OCs (and we're not talking Orange County)

[honeybee]

Because I just beta-ed Crystalswolf's amazing OC- centric story Let'thieri - I got to thinking about creating original characters.

I'm always nervous about it - but I always end up having them. Family Secrets is a veritable fiesta of OCs (I think I counted seven) with the big one being T'Pol's half brother, Enme.

So, people, how do you create your OCs? Do you have any favorites, of your own or created by other? How do you avoid the Mary Sue trap?

Although I wanted Enme to be a total dreamboat in FS - having him be 100x Romulan helped with the Mary Sue issue. As a Romulan, he's xenophobic, arrogant, easily bored and has a wacky moral compass vis a vie killing people and conquering them. But he does have a moral compass.

I sometimes picture an actor playing an OC. I pictured Iggy Pop as Javon in FS and Cillian Murphy as Enme.

And for Elizabeth in "A Mirror Cracked" I've been picturing Oscar Nominee Carey Mulligan with blond hair.

edited to add: Put this in the TnT thread since most of my OCs are either related to TnT or heavily interact with them. So, that's just me being a narcissist.

[WarpGirl]

OC's are wonderful. If you can pull them off. It takes bravery that's for sure.

[honeybee]

Okay, so I found the perfect photo of MU Elizabeth Tucker (at least in my head):



We barely see her in the RU, so I'm taking some license.


And this is what T'Pol's brother looks like in FS, except with pointed ears and grey eyes:

[WarpGirl]

Scarecrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yikes. I'm scared of him already.

[crystalswolf]

Honeybee, you're making me blush

Personally, I think OCs are in some ways easier because people have less expectations. Everyone has their "vision" of established characters and there's always the likelihood of stomping all over that vision.

When writing, I tend to try and put myself in the characters' situations. You know, like an actor's "What's my motivation?" just with each character. The more characters I have, the more exhausting it can become. The relaxing part is that I'm writing for my own amusement, I just share sometimes.

I can so see her as Elizabeth!

I always confuse Cillian Murphy with Ian Somerhalder

[WarpGirl]

I do the same thing. Only with everyone not just my OC's. Still it was a cool story Crystalwolf. I'm just waiting for the next part to review. I need a bigger picture.

[Aquarius]

I'm generally super-critical of OCs. That's not to say that they can't be well done; but, and maybe this is my background in studying to be a TV writer, I've always felt that they should be there to help the plot along, versus outshining the regular cast, if that makes sense. Obviously they can be important to the story, but a regular character needs to be front-and-center.

And then there's the Mary Sue syndrome.

Again--I've seen rich, well-developed OCs who are compelling and move a story along without suddenly becoming more important than the main characters. But since this is so hard to do when playing with an established series, it's why I've generally avoided them, except in obviously peripheral roles. The salesgirls in "T'Pol's Secret" were a rare thing for me, but I had an easy time with that because they were organic to the situation. From my perspective, this was still T'Pol's story, and this was about her influence on Missi and the other women for the brief amount of time she was there looking for something to spice things up in the bedroom with Trip. T'Pol inadvertently becomes a role model for Missi, as she realizes that she has so much more potential than selling slutty panties for the rest of her life. T'Pol touched a life without even being aware of it, but that's the kind of thing that people in her position do. the idea was to see her through an outsider's eyes.

[honeybee]

The thing about Missi in T'Pol's Secret is that while you have retail experience, she wasn't you. You layered various motivations on her (through the drafts that I saw) and she became that person touched by T'Pol without her knowing it. And she wasn't a Mary Sue because she really was a smart person who was totally underemployed - and she had a small journey to take.

Most of my OCs start with a function in the story - Phlox's replacement in the Twilight-verse or What would T'Pol's V'Shar contact be like on a DS9 type station? Then you layer on traits from there for fun, drama or story.

[panyasan]

I agree, Honeybee, that picture is Elizabeth! I wrote a couple of OC's in my fic The Captives , Rianna Thott being to most prominent one. I liked to make her multilayered and totally different then everybody thought. What I like about OC's is that you make your own character -with flaws and good points and try to flesh them out in details. I think my favorite OC is the priest in Dinah's stories and I have a weak point for Tamaru in her story (but I am biased here) and there are more. An interesting OC can add the salt in the porrigde of a story, but I agree with Aquarius, if they become too prominent it distracts too much. Missi in T'Pols secret was needed in the story - it's a story about T'Pol from her POV. Which made it funny and orginal.

[Aquarius]

Honeybee--Oh, I know she wasn't me. I wasn't imposing my own fantasies into the context of the show or the characters without regard to whether or not it made sense. There may be little pieces of me in each one--the feeling underemployed in Missi and the smart mouth in Vernita, maybe--but I also drew from people I had worked with in the past, modeling my girls after "types" versus specific people.

[WarpGirl]

Personally I like lots of characters in a story because I want to feel like a story is in a complete world. And while TnT are at the heart of that world it's more interesting to me if they do not emcompass every single aspect of that world. Dinah and Transwarp are absolutely perfect balancing that. Elessar and Dis blow me away as well with their balance of OC's. TnT may be the center of attention, but their lives are richer with extras. Be they characters from Trek or OC's. It's just my personal taste but I much prefer a rich multi layered story.

[honeybee]

I once had a conversation with the great, great author Alice McDermott about writing and she said that she would never, ever base a character on herself. She didn't know how Updike and Roth got away with it - but said that women writers are more likely to be raked over the coals for it. She based Charming Billy on someone she knew.

(Ms. McDermott was a professor at my graduate school, but I never had a class with her. I chatted her up at a function. She loves to talk about writing.)


But I think one of the keys to a good OC is that the must have a solid function in the story.

You can bring your own knowledge to the character, but they cannot be you.

The only Mary Sue that ever worked was Snoopy - who was Charles Schultz's fantasy of who he wanted to be. But that was pretty balanced out by Charlie Brown, who he thought he was.

[Aquarius]

That's often my point of contention--lots of times they feel like they're there just to be there.

[WarpGirl]

IDK to me there is a difference between taking one major aspect of yourself and putting it into a character, and basing one on yourself. Humans aren't one-dimensional. Characters shouldn't be. But using one major aspect of yourself can be a good starting point. I know it's helped me.

Snoopy was a Gary-Stu? Since when?

[honeybee]

Schultz was very open that Snoopy was the vehicle for living all his fantasies about what he wanted to be:

a) great writer b) play at the masters c) WWI flying Ace d) own a Van Gough

Whenever he had a fantasy, he lived it through Snoopy - of course he's not really a Gary Stu since Schultz's tongue is so firmly in his cheek.