the beginner's guide to apply fics

ix. faq | what are fcs? how are fcs used?

QUESTION:
What are faceclaims? How are faceclaims used? Does my faceclaim's age, height, weight, or personality have to match or be similar to my character's? What if I just like the idol's face and want to use them as a faceclaim because of that?

ANSWER:
Hi, Admin AJ here. Since the answer to this question can vary based on the author of the apply fic you're applying to, I'll answer it in a general way and then answer it with my opinion.

A faceclaim is the person who "plays" your character. Essentially, a faceclaim is the face of your character. This means you don't have to write what your character physically looks like on top of everything else on a form, and it also means apply fic authors don't have to imagine what your character looks like. Instead, the apply fic author can simply look up your faceclaim and know what your character looks like. On top of that, faceclaims allow the author to make edits for their fic (as most apply fic create fictional kpop groups).

Now about age, height, weight, and personality (and let's throw in blood type for the hell of it). A lot of apply fic authors don't give two shits about whether or not your faceclaim's age, height, weight, personality, and blood type matches up or is similar to your character's. I (Admin AJ) personally hate apply fics like that, mainly because apply fic authors who don't give two shits will often accept a '95 liner faceclaim to play a '99 or '00 liner and that drives me up a wall (for a lot of reasons).

SO HERE ARE ADMIN AJ'S GENERAL RULES FOR CHOOSING A FC:

Since faceclaims are supposed to be what your character look, here's some things I personally expect from people when they're applying to my apply fics:

(1) Faceclaim should match or be similar in age to your character.

Honestly, this is just a good rule of thumb with any apply fic because a '95 liner can't pass for a '00 liner. A '98 liner faceclaim for a '00 liner is somewhat pushing it, unless the faceclaim has a baby face. After all, the faceclaim is supposed to be the face of your character.

(2) Faceclaim should match or be able to pass as your character's ethnicity.

Quick definition: ethnicity is what ethnic group your character belongs to. Some common apply fic ethnicities are Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai. Hint: Asian is a race, not an ethnicity. Please stop putting "Asian" as your character's ethnicity on your forms because that shit's incorrect.

So Asians don't all look them same. This may come as a surprise to some of y'all, who knows. There are similarities between different Asian ethnicities' physical features, just like there are similarities between different White ethnicities' physical features or Black ethnicities' or Pacific Islander ethnicities' or Latino ethnicities' and so on and so forth. 

 But when you get down to it, there are differences between Koreans and Chinese and Japanese and Thai and Vietnamese and any other Asian ethnicity you want to throw into this comparison. Someone who's Korean doesn't look the same as someone who's Chinese, so for god's sake don't put a Chinese faceclaim for your Korean character or vice versa.

However, there's an exception to this rule. If a faceclaim can pass as your character's ethnicity, then go ahead and use the faceclaim. Best way to figure out if your faceclaim could pass as your character's ethnicity is to search up some pictures of your faceclaim and search up some pictures of people of your character's ethnicity, and then compare the two searches. If your character looks like someone of your character's ethnicity, then you're good. If not, either find a new faceclaim or go talk to the apply fic's author to get their opinion on it.

(3) Faceclaim should have SOME similar personality traits with your character.

If your character's the most bubbly person on earth, don't pick a faceclaim that has an insane resting bitch face and is known for being savage and grumpy and all that. There will never be a faceclaim that matches your character's personality exactly. Just a handful of similar personality traits will do, because the apply fic author should be able to find some media (gifs + pictures) of your faceclaim doing things your character would do or acting the way your character would do.

Now, those are just my rules of thumb. But they're that way for a reason.

Hope this helps!
-admin aj

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