Before I go for a little bit I wanted to ask a question of why the Harry Potter community seems resistant to Original Characters. OCs are an important part of several other fandoms I am an active member of, MLP and RWBY, and it seems that at times HP had a much more extensive world then either of these. I guess I don't really know how to ask, but do any of you have Original Characters for HP? Do you have them for other fandoms? Do you find it easier to do in other fandoms? Just a couple questions I guess...

 

(Moved from 'wands' thread)

In my opinion, it's generally because the entire plot of Harry Potter revolves around the eponymous hero. It can be dissatisfying to read about someone's original character because the stories built up around them don't tend to be very interesting, and because authors who create original stories have a bad habit of focusing entirely too much on that character. Usually, an OC is a lot cooler and more interesting in their head.

It takes a lot of skill to develop a good character. Unfortunately, it's a skill you'd be hard pressed to find in the vast majority of fanfiction writers.

 

(Moved from 'wands' thread)

That's a fair enough point, but I would argue that their are other groups that handle it better. Still, I can understand why it can be hard to make an interesting story about an OC in the HPu, considering the importance of all the characters in the books. What I would rather see is people trying to write about characters, and try to develop the world with their interpretations. Instead of being more focused on the character, even to the extent of the books, try to make it more a slice of life or at least embrace the frank ridiculousness of the character.

 

I myself am extremely averse to OCs. So much so that to this day I still haven't read Dreaming of Sunshine (Which I'm told is an extrmely good OC/SI fic). In some fandoms, you have no choice because of there being so few existing characters (Firefly for example).

Stuff like Harry Potter and Naruto though have a large array of characters to pick from and most of the time at least one of them will match the exisitng attitude of the OC you have in mind. Need a mentor for Harry? Just choose an Order member. Need a vampire? Sanguini (The vampire at Slughorn's party) is your man. Need a werewold? Look no further than Fenrir or Remus. Need a man who's been manipulating every event in Harry Potter history for the last millenium? Go ahead and make the first good story involving Nicholas Flamel.

I would like to point out though that there are some great OC fics but the majority of them are written by people who are experienced with such characters and have been honing their craft for years.

 

There's also the fact that OC written by fanfiction writer tend to be dull. At least, with the existing character, the reader already has a context. He knows its story, who are his friends and his enemies. When you get an OC, you don't know anything about him and it's all up to the author to make you care about him, which is hard to do for amateur writers.

Don't forget that we get attached to the characters as well. A reader is probably more emotionally invested in a fanfiction about Harry Potter than he is about John Smith. For example, I am more invested in a story about Voldemort or Grindelwald, than I am about an OC villain. And like Ashton says, there is such a cast of character in HP, that whatever OC you want to add, will probably end up filling the same role as an already established character.

 

I am really sorry for being a dick about this, but did you really need a separate thread for that if OCs were already brought up in the other one? You could've just asked a mod to change the thread title.

Perhaps a mod could merge the threads? Palindrome? Since you were in the other thread.

Moved two posts. - Drome

 

Honestly, I think the thing is that if you're going to write about someone then you should learn them inside and out. In many places people have preconceptions about a character and that can be hard to get around. But you cant use any of the characters in the cannon to, say, have a muggle-born in the modern day. You can't use the cannon characters for that sort of thing, and that could make an interesting story if you actually write it well. The reason I use OCs at all is to separate myself, and to explore aspects of the world that can't be explored. (like seriously, they don't leave Great Britain) I just think their are thousands of stories waiting to happen out of all the other schools and things that are barely explored.

---------- Post automerged at 02:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:39 PM ----------

I had been trying to quench the OC chat in the other thread, that seems to have been in vain, if merging them and changing the title to something more like "Original characters and lore" that could be helpful. I'm sorry about that ^-^.

 

It depends. I usually can only enjoy an OC when the story stays away from the main plot. After all, instead of writing a story about your "super cool and badass OC" defeating Voldemort, why not just write about Harry doing so?

Take into account the fact that HP has a pretty large cast of characters, which cover a whole lot of archetypes, and there's very little room for the OCs to be interesting.

For example, a ton of female OC/SI stories (not just in the HP fandom) tend to revolve around a smart, pragmatic girl with common sense and a strong moral compass. Why do you need an OC for that? Hermione fills the role rather well.

As such the OC focused stories I tend to enjoy are ones similar in style to Alexandra Quick, where the plot stays nice and divorced from the canon story line, and, say, Hocus Pocus, Adele Polkiss, which focuses on an OC muggle on the outside of the canon plot, looking in.

That said, the instant an OC gets targeted by Voldemort, or shoves a sword through the top of a basilisk's mouth, or gets shanghaied into the TriWizard Tournament, I instantly think, "Oh, I though this was about an original character."

 

Honestly, I try to stay away from the original plot. The stories I write are probably a bit more modern (2010s) just because I wasn't born until 2 years after the last book takes place. Voldimort is dead, all that stuff happened, why not look at something new?

 

I think that at some point it's worth to graduate to original fiction.

For me personally, ff started out as an extension of my interest in the fandom. It still is that, but it's been also taking on the role of a workshop to hone my skills in preparation for writing original stuff.

I understand the fascination with a particular fandom. We're all HP nerds here. And as Ashton Knight and Basilisk pointed out, there are so many characters in HP, many of whom are so unexplored as to be practically OCs (some are literally just names), that inventing an OC just because you want to when you can still do that while using a canon character (name) to draw readers in just seems silly to me.

That's not to say OCs are bad on principle. Sometimes you just need a character to fulfill a certain role that you don't think would fit with any of the canon cast. I've done that myself. Finding a balance is the key. It's just that, as has been said by others, OCs tend to discourage readers more often than not because majority of ff writers don't have the skill to pull off creating one.

 

Here's the thing, I know I can create characters. I know I can expand world's and make reasonable lore.but I struggle with starting the world, I struggle with doing that sort of work. Besides, almost all of those characters are from Europe...

---------- Post automerged at 03:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:08 PM ----------

I also kind of expect that I'd be better at writing for an oc then someone else's character... Because I can get in character, and see what they would do or respond...

 

The HP fanfiction community is the most alive compared to others. Fanfiction alone as a whole is 99% bad. So naturally, with the large flood of aspiring fanfiction writers in HP, you also get a load of bullshit ones (almost always involving OC's) which spawned that reputation. That's one reason why OC's aren't so well received in this community compared to the other niches you've listed.

As for RWBY, it strikes me as one of those things that attract people who particularly like OC's and embraces them. Just by judging by the unique, contrasting character designs and the snippets of it I've seen, it seems the main characters themselves look like stage 4 Mary Sue's someone would insert into an anime fanfiction. Not to say that I don't admire their animation and design or anything. It's pretty to look at, that's it. But I doubt that it is central to any plot.

Overall, OC's are a big red flag in HP Fanfiction. Sucks for the folks who might have had well thought out and developed ones, but those are very rare. Even now, what with the OC's I've experienced, even if I hear talk of one fic that blows it out of the water, nope. The mere association with it can make my eyes roll to the back of my head. That's how terrible they've gotten.

But still, there's an audience for that. I still see writers who butcher existing characters, disguising their OC as Hermione, but still get raving reviews. So don't get too bummed out. You've just sought out the wrong forum in particular for that.

 

This is almost literally the only active hp forum

 

The other dead forums might not be as active as it was before, but it's still a relevant point that when it was at its peak, no other fandom has come close to amount to that yet. I think in FFnet HP has received the most Fanfiction submissions. It's provides a larger pool of data to draw assumptions from. And one of the most common ones is the stereotype with OCs.

 

There's a crucial difference between original secondary characters and original main characters. I'm all for the first, although there's so many names floating around in canon that you can easily use those, but original main characters tend to be shit. Not always, of course, but generally speaking.

 

Watch the incoming fanfiction boost the HP fandom will receive when Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them hit the theater. The play might not create such a huge boom, but I assure you, this movie will.

 

Writing fanfiction is, often, like writing with training wheels.

You've been given the world, you've been given the characters, you've been given the plot and the themes. All you need to do is bend them into something different and interesting.

Original Characters add a level of difficulty to the endeavour. I would say that writing an OC (primary or secondary) for an established universe is much more difficult than creating a new character in a world of your own making. Why? Because you have to make them fit. When building a world and populating it with characters you can have a back-and-forth. The characters can influence the evolution of the world and the world, the characters.

When you have a well established world, though, you are much more constrained. Many fanfiction writers do not deal well with this limitation.

I would liken it to building a new house vs building an extension. No-matter how much effort and money you put into the extension the trained eye will always be able to see that it was added later; the same is true of OCs in fanfiction.

Your OC can be beautifully realised, a complete and interesting character in every way, but they will always feel just a little bit off simply because they weren't envisaged when the world was created by the original author.

If you choose to depart from the established world then it, strangely, becomes easier. Alexandra Quick does not suffer from OC syndrome despite being all OCs because the world they inhabit is one made for them.

This is also true when adding brand new branches of magic (shadow mage, anyone?) or unmentioned political entities. If you do not consider the full ramifications of their addition and alter the entire world accordingly then they are going to feel like thin cardboard cut-outs, tacked on by an unthinking writer.

That is not to say that OCs can't or shouldn't be done. If you're willing to recreate the world around them in a full AU then all will be well, if you have the skill. If you hide them in the background and do not invite the reader to look too closely then the slight mismatch in paint-job may go unnoticed. They should, however, be treated with care.

 

Honestly though, the real reason is because OCs are almost always fucking terrible.

 

The question, however, is why OCs are often terrible here and are allowed to get better in other places. Rwby and mlp try to extend your knowledge of how to build a believable character into the world. They create rules, examples of what not to do, ect, and I think this whole bias might be because of the popularity of HP in the early days of public fan-fiction. This Might be just a gripe, but no matter how much they don't like the story most people can't say that the characters in Fallout Equestria or the RWBY fan wiki completely un characterized as each of these bring their own sort of rules and ideas to each character allowing for a realisation that can be stagnant here. I expect that, after the first shit-wave of Fantastic Beasts you'll get a few people who have some real understanding of how to do OCs influx back into the fandom and create some real stories that might change perceptions.

I know I'm not going to be one of these people, I am not someone who can write well enough to get vary far (my best realized story has three chapters and is being beta-ed by my girlfriend.) I am good at lore in people's worlds, and I may get good enough to come up with good worlds of my own (I am not there yet). But this will take time and effort, and doing this level of exploration of lore is what gets me better at it.