it. It's almost more irritating to listen to people who think that making shit OCs is some massive, unforgivable sin. It's not exactly impressive when someone takes to cursing out some DA 12 year old because they made a recolour or silly fanfiction.
A lot of bad OCs I see are from teenagers/kids, too, so I kinda take the opinion that "everyone has to start somewhere." Gotta walk before you can run, etc., even if that walking is stumbling and tripping over yourself.
Hell, all in all, I guess I'd just say that yeah, a lot of OCs are shit and fun to laugh at, but someone who makes 'em isn't doing any damage by it. If they get a passion for writing, even, then maybe they'll keep trying and eventually get decent.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I don't have a lot of problems with OCs as a concept (and I make my own OCs all the time, so I'm rather biased about this), but I do believe some fandoms are more welcoming to OCs than others. For example, sandbox worlds like Pokémon, Digimon, and Star Wars (come on, the Expanded Universe is practically fan fiction) have had fan fic writers do some pretty interesting things with OCs in addition to established canon characters. Of course, you're taking a gamble since it does rely heavily on the talent of the writer and if they are able to put together their own character(s) from scratch, so there's no guarantee things will go well.

In practice, they're generally not complete horse shit if only because of the writer's inexperience, but it really and truly all boils down to the execution. The term "Mary Sue/Gary Stu" gets thrown around a lot too easily, but they're only meant to describe characters (OC or otherwise) who warp the universe in a way that everything falls neatly in their lap, basically. It sounds like they're really easy to make or easy to mistakenly make one, but some have been intentional, or that's just how the author really and truly sees those characters, they just don't know how to make them believable or likeable to the reader. (Or the writer really is just that bad of a writer and no training and practice can help them.) You can have a character with a tragic backstory and/or have that big reveal they're a long-lost/last member of a royal bloodline and not have them be a Mary Sue as long as they feel like an actual character someone can look up to, and (hopefully) even root for. The other characters also have to be actual characters who act accordingly around them and vice versa, unless you're writing some twisted dystopian fan fic around the idea--which sounds really cool in the right hands, actually.

Fan fiction is a good way to practice character-building and mess around with ideas until actual creativity and a longing to make original content comes into being. But even original, professional content creators have made shitty characters, so it's more-or-less one of the tools of the trade that's inevitable with writing, it's just much more infamous with fan fiction due to its reputation.

 

[Syaoran Li]

I sort of like fanfiction unironically (though I recognize 90% of it isn't very good, Sturgeon's Law and all that) and honestly, so long as they aren't a blatant Mary Sue, I'm fine with OC's depending on the fandom in question.

When I was thirteen, I made some OC's for Resident Evil (a UBCS mercenary medic who was essentially "Nurse Joy with firearms" and a street cop for the RPD) as well as some OC's for The Sopranos and The Godfather (I was obsessed with Mafia movies and shows at the time and played the PS2 Godfather video game endlessly back then) and while some of them were either forgettable or even cringe-inducing at times, I had fun and that's pretty much the whole point of fanfiction. To have fun.

 

[Infidel]

I usually accept OCs if they're side/background characters and relevant to the plot. For an OC to be the main focus of a fic and for me to appreciate it it has to be a really good, solid OC that was created with all the rules of the universe in mind.

I suppose that I've seen so many insufferable Mary Sues that I'm kind of tolerant towards anything that doesn't reach that leven of cringe.

 

[swingbatta]

I actually have a soft spot for terrible Mary Sues/Self-Inserts. It's a bit like watching an Ed Wood movie: the content and character is terrible, but they're SO earnest in what they're writing and how much fun they're having, I can't help but enjoy myself. Plus the story's usually laughably terrible, too.

That said, as far as OCs go, if you're familiar with the world and characters you're working with, it's fairly easy to find a way to fit an OC in without too much cringe, even if they're the main character. And sometimes it can be necessary for the story you want to tell to add characters, even if the focus is on a canon one.

And honestly, I'd much rather have another Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way than have fic writers twist around canon characters until they're completely unrecognizable.

 

[Dr.Research]

I actually have a soft spot for terrible Mary Sues/Self-Inserts. It's a bit like watching an Ed Wood movie: the content and character is terrible, but they're SO earnest in what they're writing and how much fun they're having, I can't help but enjoy myself. Plus the story's usually laughably terrible, too.

You would have loved my Harry Potter stories circa 2006

 

[Syaoran Li]

I actually have a soft spot for terrible Mary Sues/Self-Inserts. It's a bit like watching an Ed Wood movie: the content and character is terrible, but they're SO earnest in what they're writing and how much fun they're having, I can't help but enjoy myself. Plus the story's usually laughably terrible, too.

That said, as far as OCs go, if you're familiar with the world and characters you're working with, it's fairly easy to find a way to fit an OC in without too much cringe, even if they're the main character. And sometimes it can be necessary for the story you want to tell to add characters, even if the focus is on a canon one.

And honestly, I'd much rather have another Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way than have fic writers twist around canon characters until they're completely unrecognizable.

If only I had saved my Sopranos and Godfather fanfics from 2006-2007 or at least posted them to the internet back then, because they would be right up your alley. Some of them were written on WordPad while others were hand-written in long-gone notebooks and all have been lost to the sands of time. Given the age I was at the time and the overall quality of these fics, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Lots of cringe, song fics based on old 50's and 60's hits, black fedoras and pinstripe suits, bizarre anime-inspired OC's such as bishonen Mafiosi, anime crossovers, and improperly used Italian and Italian-American slang. It was gloriously horrible.

 

[IceGray]

I've seen plenty of people who used to make edgy "Mary/Gary Stus" for the fun of it grow out into their own original works. But Tumblr culture may not encourage conventional OCs unless they're neogenders or disabled in some way.

No more idealizing the perfect form for this generation? I hope not. Good role models should have something going for them, even if they are OCs.

I had plenty of ideas that eventually developed into better ones, once I stopped posting every fanfic idea that crossed my mind. Even if I did write out of my ass, it at least looked coherent enough.

I found it easier to use OCs in games' fandoms where you were supposed to make your own character. I personally find it difficult to enjoy OC fanfics in fandoms where custom avatars aren't encouraged.

 

[NeverHappened]

A realistic Harry Potter is usually lamer than a horrible OC.
People who write Naruto also miss the subtle brilliance of the character in fixing the major problems or "problems".

Mary Sue OCs are not the biggest problems of these fandoms. Protagonist-centered worlds are rife with Mary Sues named Harry or Ichigo.

 

[omori]

I've been reading fan fiction off and on for years and I'm pretty tolerant toward oc's so long as they are written within the rules of fandom they're playing a part in and not a lazy amalgamation of existing characters.

Protagonist-centered worlds are rife with Mary Sues named Harry or Ichigo.

Oh.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

I would ask "Why even write/read fanfiction?" But if we're being serious, most people would have done it at least once in their lifetime (remember, 50 Shades of Gray started as a Twilight fanfic).

OCs are a tool, like everything else in writing/characterizations. Most Mary Sues and their ilk are a result of people using these tools improperly. OCs can work, but as @Kurosaki Ichigo mentioned, they have to play by the rules. The issue is that they almost always don't even remotely try to play by the rules.

 

[omori]

Besides creating an oc can eventually lead to growing beyond fanfiction and establishing your oc as a character in your own original work. I've always considered fanfiction a practice in creating original stories, it just takes more effort and willingness to leave someone else's sandbox.

 

[Daughter of Cernunnos]

im gunna so no to it because if we took all the oc writers and put them in an oven, the genetic health of the population would probably go up.

 

[friedshrimp]

Eh, I see the reason why people have urges against OCs and Sues is that eventually (not always, of course), they sorta take over the story and a big focus ends up on them, often leaving the canon main characters in supporting role. If you're reading fanfic, you do it to read about your favorite characters, not some random girl you've never heard about.

But it can work, I suppose. Sues and whatnot are the first step in creative process, and if the writer is talented it leads to them creating their own worlds, or doing good reinterpretations of canon stuff (good AUs or Elseworlds stories). Some fanfic readers I feel are too close-minded in hindsight, not only with OCs but they also sneer at most AUs with that "gotta-stick-to-the-canon-100%" line of thought.

 

[AnOminous]

Original characters in fanfiction are shit at least 90% of the time. However, every so often, a writer can actually introduce a new character intelligently and coherently.

What are your opinions on OCs? Like 'em, hate 'em, use 'em, self-insert 'em- talk about it.

If you're doing fanfics you're already engaged in such a phenomenally autistic activity that you might as well enjoy it and just do whatever you like.

I think a good general rule if you care about producing something other people will want to read in any context other than dramatic readings of it to make fun of it, though, an OC should be a character that actually fits. If the character would completely wreck the actual show/movie/comic/whatever, it's a bad character.

Obviously the absolute worst is when someone introduces exactly that kind of OC then ships it with the main character in some horrible fapfic, but people are always going to do that.

 

[A Random]

The actual non-fanfiction crossover Super Robot Wars series does use OCs liberally as heroes and villains, and that works.

But mostly because you still use Shin Getter and Mazinkaiser to nuke fools from orbit.

I feel that may be relevant.

 

[Enclave Supremacy]

Honestly I'd sooner read something about an OC than have someone else try and write characters they didn't create as the protagonists. Guess it depends on the genre and stuff. I obviously prefer stuff like Fallout and similar universes where you can just invent a character and put them in the world.

It's only really obnoxious when someone crudely tries to insert their OC's into the main-story of the original work in a way that massively changes canon.

 

[AnOminous]

Honestly I'd sooner read something about an OC than have someone else try and write characters they didn't create as the protagonists. Guess it depends on the genre and stuff. I obviously prefer stuff like Fallout and similar universes where you can just invent a character and put them in the world.

It's only really obnoxious when someone crudely tries to insert their OC's into the main-story of the original work in a way that massively changes canon.

A bad OC is one that doesn't fit into the world at all. If the OC's mere existence would break continuity or wreck the storyline, it's bad. It's rare that a fanfic doesn't have any characters from the original, though. The writer should actually have some grasp of how that character acts and thinks, though.

Similarly, if it's a fanfic of some show, the OC should be someone who, if they actually showed up in an episode of the show, would seem to belong there.

 

[Fareal]

I think of writing much like drawing, or singing, or dancing.

Who cares if you suck at it as long as you enjoy doing it and you're not hurting anyone else?

Write all the shitty OCs and Sues and whatever you want, if it makes you happy. Use your brain to have fun.