I am fairly new to the OC creation side of... well any fandom, really. I've never had to make a true OC before, because I do not count RPing, due to how often I simply use the cop out "self-insert" response. I'm fairly good, at least in my eyes, at staying mostly away from Mary Sues when I do RP, but I have very little experience using OCs in writing. I have a few ideas for what I might want to do with my first pony OC, but get nowhere because I don't really know what I'm doing... Can anyone help me?

2625623 A good method is choosing a special talent you are actually into. Maybe use your favourite colour. One of my first OCs was a green mare with brown hair (like myself) and a talent for climbing

2625637
I have tried that, believe me. I tend to end up as what some might call "a jack of many trades." Not trying to brag or exaggerate, but a lot of things I end up doing, I do fairly well with a little practice. That said, I am not really good at anything...

2625650 Hmmm... in a sec, i'll provide a more detailed example

2625655
I'll wait.

2625657 So, I have Cliff Jumper, the climber. She's my favourite OC and as such I've used her countless times, adjusting her to suit the situation, yet never moving too far away from her original character. I can't actually go into much detail, because of that...

2625752
Ok... I know for color, at least, I will be using blues and and muted colors... and as for race, it shifts between Unicorn and Pegasus, mare and stallion, other than that, I have really one actual idea that could be helpful... which is having the OC be a cross-breed pony and zebra... that's really all I have that is slightly solid, and I don't know where to go from here...

2625783 I suggest Pegasus, because then you don't have to worry about accidentally OPing on magic

2625875
Heh. yeah. I don't really see him/her as a big magic user in either case, kinda more a panic switch. I definitely know they will be either borderline clinically paranoid or depressed... possibly both... so, more trusting on material, reliable means to an end.

2625623 The first thing you need to figure is out what role your OC is playing in whatever you're doing. Is it a self-insert, a normal character? Main or supporting? Major or minor?

2625949
Well most characters I do create are self-insert in some capacity. I find it easier to work with if I have a personal connection to a character. I don't exactly understand what you mean by the second two questions. Main or supporting status can change depending on the story, if I am interpreting that right, but I don't understand the last one...

2625982 If you're planning on using these OCs in a story, then you need to know how important they are. The more important they are, the more we need to fill in. If it's for an RP, we can keep going, but if it's for a story, you need to know how important they will be.

2626003
I, knowing myself, will end up filling in as much detail as I can, so as to allow multiple different capacities... but to start, a major main is probably going to be the most useful. Once I get the basics down, and know what I'm doing, I should be able to handle the rest with more minimal assistance.

2626030 Alright. So, your character is a large part of your story. This means we need to fill in as much as we can. Appearance, personality, backstory, skills, things like that. Keep in mind there is a difference between a self-insert and a character based on yourself. Self-inserts are you, but in the MLP universe. Same name, same personality, same appearance (if kept human), etc. Characters you base off of yourself are similar to you, but they are not you. I'm assuming this character will be based off of you, and not a self-insert, correct?

2626069
Under that definition, yes. What you call a self-insert, I call... actually, I don't exactly have a title for that... either way, I use the term "self-insert" to mean that I have inserted some of myself into the character. I would probably end up calling the character being me an "inserted role" or something like that...

2626092 Alright. So, now what we need to do, because this character is not you, is come up with:

-name
-appearance
-occupation
-skills/special talent
-personality
-backstory

Those are the six most important things you need for an OC. I'll let you fill that in. Remember, in most cases, a pony's name has something to do with their personality in some aspect. For example, Rarity is named as such because there's no one similar to her; she's rare.

2626125
I think the hardest parts for me are going to be name, skill, and to a lesser extent occupation. I am very bad at creating names, but I think this time I'll worry about the name later. Appearance.. I can handle that; I think my problem would actually be saying too much about too little... Personality will be essentially a characturized* version of mine, I think. The backstory is formulating as we 'speak,' backstories are where I come up with stuff the easiest.

*I have no clue how to spell it, but I mean like those booths at amusement parks that blow up your head to cartoonish proportions and give you a tiny body doing something. They're usually very colorful.

EDIT: I don't think I could have been more vague...

2626189 Those are called caricatures.

2626196
so that's how you spell it...

2626196
2625875
I definitely forgot to mention it, but thank you both for your help

2626317 you're welcome

2626465