Story/Fanfic Writers, I have a question for you

[Luna's Admirer 944]

So, how you guys feel towards your OCs. I mean have you ever felt something akin to affection towards them, like in sense of that you should treat them with kindness. Or have you ever felt bad or regret over making your OC go through devastating situations. Do you think that your OCs are fragments of your own personality or have you guys ever felt treating them like as if they were your child if they were IRL. 

I might be super weird but I feel to much affection and compassion towards some of my OCs. 

NOTE: This don't include the OCs which were introduced as villains or such. These OCs has to be some others like main characters, supporting characters and such. 

Edited January 31, 2019 by Luna's Admirer

[Guest]

Hello!

I have been writing fanfiction for years and currently I have one of the longest fanfictions on FimFiction (still ongoing), which I have been a member of since a few weeks after it launched, so I feel like this question is perfect for me!

So, everyone has different feelings toward their OCs (I have a reputation for abusing mine too much) but honestly, it's a careful balance. You don't want to give them too much love or too much abuse or it comes off as "mary sue"ish to the readers. What I strive to do is find that balance of making them feel like real people.

[SharpWit 2,472]

I don't have regrets if bad things happen to a character. You can get really attached and be devastated by events that happen to them, but those allow for them to grow and make for good story telling. A character who sits in a safety bubble with no problems at all is not one I have any interest in seeing more of. Nothing is better than seeing the victories and defeats of struggling characters. I may be the one who creates their tragedies, but I like to think of them as mostly being unavoidable on their part, and instead of regretting it, I share their emotions through the ups and downs. I'm a very empathetic person, and I use that for getting into the mindset of my characters, even those who aren't like me at all and hold different views. Makes for better expression on their part, and as a result they often do carry a part of me within themselves which I have to be careful to avoid, otherwise it'll become a room full of clones.

[Stone Cold Steve Jobs 22,410]

Balance them like real people.

Maintain and discard like tools that serve or no longer serve their purposes, i.e plot lines. Do what the plot demands while making your character seem real. Give them weaknesses as well as strengths. Allow the reader to relate to them. Don’t give them just misfortune. Kill or discard or keep around depending on the demand of the plot line. They are not people. They are tools.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

As a writer of mostly original works (A few fanfics, too!) I feel great affection for some of my characters. Some I feel like are a part of me. A few times I have felt guilty over problems I put them through.

[Twilight Luna 30,940]

You should never create plot armor for your OCs. It makes them seem invincible and it ruins any tension when something big happens because you know they’ll be alright. Allowing bad things to happen to your charcters can help the reader get emotionally involved with them and the story. 

[Luna's Admirer 944]

I though don't wanna keep my OCs in a plot armor. I don't mind if bad times come upon them and if I'm the one to do this, but sometimes I just wanna make up to them for where I wronged my OCs. Otherwise, I'll feel super guilty. 

So, OCs who seems like abandoned and doomed to misfortune in the first parts of the story, they can be seen going better in the later. It just seems fair.

I honestly end up making small changes in some of my planned story plot, just so I could get a (formerly side or even minor) character out of his/her misfortune and put them a situation better and more meaningful than before. It's just natural for me. 

I end up changing my plans for a monogamous love story into a herd relationship story, only because I didn't wanna leave out any of my female OCs both of whom were devastated/abandoned in one way or other during the course of the story. 

 

[Dreambiscuit 8,024]

I write stories based on one character I created many years ago and I never worry about putting her through the worst predicaments imaginable. That goes with the territory for her. I do it in a humorous way because that's the nature of my stories. But even if you have a protective nature toward your characters, remember that the story must always come first. If it's interesting and compelling to the reader, it's the duty of your character to suffer if that's what makes the the story work. If you do your job well, the reader will empathize with your character and you'll have some truly rich storytelling that will resonate with them. 

[Twiggy 2,965]

While I definitely feel affection for them, I’ve never felt bad about putting them in danger, moral dilemmas, etc. 

Giving them difficult challenges to overcome and allowing them to grow from the experience is a necessity for good storytelling. It’s usually a key part of advancing the plot and makes the character more endearing to the readers. 

 

[Lucky Bolt 34,914]

I am not a story/fanfic writer, but that's not say I have no OCs! They all tend to be fragments of my own personality, and my main OC/ponysona, Lucky Bolt, is all me. 

[Cyclone 1066 3,616]

I have wrote OC's, including my ponysona doing things less than moral and out them through some tough situations. I felt no issue with it cause we have times in our lives we regret decisions we made and go through some situations we definitely didn't want to experience so why can't they? That being said, I have never had an OC based on me do something that I myself wouldn't have done in that situation, right or wrong.

[Early Sunsets 2,106]

It depends on the character. I do feel guilty putting them through a bunch of bad stuff, but I do it anyway. It can be necessary sometimes for character development.

And I'm not afraid to kill off characters. Assuming it's not some happy slice-of-life story, anyway.

[dead account 2,703]

I mean I created them and gave them life, they really feel like my children. Naturally, I want the best for all of them.

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

I completely understand this. When I go to write my story about my OC Granite Rose, I put him through bad situations on purpose yet I feel bad for him, somehow. With him, he definitely reflects parts of myself even though I didn’t realize it at first. In writing, there is always a personal element to it, so it wouldn’t surprise me if other writers related to their characters like that.

[SharpWit 2,472]

A far less sentimental note to add on. Would our characters be satisfied if their world was so perfectly peachy, or would they be like humanity in the matrix and reject a world with no faults?

[TBD 17,228]

When coming up with characters for my fictions, I reflect back to my own personality and my experiences. Most of the time these experiences includes the people I know and met.  I treats all my characters with care and also with lots of thoughts giving to them. I do admit, I have few characters I made that are difficult to develop because I tend to overthink or fear that  I might butcher them at the end.