Every time I hear this I want to strangle someone · 4:47am Sep 18th, 2013

For a good portion of my time as a pony fanfic writer (woah, doesn't that sound prestigious?) I was a reviewer as well. I still review some things, and still take questions from aspiring writers. One of the questions I hear, especially from newer writers, is thus:

"Is it okay if I..."

No. Stop. STAAAAAAAAHHHPPPP.

"But what if—"

I'm seriously going to wring your neck if you don't shut up!

Any questions that start with, "Is it okay...", "Am I allowed to..." or "Can I..." are the bad. If you find yourself asking it, stop, take a step back, and ask this question instead:

"What are the positive and negative consequences for making this decision, and is there a better way to achieve my goal?"

There are no absolute rules in writing, which is why an "Is it okay..." question is pointless. Of course it's okay! It will always be okay! Want an alicorn OC? Fine. Go for it. No, really! But let's ask that question, ya?

Positives:
- your character can fly and use magic. Useful for certain storytelling reasons. Especially useful for a villain, since it makes the situation more dire right away.
- allows you to modify the base 'rules' of the world your fic is in. Alicorns have power over very significant things, and if you have one as an OC, you have more flexibility than with just using Celestia or Luna or Cadance. You could have an alicorn of time, or alicorn of harmony.

Negatives:
- people, in general, don't like alicorn OCs. They have a stigma. Even Cadance was hated (and still is) by a lot of people!
- takes one major leap toward Mary-Sue territory
- you need to explain off the powers somehow when you need to create conflict in order to avoid plotholes. Alicorns are so powerful, they tend to eliminate conflict with a simple spell or even their mere presence.

Note: this is not an exhaustive list. Only meant for an example.

"Another alicorn? Does that make a dozen, now?"

Looking at those, if you still think you want an alicorn OC, go to the next step: "Is there a better way to achieve my goal?"

Here's where I think about everyone would decide to not use one if they're still considering it. Alicorns are extremely rare in the ponyverse and if you're adding one you better have a damn good reason. Why not use a powerful unicorn instead? Why, specifically, does it have to be an alicorn? Twilight flubbing a spell, while a overused trope, is still better than using an alicorn OC if you want an alicorn for item 2 on the positives list.

Anyways, that's just concerning alicorn OCs (since I hear questions about that a lot). This is only from my experience, but I get the impression people think that by using an alicorn OC, they're going to make their story memorable or unique. They think *they* will be the ones to overcome the stigma. It doesn't quite work that way. You don't attack a problem with your solution already planned out and force it to work, you make smaller, sensible decisions to construct a solution that best fits the problem. In rare occasions, yes, that does involve an alicorn. But only rarely.

Other questions I've heard in the same vein:
"Can I focus the story around an OC?"
"Is it okay to do another FO:E spinoff?"
"Is it okay if the mane 6 never show up?"
"Can I make my story grimdark?"
"Is it alright if my character is hard to understand?"

All of these are poor questions that will only lead to you limiting yourself. Think of the positives and the negatives. Think of the alternatives. Then you can decide if your plot effectively builds its way to the resolution and climax.

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