On the matter of OC ponies.... · 5:00pm Apr 8th, 2018

Buckle up kids, I got a new rant.

Ah... original characters. They are such minefields. I've come across more than one fanfiction (not just this fandom) where the story is great or otherwise decent, but then there are the OCs... Blights, I like to call them when I'm feeling piqued. The curious thing about fanfiction is that (for the most part) the foundation is laid down for us. You got your setting, your backstories, and your characterization all squared away. But it's a mark of the skill of the writer when an OC is introduced and the readers can find them acceptable.

Trouble is, I think some readers automatically get turned off with OCs because they have a bad rep (and learned from other fans to hate OCs with a passion) or because they genuinely have read one too many stories where some intolerable Mary Sue/Gary Stu goes around showing everyone up. It can be a shame, but I can't really blame fanfiction readers. It feels like more than half the time OCs are introduced by young writers trying to mask a self-insert.

I really wondered if I should include my OC pony, Dark Mask, in HCHL. Especially so early on, as it would automatically put people off for hate of what OCs can bring. I still wonder if it was a good choice... Even as I write him, I recognize that he isn't the most original creation in the world, but what I endeavor is for him to be written well. What's the saying? "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" People get so caught up with breaking the mold, that they sometimes forget there's a reason the mold exists in the first place. Not everything needs to be completely redefined or left behind! Tweaked maybe. Updated to better suit audience tastes.

Ah but then there's Chasing the Briny Neighsayer... In my defense, that was my first new story in years, and certainly my first fanfiction in a long while. I keep telling myself I'm going to go back and give Rose Sweetsails the story she deserves, but the second I glimpse the shipwreck that is her story, I bail. Bad OC-driven stories I have certainly done, so don't think I'm looking down on others! Heavens no, I'd be struck by lightning if I did.

I started this little post about OCs because I started (finally) trying to read Clocktower Society by Manifest Harmony and so far my one big distraction is Doctor Horse. I'm just not a fan of that name. Or how he's introduced. We sort of just get dropped with him during this luncheon between him, Twilight, and Rarity, and immediately I just found him distracting. Which is really unfortunate because the story is otherwise intriguing so far. And then when I realize that he's more than likely going to be banging Twilight and Rarity later I just... stopped. If I'm going to be given an OC pony of such central importance, then you have to sell me on them first! Convince me to like them! It's so off-putting that this character I barely know, with a name I so very much dislike, is going to be doing [see spoiler] repeatedly to Twi and Rares. What's especially galling is that he says that he was hoof chosen by Princess Cadence to do so. Just wow... so on top of this OC getting all the goods without wooing us, the audience, now I have to buy that he's got some royal/pseudo-religious blessing from a higher power. I came to write this blog to vent my frustration a little before I got back into it.

Here, I think I can boil down my consternation to this: If you write OC ponies, do not say they've been bestowed with some power/authority/divine approval without selling him to me first. If you do, it feels too much like you're winking at me that I'm supposed to like him when I barely know him. You know what that turns me into? Some snotty adolescent who wants to give you the middle finger because it feels so much better to do the opposite. Don't tell me what I'm supposed to like! Period!

I really should do a writing blog about OCs.

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