Cenonn's How to Holofic and Writing in General

The Main Character is your main problem

Every story has a main character and believe me when I say that your MC is the most important character in your story. They are the ones who will decide if your story is good or not. I know lots and lots of stories that ended up becoming iffy because they had boring MCs.

So... What is the main character? And before you say anything, a main character is not always the protagonist.

A protagonist is someone who drives the plot forward while the main character is "the audience's eyes." For example, the story can be about a protagonist named Kiwito but the story is told through the perspective of the main character named Ahona.

Most of the time, the main character is the protagonist but hey... You might want to be unique so I'm just placing this little tidbit here.

Now then... We are going to make the main character! As a fanfic writer, you have three options. The first one is taking an already existing character and making them the MC like Vtuberislife's Manager-san is Trying to Stay Sane Today where Anemachi is the MC. The second one is creating an entirely new and original character and revolving the story around them like lightningstormtc's Kiara Fried Phoenix: A Hololive Story where a guy named Ryan Shade is focused on. The last one is Wattpad's favourite, the reader-insert like Zeonchilling's Infinite Soul where the reader is the main character.

I'll talk about how each of them work in the next few chapters so I'll just discuss how MCs should work in this one.

Now then... Since you decided on the MC, you got to make sure they have an impact on the story. You see... An MC got to be very good. After all, there's a reason why they are the focus of the story.

They could just be "the Chosen One" or have a grand destiny ahead of them so they will be the focus.

Or they could be the "relatable one" in a cast of bizarre characters. Hololive has pretty unique characters and with literal gods coming in HoloEN Gen 2, a relatable MC is nice.

Before you pick an MC, ask yourself this question, "Why should I focus the story on this guy? Why not other characters instead?" If you can't answer it, then don't make that character as the MC. The role of an MC is pretty important since they will make or break your story.

And when you do make an MC, try your best to not make them a passive main character. What's a passive MC?

A passive MC is a character that is led around by the plot of the story. They only react to events but don't actively influence the story through their decisions and stuff. If we were going to put it simply, they are like the camera men in a movie. They just see the events, react to it, and do nothing else. See? That's kinda boring if you ask me.

If you want an example, I'll give ya one. My MC in From Another World started off as a passive main character. He didn't have an active role in the early arcs and was overshadowed by other characters like Amelia Watson. When Spade Echo arrived, he only reacted to her tricks while Amelia was the one who almost caught her. During the Serial Murderer Arc, he only walked around while Amelia led the investigation. He's a pretty passive MC.

Now then...

What other things do you need to know in making an MC?

For starters, plan everything before you even write the story. Try to have an idea of the MC's personality, background, appearance, and etc. I cannot stress how important those things are.

And before you ask, the MC doesn't have to be totally unique. You don't have to make them be a depressed angel/demon hybrid who is the prince of a fallen kingdom from 1000 years ago and is now working as a Vtuber. It can even just be a regular dude pulled into the magical thing known as "plot."

Remember: unique =/= interesting!

Being unique is just a concept. You can have an MC who has a really really complex background and they could still become boring characters.

Being interesting is hard since it depends on your execution of the concept. Even a regular high school student from a middle class family can be interesting if the author knows how to execute it.

Now then... I can't teach you how to make characters interesting since there are many factors like the theme of your story, your target audience, and etc. Just remember these magic words "Unique does not mean interesting!"

Oh yeah. One pitfall of MCs is Mary Sues.

What's a Mary Sue? There are far too many definitions for it but the abridged would be "a perfect character." They are characters who easily save the day and are liked by everyone. A totally boring character.

Oh. I'll place this one here: "OP characters are not always Mary Sues."

That's right. People always think that being overpowered is a sign of being a Mary Sue. That's a NOPE from me.

Let's take a look at a famous anime called One Punch Man. See? Saitama is a pretty OP character but he's not a Mary Sue. I'll do my best to explain why.

The reason why Saitama is not a Mary Sue is because he has a pretty believable conflict. He's not perfect and not everyone likes him. Heck. He's even hated by the populace. He might be able to defeat opponents in one punch but that doesn't solve all of his problems.

In other words, it's a case of "Depends on how you execute it." Being OP is just a concept. Your MC would either be an "interesting OP character" or a "boring Mary Sue" depending on how you'll execute the concept.

To sum things up, the MC has to be interesting enough to not bore your readers. As I've said, your MC will make or break your story. Be very careful in choosing who shall fit that role.

Next chapter I'll talk about writing existing Hololive characters into your story. Please look forward to it.