INTRODUCTION
OVERVIEW
Everything here will be dealing with writing inside the canon universe of whatever fandom you're writing for. AU's and Self-Insert and other things will be addressed at the end, so if that applies for your story, skim through this for what you need and go to the end. Oh, and absolutely no Mary Sue bashing.
PERSONAL BIAS
These are my views, so treat my advice lightly. Most of the references and examples are from anime because I am anime garbage (I'll keep my examples as main stream as I can for everyone's convenience). Also, I have a tendency of rambling and repeating myself (and putting these things in the middle of sentences) so please bear with me. Also for many reasons I believe the idea of the Mary Sue is bullshit and hypocritical on, like, nine different levels.
VOCAB FOR YOUR BASIC ASS
AU- Alternate Universe. When the canon story is set in another universe. The characterization may be different from canon because of the environment. Can be associated with Crossovers and Canon Divergence fan fiction.
Canon Divergence – commonly associated with being an AU, aspects of the original story are changed (could simply be something happened/didn't happen, someone was never born, someone killed someone, someone decided 'fuck this, I'm going home', etc).
Crossover- commonly associated with AU and Canon Divergent fan fiction, this is when two different stories meet, in one universe or the other, or even in a new made up universe. Characters are usually kept as canon as possible but there are no real boundaries on that.
Fuckboy- these are the men who constantly complain and put down their mom and yet depend on her completely, who send unwanted dick pictures to women no matter how young they are, who call being rejected 'friendzoned'. They literally go around begging women for sex and then call them a slut when they have sex with them. They are responsible for much of the fuckery* in the real world, (where fanfiction fuckery makes fanfiction shitty, fuckboy fuckery makes society shitty).
- Example: President Bush is a fuckboy
- Example: those who take pictures up girls skirts are most definitely fuckboys.
Fuckery- what happens when you set no rules to your story/bullshit designed to be aggravating
Mary Sue- an OC people don't like [See: My Immortal]
Nerd- [See: Mirror]
Non-binary- [See intersex]
OC- you fucking know
Satellite character – characters that only exist for the purpose of orbiting another (often main) character. They come off as annoying because they have neither a life nor story line of their own.
Self-Insert – Refer to the "Nerd" entry above
READING MATERIAL THAT MAY HELP
Homestuck and Game of Thrones – notice how often the characters die. Get used to it. Embrace it. Notice how the deaths and little changes in the storyline (especially in Homestuck) affect everything else in the story. Get used to it. Embrace it.
My Immortal – your story will never be as terrible as this one. Read it to relax, perhaps find some inspiration in its chaos.
YOUR CHARACTER
SOME IRRISPUTABLE FACTS YOU FUCKING NERDS
First thing's first! Make the OC, have that character fit into some sort of niche in the story. It doesn't matter how big or small the niche is, your character should fit in or else there would be no story. They should have a family, have a job or otherwise be somehow be involved in the world around them. (Your OC can also never meet any canon characters and you could be just using the canon universe to tell a story- I really don't care. As long as they interact with their surroundings, it's fine.)
Don't have your character exist solely for another character (which is why I mentioned the whole 'fitting into a niche' thing. Your character must impact the story in some way). Ever. Especially as a love interest. Nobody likes satellite characters. All the greatest OTP and ships have two (or more, I don't judge) characters who have their own lives and storylines and are in love. Treat your OC like a real life person that has a purpose.
Your character is part of this fictional universe; therefore they must apply to certain rules. For example; it's really silly to think anybody in the Naruto universe would not know what a shinobi is. One Piece characters use den den mushi like we use phones. We expect people living in this universe to know the names of important people and the location of populous places and generally, so should your OC in a fictional universe.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, THINK FOR YOURSELF. THIS IS BASICALLY ALL ADVICE, IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, YOU CAN IGNORE ANYTHING I SAY PRETTY MUCH. I WANT YOU TO DO YOU IN THE END OR ELSE IT'S NOT YOUR STORY. IF YOU JUST WANT SOME ADVICE, KEEP READING.
MALE OR FEMALE
Do whatever you want. Transgender, nonbinary, genderless, you do you. If anyone complains about it, go pee in their water supply.
(TL;DR – it doesn't matter.)
OC CHARACTERISTICS AND PERSONALITY - Establish a character… for your character. Duh.
Examples:
Innocent-minded, compassionate, kind, supportive, sweet?
Trickster, manipulative, sarcastic, mean-spirited, conniving?
Alright, those are some example characteristics for a character. Now in terms of good writing, it's not what characteristics you give your character. That's your fucking choice. But looky here:
Bad Example:
Kind, mean, smart, dumb, dishonest, sincere
What will make people hit the back button on their browser is when you are inconsistent with your own character. Don't fuck up your own character. That's just embarrassing.
There's a thick, brick-lined barrier between fuckery and complexity, and a character that makes no sense is plain fuckery.
Your character is learning or growing, your character will change in varying degrees depending on how much they are learning or growing and what it is that they are learning or growing into. But don't give the audience whip-lash from the dramatic changes in your character in a single paragraph.
Whatever you do- STICK TO YOUR GUNS. If things are not convenient with how your character is in the context of your plot- great. That's character conflict. Go with it. Write their emotions and struggles down. Let your OC cry and beg for mercy as you slowly destroy their will to live.
(TL;DR – consistency and continuity are your friends.)
DISABILITIES, MENTAL DISORDERS & ILLNESS, PHOBIAS, AND TRAGIC BACKSTORIES
You have my respect if you wish to write a character with a disability, mental illness, phobia or a character that went through something traumatic. Especially if you are aiming to write a relatable character that has an ailment of any of the aforementioned things I have mentioned in the title AND/OR desire a target audience who will read and enjoy your character as to relate on a person, physical, psychological level because the reader is disabled, suffering from mental illness, has a phobia or went through something traumatic or letting in a member of the vast majority on something he or she is not aware of. By all means, write deaf, blind, depressed, paraplegic, phobic people. Write about child abuse, the horrors of sexual abuse, sexism, homophobia (despite recent positive movements toward homosexuality, the reality is that the world is shitty towards people who are not heterosexual), etc.
BUT DO IT INTELLIGENTLY, PLEASE?
If you're using disabilities, phobias, or tragic back stories as the sole pillar or one of the sole pillars of your character's personality, you are a massive dickhead. I'm pretty sure people with disabilities, phobias or those who went through some sort of trauma (especially rape victims and people suffering from PTSD) do not solely define themselves on those things. Would you? So why should you define any character by any of those things? Don't use something that real life people suffer from as an excuse to squeeze sympathy from the audience (regardless of what you may think, people with mental and or physical ailments live rich, fulfilling lives). People who deaf who may click on your story that mentions deafness will not think well of you if you butcher the deaf culture. Yes, deaf culture. Disabilities, phobias and traumatic things affect people's lives, and sometimes their lives are very different from the majority. SO RESEARCH YOU LIL BITCH, RESEARCH! AND DON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU HAVE A CLEAR IDEA OF WHAT YOU'RE WRIITNG ABOUT!
(TL;DR - Fucking research ya ding dong and don't write any fuckboy fuckery bullshit.)
YOUR OC vs THE CANON
POWER AND CONTROL - (unless your fanfiction has elements of ham, deconstruction or simply needs a powerful OC, skip this part).
I don't know how powerful or un-powerful you made your OC. Only you know that.
What I do know is that LITERALLY no one gets powerful for no reason. Talent can only bring you so far. It's lazy when you explain a character's prowess as simply talent. Even canon characters that get the 'talent' treatment get a grimace from the audience. At some point, even if your character is simply talented, mention that your OC had to bust their ass to get where they are today. Better yet, write about how they struggled to become powerful.
It's that simple. If it works for motherfuckers like James Bond and Batman, it will work for you.
You're going to look silly if you make up shit. Like using straight-up post-industrial age technology in a Game of Thrones fan fiction. If you're going to make up shit (and you can while writing a perfectly good fanfiction) you must deal with its ramifications of breaking the rules in the universe you're writing for. Like a hybrid wolf child in a Kuroko no Basuke fanfiction would be treated like a literal freak of nature. Like Akashi will be scared of that character because it's so horrific and unnatural. Breaking the laws of the universe needs explanation or else you shouldn't do the thing. Because you're going to look like you're copping out shock value. Shock value means shit if it ruins the story continuity.
Uh, for characters that are not powerful, it's a less complicated in some areas and more complicated in other areas. Just make sure (like with powerful OC's, I should probably mention) that their interests and hobbies make sense with who they are. A person who grew up in the wilderness will most likely enjoy outdoorsy stuff, like hiking, gardening, hunting; knowledge about plants and animals will also be associated with your character.
But if your character is city-trash like me, then their hobbies will include sitting on their ass, internet surfing and ordering at restaurants. This is where the trouble lies in writing normal- it's very easy to include hobbies and interests and even personality traits or world views that reflect your own as part of your OC. This is bad because your OC is not you (ignore this if your OC is a self-insert lol).
For example, the biggest trend I see with OC's; the OC loves reading. Truth is a lot of people don't read for fun. We all have friends and loved ones who hate reading. And an overwhelming majority of OCs read a lot. It's okay to make your OCs unconventional or purposely have things about the OC's character that will not go over well with the audience. The audience doesn't have to agree with any character's decisions or character traits, canon or otherwise; the most important thing is that the audience understands why the character did what they did, think the way they think, are who they are. And they are consistent. The fact that I've mentioned the word 'consistent' five or six times already should be telling you something.
(TL;DR – make sure your character's abilities, intelligence and personality are well-understood and are well-developed in terms of the history of the OC.)
OOC CANON CHARACTERS
Fuck, if you're not the original creator of the series you can never write the characters completely in character. Like everything you're writing in any fanfiction is nothing but your interpretation of the plot, theme, tone of the story, and characters. So don't beat yourself up for getting stuck with how the canon characters will do in certain situations especially if it's never been addressed in canon. Do your best.
And be true to the canon work even if it makes your character, or your favorite characters, go through something they don't like or anything generally unsavorily. Making characters suffer is the key to all literary success just ask Suzanne Collins.
And while there's definite leeway, please don't switch canon with fanon. You know who you are.
(TL;DR – be true to the canon, to the best of your abilities. If you change something due to the plot or setup and someone complains, destroy them.)
ROMANTIC THEMES
With romance… Jesus fuck man.
There are OC/canon pairings that are with perfectly normal or nearly normal canon characters so romance isn't far-fetched and relatively easy to write.
***Think: Kiba (loves dogs but will love humans also) from Natuto, Yamamoto from KHR (might be affiliated with the mafia but I'll be damned if he's not mostly normal), Teppei Kiyoshi from Kuroko no Basuke (the boyfriend we want but don't deserve)
THEN YOU HAVE THE UN-HOLY SATANIC CHARACTERS YOU MAY LOVE PERSONALLY BUT THEN IMAGINING THEM IN A RELTAIONSHIP IS LIKE ?
***Think: Eustass(hole) Kid from One Piece, Hisoka (a literal killer clown) from Hunter x Hunter, that creepy lizard-child from either that American football series or that bicycling series; I forgot
I think the one I should address first is the un-holy satanic characters. Because they're fucked up and weird the romance will most likely be fucked up and weird. Like, imagine Hisoka giving you a severed head to use as a book stand because he thinks that's a good idea.
TREAD LIGHTLY MY FRIENDS. I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW PEOPLE FALL IN LOVE. EVERY CHARACTER- JUST LIKE PEOPLE- IS DIFFERENT. BUT MY ADVICE TO YOU IS…
Write love naturally. Do not force it. Tug and pull, give/receive, confusion, denial, acceptance, uncertainty and annoyance are you friends.
Depending on the person, they might not realize they are in love (or know exactly what they're feeling but still keep it to themselves). They might reject the very thought but blush every time the OC talks to them (or totally blanks out whenever their crush speaks to them). They might confess the second they think they have a crush (or pretend to love other people). Have their reactions reflect off of your OC. They might be insecure if it seems like their crush doesn't notice them. Maybe the OC thinks tsundere archetypes are super cute (or hella annoying). Maybe they'll get freaked out by being confessed to out of nowhere (or be pleasantly surprised). Or have totally different ways of falling in love and showing love. (And let's be honest- there are some fuckboy characters out there so they need to change before they can even be considered dateable.)
Like how Hannibal Lecter would totally feed his beloved the hearts of their enemies because that's how he do.
(TL;DR – don't force it, let the characters bounce off each other.)
NAMES
Let's face the facts. Some names just do not roll off the tongue. Spend some time making it roll off the tongue or at least not sound ridiculous (ask someone if it sounds stupid, preferably someone you don't know so they aren't afraid to say it sounds stupid). Some names are stupidly long. Try to keep it on the short side.
If you want to base your name on a meaning or theme that's okay and all but keep in mind translations when dealing with non-English names and how it sounds together, implications, slang, etc. (Fun Fact: in Britain, a muggle is someone who smokes marijuana. JK Rowling didn't check the word she 'made' up and thus got stuck with the word in her own series lol). As someone who grew up in a Korean household and was almost given a name with a stupid meaning, I can tell you this; what you think is cool and meaningful may not be cool and meaningful to someone else.
AUs
Weird thing is you have to concentrate on the universe, plot and canon characters more than your own character. Because in an AU, making the story boring is killing your story. Not even touching on the subject of putting an OC in there, so it's THAT important.
It's kind of cool in an Modern AU (or any AU, I suppose) when all the names and organizations in the canon material are translated into the AU.
For example: In some Naruto AU's I've seen, the author made The Hidden Leaf a long-standing business that's 'at war' or competition with the other businesses. Sometimes they're cafes. Sometimes they're gangsters. In an AU, its all good.
(TL;DR – so basically, do your thing, don't fuck up the canon stuff.)
SELF INSERT OCs
The entire concept is very odd and the plot has no choice but to focus on you. So make sure you represent yourself well story-wise. However, with these kinds of stories that often have some sort of god or higher beings fucking around, you could literally just make up shit. Like your character can be an inter-dimensional god or simply a character that ended up in an entirely different universe for the amusement of the overseers of the universe. Anything goes pretty much. The ball is in your court all the time concerning these kinds of stories though, so good luck.
(TL;DR – There is literally nothing I can say that can help you with your quest.)
CANON DIVERGENCE
So what happens when you kill off that fuckboy character everyone hates in order to improve the story? Well, the life of Joffrey didn't pass on with a fucking whisper! Even if you hate a character with all your heart and soul, they're still characters who affect the story. Really try to think objectively, even if you like the character you're killing off (for drama reasons, I'm guessing), and ponder on how exactly will this characters death change a sequence of events.
(TL;DR - Go down the list of things that can go wrong in the story, and let everything spiral into chaos like you know you want it to, deep down inside your dead ass heart.)
I WILL ADD MORE STUFF LATER PERHAPS IN ANOTHER CHAPTER BUT I BELIEVE THIS IS MOST EVERYTHING.
MY OPINION ON MARY SUES IS IN MY PROFILE ALONG WITH EXTERNAL LINKS THAT WILL HELP YOU WITH YOUR WRITING AMONG OTHERS THINGS.
HAVE A NICE DAY EVERYONE, AND REMEMBER; DON'T BE FUCKBOY!