WIP check in: day 15

[lullabymoon]

Apologies for the missed day yesterday, my brain wandered off and it took a while to find it.

Anyway, how has your writing been?

Poll #12101

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

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Today I...

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wrote
6 (66.7%)

edited
1 (11.1%)

researched
0 (0.0%)

posted
0 (0.0%)

had a rest
1 (11.1%)

did something else
2 (22.2%)

Today was...

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great
1 (11.1%)

okay
4 (44.4%)

average
0 (0.0%)

meh
2 (22.2%)

I don't want to talk about it
2 (22.2%)

Today's discussion: Original characters - do you create them for your fanfic? If you do, is there a particular plot point you create them for and do you have favourite ones you reuse? If not, is there a particular reason why not or have you just not needed to so far?

Comments

[linaewen]

I wrote 500 words of a one-shot thing I'm working on for a challenge due tomorrow. It's not finished yet, but I don't need to write too much more. The day was crazy busy, but I'm pleased that I got a chance to do some writing in spite of that. Hopefully I still have a bit of inspiration in me to finish up tonight!

My main characters are from canon in whatever genre I'm writing in, but I have also created a number of original characters that either hang out with the main characters or who have their own side stories. Some I haven't reused, though I liked them enough that I might have to come up with more stories that include them! Others are regular characters now and they recur in many different stories because they have become established as characters in their own right.

[crowdog66]

I don't hesitate to create OCs if the story demands them or if their existence helps to explore the wider universe of the fic. (In fact, one of my most popular stories, "It's a Cold and It's a Broken Hallelujah", consists almost entirely of OCs whose thoughts and actions revolve around a canon character slash pairing, and since one of the canon characters is in a coma for almost the entire story... yeah, OCs as far as the eye can see. And in another of my most popular pieces, "When the Farsei Blooms", two of the OCs, Aslel and Borik, have their own small fan following. :))

Thus far each OC has been unique unto themselves. For me they live and breathe as much as any character should: I avoid using "stock characters" like the plague, or at least I try to.

[barbayat]

Wrote a bit yesterday, going to start shortly with my pwp, hopefully I get at least as much done as yesterday. (edit: wrote about 500 something words, more than yesterday, so yeah).

OC - I love OCs, I always have plenty of them in my stories. As new adversaries, as love interests, as side characters.

I get writing about just the canon - but I think part of the appeal is also to have the canons meet new characters and think how that might influence them instead of just relying on them.

For example you can write A-Team fanfic just with the team - but that way you can not have them on all types of assignments or just have them come up against old enemies/clients.

My Van Helsing story takes places 180 years after the movie, so Dracula (and later Van HElsing) are the only two canons showing up. So my OCs are all over the place and I love it. I could have written just about Dracula alone in the desert starving - but that is not exactly my type of story :D

So far I only re-used Prey (who is my "girlfriend" for Darth Maul) for the opening of my longer fanfic idea. But I do not mind re-using if I have another good plot for them. Most of them are pretty well rounded characters and can easily carry their own story, so why not?