I could be like all the cool kids and get me an OC
It seems that nearly everybody and their grandma has an original character (or several) these days. I notice this on y!Gallery in particular. And more and more, it makes me wonder: why don't I?
It's more than a general disinterest in OCs. I admit, I find professional works of fiction by established writers* far more interesting than most original work by amateurs. This is not to say that there aren't excellent writers in fandom... there are, and some of them are certainly skilled enough to produce original work well worth publishing. But I'd still much rather read fanfiction than people's original stories, 90% of the time - no matter how good those stories are.
...Okay, sorry. I'm getting off track. I'm not much for original work, was my point. But I'm warming up to it. I won't get into that right now; anyway, that's not really the problem.
The thing is, what I love is other people's characters. Characters from my favorite books, TV shows, moves... people like Gregory House, or Laura Roslin, or A.J. Crowley. And when I even start to think about creating a character of my own, all the interesting personality traits that come to mind feel like I'm just borrowing them from the many works of fiction I've enjoyed.
Rebel? Misanthrope? Know-it-all? Clever; straight-laced; snarky... I've seen it all before. I've liked it all before. And trying to invent a personality that's truly different from the ones I already know and love? Well, that just seems like it's gonna pale in comparison.
I mean, I don't want to create some replica of a Jack Sparrow or Buffy Summers, and just give them a different name. But what else am I gonna come up with? (On a side note: if I were trying to think up a Dethklok Klokateer - which seems to be the popular trend in MTL these days - I've no clue what trait I could possibly give them to make sure they can [realistically] survive longer than a week. Other than astounding good luck.)
Maybe this is an imagination deficiency, who knows. I mean, if I were already working with a plot, I could probably come up with some characters to fit the story; but otherwise, I just don't know.
Maybe it's all too much to bother with?
* Which includes movies and TV, mind you.
It's more than a general disinterest in OCs. I admit, I find professional works of fiction by established writers* far more interesting than most original work by amateurs. This is not to say that there aren't excellent writers in fandom... there are, and some of them are certainly skilled enough to produce original work well worth publishing. But I'd still much rather read fanfiction than people's original stories, 90% of the time - no matter how good those stories are.
...Okay, sorry. I'm getting off track. I'm not much for original work, was my point. But I'm warming up to it. I won't get into that right now; anyway, that's not really the problem.
The thing is, what I love is other people's characters. Characters from my favorite books, TV shows, moves... people like Gregory House, or Laura Roslin, or A.J. Crowley. And when I even start to think about creating a character of my own, all the interesting personality traits that come to mind feel like I'm just borrowing them from the many works of fiction I've enjoyed.
Rebel? Misanthrope? Know-it-all? Clever; straight-laced; snarky... I've seen it all before. I've liked it all before. And trying to invent a personality that's truly different from the ones I already know and love? Well, that just seems like it's gonna pale in comparison.
I mean, I don't want to create some replica of a Jack Sparrow or Buffy Summers, and just give them a different name. But what else am I gonna come up with? (On a side note: if I were trying to think up a Dethklok Klokateer - which seems to be the popular trend in MTL these days - I've no clue what trait I could possibly give them to make sure they can [realistically] survive longer than a week. Other than astounding good luck.)
Maybe this is an imagination deficiency, who knows. I mean, if I were already working with a plot, I could probably come up with some characters to fit the story; but otherwise, I just don't know.
Maybe it's all too much to bother with?
* Which includes movies and TV, mind you.