REBEL: This episode of Terrible Writing Advice is sponsored by Freedom, but mostly by Campfire
Blaze
I wonder what topic I should cover this time?
JC: JP, you should cover writing fanfiction original characters!
Wow!
It’s JC!
He’s an original character who just came out of nowhere with little to no explanation.
He is so cool and his idea to cover writing Original Characters in fanfiction is just
awesome!
For those unfamiliar with the concept, original characters, often shortened to OCs, is a term
used in fanfiction circles when a fanfiction writer creates their own original character
for an existing work.
Now in original fiction we just call these characters, because you know, they’re all
OCs technically, but adding new characters to an existing work can be hazardous especially
when audiences who typically consume fanfiction tend to have certain expectations about the
story in terms of tone, characterization, and style.
JC: And prepare to have those expectations blown!
Because I am super all about style!
I couldn’t have said it better myself, JC.
Actually I could have but for some reason I will just let you one up me for no reason.
Man, I just can’t over how cool JC is!
Now we set out to write our amazing fanfiction original character!
The first thing our original character needs is…
JC: The first thing our OC needs is to be a stand in for the writer!
My original character is an idealized version of myself.
Because I am like super ideal or something.
JC just stole my joke and botched the delivery!
Isn’t he so cool!
That’s right JC, much like your two best friends getting a messy divorce, the best
thing to do is insert yourself right in the middle of everything.
In this case, when I design my original character, not only will I project myself onto them way
more than is healthy, I will also just keep designing them until they are overflowing
with superfluous details.
Will this clash with the design of the canon characters?
That’s the point!
I want my original character to be even more special than the canon characters.
Focusing on the self-insert wish fulfillment aspect of the original character also frees
up the writer from worrying about that pesky audience expectation problem.
Yes the focus on the original character basically reduces the story’s target audience to one,
but I sure if everyone just gives my OC a chance they will become just as invested in
this really long list of powers and abilities that I call a character.
Remember, powers and abilities are a great substitute for things like motive, characterization,
character development, expressing emotions other than lust, relatability, empathy, compelling
internal conflict, compelling external conflict, wants, needs, and believably.
And if anyone complains about the character then just cudgel them with the original character’s
overly long backstory that completely justifies my long list of super powers.
You know what they say, it’s not an OC unless its OP.
Now they say write what you know and draw upon personal experiences.
Since all I know how to be is an emotionally stunted, shut in whose understanding of basic
human interaction comes mostly from watching anime I think I’ll write that!
When designing an original character, just remember that people don’t read fanfics
to see the further adventures of their favorites characters, explore alternate diverging scenarios
of the main plot, peering into the events before or after the canon plot, or even just
to see two characters they like smooch.
No everyone is just waiting in breathless anticipation for my original character to
come along an upstage their favorite characters.
But what if someone complains that they won’t even read your fanfic because it revolves
around an overpowered original character?
Well in that case we can also just take an existing background character and make them
the original character instead.
This once bit player now has all of the abilities and powers and backstory of my original character
like a blank canvas that vomited all over.
But technically isn’t an original character thus invalidating all criticism of naysayers.
Perfect.
No one will see through that!
What about designing the original character to explore a little known part of the original
fiction that would out of character for the canon characters to explore?
That won’t work because it requires too much work.
Also it would undermine my original objective of turning all of the canon characters into
passive observers in their own story.
What about using original characters to fill in a support role?
And have my original character serve the story rather than the other way around?
Nothing will stop me from turning the canon characters into props to facilitate my original
character’s wish fulfillment power trip.
Wait!
The design of my original character might lead to someone accusing them of being a Mary
Sue.
Now, one shouldn’t worry about having their character be called a Mary Sue as that is
100% going to happen since the term Mary Sue has been watered down to mean “Character
I don’t like”.
For those who don’t know what a Mary Sue is, it’s a term that originated form a Star
Trek fanfiction story that parodied the trend of overly perfect original characters.
A Mary Sue is basically a character that usually has no flaws, is overpowered, and is the center
of attention.
Basically a character that damages a story because of harmful authorial bias towards
said character.
Now the line between compelling character and Mary Sue can become blurry at times and
contentious within fan communities, but I will always advocate blatantly crossing that
line and leaving no doubt as to my original character’s Sueness.
Remember, when in doubt, indulge!
If a fanfic writer really does want to avoid writing a Mary Sue then they just do the opposite
and make a horrible character that is ugly, ineffectual, flawed beyond the point of being
able to function in any capacity, and yet still inexplicably the center of the universe.
That’ll put those Mary Sue accusers in their place and I’ll be riding high right over
the point they were trying to make!
Showed them!
Besides, my character can’t be a Mary Sue because she suffers from HORRIBLE ANGUISH!
The SUFFERING she must ENDURE as melodramatically as possible!
JC: Mary Sues are good.
Just like suddenly changing topics.
JC just completely mangled my smooth segue between topics.
And I’m completely fine with that for some reason!
Now how to introduce my original character in my fanfic?
Thinking up an explanation or creating a decent character entrance is really hard.
I got it!
I just wont!
My original character just shows up out of nowhere attached the main characters like
a parasitic leech sucking the plot dry of its lifeblood until the canon story shrivels
and dies.
Does the fanfiction follow the events of the canon story?
Well now my original character can resolve the core conflict even better than the cast
of the original plot.
Won’t relegating the entire cast into cheering sycophants who do nothing, but praise, emotionally
support, and/or lust after my original character turn people off who can’t project onto the
character?
Don’t be silly.
Why wound anyone be turned off by my act of self pleasuring in fanfiction form?
Just so long as a writer avoids the pitfall of using their original character to show
the events of the story from a different and unique perspective.
Also avoid using original characters to generate conflict that the original canon work didn’t
have the time or scope to focus on.
These will mire the fan fiction in needless detail and delay my impulsive self gratification.
We’re not here to strategically break the canon for the sake of the story, but rather
to break the story for the sake of the original character.
JC: Almost a good point, JP.
But you didn’t cover shipping!
JC just brought up a massive topic that will probably be covered in another video, but
if I tried to cover it in this one I couldn’t explore it in enough detail do the subject
justice.
I just love how he breaks the flow and brings the video to a screeching halt with his pointless
asides!
Speaking of pointless, what actions can a fanfiction writer take to silence those naysayers
who dare gave my fanfic the ultimate bad rating: a lukewarm review.
Obviously a writer should behave the same way professional writers deal with criticism.
By starting a fight with their critics of course.
Because endless internet arguments is the most productive use of time.
If readers are complaining that the story’s original character is a blatant self-insert
Mary Sue, then there is only one thing to do!
Add more of them!
If one over powered self-insert original character is good, then a hundred more is even better.
In fact, the lack of a solid core character means that theses kinds of original characters
can be easily mass produced with only slight variations to their powers and abilities.
One Mary Sue is usually terminal for the story, but I’m pretty sure a 100 Mary Sues counts
as a war crime.
And there is nothing anyone can do to stop that many Sues.
By embracing Mary Sue, you become invincible!
Laugh at the frail writers who are too weak and frightened to embrace their true passions
and indulge in unrestrained wish fulfillment!
Now what if a fanfiction writer wishes to fix their original character to not be a Mary
Sue?
How can that be done?
Is there any way to do that?
JC: My presence in this video only highlights how cool I am!
JC, you’re right even though your lines are poorly written, you have no place in the
canon, and I just put up with you for some reason.
You deserve a reward!
JC: I do?
You do.
Follow me JC.
JC: Wow.
I’ve never been behind your shed before, JP.
*GUNSHOT*
Now where was I?
Oh yes.
There is no easy way to fix a Mary Sue original character that I know of or may have just
inadvertently demonstrated.
Better to become invested in a stillborn fanfic rather than see it as a stepping stone on
one’s writer’s journey, admitting to lessons learned, and moving on to better projects.
The harder method it is to ask “what does this character add to the story?
What is this character’s core motive?
Does this character generate any form of compelling conflict?
Am I pushing my original character hard enough or am I stifling conflict and killing off
narrative tension?
Am I hurting the story by focusing too much on a single character at the expense of the
rest of the cast or the flow of that narrative?
Are the scenes that feature my original character there just because I think they’re cute
and not because they advance the plot, characterize one or more characters, and explore the setting.
Preferably the scene should pull double duty by doing more than one.”
There isn’t any time to answer these difficult questions because a fanfiction writer has
an even more dire threat that must be thwarted: people stealing my totally original character!
Why my unholy abomination crafted from various pop-culture works is clearly worth hundreds
of billions of dollars if I could ever get the franchise rights.
And any minute I’m sure all of these massive corporations that own those franchises will
be willing to navigate the legal labyrinth required to make this unfocused mess of a
crossover a reality.
Clearly huge corporations will be willing to take a multi-billion dollar gamble on some
dude with a fanfiction.net account.
But if someone does steal my totally original character designed for a franchise I don’t
own the rights to, not only will I miss out on those billions of potential dollars, but
something even worse might happen: someone else may get those precious likes, upvotes,
and positive reviews.
Fake internet points are worth way more than actual money because internet fame is an end
in and of itself.
Besides if none of that works out then we can always just change the names of everything
and publish it as an original story, ship of Theseus style.
Is this creativity bankrupt?
I don’t know, but it sure doesn’t lead to financial bankruptcy.
LA REBEL: You should join La Resistance!
HEADBAND REBEL: For the last time its Rebel Freedom Force!
KILT REBEL: No.
It’s Freedom Fighters!
GENERAL: Wait.
Didn’t the Evil Empire wipe you guys out in the Villains episode?
LA REBEL: Freedom is eternal!
It can never die because ideas are bulletproof.
TAN REBEL: Also, JP is terrible at continuity.
HEADBAND REBEL: He’s as bad as you are at naming our organization.
I keep telling you La Resistance is too generic!
KILT REBEL: And Rebel Freedom Force isn’t?
DARK LORD: Listen.
I’ve crushed a lot of rebels in my time and I gotta say all three of those really
don’t work for me.
Give me a group with a cool name to slaughter like the Stormguards, or the Order of the
10 Blades, or the Vigil Wardens,
TAN REBEL: Those sound kind of cool!
DARK LORD: or just anything that has more of a theme than just generic rebels.
I mean, what’s your hook?
HEADBAND REBEL: We will overthrow the Evil Empire, restore the Republic, and bring peace
to the galaxy.
Once the Evil Empire is vanquished and we have restored a just and democratic government,
with us as the only political party of course, we will then become the enforcers of this
peace and we will rename ourselves to… the resistance.
DARK LORD: Yeah I think your going to have to workshop that a little bit.
LA REBEL: I like you.
You should escape with us!
KILT REBEL: No.
Those are bad guys.
Were good guys who do good guy things like fire rockets at a maternity ward.
GENERAL: um...
KILT REBEL: It was an Imperial maternity ward!
HEADBAND REBEL: Well we did also kind of blow up that orphanage too.
For freedom of course!
DARK LORD: You know, I kind of like these guys.
Sure.
Why not.
Today has been eye opening for me.
Maybe its time to see what things look like from the other side.
So how do we escape?
LA REBEL: While the Emperor was gloating we pickpocketed this video’s sponsor, Campfire
Blaze.
HEADBAND REBEL: Campfire Blaze is a browser based writing organization tool to help novel
writers, screen writers, dungeon masters, and resistance organizations to keep organized
with plots and timelines to help keep track of the story’s flow.
Even cell based rebels, and I suppose normal users as well, can collaborate and coordinate
in real time for cooperative projects like for tabletop gaming, multi author books, or
fanfic shared universes.
It has a host of other tools useful to any freedom fighter like a word processor, character
sheets, character arcs, relationship details, and even tools to flesh out magic systems,
languages, and artifacts.
Try the free version or build your own subscription by choosing only the modules you need by going
to bit.ly/TWA2-21.
TWA fans can also use the coupon code TWA21 at checkout to receive 20% of all lifetime
purchases of Blaze modules!
Link is in the description below.
LA REBEL: But we are going use it by going to the location tab of the world building
module and loading up the sewers.
See?
Freedom!
I mean, once we get through the sewer level.
HEADBAND REBEL: There’s always a sewer level.
Now we just need to hijack a ship and we’re out of here!
DARK LORD: No.
First we find out the source of Sponsorships that the Emperor talked about.
Um… for Freedom!
Did I do it right?