The Creation of an OC

[RJ]

Uh, hi guys... I know I haven't been around here lately, but that's because I've been busy... dodging assignments and such, haha.

Anyway, here's one of the side-projects I've been working on. Perhaps you'll get a kick out of it. I'm hoping you'll find something interesting about it at least. It's all about how to create a good fan character. After spending years in the fanfiction community, I thought it'd be about time I gave something back.

http://rainejoybringer.livejournal.com/3971.html

That's part 1. Part 2 is linked at the bottom of that page.

[Supercheese]

Ah, yes, how to avoid the Mary Sue. Very well written!

I always thought it was spelled "litmus", not "litmas", but that's neither here nor there...

[Paladin Sheppard]

AS I said when you showed me this last night looks very well writen and thought out. If I was planing a fan fic on an anime I'd be using this.

[Tapewolf]

Very interesting, especially applied to Jakob.
Jakob shares a lot of traits with me, but that's in part because he wasn't really intended to be a discrete character, he just kind of grew from there.  The hardest part has been to balance the things which he can do and I can't with things which I can and he can't.  On the other hand, DMFA will tend to create a skewed set of relative abilities since a character (especially a 'cubi) has to have a lot of skills which I don't have (or want) simply in order to survive in a world full of Beings who hate or fear them.

A number of points you bring up were ones I had seen coming by myself and worked to avoid - in particular my golden rule of keeping him as far away from canon characters as possible appears to have been a wise decision.

As an aside, I feel I must point out that the Mary-Sue test takes you pretty much over the limit by default if your character is a 'cubi 
Perhaps I should try to make a set of rules (don't click on these if you're a cubi) or some kind of weighting or "'cubi factor" to subtract from the results..

[RJ]

Ah, yes, how to avoid the Mary Sue. Very well written!

I always thought it was spelled "litmus", not "litmas", but that's neither here nor there...

>.> ...


Ah, and you guys shouldn't worry if your character has a few 'Sue-ish' qualities about them. It's fine, just as long as you work other non Sue-ish qualities in with them.

[topher chee]

nice stuff there^^

[King Of Hearts]

Dang... that litmus test is stringent.

[RJ]

Yeah.... they're pretty strict. I tend to ignore them and use them for the questions instead of the score. It's the first sections of the quiz that have to do with name and how they enter the story that's best to look at.

[Leafar]

lol i thought you would be talking about ''The O.C.'' 

[RJ]

Lol... a lot of people mistake that.... I hate the show personally >.<

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Great article, but curse you for linking to Goddawful Fan Fiction. I was at work and you get a bad reputation if you sit in your office alone laughing. At home I was laughing so hard that I scared the kittens out of the room. 

[RJ]

Hehe, I love the GAFF Though it disturbs me too... it's the central hole in the ground for anyone wanting to know the worst written stuff on the net. D:

BTW, they completely destroyed the troll fic I posted up on FF.net after I made a topic about it (to 'help' it along) XD

[Nikki]

*twitch*

uh-oh....
Um...*pokes her character* i think i may have overstepped the boundaries here....

[Mel Dragonkitty]

I'm not sure which I find scarier; the bad writing, bad grammar, and the bad spelling, or the fact that the writers are so illiterate that they don't even get it when you point it out.

[GabrielsThoughts]

I'm not sure which I find scarier; the bad writing, bad grammar, and the bad spelling, or the fact that the writers are so illiterate that they don't even get it when you point it out.

Ahem:

originaly by Gabrielsthoughts in old forum:
I believe fan fiction is one of the great things about the net. however like any scary movie there are some rules that were set fourth by some Internet jockey set fourth for the several levels of Fan fiction.

Cat poop

Dung

Mega Dung

Whale Dung

and below the Dung is my other evil self.

These rules were designed in such a manner that even a buffoon such as my self could write passable fan fiction despite poor grammar and spelling.


1.) Alterverse stories are my personal favorite, however the characters should remain in character; i e. the  FMA Manga and TV series maybe alarmingly different. However, the characters personality is similar enough that one can be applied to the other as a sort of second side to the events that occurred, without damaging the continuity of the story.

2.)If you make a  decision to use a cannon character make sure you refer to them in the most vague and ambiguous manner possible. make them generally acceptable, if you don't know how they behave then apply a general personality of some one other than yourself... it makes the story more believable that way. If that doesn't work apply the personality of a family pet, dogs preferred, my cat  really doesn't have much of a personality.

3.)Grammar must suck, don't proof read anything, for any reason . Poor spelling and grammar are acceptable. Why? Because your time is valuable and should be wasted on other things such as school. The purpose of fan fiction is to  convey ideals not the English language.

4.)If you  type with one hand, I don't want to know what you're doing with the other. So let's assume the readers don't either. Keeping with this philosophy will help you write better um...lemons?.

5.)Lemons refer to bad cars, they also refer to stories that need a nice spanking, don't write them your IQ drops 20pts reading them and ... I don't think it helps your performance with fortune cookies.

I was going to write ten but writing is time consuming. 

Good job RJ. It was a good series of articles, and I especially liked the part about the haircoloring.

[RJ]

Doing the Hair-colour part was my favourite