Thinky-thoughts

[lferion]

It occurred to me today while I was wrestling with the character & actions & purpose in the plot of Nurse Salter in Tantalus, and thinking about original characters in fanfic as a whole, that there are two very different ways of approaching fic -- there is playing with the characters the original canon gives us (Methos, Duncan, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan etc

Comments

[aeron_lanart]

You ever read any of the Darkover books by Marion Bradley? She used to *encourage* people to come and play in her sandbox, and in the anthologies you'd have a chance to get published too, which was great if you were using a bunch of your own OCs. And about 10 years ago Trek started doing the same, in effect publishing an anthology of fanfic (I'm fairly certain there's been more than one now).

I think more fantastical universes lend themselves to the creation of OCs and the telling of a story that doesn't involve known characters better, though with the Highlander concept in particular you've got the whole of time to play with and can use canon characters in situations/times they were never seen in during the series.

I much prefer the 2nd type of fic - I don't want to read about the world as we know it, unless there is an element of the fantastical there (Vampires, Immortals, Wizards, Time Travel etc) and that actually goes for what I watch on the TV too!

[darthneko]

The problem, I think, is finding well written examples of the second - because I would totally read it like flashfire if I find it, but have been burned so often with bad mary sue OCs that I tend to look at any story based in X universe with OCs by squinting through my fingers until I can verify the writing isn't going to make my eyes hurt. Which is SAD, because personally I think exploring the universe through non-main-character eyes can be fascinating and wonderful.

[browngirl]

I know what you mean; I've found that one of my requirements for a fandom is a universe I want to play in, and I've written, for instance, many stories about hobbit OCs in LOTR, and one of my personal favorite DC Comics stories is about an OC.

I haven't posted most of those stories, in part because I've found universe-exploration stories less popular than character-exploration stories (which is not good of me, I know). But I really love a universe that extends beyond the characters.