The Creation of an Anime OC- Part 1

With the ever-rising amount of anime there comes more fanfiction. Many fans have turned to writing fics with OCs, or ‘Original Characters’ in them. However, there are many wrong ways to include a new character.

Hold up your hands, say nothing; I'll speak all.
They say, best men are moulded out of faults;
And, for the most, become much more the better

Measure For Measure, Act V, Scene 1

I’m sure a lot of people who read this will have had something to do with fanfiction in their lives; whether that is through reading it, or actually writing it. Fanfiction is an undeniable part of a fandom, as, like fanart, there will always be some. Of course, with both there will always be good and bad parts to it. One part of fanfiction I would like to look at is the OC, the ‘Original Character’, or more commonly known as the ‘Fan Character’, where a fan creates a new character of their own accord and places it into the world of the fandom they are writing for. In this guide we will look at ways to create an OC and the ‘do’s and ‘don’t’s of it. As well, we will look at some ways of how to place that character into the world. Hopefully by the end you will have found some inspiration and a few new ways to look at things.

Act I: First Things First- Know Your Fandom

Research! I can not stress enough how important it is to have at least some idea of how your fandom’s world works. For instance, it’d help to know that Saiyuki is set in China and not Japan; and that Hogwarts does not allow the use of mobile phones (not an anime, I know, but a good example nonetheless). You need to know the limitations and what’s considered normal in the canon to let your fanfic function properly. As well, learn the proper way to spell names/objects/events that are in the canon.

Act II: The Sparks of Life- The Do’s and Don’t’s of Character Creation and Development

Many would regard this as the hardest part, as finding that first bit of inspiration can be a difficult task indeed. And developing can be even harder if you’re not used to it! There are many ways to create a character; all with pros and cons of their own. Here are some small samplings of ways I like to use when I go about getting those first few sparks, and also good ways to further develop them.

Personality:

· Stereotype:

As strange as it sounds, starting off with a cliché is actually quite helpful as long as you only use it as a starting point and not as the entire end product. Take the foundations of the ‘cheerleader’ stereotype- aloof, uncaring and a bit of a con-artist at times. You may want to use this stereotype as an easier way of portraying the character to the readers. However, for a more developed character you will need some serious tweaking.

· Blood type/Zodiac:

Alternately, you may wish to look into personality traits associated with a person’s zodiac, or even their blood type. In Japanese culture, blood type is used to predict traits, and most character profiles you read of an anime character will include it. As opposed to stereotypes, the traits of a zodiac/blood type will already contain both negative and positive traits.

Links:

Wikipedia- Japanese Blood Type Theory of Personality

Wikipedia- Greek Zodiac

Wikipedia- Chinese Zodiac

· Animals:

Another strange one, but some people actually use this to great effect in their writing. Traits from a certain animal can help readers to identify with a character. Such as with one of my characters, I chose a dog. From that I took the aspect of loyalty- meaning that he’s loyal, though only to those he has gained some form of trust from. He’s also protective of the ones he is loyal to as well, and only likes to see those people happy.

One ‘mistake’ I often see people do is hyper-ness. You often see this in the personalities of cat-girls. If they had a cat-like personality, then a hyper personality would be nonsensical (unless they were a kitten-girl, in which it would be slightly more acceptable). Realistic traits are a must, if not, the most commonly accepted traits.

· Profession:

It can be a good idea to look at the job you’d like to place the character in. It can also help to shape a character’s personality just as much as history. A person who fears death will most likely not be working a highly dangerous job unless they can’t help it.

· Flaws/Quirks:

I find this personally to be one of the most interesting ways to create a character, as it allows you to choose the main flaw or quirk of a character first. The flaw doesn’t have to be really big, maybe it’ll only be subtle, but remember that’s it’s just a start.

For a small example, I once chose the quirk of that ‘he’s overly-polite to everyone, including both strangers and people he’s know for years’. It’s an interesting start, but it is progress. From that you could evolve it, so that because of his over-politeness, it creates a barrier and prevents people from getting too near to him. It also creates an air of 'fakeness' around him. People find him hard to believe because sometimes his smile is so lifeless.

Do’s and Don’t’s: When you create a personality, you don’t want to make them too perfect, thus giving birth to a ‘Mary Sue’. The biggest fear most people have when creating a character is having them called a Mary Sue (See link for more in-depth explanation). Unfortunately, most fandoms will be subjected to these kinds of characters at some point. The Trigun fandom supposedly is full of Mary Sue characters.

A big don’t is not to create a self-insert, or basically the act of placing yourself into the canon. Many self-inserts are classed as Mary Sues as they can share traits, and more than often an author will ‘idealise’ their self-insert into a better and much different version of themselves. As said in the article linked to, the most successful self-inserts are used as minor characters.

The answer to a good character is balance, though depending on the character you may want to shift the balance a little (or perhaps a lot). If you decide a character is benevolent, then you don’t want them having blood-lust all the time. However, you will want them to have some kinds of weaknesses. Also, an evil character shouldn’t be cliché either- they’ll have their quirks as well. A brilliant example of well-done bad guys is from Naruto; such as the character Hidan. Hidan has joined an evil organisation although it’s against his ‘religion’, where it dictates that it is better to totally finish off an enemy than leave them half-dead. He’s not more evil than he is “over-enthusiastic” about following the proclamations of his religion.

A character can have one large, obvious flaw, but a character’s quirks and faults shouldn’t be over the top, and never over-played in the storyline for sympathy (an example would be an amputee. Most amputees do not appreciate people feeling sorry for them and offering help for every little thing). A good example for flaws/quirks would be Adrian Monk from the television series Monk. He’s obsessive-compulsive, yet when you watch him, though you may feel sorry for him, it’s never played out to be some big ‘boo-hoo for me’ drama. It’s even funny at times with his nitpicking, as bad as it is.

Flaws should be subtle, and quirks never hidden in the closet until the most appropriate situation, plot-wise (such as an illness, where the character coughs and faints when it’s the most romantic moment for them to do so).

So, as you can see, with some work and tweaking and you will begin to almost see a real person forming. One of the key things is to create reasons why a character will work as they do, which means you will need to work on a history.

History:

· Biography:

A character is nothing without some kind of history. It defines who they are and why they act the way they do. Some people find it easier to write a character’s history before they write their personality. Using the same character I used for the ‘overly-polite’ quirk, I also managed to write a quick history for why he acts like that. I imagined that he was born into a family that ran a road-side tea house, and a very busy one at that. Being a place that often saw bandits, ninja and samurai stopping by, he decided to act polite after a confrontation saw his father lose a hand in order not to incur people’s anger. However, he became too polite out of it through the guilt of feeling that he thought he could have done something to help his father. Afterwards, he became a ninja so that could protect people.

· Ancestry:

What race is your character? Are they human, or are they an elf, or maybe even they come from a family that looks like they’re part shark? And where are they from, such as which country? Something like this could help to determine a few base traits of your character.

Do’s and Don’t’s: The history of a character is one of the utmost important aspects of a character, and is as important as the personality. Without history, a character seems empty. Even a small summary gives them more presence.

As well, don’t overdo a character’s history or make it exactly like another character’s (it will seem too convenient if the two characters meet up and start talking). Everyone’s lives are different. And not everyone’s past is terribly tragic and heartbreaking. A lot of people’s childhoods will start off relatively normal until they start to become more aware of the world around them and hit puberty.

When it comes to what exactly is your character, don’t go crazy. A lot of Mary Sue characters are labelled such because they claim to be part-elf/fairy/whatever, as well as part-cat/mermaid/something, and so on. Not only is it confusing, but biologically impossible in many cases. Remember to research again. If there’s no such thing as elves in the canon of your fandom, then it’d be strange to see that your character is an elf/part-elf. Characters can just be human.

I’m going to mention something about naming your character too. Whatever you do, don’t give them an extravagantly long name, or a name from too foreign a country compared to their own (such as giving a non-Japanese character a Japanese name). Whilst the name may sound pretty, most times it’ll just be a pain to the readers. Also, avoid cliché names such as ‘Raven’, or other nouns that sound pretty. A good character doesn’t always need to have a sparkly name. The same goes for any aliases your character goes under. Keep them to a minimum.

History also gives way to explain any skills a character has.

Abilities/Skills:

· Powers:

Normally skills are best kept until after character creation, however, they can also be helpful in defining a personality. A fiery character could have fire powers- though doing so could seem a little cliché if not done right. If you create a plot that requires a certain power then it could be a good idea to use this as a basis. One thing you must take note of is what your character does for a living, as a ninja has ninja powers, and a pirate... well, they can have the power to hold their rum.

· Talents:

These are things that your character is just naturally good at, or has worked hard at to achieve. This could be singing, cooking, or even knowing how to shop smart. Perhaps they’re very intelligent as well.

Do’s and Don’t’s: The biggest and most important thing to remember when giving your character abilities is to not overdo them, either by number of powers or the strength of them. Over-powering can be the thing that makes or breaks a character. As well, for the sake of character development, it’s best to keep the skills low at the start and build them up as time goes on (if you’re shooting for that kind of fic).

If your character is young, then it’s unlikely for them to have a wide range of powerful skills at their disposal unless they’ve been training their entire life so far. In which case, then they would be well-disciplined, as well they’d probably lack a proper childhood. For power, there will usually always be some kind of sacrifice to be made (the Fullmetal Alchemist rule). For instance, take the character Gaara from Naruto- he is a powerful opponent, but only because of the demon sealed within him. The cost of this, however, was the freedom to sleep, as well as being shunned by everyone in his village when he was growing up.

And whilst there are exceptions to this rule, there normally have to be outside factors influencing it (such as being granted instant power by, say, an alien or deity, but even then the character will have to learn how to use those powers).

Do not forget that with powers, just like personalities, there are weaknesses. You must remember not to give a character an extra power just for covering up a weakness, or just for the sake of it. Keep the number of powers to a minimum. It is more interesting to read about a character overcoming obstacles despite their weaknesses. A look at the manga/anime, One Piece, reflects this quite well. Luffy, the main character, is a rubber-man, meaning his powers are that he can stretch his body parts to do attacks. Although this may seem like a rather crazy power, even perhaps downright useless, but it is surprising the creativity Luffy comes up to defeat his opponents (as powerful as they are). I will discuss writing about fight scenes later on.

Another thing to take note has to do with what I mentioned in relation to research and knowing what’s normal in the canon. A good example to take is placing Superman in the canon of Yugioh. There’s just no real point to doing so. As well, Superman would be considered freakish (though, in a way, it’s the same thing in his canon too). In many fics I see, most people read them just because they work canon-wise, not because the writing is especially gifted, but just because it makes sense.

When explaining an ability, the simpler, the better. Most readers do not appreciate having to wade through a long-winded explanation just to know why a character has x-ray vision. As bad as that may seem, it’s true.

When it comes to talents, try not to make your character the ‘best’ at it. If you bring your character into the fic just to have them ‘show up’ the canon characters and beat them at whatever they’re best at, then there’s something just not right or fair about it. Have your character be good at something else, or at least still learning.

Part 2