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| - An original character (or OC for short) is a character in a fanfic that is wholly the creation of the author and does not exist at in the canon. Often, original characters are self-inserts and/or Mary Sues. An OC is solely created for the story.
- An Original Character, or OC for short, is a fanfiction term for characters who are created by fans of a work, typically by fanfiction authors. Original characters arenot part of a work's original official canon, in this case, original characters would be characters who are not part of Bully's canon.
- An Original Character, or "OC" for short, refers to a user-made character who is not taken from any other form of media. Original Characters are generally well-received in Make Your Move, and may range from a simple product of the user's mind, to a self-insert character. Some users, like Chris Lionheart, Iron Thorn, and cheap_josh, are notorious for having created multiple OCs in their time in Make Your Move. Over the process of all the Make Your Move contests, a great number of OCs have been submitted, many even going on to place in their respective contests. To date, the highest placing OC is Donna Levman, an Original Character by Junahu. Donna placed fourth in Make Your Move 3, after Chief Mendez's Lord Dracula, MasterWarlord's Cervantes, and KingK.Rool's Headless Horseman.
- Original characters are often controversial, as most people read fanfiction to see the canon characters and some may feel cheated if they are presented with a story involves characters who were not part of the original canon. Many poorer original character stories often downplay or change key canonical characters to fit the original character, but this is not always the case and they can have a positive impact if written well.
- An original character (abbr. OC) is a fanfiction character that does not occur in canon. OCs breed like rabbits in the world of fandom. Anytime a new student transfers to Hogwarts, you have an OC on your hands. Good OCs agree with the canon and blend into a continuum—they feasibly could have existed in the story, 'off-screen' and unknown to the viewer until they somehow became important. These characters usually inhabit goodfic, but if they are encountered on a mission can potentially be recruited or just left alone.
- An Original Character (OC, don't steal) is, in the simplest terms, a new character created in a Fanfic or other work that does not come from an existing copyright. Any and all Characterization Tropes can apply, along with employing any and all tropes in general. The only real distinction between original and regulars character is that the former are synthesized specifically to unofficially integrate with the canon for the purposes of the story. The vast majority of fanfiction makes use of these, ranging in importance from being background extras to stealing the spotlight of the canonical characters.
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| abstract
| - An original character (or OC for short) is a character in a fanfic that is wholly the creation of the author and does not exist at in the canon. Often, original characters are self-inserts and/or Mary Sues. An OC is solely created for the story.
- An Original Character, or OC for short, is a fanfiction term for characters who are created by fans of a work, typically by fanfiction authors. Original characters arenot part of a work's original official canon, in this case, original characters would be characters who are not part of Bully's canon.
- An Original Character, or "OC" for short, refers to a user-made character who is not taken from any other form of media. Original Characters are generally well-received in Make Your Move, and may range from a simple product of the user's mind, to a self-insert character. Some users, like Chris Lionheart, Iron Thorn, and cheap_josh, are notorious for having created multiple OCs in their time in Make Your Move. Over the process of all the Make Your Move contests, a great number of OCs have been submitted, many even going on to place in their respective contests. To date, the highest placing OC is Donna Levman, an Original Character by Junahu. Donna placed fourth in Make Your Move 3, after Chief Mendez's Lord Dracula, MasterWarlord's Cervantes, and KingK.Rool's Headless Horseman.
- An Original Character (OC, don't steal) is, in the simplest terms, a new character created in a Fanfic or other work that does not come from an existing copyright. Any and all Characterization Tropes can apply, along with employing any and all tropes in general. The only real distinction between original and regulars character is that the former are synthesized specifically to unofficially integrate with the canon for the purposes of the story. The vast majority of fanfiction makes use of these, ranging in importance from being background extras to stealing the spotlight of the canonical characters. On that note, original characters have a bit of controversy surrounding them. Most people read fanfiction to see the canon characters and feel cheated when they find that the story basically reduces them to satellites in favor of what is often a Mary Sue, especially when there are already enough characters as it is. This isn't always the case, of course, but Sturgeon's Law means the odds are good. Still, Tropes Are Not Bad and perfectly valid, likable new characters can come about. After all, all characters were new once. Series that are structured around new characters every week such as Monster of the Week, Victim of the Week, or Girl of the Week actually require that the author create original characters in order to maintain the Original Flavor of the series. Attempting to list every instance (or even every "notable" instance) is rather pointless--they are almost as numerous as Fanfic themselves. In some places (such as on Deviant ART) the term "Fan Character" is used instead, and the distinction "Original Character" refers to a character that exists in a canon of the author's own creation, or the canon of an "Original Character Tournament" (where artists compete by pitting their original character against other peoples' in fights, or pizza eating contests, or whatever the creator of the tournament has decided is the proper form of conflict); in other words, an "Original Character" is a truly original character without ties to another creative work's canon. One general mental comment to the "OC, Do Not Steal" disclaimer is the reaction, "Why do you think I'd want to steal your character?" Compare Original Generation. Subtrope: OC Stand In. Do Not Confuse With OOC, although a certain type of OC may cause OOCness in Canon characters.
- An original character (abbr. OC) is a fanfiction character that does not occur in canon. OCs breed like rabbits in the world of fandom. Anytime a new student transfers to Hogwarts, you have an OC on your hands. Good OCs agree with the canon and blend into a continuum—they feasibly could have existed in the story, 'off-screen' and unknown to the viewer until they somehow became important. These characters usually inhabit goodfic, but if they are encountered on a mission can potentially be recruited or just left alone. Bad OCs... don't do those things. Most bad OCs are Mary Sues, but some are simply not notable. Some lack personality, but are not offensive, or simply fade into being generics. These characters sometimes inhabit badfic, but more often they inhabit mediocre fic that is neither good nor bad. Even without considering characterization or looking for Sueishness, here are some things to consider when evaluating OCs: 1.
* Could this character feasibly have grown up in this universe? In other words, do they have a name, culture, and socialization acceptable for the continuum in question? Or are they inexplicably different in culture or values from everybody else? 2.
* Where does this character live in this universe? Whether a person is mentioned as being a dependent or having a job, do they have a house/home/place in the world? Or do they simply vanish when they're 'off-screen'? 3.
* Could this character support him/herself in this universe? Where does their money come from? Do the possessions this character owns match his/her economic status, and if not, are they in debt because of this fact? Or have they been awarded random possessions with no rhyme or reason? 4.
* Does this character comply with the established themes of the continuum they are colonizing? Are they suitably funny if the canon is comedic, or suitably meaningful if the canon is serious? Or do they not follow the canon's lead in terms of theme, tone, and mood? 5.
* Could this character suitably interact with others in this universe? If this character interacts with main characters, is it natural or is it contrived? 6.
* If any of these rules are broken, is there an explanation that suits the continuum? Could this character's unlikeliness be explained away by the canon's propensity for such things? Or is this strange new development out of place in a canon that doesn't see such things? Chances are, if the character scores a 'no' on one or more of these rules, they are worthy of examination: if not as a Sue, then as a Sue-accomplice or a simply useless/poorly written character. It is one of the unfortunate side effects of the Mary Sue fanfiction invasion that OCs have earned a bad reputation among canon purists. In fact, there is nothing wrong with the concept of an original character being introduced to canon in fanfiction. It is simply the case that for every well-written OC, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of OC Mary Sues. With such a huge source of Sues eliminated, fanfiction without OCs is significantly more likely to be better-written than fanfiction with them. Because of the self-centered nature of the Mary Sue, the more prominent the OCs are in the story, the worse the fanfiction is likely to be—and the better odds you have of finding a Sue. This conclusion isn't based on bias, but simple logic. If a staggering number of OCs are Mary Sues, then a lot of OC-heavy fic will also be Mary Sue-heavy fic. This casts a dark stain on the rest—unfairly. Many new installments of a canon contain expansions of some sort, be it expansion of setting, plot, or cast of characters. For good examples of OCs, look no further than most agents, who must be strong, well-balanced characters in their own right for their author to get Permission.
- Original characters are often controversial, as most people read fanfiction to see the canon characters and some may feel cheated if they are presented with a story involves characters who were not part of the original canon. Many poorer original character stories often downplay or change key canonical characters to fit the original character, but this is not always the case and they can have a positive impact if written well. An original characters who is overly perfect or bends the plot to their will and demands is often properly called a Mary Sue, as these are often considered signs of poor writing on the author's part, but the term is often used to disparage any original character if seen fit. Common types of fanfics featuring original characters include the Original Character Story, where users sign up their own original characters for one author's work, Stick Fics, where they re-neact the South Park video game, or the most common, New Kid fics, where the original character is a new kid at South Park and gets to know other characters.
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