How to Write Good Anime Fanfiction

Prewriting: Creating Characters, Part 2: Staying IC

So, you now know how to develop a good OC. Now, do you know how to stay IC with already existing characters?

IC stands for In Character. The opposite of this is OOC, which stands for Out Of Character. Whenever your writing a fanfiction, you always want to stay IC for all the characters that already exist, and even your OC's. There may be some exceptions to this rule in the story, but it must follow certain guidelines. In order for your fanfiction to be a really good one, you must stay IC for all the characters in your story.

But how do you do it?

Let me tell you, it's no walk in the park. It's a slight challenge, but it's nothing that you guys can't handle, especially if your new to the fanfiction world.

So, what we need to do in our fanfiction about All Might's daughter, is that we have to make sure all of the already existing characters act as they should act, and be who they should be. As well as our newly created character, Aiko.

A strategy for this is to keep a character file up so that you can easily remind yourself what the character's traits and backstory are, etc.. So, let's take a look at our OC's profile from the last part:

Aiko Yagi

Age: 15-16

Born on March 12th

Height: 5'5     Weight: 116lbs     Blood Type: A(-)

Favorite Food: Gingersnap cookies     Favorite Color(s): Lilac and Silver

Likes: Sweets, Adventure Novels     Dislikes: Squirrels, Science

Appearance: Golden hair down to her waist, hair parts to the right, usually wears it up in a high ponytail with flyaway hair, blue eyes and fair skin

Traits: Optimist, Athletic, Bright(Smart), Chill, Determined, Ambitious, Sleeper, Not a Morning Person, Clumsy

Weaknesses: Keeping Secrets, and Bottling Up Her Emotions

Fear: Death

Habit(s): Bites on Nails and Chews on Pencils Absentmindedly

Quirk: One for All (Born with)

So, this is basically her character structure and guidelines. In which we need to follow them while writing our story. Authors can't just straight up tell the reader all about the protagonist before the story even begins! I believe almost all of you have heard of the writers number one rule, Show, Don't Tell. We slowly add throughout the text these small little details that show the reader what exactly our character is as an individual.

So, maybe while Aiko is sitting in class, a student may notice her chewing on her pencil while she listens to the lecture, or does her homework in the school library. You see that it's a habit of Aiko's to chew her pencil, instead of saying straight up that she chews on her pencils. Show what your character is as a person, Don't Tell.

Not only that, but what may be the most toughest part of staying IC for writers is characters that are already created by someone else. What I see in a lot of fanfiction is characters that already exist are different from what they actually are. For example, Ciel Phantomhive from Black Butler doesn't show his love for someone (Elizabeth) that easily, and tries his best to hide that fact from others. He wouldn't just straight up tell his feelings and make it public. That, and he's a very bright child, a prodigy, yet I see that in some fanfictions that he can't do well in a certain subject, yet the actual series says otherwise.

So how do we make sure that already existing characters don't change?

You gather information on that character, and observe it's traits and behabior to certain situations. Maybe even fill out a form similar to the way we listed Aiko. And keep that form for reference while your writing. Let's give it a try with some characters.

Let's analyze Deku first. After all, he'll be seen often, and he'll also play an important role in our story's plot. Deku is actually a mean nickname given to him by his childhood friend, Katsuki Bakugou, whom he still calls Kacchan. His real name is Izuku Midoriya, but he soon changes his mean nickname into his hero name. He has always strived to be a hero like his idol, All Might, even though he was born quirkless. He's very bright when it comes to heroes, a bit of a crybaby, major fanboy, and we can go on and on. Ambitious, determined, a bit stubborn, a loyal friend and ally. 

You want to list as many traits and information as possible about your already existing character, and keep it at hand when your composing your story for reference. It wouldn't make a good fanfiction if your characters that already exist act differently than they would.

Let's also analyze another character. Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club!. Monika seems like the perfect student, trying to learn piano to impress the MC. She 's friendly, bright, talented, but is also jealous of how the other girls can spend time with the MC and she can't. So we could also say she seeks attention a lot, too.

Writing down the traits is pretty easy. All you really have to do is make sure you don't veer away from the character's persona. Think of this list of traits as a guideline for you while your writing, a tool to help you stay on track. You may not notice it yet, but the way these characters act can majorly affect the storyline.

Next part, I will go over reader inserts, so stay tuned!

(Word Count: 919 Words)