How to Write a Good Fanfic

8.1 OC's Need to be Needed

"Are the OCs actually needed in your story?"

The answer to the question seemed like something rather obvious. Of course the OCs in question were needed, as they were an integral part of the story. A canon character was killed off, so who else could replace said canon character. Someone else was way too busy, so that left only an OC to fill the place of the canon character. "Of course the OCs are needed. Someone needs to fill the shoes of John Doe. Who else would fill this position when Jane Doe is busy, and can't take on John Doe's task."

"Wait, you killed off John Doe?"

...

There are a few things I wish to cover in this particular essay: one of the important questions a writer needs to ask if they want to write a good OC, how to answer said question and character death. I originally didn't plan on covering the subject of character death in this topic, but found myself doing so after realizing that one of the reasons writer's think their OC is needed lies with the death of a canon character, and yet this subject should also be covered under the topic of sensitive subject matter as well. Specifically though, this essay will be discussing character death in regards to making an OC needed, and why that's bad writing, but also how that differs from coming up with an OC after a canon character dies because they are actually needed, but also the act of stealing a canon characters position within the canon material.

As I already said, one of the important questions a writer needs to ask themselves when they create an OC is whether or not an OC is needed.

The main problem I've found, however, when people ask themselves this question lies with the fact many writers think their OC is needed when in reality they're not. In part this lies with the fact they don't know what it means for an OC to be needed. Think of a need for an OC as a purpose. In fact, Mark Twain has a rule regarding this, that "the personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there." One of the first and/or hardest humps a writer needs to get over is the idea that there isn't a sufficient excuse for their character to exist.

One of the reasons this is the first and/or hardest hump for a writer to get over derives from the fact a writer may be following quite a few of Mark Twain's rules. The problem lies not with this rule being more important, but that all the other rules regarding characterization become wasted. For example, one rule is that "the author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and their fate; and that she shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones." One of the ways a person makes the reader interested is for the character to have a reason to exist, but sometimes a character may simply intrigue the reader by being unique. However, in these cases the characters uniqueness that makes the reader feel for them becomes wasted.

In other words, a writer may have a great character, but without having a real purpose, the character becomes wasted.

How though does one figure out if their character is actually needed within the story? To figure this out, one needs to know what purpose their character serves within the story. Listing off the purposes may help. Some of the purposes an OC may serve are...

- The character is a romantic interest for a canon character.

- The character fills a particular role which is new.

- The character replaces a canon character for some reason.

The list of course can end up far more detailed, but there are also some problems with the list. For example...

The character is a romantic interest for a canon character.

I am going to admit here that existing as a romantic interest for a canon character does indeed amount to a purpose. However, the problem with existing as a romantic interest alone means that's the only reason said character exists within the series. For those writing a romance piece, this may not seem like a big deal, as that is the purpose of the Romance genre. In part, this is correct, but as I discussed in the chapter 9. Romance – What is it?, there is more to romance than just putting two people together.