A Question · 10:15am Apr 1st, 2012
Greetings!
My best friend has decided that leaving for four weeks to go to Europe or something was a good idea. Of course, this means leaving me without anyone to talk to. Now, while this is mainly because pony and uni has forced me into a state of self-inflicted social solitude, it does mean that I am incredibly bored, and often desperate for any kind of human interaction.
Now! With this context in mind, I move to the real reason for this blog post. Today I was reading the 6-star review blog called One Man's Pony Ramblings (which I strongly recommend checking out if you are interested in seeing what the fandom has decided to be the best of the best be picked apart by someone who actually knows what they are talking about! Check out the blog here), and I saw a discussion had popped up on one of the reviews about OC's. Now, as not only is APLH constructed entirely out of OC's, the majority of my other stories have been as well, I was naturally very interested in this. The general theme was that people seemed to hold that OC stories get hated upon - a prejudice that while everyone appeared to acknowledge existing, no one really agreed it was deserved.
I found that really interesting. Because to me, I have never really seen that distaste manifest itself in people giving bad ratings, etc on OC stories just because they are OC stories. I have seen people criticise poorly constructed OC's such as Mary Sues and the like, but I never really got the impression that people were biased enough to not like an OC story just because of its characters, and not judge it on the merits of the writing.
However, in saying that, what I have noticed is that while people may not be particularly hostile to OC stories, there is definitely a general air of disinterest around them. An OC story is much much less likely to get as many views as a story focused on canon personalities.
This made me think. I wonder what would have happened had I filled APLH with canon characters. I remember flirting with the idea of having the mare and her daughter be Derpy and Dinky, only revealing them right at the end of the last chapter. I think it is safe to say that, for a multitude of different reasons, that idea died pretty quickly, haha.
Still, I think it's about time I got to the point. I want your opinion! What do you guys think about OC's? Do you prefer canon characters, or are you not fussed either way? I have no idea if anyone is going to comment on this, but I figured it's worth a shot as I am genuinely curious to see what other people think.
Ok, now that I have gotten that shameless attempt at opening some kind of discourse out of the way, let me say thank you. I love each and everyone of you for showing an interest in my work. It really means the world to me!
i like OC's just as much, if not more so, than canon characters. they give you more freedom to write, and people aren't always harping on about "this character wasn't like this in the show" or other crap like that.
53132 Very true. They are a real challenge to get write, OC's. It's very easy - especially within such an amateur writing scene like fanfiction - to have them be bland and very two dimensional. But if you can get them right... then oh boy are they magnificent! Blackjack from Project Horizons springs immediately to mind, for example.
Well, as a longtime follower. you bring up some valid points. I remember way back when I was fairly new to the site in November of last year, I wrote a blog called What Breaks an OC. If your familiar with my reviews you know I tend to rate things by their own merits and yes even mature stories can be well written.
The 3 questions you have to ask yourself for an effective OC are:
Does this character suck, I know that term is vague and uncouth , but ask your self would you want to be said character or can you relate to this character? It's like comparing Matchbox cars to Hot Wheels AKA what you can have(reality) vs. you want want(fantasy). An everyman can be effective as long as said everyman isn't so bitchy or downtrodden that he/she is unlikeable. The opposite side of the spectrum is a character that is an inflated fantasy. This can bring up issues as well in terms of the magical world of Sues.
Can the OC solve every problem by themselves? This often leads into Sue territory.
How does the world react to them? Are you going for a light or a dark tone with their world?
My thought on OC's in general. I think they are absolutely necessary, but only well written ones should be allowed in the club. I have my favorite OC's. Sometimes there oc's you like more than canon characters.
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Peace Out
53350 Yeah, all very true. It's interesting, but do you feel that there is a general dislike for OC's, or is that dislike something that everybody says that other people do? I don't tend to see too many vocal critics of OC's in general, but yet I know (or at least perceive that I know) that people don't like them. I wonder where that connection came from.
53373
I'm not sure there is dislike for OC's. There are a lot of popular stories that use OC's in effective ways. I don't even think fan fiction itself can exist without them. The issue rises from there being so many terribly written OC's that people cast this hatred for them and let's face it there is a disturbing vocal 10% portion of the community that writes disgusting perverse garbage. As for what people in general think, I'm not sure nor do I pretend to know what their opinions are on the subject.