the following post might be a little sensitive/offensive to some people. Names and people are changed or not mentioned, but if I harmed anyone in any way, I sincerely apologise for the damage done. *bow*
so anyway... i was chatting with a fellow fanfic writer last week. We were randomly talking about a particular OC fic based in FF7. and she was telling me how she convinced her brother that fanfics aren't rubbish, using that story as an example. when i saw that i was thinking to myself, 'NAW. that story isn't that great!'
i know that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and i respect that. here's mine, not that anyone really bothers to notice (since i'm not mentioning any names and titles). when i first read it, i was pretty blown away. everything about that story kept me hanging on for more (and a good thing too, i had 30 plus chapters to catch up).
i loved how the story started. like lots (and LOTS) of FF7 fics opening, this story also began with a suspense-filled chase. and eventually, the OC integrated herself into the environment and made friends and all... I had tons of fun reading the comic chapters and loved how the story was progressing, because the plot was really good.
then the problem began. i started feeling a little... awkward around the OC. you know the feeling when (in real life) you hang around someone and it's not like you dislike the person but there's just... SOMETHING that is making you not warm up to the person enough. (i'm generally a friendly person so to me it's a little weird for me to feel that way.) and then suddenly i thought the OC was getting a LITTLE too overpowered for my liking... honestly it's not as if the OC was exaggerated, but i felt that it felt a little too... unrealistic. plus, most of the canon characters love to hang around her.
on top of that, the story started off with the intention that it is following the canon timeline, but for some reason certain events didn't happen. i ended up convincing myself that the story changed into an AU... in order not to tear my hair in loophole agony.
argh.
somewhere inside of me, a little alarm went 'mary sue alert!' and it irked me knowing that the OC could've been MUCH better... However, the coward in me refused to say my feelings to the author. I seriously don't want to be a flamer nor a hater. Besides, it's not as if the author is doing such a bad job that I HAD to intervene. Everyone loves the fic and found no problem with it, wahahahahahhaa XDD so how could i??? >.<
I'm a coward.
so to those who are slinging their arm over the chair and going 'What the heck is your problem?'... yeah, i wonder that myself.
The main crux of what I want to say:
I believe a good OC (and believe me, I.... okay, I hardly read OC fics, I'm sorry!!)... well, if i say a good OC is one that is not a Mary Sue I'll CERTAINLY get thrown out of my own blog. So lemme be a little more specific by bringing in some factors that randomly pop up in my head. Yes, people. I'm writing this on-the-fly.
Originality.
Okay, so I'm quite 50/50 on this. Yes, your OC should be original (duh), but I feel making the OC just that extra EXTRA bit special is a little too much. This is where the Mary Sue part comes in, because most Sues are overpowered, even more so than the canon protagonists,
heheh.
Multi-f
aceted Personalities
For minor characters (and I mean characters such as the sales assistant, NOT the trusty sidekick), it's not a big deal if the OC is flat in character. Literature students should get what I mean by flat and round characters.
Being humans, we have many many personality traits. We don't just describe someone as a humorous person and conclude that that is all there is to it. EVERYONE is special and unique in personality. Does the character have weird quirks and idiosyncrasies? How about a nasty habit? Any catchphrases or frequently-used words, yo? (Yes, the Reno reference is necessary!) Include them and use them to your advantage.
Remember what I said about flat and round characters? Flat characters are characters that are resistant to development, despite the change in circumstances. It is the round characters that are shaped and molded in the development of the story. So is the OC free for development and change? A nice example of a round character was given by my Literature teacher. Pip from Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations". I thought Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series was quite a round character too. He certainly shaped up with more confidence across the seven books.
R
ole to the story
This is not so much on the content of the story. Most OC fics are OC-centric (duh), so it's expected that the OC will be the main focus of the plot. I was referring to the role of the OC in accordance to how the story is presented. there's no point if the OC (as a main protagonist) does absolutely nothing to value-add the story. this point is rather hard to explain, and truth is that i don't have any assessment tools to conclude if an OC has played a part in being a good addition to the story. In fact, i go by gut feeling. Does the inclusion of the OC make the story better? Or does the OC (even though it's a protagonist) introduce entropy to the story so much so that the plot details are messy and incoherent?
... see? i don't know how to explain it. Gut feeling, that's all I'm going to say. Yet, i feel that this is the factor that make or break the OC. In the mentioned fic's case, I felt that the OC did not value-add the story after a point in time.
***
of course, since i've so pompously written such an article, it's only reasonable that my OC, Meia from "I Want To Be A Turk!", gets put under the radar.
Originality? Well, since I make it a point to make Meia as plain Jane as possible (the only special thing about her is her photographic memory and high threshold for Materia equipping), I've made her as.... dull as possible. But I thought that the photographic memory was a nice twist. heheh, it sounds so weird to critic my own character)
Multi-faceted personality? Hur hur. I wish. I tried but well, it's always easier said than done. As of now, her main, child-like personality is not very consistent (damn it!! >.<), though her quick temper seemed to be quite well-established. I'll continue to work hard to try and make her child-likeness show more. that being said, she'll start changing and developing. my lament is that i don't want to waste so much time on it because i have lots of content to cover... so maybe i should rethink my actions?
Role for the story? ... Shall we even go there? Being a hidden character of the canon, OF COURSE it doesn't matter whether she's there or not. My intention of making Meia in the story is... a secret. Maybe if I remember this again, I'll reveal the secret, wahahahah! Yes, there was a side-side-goal that I've given myself when I wrote Meia. So far, a few of the reviews have said things that make me realise that i have kinda achieved my objective. but well.. i'll stretch myself and see how far i can go.
all in all, i urge you not to think about whether meia is a good OC because I don't think she've value added to 'i want to be a turk' either. it's true that i'm quite happy with how Meia has turned out so far and if given the chance, i wouldn't have changed anything much either. however, there are a ton of OCs that are good, i just didn't have the chance to read them yet.
'dying to live' OCs are good... not because they fulfilled any of the stupid stuff that i've said above. they simply made the story good, and that was all i needed to be convinced. so... maybe the 'role to the story' is more of a subjective factor.
gosh, what a wordy post. i shall end here... and continue editing my story :)
once again, i apologise if i've offended anyone with this post.
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