OC's In Fandom

[deirdre-aithne.livejournal.com]

So, I've got a question, and as far as I can remember, no one's asked it yet on the comm. And since it's very relevant to my current H/D project, I figured- why not?.

How much of a place do you see for OC's in fandom and fanfiction? Specifically, I'm interested in everyone's thoughts about their home as supporting cast, not as members of the main pairing of the fic.

An OC who used to date Harry or Draco and played a large part of their backstory and is discussed, but never seen, or an OC who has a decent amount of screen time to serve the plot, or to provide a friend to one of the main characters- do these people have a place in fanfiction?

Or should all characters be canonly (making up words like woah!) recognizable, even if it wouldn't suit their characters to use them?

How many OC's is 'too many'?


*eagerly awaits some opinions*

And, if you happen to have a moment, why not drop by the OC POLL on my journal? *bats eyelashes*

Comments

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

I loooooooooooove OCs. Absolutely love them. I think they can bring such a breath of fresh air to a fic, whether they're offscreen (just referred to by certain characters) or actually part of the story.

Absolutely they have a place in fan fiction. I think writing OCs shows real creativity.

I'm not sure there's a limit on how many OCs are too many; I think it entirely depends on the fic and the plot. Right now I'm writing an H/D fic with a slew of OCs, including a fourth child for Harry, because Harry, as an Auror, needed to have co-workers. I think I have five or six OCs in this particular fic. They're background characters, but still important.

I'm not quite understanding your question about "should all characters be canonly?" Could you explain it a little further?

I will go take your poll now :D

[deirdre-aithne.livejournal.com]

Lol, 'canonly recognizable'. I broke up the phrase with my (making up words like woah) comment, I just meant it as "Does every character in a fic need to be someone from canon?". I don't want to shoehorn people form canon into a character slot that doesn't suit them, but there's always the chance someone else might think the whole point of fanfiction would be to use ALL canon characters. So I wanted to leave it open. :)

Thanks for your input! I love to see OCs as long as they serve a purpose (and they can be so much fun to write!)

[oldenuf2nb.livejournal.com]

I think OC's have a definite place in fanfiction. I use them all of the time. In fact, I love them! And I'm of the belief that the characters should suit the fiction. If you feel a need for them, and want to interject them in the HP universe, well... I figure that's what fanfiction is for, right?

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

My opinion is that no, not every character needs to be from canon. OCs definitely have their place.

[deirdre-aithne.livejournal.com]

Totally agree! I think OCs help sort of expand on the universe, rather than keeping it restricted to what we got to see in canon, when there's so much more we can explore.

Thank you for your input! :)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I also use OCs a lot in HP fic. This is partly because I like creating characters, but also because most of the fic I write is set years after the end of the books, and I can tell you that 20 years on I keep in touch with maybe 3 people I went to high school with, total. (And that number would be more like 1 if it weren't for Facebook.) It doesn't make sense to me to only use characters explicitly mentioned in canon.

I love reading fics where writers bring in OCs as well. As long as Harry and Draco end up together, they can be the only two canon characters in the fic. (I think I've written something like that too, heh.)

[steamyaffair.livejournal.com]

As a reader, I enjoy OC's that are fairly fleshed out - in as much as any "minor" player to the plot could be. I feel that it is a mark of a good writer to insert the OC into a plot that pertains to an already established/public character's life.

There have been many OC's in the HP universe that appealed to me - be they an Auror partner, a victim, a Healer, a land lord, what-have-you.

For me, the OC serves as a plot device to move the story towards a canon/fanon conclusion.

Personally, I don't read 'OC-as-fic-writer's-personal-immersion' fics. And, to be honest, though OC's are great - there are certainly plenty of "residual" or "under-developed" characters available in the HP universe that could be molded into the author's particular need.

For example: Terry Boot, an under-developed character that is often portayed as a homosexual partner. There is a reason why fandom accept this so easily. It's an opportunity to 'relate' as the fandom (since you recognize the name and his House) shape 'Terry' into whatever role you think he may fit. All because JKR never said otherwise.

I've read many fics that feature an OC and I think OC's are great. What I'm shy of are fics that introduce an OC who's purpose could be easily be adapted by any number of the original author's writings.

In other words, OCs are fun and tempting - but for my part, I'd prefer the writer use one of the author's pre-determined characters to fill the role of the OC wherever necessary.

I mean, for instance - An author could pen a story where Harry takes up an affair with a lusty rival Seeker. In this case wouldn't you rather make that 'Seeker' Draco or Krum? Or Ginny? Why introduce an OC here when there is a plethora of characters who could fill that spot?

Let's face it. Aside from Harry there is very little insight as to what the other characters feel. JKR's cast of characters are certainly a major part of the story-telling, but her primary focus has been 'Harry' and that leaves just about everything up to interpretation.

So, why stick with the 'sure thing'? Because it's easy. What could be simplier? Harry is a Hero (like it as not), Ron will always be at Harry's back. They rely upon and help each other through the days ahead.

TL;DR

In my opinion, OC's should only be used to fill an otherwise 'empty' hole in the fic. If the fic requires a character from Arizona, US to teach Harry how to hornswaggle a bull-calf - fine! However, if the fic needs a wizard who attended Hogwarts and suddenly found the sight of Harry in his Auror robes incredibly attractive ... Well, I'd say JKR already created a cast of characters that the writer could draw upon flesh out in their own way.

And now is the time when Steamy shuts-teh-hellz-up.

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

For me, it all depends on the skill of the writer. There have been fics where I have absolutely adored the OC's and other's where I could not garner any care or interest in them. 'Resonance' by greengecko introduces a number of OCs as Harry's co-workers and they became an integral part of the series. I adore them. Same with the OCs in 'The Sacrifices Arc'. There were probably too many of them there, but I did love most of the ones she created.

When you do post-Hogwarts fics, you would need a few OCs simply because the story takes place out in the world, not in the tiny, segregated micro-cosm that is Hogwarts. If you do Hogwarts, and that includes 8th year, you could stick with mostly characters who were at least mentioned in canon. The occasional OC there is fine, in the position of a Hogwarts professor or some such. If you do healers, aurors, or anywhere away from Hogwarts OCs would be necessary, in my opinion.

How much characterization you give them would depend on how much involvement they have in the story. Are they important? The more face-time a character gets the more in depth the characterization needs to be.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

As with most things, I think it entirely depends on how they are written. I've read OCs who I've ended up loving as much as the canon characters - Eliza in slytherincess's Benefaction, Manny in emmagrant01's Left my Heart, for examples. When they are done well, the blend seamlessly into the story so you quickly forget they weren't in the original books.

[tari_sue]

I completely agree with this. It feels weird in some fics where the only people any of them hang out with are people from Hogwarts when I deliberately avoid a lot of the people I went to school with. There are bound to be new people in Harry's life as he gets older.

[sara-holmes.livejournal.com]

OC's are probably needed in some fanfictions, especially if it's set after the war. There's more people in the big-wide world than just their school mates! For example, if a story set after school puts Harry in a job in the Aurors, it gets a bit weird - and unrealistic - when all his colleagues appear to be his mates from school.

Saying that - if you need extra characters for a fic set in Hogwarts, (or want school friends for a post-Hogwarts job) you can do your research and find some characters and names that JKR had in mind for more students in Harry's year but never introduced. Then they're pretty much OC's because we know nothing about them, but to me using the names already created is kind of a hat-tip to the universe we're playing around in. And it has the plus side of not having to twist a more well known character to suit your needs.

What I dread is stumbling across a fic where an 'OC' is actually the writer saying 'I wish this was me, like yeah so I'm writing me as super cool and awesome and I get with Harry and Draco and everyone hates me because I'm misunderstood.' The dreaded Mary-Sue if you will. I'll admit, they're not always that extreme, but there's still a difference between writing a story that you want others to enjoy and writing a story that you want to be in. I mostly lurk around on FFdotnet and this seems to happen a lot with younger writers.

And I'm still wanting to punch whoever decided that 'Nigel' was an alright OC addition to the HP films. There were like five canon characters who could have played that part perfectly. I suppose they were just too lazy to find their copy of the book and check who was actually there or not. Grr.

Rant over, capt'n.

[deirdre-aithne.livejournal.com]

*fangirls all over that icon*

Oh, not the Mary-Sue OCs!! *hides* Those annoy me to death, and seeing so many of them on FFnet is probably why I'm so worried about having OCs at all in this fic I'm working on, lol. I don't think any of them are Mary-Sues, but you never know how fandom at large looks at all OCs anymore when so many others in fics have been.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!

[deirdre-aithne.livejournal.com]

*nods* So it's more about their characterization and the purpose they're serving, just like any of the canon characters, than whether they're an OC or not, I suppose.

Thanks for the input!!

[deirdre-aithne.livejournal.com]

I think it's all thrown me off because I'm not used to working with a post-Hogwarts setting where the fic doesn't focus solely on Harry and Draco, with minimal views of other characters. This one, I have to have interactions with other people, and short of making half of their former schoolmates into kinksters, well... lol.

So it's more about making them feel like solid characters than anything, I guess. If they're too flat and one-dimensional, then they're going to be a put-off, but if they're fleshed out and well characterized, then they're more likely to help the story along the way they should.

[deirdre-aithne.livejournal.com]

I can definitely see where sometimes, an OC is completely unnecessary when compared to a canon character, even the name-only ones. What's sort of thrown a wrench into the equation for me is the environment I'm working with. I'd have to turn half of Harry and Draco's former schoolmates into kinksters to knock out the OCs I've already used and cover any I may need in the future, and I'd still be stuck with one OC who's irreplaceable.

Would you say it depends more on the environment and purpose of the character in question, then, for whether they should be from canon or an OC?

[deirdre-aithne.livejournal.com]

Heh, I'm less than 5 years out, and I only keep in touch with about that many high school friends.

Thanks for the input!! ^_^

[amt149.livejournal.com]

I think as long as the OC's are relevant to the development of the fic, then it's never too many. I'm currently writing an International!Fic where H&D are in Hong Kong on an Auror Mission. Needless to say, the people they meet in Hong Kong are all OC's. I think that's fine, and from what the reviews say, it my reviewers think it's fine too.

OC's that are discussed but not physically in the story (ie. little screen time) can be useful, but I personally find a story boring if there are too many of these. It kills one of the points of "fanfiction" which is to use what was given to you by the original author. If the OC's have a great deal of screen time, however, they are more likely to affect the outcome of the story and are therefore not so out-of-place as those with little screen time.

OC's can add mystery to a story, because you don't know about them yet. You wonder how they will interact with the cannon!Characters. You don't know if they're crafty and sly and everything you're being told about them is a lie, or if you can trust them like you can trust a hufflepuff.

I'm not so sure what you mean by "canonly", but if it means what I think it does, I would say No. It makes the story awkward and personally, it looks like you're trying to shove random people into wrong parts. If you can't find a canon character to use, use an OC. No one will blame you.

But that's all just my opinion *winks*

[steamyaffair.livejournal.com]

100% Yes! Exactly that. And I'm not trying to bash OCs because I have read and loved several fics where an OC (or three) played a prominent part. I can also see the appeal from the stand-point that it's simply easier all around to tailor-make a character that fits the role the writer has in mind. I know. I've done it.

On the flip-side, I also enjoy fics where canon characters take on a decidedly "un-canon" type role. Just read a fic that had Millicent Bulstrode as the Headmistress of Hogwarts! Loved it!!! That said, Dennis Creevey as a dungeon master in a bondage club? Maybe not. XD

(Poor Dennis! I don't mean to pick on you

What a great discussion you've sparked! I love reading all the other comments...

[magicallioness.livejournal.com]

I would say this highly depends on the OC and how well he/she is written. I've read fanfiction is which the OC is one of the, if not the best, character, I've dropped fanfiction because of the presence of an unnesecarry OC that was a Mary Sue or Gary Stu.

If your OC/OC's are important to the story (i.e. they are not there because the writer wants to write out his/her fantasies in the HP world) and if they are well written, an OC can be the driving force and best part of a fanfic. So don't be shy about introducing one, just make sure you have a good character sketch and background and a apropriate role for him/her in the story.