OC's vs MLP cast · 8:57am Jun 28th, 2012
As I looked at the various stories posted here on FiMFiction, I noticed that a lot of OC stories are underrated. But why?
It is kind of logical that people want to read fics about their favorite ponies -- they have established characters, flaws, quirks, they stuck for a long time with the show. They are "safe" in the regard that writers have certain bounds that they can't breach in order for Twilight to be her bookworm self or Pinkie be the paranomal miracle that she is.
OCs on the other hand are a mystery. We have to get to know them, most likelly across a whole story or so. And we have no clue whether we will like them or not. Creating such a character is harder than it looks -- the temptation to create an overpowered god-like avatar of pure might shoots down many authors. Establishing what the character does in life, what are his/her aspirations, what are the flaws and up-sides to their way of being. Total lack of bounds, one has to blow wind in their own sail manually to keep the story going.
Personally I like reading OC stories more than those about the MLP cast -- for some reason there is always a small discrepancy between how I think Rainbow Dash would act in a particular situation and what the author wrote. There is no hazard of going out of character with an OC, even if some solutions seem like a deus ex machina.
On that note, to further understand how filling the shoes of MLP character designers feels like, I think I'll put together a short story about Luna. In between the times I write about Chip >.>
