How NOT to write a Vampire Diaries Fanfiction (including TO & Legacies)

adoption plot vs. adoption element

i wanted to write this because i want to both make you aware of something and encourage another

lots of fanfics include the adoption storyline where the OC finds out they're adopted -and sometimes that has to do with the fact that they have powers and discover it's from their biological parents

the OC discovers they're adopted, they have an identity crisis, forgive their adoptive parents for keeping it a secret, sooner or later loses their adoptive parents, discovers their bio-parents, then either loses them too or builds a relationship with one or both or someone they find who is in anyway related to them

now, the biggest problem with this trope is the fact that Elena goes through the same adoption storyline in season 1

- she lost her parents already

- found out she was adopted

- had an understandable big reaction to it

- forgave her parents and jenna for keeping it a secret until she was old enough to know

- discovers her bio-parents

- loses bio-mom

- loses jenna

- loses bio-dad

- builds a strong relationship with someone who is related to her: alaric [step-father through bio-mom] [and almost uncle through jenna] [in other words a surrogate father bc he legit becomes her and jeremy's guardian]

so the reason why the fanfic feels repeated and obvious is because we've already seen Elena go through it and we don't care to see it again

but, just because you shouldn't bring in the adoption plot doesn't mean you can't bring in the adoption element

what do i mean by this?

normalize adoption

make your OC adopted, maybe they have gay parents who adopted them, maybe one or both parents are POC and so is the child, maybe they also have adopted siblings, maybe they were adopted at birth or when they were five

let them know they were adopted and let them be fine with it

normalize adoption

you don't have to make an OC who had a tragic foster or orphanage experience to make them interesting in your eyes just because you can't think of anything else

and if you do want them to have a tragic background that's okay, but you don't have to make the OC still highly affected by it, it's still apart of them sure, but it shouldn't be the only part or the biggest part of them

and just because they're adopted doesn't mean they want to find their bio-parents, or want anything to do with them or happen to find out that the witch powers or werewolf curse was passed on due to them, you want to pass something down? fine go ahead, but why include the bio-parents that gave the kid up in the first place

 (in the case of the kids being taken from said bio-parents then you're just bringing in the plot from when Katherine had Nadia taken from her, i mean come on)

just —

normalize adoption

no mundanes allowed

- polaroized