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Three questions.
1) How would you react if someone wrote a fic using an OC you'd created and didn't notify you? (This is actually a friend's OC, but I helped to develop him and I've been authorized to write him along with another LJ-goer.) The fic is posted on FF.net, and neither I nor the character's creator would have seen it if not for a random whim of mine to venture into the Pit. She did credit my friend for creating him and me and the aforementioned other LJ-goer for writing him, and linked to our fics in her bio.
2) How would you feel if someone wrote a fic using an OC you'd created and wrote him out of character?
Granted, there are only four fics about/involving the character, and this girl has evidently only read three of them. And there's a lot about this character that I know and she doesn't. But there's enough information about his character in the fics that exist that she should have a good enough idea about him not to write him OOC, I think, and the creator agrees.
3) How would you comment on this fic? Personally, I liked the rest of the fic a lot-- just not the bit the OC appeared in, and a few minor phrasing issues. I just don't know how to properly express that, well, the OC is OOC, and not sound like a pretentious jerk.
June 9 2008, 05:03:17 UTC 3 years ago
June 9 2008, 05:08:29 UTC 3 years ago
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June 9 2008, 05:09:11 UTC 3 years ago
Writing them OOC I think would feel like being slapped twice.
June 9 2008, 05:41:57 UTC 3 years ago
The OOC is the part that gets me, though. Honestly...
June 9 2008, 05:11:26 UTC 3 years ago
I'd be a little annoyed, but glad of being credited.
As for commenting, why not just say what you like about it, then suggest that perhaps she needs to tweak her characterisation of the OC in such-and-such way to make him a little more like his original self.
June 9 2008, 05:24:37 UTC 3 years ago
Yeah...I mean, normally I do that when the character exists in canon. I guess I'm not really sure how to do that for an OC without sounding pretentious. XD *is probably being paranoid*
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June 9 2008, 05:18:25 UTC 3 years ago
How would you feel if someone wrote a fic using an OC you'd created and wrote him out of character?
I don't know. Why don't we ask every professional author and screenplay writer it's ever happened to?
June 9 2008, 05:21:34 UTC 3 years ago
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June 9 2008, 05:27:26 UTC 3 years ago
Be perfectly polite. If she's rude, then you can release the vitriol, but for now, well... "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
June 9 2008, 05:32:26 UTC 3 years ago
Thanks for the advice!
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June 9 2008, 05:35:33 UTC 3 years ago
June 9 2008, 05:41:25 UTC 3 years ago Edited: June 9 2008, 05:42:41 UTC
Taking such things into consideration, I'd say that you really should ask that they either stop using the OC or that they attempt to write him more in tune with the original portrayal. No need to be uncivil or anything unless they act immaturely (at which case you can let them have it ;D), but for god's sake, it's (partially) your creation! I'd say you've got the right to be a little upset with this person!
I've written friends' OCs before and I typically A) ask if it's all right to do so and B) run the finished work by them to make sure they have no objections. It's common courtesy.
[edit] I swear I can spell.
June 9 2008, 05:52:05 UTC 3 years ago
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June 9 2008, 05:41:42 UTC 3 years ago
If you write fic using other people's OCs, without notifying them or asking permission - are in fact part of a culture that frowns on notifying them - it's hypocritical to complain when someone does the same to you.
The "in fandom communities it's possible to notify" crap only flies if you 1) believe source creators should be notified and asked, with intent to respect their wishes if they deny and 2) have made enough of an effort to notify and ask you can say with some authority it's not possible.
The author gave credit, and even linked. Unless your friend does more than that when she uses someone else's OCs - which she is doing when she writes fanfic - then yeah, it's hypocritical to decide someone else doesn't have the right to do what she herself does.
June 9 2008, 05:48:14 UTC 3 years ago
Based on your comments so far it appears your issue is more with the OOCness than the actual principle of using another's OC.
In which case my advice would be for you or your friend to either
- leave a review for the author the same way you would review any other OOC fic, perhaps with an extra clarification that it's your/your friend's character
- contact the author with a private message or some other non-public way, and offer to concrit the character
The author will either be interested in some in-depth concrit from the character's creator (I know I would), or she won't - but regardless of her attitude, you/your friend have spoken up and remained polite.
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June 9 2008, 06:06:00 UTC 3 years ago
I expect authors borrowing OCs to credit them appropriately, as I expect it for the source text for the rest of the fanfic.
I do think it's polite to ask, given the closeness of the fandom community and how it's generally considered nice fandom-etiquette to at least tell the creator of the OC... It's something I would personally recommend an author to do, but if they don't, it's not *OMGwrong* IMHO.
As for writing the character OOC... well. Again. That's the majority of fanfic. If we were only allowed to use characters if we were going to use them *properly* according to the creator's wishes, there would be less crap... but also less slash. :-( Sad world!
June 9 2008, 06:11:33 UTC 3 years ago
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June 9 2008, 09:59:00 UTC 3 years ago
1) It is hypocritical to complain about use without notification. They've credited and even linked to show people where to find the original, therefore they've met the same standard we use for writing fanfic of professional sources. You don't have to like the fact that they didn't send you a polite note to let you know they were doing it, but you do have to put up with it. There may be an expectation that's grown up in some fan circles that it's polite to notify, but other people take the view that fanwriters have no right to expect better treatment than the original creators, and you can't say there's no logic to that position.
2) Well, out of character writing is bad regardless of whether it's a canon character or an OC. If it genuinely contradicts what's written about him in the original fics (rather than just contradicts the way you see him in your head) then yes, you have grounds to say something about it. You will, however, run the risk of looking like a pretentious jerk no matter how you phrase it, so you just have to decide for yourself whether it matters to you enough to risk that.
3) I think that if you do want to make the comment, you should handle it like you would criquing any other fanfic: i.e., make it part of a general review saying what you said about liking the rest of the fic and the phrasing issues you had. And I think in this situation it's probably important to explain what parts you consider OOC, with reference to the original fics, rather than just a blanket, "You're not writing our OC right!" Because I think if you can't find specific examples in the original text that the fanwriter is contradicting, then you're going to have to accept it as a valid interpretation, no matter how different it may be from the character as he exists in your head.
June 9 2008, 10:23:16 UTC 3 years ago
June 9 2008, 12:45:49 UTC 3 years ago
June 9 2008, 13:53:02 UTC 3 years ago
June 9 2008, 13:41:59 UTC 3 years ago
2) This depends on how OOC the character would be.
a) If he's only slightly OOC, maybe I didn't make something as clear as I thought I did. Or maybe it's just difficult to write someone else's character perfectly IC.
b) Very OOC/the same name and appearence, but completely different personality => wtf?! Why didn't they create their own OC? Depending on the situation, I might find it a little disturbing.
3) Tell them what you liked as well as what you didn't like. Something like "Nice story. I especially liked [a few things things you liked best]. I think [character] was a little OOC, though. [what exactly is wrong with the charachterization or how it can be improved]"
It's almost like telling someone a canon character is OOC in their story, except in this case you're actually sure you know the character better.
June 9 2008, 15:20:14 UTC 3 years ago
June 9 2008, 16:59:45 UTC 3 years ago
For example, say there's a fence-making company that makes white picket fences. It's a really famous company, so everyone knows exactly what their fences look like. Then, one day, you buy one of their fences and spray-paint happy faces on it. You tell everone that this is a fence from The Fence Company, and they go - 'Oh, hey, I see what you did to it there.'
Then say that you have an acquaintance who is starting her own fence-making business. She designs picket fences in a wide array of colors and paints things on them. So you buy one of her fences, set it up, and then you go in and spray-paint technicolor kitty-cats over her design. It may look awesome or it may be vomit-inducing, but either way you have changed the design. Then you go around telling everyone - 'Oh, hey, I got this fence custom-designed by Ebony Dementia Ravenway Fencemaker over yonder, isn't it AWESOME?!?' And some of the people will love it, and some of them will be all 'bleckbleckbleeaaargh'. But then they go back to the small fencemaking business, and what do they find? The fences are not at all what you imagined them to be. They may be better or they may be worse, but they're different.
The difference in between using canon characters and using OCs, in my opinion, is that in the former case, just about everyone in the fandom knows (or should know) the source material. They can tell the difference between what the character does in canon and what he does in your fic, can tell if it's IC or OOC or somewhere in between, can see the difference in your writing style vs. the style of the original creator. With an OC, especially if the fic is archived on another site, they might not. They can't tell if the new fic author is making the character stupider/smarter/funnier/more mary-sue-ish than it was in the original fic; no matter if the character is written better or (as happens more often) worse than it was in the original fic, the character has now been misrepresented to those who have not read the original fic, and they may then mislabel the OC from the original fic as a Mary Sue or as a worthy love interest when, in the original fic, it would have been the opposite, thus labeling the writer of the original fic as a good or bad writer when, in fact, the label has no merit and they have never read the original fic.
That's why I would prefer to be asked if someone wanted to use an OC of mine. I've been writing since I was little and have gone through the Mary Sue/OOC stage, and I've worked hard to get past it so I and the people who read my works - be they original or fanfic - would think they were good and worthy of being read, and I would not appreciate some fanbrat coming in and alienating possible readers. Of course, considering I've written maybe three or four OCs in all of my fics in the last - oh, six years - it's not very likely that someone would try to write them in the first place.
June 9 2008, 18:18:11 UTC 3 years ago
It made me laugh.
June 9 2008, 20:55:26 UTC 3 years ago
(I'll clarify that I don't expect to be told or asked or think I'm entitled to it, but it would be a nice thing for the person to do.)
There's an aspect to the "ask first" etiquette that I haven't seen anyone mention - what if you follow the polite procedure and ask the OC's writer first, and he/she says no? If you believe (as I do) that fanfic writers don't have the right to put their own characters and ideas under lock and key while building their stories on the creations of others, you're left with the unpleasant alternatives of abandoning the idea of using that OC and feeling like a jerk, or of saying "Nyah, I'm using him anyway."
2) I wouldn't be happy but that's life. Probably I'd feel like every pro writer who's had fanfic written about his/her stuff.
3) I'd say that the OC seems out of character to me, and explain why briefly and politely.