Beacon Initiates Introduction: OC Writing 101

Hehem, Before we start out, I'm just going to get a few things out of the way. Some disclaimers, if you like.

       1. I do not own RWBY, nor does anyone in this group. RWBY belongs to Monty Oum, who's words you should consider absolute in the RWBY-verse. If he says red is now blue, it's true. No ifs, ands, or buts.

       2. My word is not all-powerful. In fact, this whole document is just a huge list of what I would recommend when starting out making an OC. You can feel free to form an OC however the heck you want . I also won't pretend to know everything about OC s, so this is just a bunch of suggestions built from my experience.

       3. While I encourage reviewing and constructive criticism, any flaming and disrespectful reviews are not encouraged by me in any way.

       4. I am not here to settle your arguments over whether an OC is valid or not. Don't try to use the group as a way to settle personal disputes. Please.

       5. If someone gives you a review and suggest you make some changes, for the love of god listen to them. You're working with an OC, not your soul. If you don't strive to improve your work, odds are no one's going to care about what you do.

       6. … Crud, I'm out. I dunno, have fun? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that this is what the whole concept of fanfiction is about.


Right ho, so you're here! Great to meet you, and I see you're reading this to find out about some suggestions for developing an OC. Great! All you have to do is write a bio of your super-character who is just so amazing and can never be beaten, submit it, and wait for it to be loved, right?


HAHAHAHAHAH NOPE! Get ready to bulk up for this, because creating a good, well-developed OC is a bit more complex than that. It's a long, winding road of editing and destroying a character you've come to love, and then building it back up only to have it torn right down again. However, it's not all as bad as you may think, as no matter how good your OC is, you'll be editing it, and it is this evolution of characters that is so fascinating. Nothing is more fun than improving your OC time after time, and then looking back and thinking "Gosh, I couldn't have written that! It looks nothing like my new character!" Trust me on this.

In the age of the internet, you've got be prepared for everything, including embarrassment. Now, if you totally annihilate previous versions of a poor OC and upgrade, that's great! But before you even start off, I want you to know that you're OC will be reviewed in this group, and most definitely WILL be up for criticism. This isn't the "I'll submit my OC then everyone will love me!" group, so you'd better not act surprised when your god-level character isn't exactly accepted.

Now, before you start, I'm going to give you what probably is the most recurring themes in OC writers, and that is most writers see OC's as a reflection of themselves, and base their OC on how they perceive themselves, but work to limit flaws, lest they feel insecure. Heck, all OCs start out like this, with no exception. I've done it a few times myself.

They then make their OC's versions of themselves, and then they want to be all awesome, so they start making the OC awesome. You know, adding an extra gun, a non-cannon ability here, the super-skill there. See the pattern? Pretty soon their OC is pretty overpowered and doesn't fit in the cannon, but at the same time they feel as if THEY are their OC. Kind of a messy situation, eh? Now, all OC's start out like this, but when these (often over-powered) OCs receive less than perfect reviews, the writer feels personally attacked. But please keep in mind, that when you're in this situation (as you most likely will be), that reviewers are critiquing your OC, not yourself. They take time out of their day to review your OC, which in and of itself shows that they care, so heed their advice. You will mostly like have to make changes, and that will be hard, but it will make you a better writer by doing so.


So, you make your character for the first time, submit it, and are devastated by a  review your OC received that was less than stellar. This is the breaking point, the moment of decision, and you've got several options:


       1. Sadness and depression that no one liked your OC. You wallow about for a few days then deciding to give it up forever. If this happens, I'm sorry to say but you've got to be able to take constructive criticism to make a well rounded OC, even if it is a little harsh. If you can't toughen up, you're going to have a pretty rough time around here.


       2. DEFENSE MODE! EX-TER-MIN-ATE ALL WHO DO NOT SEE THE GREATNESS!! So, basically you take very personal offense at what the criticism says, (which could be avoided if you didn't confuse yourself with your character) and you immediately begin to discredit what they say and refuse to listen to their advice for any reason. Or you go way, WAY beyond that and ban anyone who doesn't like your OC. You do your best to defend your OC, claiming she isn't a Mary-Sue (which you have no say in whether or not your character is a Marry-Sue) and then resort to name calling because you got a bad review. Or…

       3. Acceptance. You accept the fact that 9 times out of 10, a reviewer has another perspective on your OC, and has a better grasp on how the masses will react and view it. You know that the simple fact that they took time to review your OC means that they want to see it grow, so you do what they say. You take their advice and alter the backstory a bit (or completely change it), nerf their weapons to make it more believable (or completely change them), you modify their personality (or completely change it), and make him or her a tad bit weaker (you know, make sure she can't destroy the world with a single flick of her finger). See what I’m getting at here? Nine times out of ten to make a good OC you'll have to completely rework all facets of the first draft and 10 times out of 10 the first version is crap. Deal with it and move on up in the world.


       4. You realize that you totally loath your character and you need to destroy it. Generally, this is a bit extreme, but sometimes you have to change so much that it seems much more manageable to grab a blank page. This is hard, but you'll be a better writer because of it. Trust me.


Now, if you do want to avoid the crushing pain of submitting a crap first draft, I got some news for you: You can't. But you CAN lessen the pain so you have far less to correct and far less that can be criticized. Believe me when I say you're going to revise your OC at least once to make him or her a much stronger character, so you've got to understand a few things when taking reviews.



       1. Mary Sue

                 a. Ah, Mary-Sue, the dreaded stigma of fanfiction writers everywhere! If you don't know what a Mary-sue is, I'd check this -> tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php… what is probably the best definition. If you're lazy and you don't want to click the link, I'm not going to explain, because even if you create OC's as a hobby, you should do some research, and there is nothing that you need to understand more than Mary-Sue in order to avoid writing one. But here's the tricky bit: You have no say on if your OC is a Mary-Sue. AT ALL. All you can do is try to balance the personality with flaws and make sure your character doesn’t have a built-in GOD MODE. After that, you'd sure as hell listen to what reviewers say or there is no doubt that your character isn't going to be well received.


       2. Cannon Fodder

           a. Canon, which is basically everything that goes on in the RWBY-verse. Now, our problem is that RWBY has barely been around for a year, so we've got a lot of unknowns to work with, and because of that we must update our bios to fit cannon. Now, a bad OC sees cannon as basically a recommendation, one that their OC doesn't follow for whatever reasons. These cannon breaking  mistakes end up with stuff like being able to take on a whole team of hunters at once, three-dozen weapons, a Faunus that everyone likes (I apologize to the Faunus audience), or multiple Semblances, all of which break cannon so horribly you'd never find all the pieces. Don't do these things. However, it should be noted that some enemies (like some Grimm and Goons) are pretty easy to beat in the RWBY-verse. That aside, when writing, you've got to make sure that your OC fits the cannon, because you have zero authority to rewrite the cannon to fit your OC. So don't add anything in that's non-cannon. You know, like DRAGONS. Now, we all know RWBY is new, so I do foresee everyone having some sort of problem with this, but still, don't be unreasonable. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the established cannon rules, such as dust, Faunus, and the FREAKING NAME RULES ( Check here for the rules)! I swear, I'm dumbfounded at how many OC's disregard the rule.


       3. Start Small

                a. I've seen a lot of folks develop a whole team at once in RWBY so far, and in case you haven't gathered yet, developing just one decent OC is hard enough. It takes time. There is no way that you'll be able to develop four really good OCs in your first go. Take it slowly, one at a time, so that you'll have a really good first character before you move on to the second. These things take time.


       4. Make an impression

              a. STAND OUT! I swear, in other fandoms I've been in, I noticed the billion and a half snipers, lone wolves, explosive specialists, yady yada yada ya! Heck, bow and arrows are bugging me to no end and this fandom hasn't even been around for a year! Seriously folks, try mixing in a lance with that weapon. But what you've got to do is distinguish your character from the countless other "Blues," "Purples," "Greens," and whatever other color you choose to use. How so? Well, you have your character's personality (which is by far the most important part in the bio), but more and more I find that originality is becoming a huge problem in this fandom, not in character design, but in plot. I am not kidding when I say that nearly every fanfiction I've read has been based in Beacon, with so few exceptions that I could count them on one hand. Try to create your own new locations throughout Vale, or really anywhere in the world of Remnant. Seriously. I am bored beyond BELIEF with Beacon fanfics. Not every OC has to be 19-something Beacon student!


       5. Be readable.

                 a. For the love of god, make sure your writing can be read without five people trying to translate it! If you can't bother to spell right, I'm just going to ignore you. DA is based around English, not internet speak! Internet speak will give me a migraine and will get your creation booted until you bother to use spell check. Now, for you non-English speaking writers out there, I probably sound like a jerk. And yeah, I should have probably phrased this whole thing better... So from me to you, my bad.


       6. Creativity

               a. Use your freaking imagination! I hate it when people say "oh, my OC has a axe that turns into a shotgun and that's it!" ARG! BE CREATIVE! Dot just have a sword and shotgun mode. Come up with nifty little ways to use the shotgun. That will get you noticed!


       7. No Absolutes

               a. Now, here's the big thing. That final draft of your OC? Yeah, that's never going to happen. Especially with a show like RWBY, Cannon is always changing, and you've got to be able to keep up with the times. But more than that, your OC should never be definitively something. If you have a new idea that you like, revise your OC. If your character is a Mary-Sue (and believe me, all are at some point), identify the mistakes and fix them. But most of all, trust the reviewers. They're hardworking people who take time out of their busy day to review OC's for a fandom they love out of the goodness of their heart. Trust them. They know what the readers are looking for.



And with that, I say to you farewell. I'll see you around the group!