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?
Well that was funny.