I figure this will probably interest some people who are really interested in making original characters. Because let's face it, most OCs are bad, or at least they sound bad whenever you pitch it. Why is that? And how can you get better at incorporating characters into your story?

I recently posted the fourth instalment of my creative writing lessons, which are inspired by lessons and lectures from university-level literature and writing courses. If you are serious about writing and character creation, you will absolutely want to take a look at these lessons. It comes not only with explanations of certain writing principles, but also provides homework assignments designed to help you practice the skill you need to be a good writer.

I literally gain nothing from this so what do you have to lose? Take some time to learn!
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/973881/lesson-4-characters

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And here we come to one of the big questions we often ask ourselves as writers. “How do I make people interested in my character?” And that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? Before our readers can become deeply invested in the lore of our worlds, or get on the plot train and ride it out to the ends of Mordor, they have to care about the people involved.

To be honest, no. I’d say you’re asking the wrong question here. People should be interested in the story as a whole, rather than in the characters themselves. Characters are nothing but tools that you may use to tell a story, and yes, if they are bad (annoying, unrealistic, et cetera), they’ll turn readers away. However, what you’re assuming here is that characters are the first thing that draws readers in, which is oftentimes not the case. Sure, there are stories that are purely character-driven, but many rely more on exploration of lore and worldbuilding (sometimes to the point of lacking characters altogether), and some also use a group of characters rather that individuals (which may be a bit one-dimensional).

Personaly, I wouldn’t start with this question, since there’s a lot of room for misinterpretation. The most common character issue that I encounter while running around the site is people designing OCs outside of stories, working on huge personality summaries, backstories, and so on. Even though many of these things don’t matter in the story they are planning to write, once they write it, the authors then feel the need to include this. Convincing new writers that people need to be first and foremost interested in their characters may easily lead to this kind of error.

And I think it’s time we recognize the weaknesses of fan fiction: a lot of fanfictions are written around established characters. (…) And because of this, I think if you were to randomly pick a hundred writers out of all the exclusively fan-fic authors out there, character writing would likely be the most common weakness.

Given how often I dig around stories of novice writers, I can say that from what I’ve seen, there are usually more pressing issues (pacing and punctuation come to mind as the problems I point out most often). In fact, many newbies write primarily about OCs, so they still have to flesh them out properly. And while many overdo it as mentioned above, I’d say that OCs are oftentimes done better than canon characters in their stories. This is also why I’d hesitate to call this a weakness in the first place. Taking established settings and characters is, frankly, pretty hard. Just look at how many people fail to write a convincing Pinkie Pie or Discord. It’s true that you’re practising a slightly different set of skills than when coming up with an original story, but it stills presents its own unique challenges.

But somehow, many people (I don’t know if it’s most but certainly many) think they can take their ideas and put them onto paper and have it be great. People don’t think the same way about music or painting.

I beg to differ here. While some cases can be also found on this site, take a peek at DeviantArt and the many inexperienced artists thinking that the five-legged stickpony they just posted can be used to convince people to commission them. I cannot speak for music, but when it comes to drawing or painting, it’s the same or possibly even worse than with writing in my eyes.

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You may need the context of lesson 3 where I give a broader overview of characters, plot, and setting. While some stories can be focused on worldbuilding, but as I previously explained, worldbuilding is the least important out of the 3. And characters just barely edge out plot as being the most important.

I'm not talking about creating characters alone, outside the context of any story. I'm specifically addressing that kind of weak character creation. I'm talking about how to make full use of a character within a story, and that means making them engaging to the audience.

Pacing issues will be covered in lesson 5 when I discuss writing plots.

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You may need the context of lesson 3 where I give a broader overview of characters, plot, and setting.

I'm not talking about creating characters alone, outside the context of any story.

Golden rule of giving advice: Always assume that people didn't read the previous parts or the post as a whole. If you really need them to read the previous posts and/or if you're simplifying something in the introduction and will go into more detail later, say so. And ideally attempt to address any (or almost any, since you cannot account for everything) possible misinterpretation before it can happen in the first place.

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Well, these are lessons, they're numbered for a reason. And I think I address "misinterpretation" pretty well by explaining the process for evaluating characters and their engagement with the audience. I don't think there's much confusion if someone reads through the whole thing, but if there is, that's why people can ask questions. It would be a strange classroom of the students couldn't ask for clarification.