OCs and OOC-ness
Now we will be discussing the two wonderful concepts of OCs and OOC-ness.
OC is your own character.
OOC is when you take a character from the fandom but totally give it a new character, and in extreme cases the character becomes unrecognizable.
OC= Own Character
OOC= Out Of Character.
Simple!
I will be talking about OCs first.
Contrary to the popular belief, it doesn't matter what you name your OC. People writing these guides are usually like, "Also, don't name your OC Priscilla Rainbow Sparkles Unicorn Daisy Awesomeness."
What the—?
I have NEVER EVER EVER read a story that has an OC named Priscilla Rainbow Sparkles Unicorn Daisy Awesomeness.
(But please don't.)
And also to the contrary belief, OCs are allowed on FanFiction. Sometimes people see that there's an OC in the story, and run away screaming like the zombie apocalypse has already come.
I like OCs, guys. OCs are awesome. Just not the ridiculous ones.
Now, I will explain how NOT to create a ridiculous OC character.
(…because usually in these guides you are only told WHAT is a ridiculous OC, [how to identify one and such], but not told how to get rid of the ridiculousness.)
Somehow naturally able to fight when they get to Camp Half-Blood when is given a sword for the first time, and beats the heck out of Percy and/or Clarrise and/or Annabeth?
Flawless features?
Becomes BFFs with the original characters of the story? (Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Piper, Rachel, etc.)
Becomes an enemy of someone right away, but somehow is able to back-sass everything they say perfectly? (Meaning diss everyone without hesitation.)
Go on a quest only after a few days? (Which I guess makes Percy a Mary-Sue in the Lightning Thief….)
Make a god/goddess appear in camp?
Claimed by parent in a totally glamorous way?
Hot boyfriend/girlfriend OC?
THESE ARE THE OBVIOUS THINGS MOST OF THESE GUIDES TELL YOU NOT TO DO. I won't see an OC that has ALL of these chances, but, yes, admittedly, they crop up from time to time.
This is because it's tempting to do all this stuff, because it's so PERFECT. (And just because their mortal parent is dead doesn't mean that all of a sudden they aren't perfect.) PERFECTNESS is not your backstory, or your family, or your family's backstory. It's about the CHARACTER.
The easiest way to help you give your character not-perfect characteristics is to create a CHARACTER TABLE OF CHARACTERISTICS.
(And yes, I named that all by myself.)
This is what you do—take your character and give it at least two of each of the following things:
What they are like at the beginning of the story
What they are like at the end of the story
Strengths
Weaknesses
How their character develops throughout the story
I know, it sounds like a lot of work, but it only takes three minutes per character, and it helps a lot more than it pains.
-o-O-o-
BREAKDOWN OF THE CHART
The first two help with character development. A big problem with perfect OCs is that they're so perfect they have nothing to improve on, so there is NO DEVELOPMENT. BIG RED SIGNALS START BLARING!
You NEED character development. You absolutely MUST have it! Name ANY book, TV, or movie character, and they're bound to have some sort of character development.
(Except for the perfect characters. And yes, they do exist in the published world. *coughDANIELXcough*)
The next two stay pretty much consistent throughout the story. Think of fatal flaws. The weakness is the OC's fatal flaw, but to have a good character you need two of them: one major, one not-so-major.
A thing I noticed in the Sea of Monsters was Annabeth telling Percy about weaknesses and almost breaking the fourth wall. Rick was making sure he wasn't making perfect characters and letting the readers know that, but you don't need two of your characters have a verbal discussion about weaknesses and strengths. Just make it evident by events that take place in the story.
(Example: Your OC Fred has to fight a dinosaur, but he's super cowardly, so he runs away instead. You can take advantage of this and add character development later: he regrets what he did because one of his companions got his arm eaten by the dinosaur, so he goes back and fights it. He's still cowardly to a certain extent, but less. Never get rid of a character's weaknesses completely.)
Another example: Frank Zhang. One day, Frank decided to go to Venis and ended up fighting hundreds of poisonous cows. He usually would have never done this, but his friends were in danger and the only way to save them was by killing all the cows.
You see?
He would have never fought the cows UNLESS there was something that overpassed his weakness of fear—his love and worry of Hazel, and maybe the creepiness of Nico being a corn plant. THERE'S ALWAYS A REASON WHY A CHARACTER DEVELOPS. THAT REASON SURPASSES THE WEAKNESS, BECAUSE, OBVIOUSLY, YOUR CHARACTER HAS TO HAVE SOME STRENGTHS AS WELL.
AND YES, I DID JUST BOLD AND PUT THAT ALL IN CAPTIALS.
It's that important.
*spits on ground pathetically*
Then the 'how their character develops' is just a few dot jots of when and how the character develops throughout the story. This is intertwined with the plot, so make sure you have your pre-writing stage done as well.
-o-O-o-
Now, I will give you an example of the Character Table of Characteristics using two characters from one of my original stories: Nick and Jen/Rose.
Nick
Beg.: intimidated easily, shy, curious, well-behaved, speculative
End: braver on the outside, still soft on the inside, still curious
(Notice how some things remained the same from the beginning to the end, and how not all the things at the beginning of the story are bad.)
Strengths: tactically smart, a natural planner, understands people well
Weaknesses: compassion = tries to give everyone a second chance, trusting easily, gullible, physically weak
(Notice how all the strengths are similar, and so are the weaknesses.)
C.D.: Is told by Jen/Rose about his 'giving everyone a second chance' weakness, and begins to think it's bad. Then he meets Jack, and after Jack helps him escape the giants at the beanstalk Nick decides that it isn't such a bad thing. Also, his near-death fight the Wolf makes him for focused about training himself physically, and the near-death fight with the troll makes him more courageous.
Jen/Rose
Beg.: not-trusting, loud, harsh, showoff
End: softer, more compassionate, still loud and brash
Strengths: physically strong, brave
Weaknesses: not a good technical planner, underestimates easily
C.D.: Before the beanstalk, she's very harsh and cold. Then Nick is captured by the giants, and they have to blow up the beanstalk, but she doesn't want to, demonstrating that she's starting to care for her friends. Later on she and Nick have a talk after the candy-house incident and her history is revealed, making her more trusting.
-o-O-o-
(Now try to guess what my story is about.)
-o-O-o-
Also, it's okay to make your character powerful. Take the main character of PJO. Percy Jackson is the freaking son of a god. I'm pretty sure that counts as powerful.
But then it is ESSENTIAL that you have weaknesses as well. Take the main character of Daniel X. He's an alien with superpowers. That counts as powerful, which would be okay, but HE HAS NO WEAKNESSES.
AND FEAR IN THE FACE OF DANGER IS NOT A WEAKNESS.
THAT IS CONSIDERED NORMAL.
-o-O-o-
Another thing are the clichés. Is your character a cliché?
…Mortal parent dead?
…Homeless for five years?
…Son or daughter of the Big Three?
Basically.
Just think… what would Rick Riordan do?
Of course, to a certain extent. Rick wouldn't write fanfiction. But if he did, what would he do? I used this technique on my story The Blood of Olympus. Helped a lot.
Also…
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
And the lonely how?
Mortal parent dead? When? Where? How? Why?
Homeless for five years? Why? Where? When?
Son or daughter of the Big Three? Why? Why? WHY?
Always ask why.
More on originality/cliché-ness in the next chapter.
-o-O-o-
And, if you've already written a character that needs some fixing-upping, then don't hesitate to still do the Table of Characteristics with that OC.
Now, for OOC-ness.
Sometimes in AU stories a character is OOC so that they can develop back into their own character. (For example, in your AU story Percy and Annabeth aren't together because then throughout the story you can get them together again. Or maybe Piper's been grown up differently so she has different character traits—perhaps she's as stubborn as heck.)
That's fine, and a little OOC-ness is okay for those stories, but just don't make the character unrecognizable.
-o-O-o-
I will now ask you something that will blow your mind.
Did you know that this fandom has their own wiki?
You guys: *gasp!*
You never know when the OOC-ness in your story will crop up. If you have a feeling that, like, Leo is acting Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, go to the Camp Half-Blood Wiki and search him up. There's a section labelled personality or something, and you can check with that.
Or, you know, you could get a beta-reader.
-o-O-o-
Another way to fix OOC-ness is by editing.
Wait a couple days or so (the longer the better) before even looking at your manuscript again. Then, when it's fresh out of your mind, go back and re-read it. You'll be able to catch character differences much more easily.
-o-O-o-
Another tip: Look at the story through the eyes of the reader. (Or do your best.) Would your demographic actually accept this OOC-ness, or snap their fingers in a Z-formation?
But as you can't 100% see your own story through the eyes of the reader, get an editor to help you out.
-o-O-o-
Then sometimes you don't need to even edit—it's just very, very apparent.
Would Percy ever cheat on Annabeth? No.
Would Hazel ever become a psychopath? No.
Would Reyna ever slap Piper in the face because she's jealous of her and Jason? No.
But then you could make it un-OOC again by adding/changing the reason or circumstances. A good reason that goes along with their personality.
Would Percy ever cheat on Annabeth TO PROTECT HER? Probably.
Would Hazel ever become a psychopath? Possibly, if her POWER CORRUPTED HER AND DROVE HER INSANE. (But then you'd have to ask why it drove her insane.)
But then sometimes it just doesn't work.
Would Reyna ever slap Piper in the face because she's jealous of her and Jason? No.
BUT would she slap Piper in the face for another reason… like she insulted her camp (because Reyna wouldn't really care if Piper insulted Reyna herself) or something? Maybe, (but then she wouldn't just slap—she'd pull out her sword and slash her to bits LIKE A BOSS).
BUT then WHY would Piper insult Reyna?
These things just start a chain reaction.
-o-O-o-
However, there is ONE genre where excessive OOC-ness is allowed… PARODY.
Parodies are supposed to be weird and stupid and laughable—OOC-ness is the easiest way to do this. So if you REALLY REALLY REALLY want Reyna to slap Piper in the face, do it in a parody story.
Just make sure someone turns into a chicken at the end. 'Cause that's what happens in every parody.
A parody isn't a parody unless there's a chicken in it. Or a moose. Those work as well.
-Bookworm1756
RECAP
OC= Own Character
OOC= Out Of Character.
Character Table of Characteristics:
What they are like at the beginning of the story
What they are like at the end of the story
Strengths
Weaknesses
How their character develops throughout the story
THERE'S ALWAYS A REASON WHY A CHARACTER DEVELOPS. THAT REASON SURPASSES THE WEAKNESS.
Character development = very necessary (well, in published works—Rick already did most of the character developing for you already)
Ask WHY?
Adding/changing the reason or circumstances is a good way to fix OOC-ness.
And keep writing!
-Bookworm1756