Characters The Essential Guide to OC's: The Mini Challenge Revival - Prompt the Fourth!

I tried to make you write 50k on your story, but obviously, I failed.

Anyway, no additilan writing for me until the 22nd, because I really think I should pass my exams.
Afterwads, I'm game. (sabbacc, if possible...)

 

NEW CHALLENGE

As far as I can tell, earlybird obi-wan is the only fanficcer to have completed the Nano's 50k with an OC-centric fic so henceforth, she has been awarded as the winner for November!

Her Challenge is as follows:
Write a story about an OC giving a gift to another.

- Christmas gifts or the equivalent of those in the GFFA.
We have received ours at the office and that's giving hilarious scenes. )What am I going to do with this and that?)

Open to interpritation, with a due date of let's say... Jan. 10th.


ANNOUNCEMENT:

After about almost 5 years of running the OC thread in one form or another (both with co-managers and in older threads), I think it's time to pass the reigns over to a new generation of OC enthusiasts... This place needs fresh legs and fresh ideas, becuase I'm feeling all dried up with them. I think the start of a new decade is a good place to drop off, and let someone else run with the ball.

If anyone is interested, please PM me, Corellian_Ale and let me know. I really enjoy it here but it's really time to give someone else a go. (Plus, now I can start entering challenges )

 

I want to join this. It seems fun, and this new challenge looks promising. I am sure I will do this one, and will have to completed BEFORE the due date.

 

Count me in!
I have some mush fics to write but I should be able to do something for Jan 10th.

 

First and foremost, a big thank you to Ale for his five years of OCdom. Your hard work on this thread has contributed to making the OC community here the most awesome one I've ever seen.

That said, I'll definitely be participating in this challenge. It fits in nicely with a fic I've been meaning to write for the last few weeks. Maybe my schedule will even let up enough to give me breathing room! Ha... aha... I'll get something done. I've got a couple of days over the holidays to work with.

 

Ale, you've been a great host, and I'm sorry to see you stepping aside, however five years is a LONG TIME of service and you've done a wonderful job with this thread.

I've lurked more than posted in this thread but I've really enjoyed it. I can definitely see you wanting to participate in the challenges.

All the best my friend and glad you're hanging around!

 

Thanks Ale for all your time hosting!

I don't know if I'll be able to come up with something in time for that challenge, but I like the prompt. ^^ I'm still mulling over last winter's challenge.

I'm a little late in coming to the thread discussion, but I made it to 100K with my pair of OC stories during NaNo. Granted, they were both continuations. One was one of my Sailor Moon fanfics and the other was Under the Shadow of the Builders.

 

How goes the challenge and the search for someone to take the helm? The holidays seemed to have wiped everyone save for the journals crowd out. I real lull seems to be over everything.

 

I just wanna sit up in my coffin and say thanks to ale for all your work for the OC cause.

 

ZOMBIE!! *grabs boomstick*

Oh, hey, Face.

I gotta reiterate what he said?between oqidaun and ale, being an OC writer these days is almost honest work.

Almost.

Thanks for all the hard work you've put in here these past few years. As a diehard OC hack, I salute you.

 

Question for OC'ers.

Say you have an OC (let's call him Bob) that you've created but whom you don't know much about, either in terms of his background, his personality, or some other major factor. What do you do to get to know Bob? Do you write out a structured biography, do you plop him in your story and see what happens, do you "interview" him? Are there any favorite writing exercises anyone has to get to know their OCs better, like a specific scene or situation you like to use?

I need to do this with some of mine, and I'm looking for ideas that have worked for people.

 

When I have a new OC, I like to do a few things. I'll make a sort of stats sheet and fill out a bunch of basic information, and go from there. If I have other characters for them to interact with, I'll do some test interactions. Like really, really short snippets. And this is a habit of mine as an artist, but I really like to draw my characters. I feel like that's when I get to know them best.

 

Mostly what DWH said. If there's some major event or backstory angle to an OC that I want to tie into a certain thematic element, I'll get that figured out early on. I'll also get a few particulars down on paper, just so I don't accidentally trip myself up later on down the line (mean readers, like myself, are always on the lookout for a chance to notice stuff like that).

I'm a bit of a dialogue junkie, so it's not unusual for me to experiment with mini-convos that may never get used. Stuff that doesn't require any plot or explosions, like two characters debating an issue or discussing whatever. No scene descriptions, no extraneous details, nothing but dialogue (and maybe some facial expressions & tones, since they're as communicable as words in certain situations). It lets you start to get into their heads, gauge their personalities, and before long you'll be able to very quickly recognize what's in-character and what doesn't work. for them.

Beyond that, I generally tend to let things unfold on their own. Since you rarely learn anybody's life story in one sitting, I think it's pretty natural to let that kind of thing tell itself through exposition as you go. By not writing your OC's Wikipedia entry before you write the story (or their chunks of it), you give yourself more manuevering room to adapt to whatever's currently going on in the story. So in a sense, most of my OCs end up being dynamically engineered by the story I'm writing.

 

for me it is a spreadsheet with the basic information that comes first and then I draw them and write stories.

These are some of my OC's

[image=http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/earlybird-obi-wan/forcenetart/aaquilin24.jpg]

Master Yoda and Kaagi Adin

[image=http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/earlybird-obi-wan/forcenetart/faltears7.jpg]

Obi-Wan and Aaqu Maerhin

 

I mostly do a combination of those things myself. Drawing the characters is really important to me. Ironically, I have a number of Star Wars OCs I haven't drawn yet. But the longer I'm an OC writer, the more detailed my profile sheets get. I'm growing to appreciate how important history and family are to characters and how they work in stories. I didn't used to put so much stock in that when I wrote lots of Sailor Moon OC stories.

 

I guess this thread has died/worn out it's usefulness...

Can't say I'm surprised noone picked it up, I made it so awesome that it blinded those who tried.


Srsly, if anyone would like to start it again*, or fix it up after the "boards move", then drop me a PM and I'll let you reign free over it.

*please, only serious OC writers with experience need apply, all others will be jettisoned out the airlock...

 

Ale, had I a job less crazy than the one I do, I'd pick this thread up in a heartbeat. It's been a great resource over the years, and I hope it never goes away entirely.

Of course, we can keep this thread around for discussion in the meantime, if anyone ever has an itch to talk OCs.

 

Since I deal with almost entirely with OC's and OC driven characters i really want the the sock to keep going. The boards seem to have hit that lull that spring brings and even though I haven't had time to write a whole lot I would still love to talk OCs and maybe get some challenges.

I'd say I would take it over but not sure what all is involved. Plus the experience factor kinda worries me.

 

I've been thinking the same thing myself, but I've really not been on the boards very long at all. What does the job really entitle?

 

To be honest guys, the job doesn't entail much...

The bulk of it is managing the challenges (if one chose to continue them): setting the challenge (topic, due date for entries, due date for voting, posting the links).

Then it's coming up with engagin topics, and basically monitoring them, and keeping them on track, etc. (enforcing the TOS).

Lastly, updating the first page and title bar. The current topic of discussion, the new submissions, the challenges, etc.

It's actually an easier job when split in two (and it's not difficult by any means, it just becomes tedious by your lonesome) so if you both would like to have a go together, I'd be more than happy to share the details on how to go about running things. I'd love to pass it on to the next generation of OC lovers. Just PM me.

 

And just tossing this out as an offer, if neither of you would be interested in the link maintenance for the index on the first page, I'd be willing to do that. I don't mind doing organization-type stuff and messing with links and whatnot. (And now that I've said that, I'll keep my fingers crossed that all the links won't be broken after the board move. )

 

I'd have a go but I'm busy right now and come the new academic year I'll be even busier, and I'm doing the Monday Mush Mania thread too. I'm guessing it's mostly just quiet at this time of the year because people have exams and coursework due. Unfortunately IRL has to take precedence over fanfic.

 

And if the person who takes over this thread (or someone else) would be interested in running a version in NSWFF, we'd really love it

 

How about we give the thread a reboot of sorts... anyone have suggestions on teaching this old dog some new tricks?

EDIT:

oh yeah, what Nat said. She could really use someone to head up an OC Thread over in NSWFF... she asked me, but alas she likes the Colts, so therefore refuse to do her any favors...

 

Like Ale said, we have already approved an OC Database in NSWFF and are excited about the possibilities, so seriously, we'd love volunteers