WARNING; A bit of a rant incoming from someone working through some things, but I promise, there is a topic of discussion here.

...Or a question of when to let an OC go.

I've never posted much on this site, outside of my now (in)famous work of shame. I'm not quite sure why I'm posting this here, or now, but my interest in writing has returned, yet my fear of repeating the mistakes of the past have given me the most terrible case of writers block (though, it's more of a stage fright I suppose) seeing that MLP started my 'writtings' and staring at blank word documents have slowly driven me crazier then the mind needed to comprehend where the hell the plot of a Haze in Equestria II was going! ...I digress.

SO, in an effort to simply get myself writing something, ANYTHING again, I wish to put my thoughts onto (internet) paper. My thoughts on mistakes that are unfixable.

Way back in 2013, I created an OC, a, in my mind, badass Red and Black Alicorn (because those were, of course, my favorite colours.) Who used a magic sword that had a whole bunch of awesome lore I just kinda forgot to put into the story (as well as a third of the plot...thanks lazy me!) he was super Honorable and friendly and because I was a mature totally-not-pretending kid, I added a bunch of 'risque' sex scenes and gave him two different...er, partners. (Protip, if you can't decided between two charecters to date your OC, Both is in fact rarely an accetable solution.) There was a massive story I told all my friends about (who loved it, though mostly because they helped me create the OC in the first place.) and after a while, began posting the story online.

The results were...Unexpected?

I was honestly quite awestruck at how quickly word spreads of my story.

Before long the like to dislike ration was basically 10:1! TEN WHOLE DISLIKES FOR EVERY LIKE, WHATA BARGAN!

Yeah, the story tanked. A variety of reasons, I wrote like I had transcribed my cat hacking up hairballs full of scrabble letters, my grammer and spelling ability was nonexsistant. (and honestly has hardly improved, curse you public school system!) Yet...again I am digressing from the point.

There were a lot of problems with my story, the greatest, however, being, apparently, my OC.

Prince Silver Haze of Alicornia; at best, described as bland. At worst? Cancer, literally the worst thing people had ever seen. I have quotes for days of the things people have written about good old Silver.

I was flabergasted, Silver was perfect? How could anyone hate him?!?!??!?!? (God I can't believe I use to write like that.)

I was defeated, depressed and felt chased out of the fandom for a while. But damn it if I am one thing, it's too determined for my own good.

So I came back, for one last round, I promised a Haze in Equestria 2, and damn it if I wasn't going to deliver, since I knew, the problem was, HIEQ 1 was too short! I didn't give Silver as a character enough time to develop; I was older now, by a whole year and a bit! I knew now, a character had flaws! And I would listen to the comments! Try and see what the people wanted!

...Boy I really wish I had understood the concept of flaws before trying to apply them.

To make a long story short, Silver went from Bland to, and I admit, an Alcoholic, Abusive, Rape-y, Violent, Genocidal, Cocky, Lying, Classicist, Racist, (to name a few) turd. I honestly am impressed by how many flaws I managed to give my OC. And only half of them were on purpose.

See I kinda forgot the fact that I was the only one who thought Silver Haze had likeable traits, and kinda forgot to give him any new ones. Oops.

Now, with all that in the past. I'm left with a most humorous situation; An OC whom I share a deep and meaningful connection, that no one likes, ever liked, or (most likely) will like. Who is so flawed, both within his own world and tainted in the readers view that he has no ability to be redeamed.

So, with that rant out of the way, here is the TL;DR, and the question I pose to you.

Where do you draw the line with an OC of your own? At what point do you give up on making an OC that isn't working, work? Where is the event horizon of an OC? Do you belive there is such a point of no return? Am I merely a jaded writer with too much time on their hands?

And if an OC IS past the point of no return, how do you let go of them?

Thank you for indulging me.
Respectfully,
Silver Haze.

5826638 Ah the classic red and black alicorn O.C. "curse", many have fallen to this and none are beyond recovery. Unless those responsible aren't willing to take responsibility and don't work to correct their mistakes.

Okay here is my experience.(pardon me if this is a little scattered) I once had a unicorn pony O.C. Named Eclipse Bloodmoon. Her name, her appearance, and even her personality were made to be be symbolic of her talent for Shadow Magic. Even her cutie mark, and eclipsed full moon was mean to be a symbol of her chosen talent, and Luna did I screw it up.

And for her flaws, well I wound up with a depressive wreck of an O.C. who felt alienated because of the rarity of her talent. *sighs* Even with all of that I was able to rehabilitate her though. She no longer has a depressive attitude or her dark color palette. She now has a more sound personality with her quirks that I'm still working on and her new look is better than it was.

So yes you can turn things around, it will take effort and time, and you may well need help along the way but it's possible.

5826638
I'd like to echo what 5826687 said - no OC is beyond hope.
There is no OC event horizon. There is always a way back, and by even asking the question you've done more than many ever do. The tricky part is that the way back is always going to be hard, especially for a character you're invested in, and is always going to be a self-guided journey.

Nobody can tell you how to fix your OC. It's your OC. Nobody knows them like you do, and that's a double-edged sword if ever there was one.

However, if you don't mind me blathering on for a bit, there are a few things that I've found work for building (or rebuilding) a character.
I should point out that I am in no way an authority on OCs - mine have been in development for four years, and I'm still refining their first two stories. Take everything I say with a grain of salt, and feel free to tell me I'm sticking my oar in where it doesn't belong.
If you're okay with it, I've written down some advice. (Yes, I know this isn't actually what you asked for, but I've run out of things to say without bringing up this stuff.)

If I may say so, I think that the biggest problem with your two early drafts of Silver Haze is that they focused entirely on what he was, instead of who he was. The first draft had the depth of a shot glass - he was all style and no substance. The second attempt was, again, all about the what (flawed, and a bunch of other labels teenage!you was aiming for) rather than the who. If I was given either of those character outlines, I couldn't write a story about them.

So, how do we bring back Silver Haze?

Step one is to work out a broad-strokes view of who and what your character is. I call this the character's High Concept - this is the Silver Haze you are trying to make. This should be as short and clear as possible - three to six words should be plenty. Try and avoid including physical details in the High Concept, as well. That will tell you what you are aiming for, and should help guide the rest of this process. Only you can say what Silver Haze's High Concept is.

Step two is a piece of advice I've seen in a few different places, and has always struck me as useful. Try and list everything you can about your character, without using synonyms or repeating yourself, and without describing them physically at all. What does Silver Haze like, what does he dislike, what are his goals and aspirations?

Step three is to ask questions about your OC, the more the better. Any questions will do. What is Silver Haze's ideal holiday? What does his ideal world look like, and would he really be happy living there? What would he wear for Nightmare Night? Does he drink alcohol - if so, what drink? Where did he go to school? What does he consider the most embarrassing mistake he's ever made? Every answer should help you get a better idea about who Silver Haze is, rather than merely what he is.

Finally, consider the tertiary things. Colour scheme, role, plot elements. A red-and-black alicorn prince with a magic sword is a perfectly good character, if approached the right way. A few examples of tertiary character elements:
- Is his title of Prince staying? In other countries, alicorns are not necessarily automatic royalty. If he is still a prince, what kind of responsibilities does that job entail, and how well-prepared is he to deal with them? What is his nation like? How does it relate to the rest of the world? Does he have any siblings? Does he rule (as Equestrian alicorns do), or is he in a line of succession behind a king or queen? (Note: read this page if going this route - even if none of it is new to you, refreshers are always good. I'd also recommend this one, for his country of origin.)
- The old Silver Haze had a magic sword. Is it staying and, if so, what can it do? More importantly, what can't it do? Who else wants it, and what do they want it for? Why does he have it, and how did it come into his possession? What kind of sword is it? Who made it, and why? Does Silver Haze practice regularly so he knows how to use it properly? If not, why? Is part of his job to fight enemies of his realm? If not, why does he keep a magic sword around?

If you've stuck with me this far, pontificating windbag that I am, you should now have an idea of who Silver Haze is. You should know not only what he does, but why he does it. From there, any following problems you discover are likely not going to be the result of character issues; more likely they'll stem from a good character in the wrong story.

As for how to let an OC go, I really can't help. I've never let an OC go in my life.

Well, now I've used nearly nine hundred words to tell you things that you didn't ask to be told while I have exactly zero published words to my name, all I can say is that no OC ever deserves to be written off - there's potential in all of them. If I've helped in any way, I'm happy to be of service - if I haven't, then I apologise for wasting your time.
Good luck to Silver Haze - I hope to see him again.

5850667

Nobody can tell you how to fix your OC. It's your OC. Nobody knows them like you do, and that's a double-edged sword if ever there was one.

That is an understatement Deep Cover. And refining your O.C.s and stories is just part of the process.