HELP! (fanfic advice.)

vi. personalities

Here's a few tips for when you're deciding on the personality your oc is going to have, plus a few extras on how to accurately present existing characters.

Building A Personality

i. Try real hard to give your oc their own personality, don't simply give them an existing character's one with a few tweaks. Hermione is amazing, but no one wants two of her, that's just too many, so come up with some different personality traits.

ii. Leading on from that, don't erase original characters completely just because they get in the way of your oc's story line. If they're not a major part of the action anyway its fine to not include them much, maybe just mention them here and there so they're still relevant.

If they play a big part in the plot and you don't want them to be there for some reason, don't pretend they never existed - you can alter there role slightly if you need to. People will most likely slate you hard for deleting an original character, which isn't enjoyable, so don't do it.

iii. Here's some good character traits that you can use to create an interesting oc, feel free to mix and match them as long as it all makes sense:

a) A calm personality, easy going and adaptable to change, a people pleaser. But their calm demeanor doesn't mean they don't have a temper - people with a slow fuse often explode in messier ways than people with quick tempers.

b) Energetic and fun loving with a mischievous side. People with loud personalities naturally draw people in and are popular to be around, but sometimes their humour can be cruel or hurtful without them realising.

c) A sarcastic and deadpan kind of hunour, that person that always makes relatable comments to themselves while the teacher's talking (you all know that one person). Their constant jokes can quickly be set aside to discuss problems though and they're more in touch with their emotions than you might think.

d) Feminist qUeEN. That person who stands up for what they believe in and is, what the kids call, woke. Not afraid of what others will think and will always speak their minds, but this means they can sometimes be rude and they often get criticism for expressing their thoughts so truthfully.

e) Dramatic af, that person who walks into the room loudly describing how they almost died three times between their house and the bus stop. Their stories might be far fetched but they're always interesting and never fail to make people listen. Can be self-absorbed, sometimes forgetting to pay attention to others.

These are only a few example out of literally thousands of personalities. Just remember that every positive personality trait will usually have a negative one thats pairs with it, this is useful to keep in mind so that you're oc doesn't become too perfect.

Accurately Portraying Originals

It can be very hard to write a character correctly, especially if they aren't your own. Rarely anyone can perfectly portray a character, but here's a few tips on how to get close.

i. Don't let your personal opinion on characters effect the way you write them. If you hate hate hate Lavender Brown, don't then write her to be a complete bitch, when, in reality (or fictionality), she was rather innocent. yes, she's overly loud and very sensitive, but she was just a teenage girl trying to live her best life and have fun.

Similarly, if you really love a character, but they've done some pretty shite things, don't wash over those things and try to pretend they didn't happen. The most obvious example is James Potter; I love him with all my heart but I don't forget that, at one point in his life, he was a bully - even if he did change for the better.

ii. Remind yourself what characters are like before you begin to write them. Maybe read a scene they're in from a book, or watch part of a film, but it always helps to remember what their habits are and what kind of things they're likely to say.

Stereotyping Looks + Personalities

This mainly happens with background characters who are made to serve one purpose and then are cut off when they've fulfilled their roll.

i. Example number 1: That Bitch™ who's out to steal your oc's soulmate, lots of stories have them (less so in the harry potter universe but still) and they all look the same and have the same personality: white, blue eyes, blonde hair, supermodel body, massive ego, superiority complex, caring about literally nothing other than the guy they want to steal.

Most girls will back off of a guy when they realise he's taken (if they don't someone needs to teach them some manners pls) but if you want to add that drama, go for it. just try not to make it exactly the same as every other story using this plot.

make the character look different for a start, even that would be a nice change, because not every blonde is mean??? Surprising, I know. Take it one step further and make them more complex than just a hoe tryna steal your character's mans. Give the girl a backstory, give her ambitions other than being a homewrecker, give her some actually nice traits even if she is acting like an awful person in the situation.

ii. The smart kid who's short and scrawny and wears giant jumpers and wonky glasses. I don't know about you but at my school most of the smart kids are loud and kind of obnoxious, they know they're smart and they take pride in it. Of course, there are the ones who hide behind books and baggy clothes, who prefer silence to other people's company, but those aren't exclusive smart people traits. switch it up a lil bit.

iii. The rich kid who flings their money all over the place. This does happen, it's not unrealistic, but a lot of people prefer to keep their wealth close their chests and lowkey. Also, if your oc is young, their parents are highly unlikely to just let their irresponsible kids wave around a load of cash, they probably wouldn't see a speck of that money til they're of age.

there are more examples but those are the most common ones i see and also i'm lazy ¯\_(ツ)_/ ¯

wow this was long sorryyyy

- hxgsmeade