Chapter 7

Okay I was going to edit Idiots Don't Get Sick, but after skimming through the One Piece Archive, I figured I had to at least start doing a chapter on them...

If you like stories about Mary Sue's, I respect your decision, I just don't agree with it 99% of the time.

And I'm going to warn you now, this chapter is probably going to be half bashing OC's. Also, I may come across as kind of mean in this chapter. I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, but sometimes I come across as sounding angrier than I really am.

This is why I hate talking to people through a texting like format, people can take your words in so many different ways if you aren't careful. And sadly only my close personal friends get my sarcasm...

So anyway I hope that I don't a fend anyone.

Marie D Suesse And The Mystery New Pirate Age! By Phalanx is probably the only OC centered story I've read and actual liked. Oh, and so is Another Crewmate By HeroR I highly recommend reading both it if you want a good OC story that bashes OC stereotypes.

OC's and Mary Sue's

Let's start with the first thing I find wrong with most OC centered stories…

It's how they're first introduced into the story. That's right, the very first chapter, that should be the basis for the stories plot and setting completely turn me off. There is nothing harder than trying to read through something and feeling totally disconnected with it.

Now there are multiple different ways OC's are introduced to a story. The most common ones I've seen either describe them literally falling into the One Piece world, them already being a part of the One Piece world, them being related to a major character, or my personal favorite one where they are already a part of someone's crew.

FluffyDragonsLiveInMyHouse I can't agree more with you and your comment:

"I kind of hate when I read a story, and it's like, "It was another peaceful day on the Sunny. Nami was in her room, updating the log book. Robin was below deck in the aquarium, reading one of the many books from the huge library on board. -" and then out of nowhere, "Natasha was on a sun-lounger, hoping in vain for a tan."
'the hell's Natasha/this person?!' is always my line of thought"

We have the same reaction whenever I see this happen…

I feel that whenever OC's are introduced, they either get some long winded character summary or they get nothing at all. There needs to be a balance. Remember, characters make the story happen and it's through their interactions that we see what the actual story is about. If you don't have a good balance, then your story seems jumbled and confused.

Now, Oda makes his characters relatable and likeable. I think it's safe to say that that's why we love One Piece so much. He gives them human qualities that include multiple strengths and multiple weaknesses. Not just ten good qualities and no bad qualities.

Oda balances his characters and gives backstories for every major quality, good or bad, they poses. But OC's have a tendency to be Godlike and out of place in the One Piece world. Or in other words, unrelatable.

I'm not saying that you have to go into that much detail and that much planning to create a believable character, especially if your story is just a simple one-shot. But keep in mind that the larger the story, the more involved the OC should be in the plot. That way they kind of blend in with the story instead of stand out.

It may seem hard to do, but in reality it's easier than you think. Just take a few qualities, maybe two or three if it's your first time, and give a kind of back story to why they made the character who they are.

Oh, and you want to know what direction you want your story to go in.

Basically, if you plan on writing about the values of nakama and family, then don't make your OC cold, sadistic and vain. Then make them do a total 180 and flip-flop personalities at a drop of a hat. It confuses people.

Instead, make them tsundere, kindhearted, and loving. It makes the story transition easier if we know that your OC is initially cold and even hostile towards another person, before they gradually show his or her warm side over time.

Another thing OC-centric stories tend to do is have every character love them.

If your character is going to be a Straw Hat than joining the crew is easy considering the captain's past actions.

But in order for them to be accepted by members like Zoro or Robin, they have to kind of prove their worth.

I know you want everyone to love your character, except maybe the villain, but if you want them to fit in, than give them a little, and I stress little, backstory on how they proved themselves if you plan on just starting the story after they joined.

I think a good backstory's length should be no more than 2500 words, assuming that you're writing a fairly big story. Unless of course, they have a really, really complicated past… that last part was kind of a joke.

Remember when I said that you should pay attention to the manga's pacing? That applies for OC's too. During Oda's explanations for the Straw Hats back story, the past was sad to say the least, but Oda didn't make it overly complicated and it had a kind of logic to it that helped further the story.

For example:

Luffy lived in Foosha Village, his grandpa trained him when he was around, Luffy meet Shanks, Shanks gave his hat to Luffy, Garp found out and got mad, Garp gave Luffy to Dadan, Luffy met Ace, Luffy met Sabo, they became brothers, Sabo was taken away, Grey Terminal burned, Sabo "died", Ace and Luffy grew up.

I chose to do Luffy's back story because his is the most complicated. If it's your first time, that means that your OC's backstory shouldn't ever be more complicated than the main characters. Unless your particularly stilled at it.

Also, I'm going to mention this again, Oda isn't focusing on romance, which means that you better have a solid reason why Zoro, who is almost as asexual as Luffy, wants to marry your OC.

Try to think of OC's as guests. They have to abide to Oda's rules and regulations just as much as his characters have to.

Earlier today, I was skimming through the older stories on the archive and I stumbled upon an OC story.

The way the author introduced the character was by giving her a little description before the story actually started.

This method is great for introducing the character to us if they plan on just diving into the story. And it's not the way, in this case anyway, that the character was introduce, but the way they described the character that bugged me.

They listed some character traits that made me confused. They said that their OC was caring and sadistic. If that's not a contradiction than I don't know what is.

Maybe they meant that the OC was sadistic towards enemies and caring towards friends, I don't know because I didn't read much of the story, so shame on me for not seeing what the author actually meant, but just the contradiction alone made me want to write this chapter today.

The point of addressing this is because I've seen others describe their characters in contradictions like this. It makes me think that they don't know the meaning of the words or that the character is just as confused as the plot.

For instance:

If the characters are one-dimensional and shallow, so is the plot.

Which brings me back to my other point of the characters make the story.

If you have a shallow main focus, than chances are your story isn't going to have any depth to it.

~Done

If I said it once, then I'll say it a thousand times. The point of this site is to be creative and have fun. My opinions and criticisms shouldn't deter you from writing about what you want to do.

But I do hope that you like my advice, and I hope it helps you out in the future

OC's are a tricky subject, so I probably will have more to say about them eventually. So consider this a part one.

And I just realize that I never said "my dear reader" this chapter. I guess that proves how serious this one was for me to write.

Anyway thanks for reading.

I hope you have a wonderful day/night. Bye~