Characters The OC Revolution | Spring 2025 Challenge: OC Missing Scenes (#1866, p. 75)

About question 5. I think that as long as the original character is the main character, the established character can get a lot of scren time and it still counts as an original character focus. For instance, an author could write a story about an established character in Rogue squadron relating to their original character as a squadmate or if you were writing about Jedi padawans in a class, 2 or 3 could be established characters but their classmates and instructor would be original characters.

 

I haven't cast my official vote in this one because, for half of the questions, I find the area in question is so grey I can't just answer a simple "Yes or No" question. (Well, that and the fact that I last managed to produce a story for one of the OC challenges in 2007.) I do have some experience here, though, that I have in mind while approaching how to think of such characters when a clear definition needs to be nailed down.

Such as a challenge that, by its very definition, must be about OCs.

1. Should characters borrowed and transplanted into SW from other fandoms, properties, or preexisting source material be counted as valid for the purposes of current, competitive challenges in the OC Revolution thread? Yes/No
2. Should characters of the type described in question 1 be considered acceptable for ad-hoc, belated, and/or noncompetitive entries to challenges in this thread? Yes/No

These first two are pretty clear cut to me. Such a character may be original to the universe, but they are not original to the author, so my answer for both of these would be No.

3. Should unnamed background characters from within the SW universe who are fleshed out within a fanfic story be counted as valid for the purposes of current, competitive challenges in the OC Revolution thread? Yes/No
4. Should characters of the type described in question 3 be considered acceptable for ad-hoc, belated, and/or noncompetitive entries to challenges in this thread? Yes/No


These next two are where things get as grey as my cat's fur, and I don't think I'm going to come up with any answers.

As I indicated above, I have some experience working with the most minor of background characters. Some years ago, beginning in 2006, I wrote a short novel about one of Queen Apailana's handmaidens (or a handmaiden who I quite naturally assumed was her attendant) who appears with her in a set photo from Revenge of the Sith, but doesn't show up in the actual film. An unnamed background character played by an extra who isn't even in the movie, and one who Lucasfilm had left alone in the year since it had hit the cinemas. I figured I was free to play as I willed without any official interference.

(Spoiler alert: this isn't ever a good bet with Star Wars.)

I then proceeded to name and develop the other two handmaidens who do appear on film in the scene at Padmé's funeral: one walking with Apailana in the procession, and the other with Jar Jar and Boss Nass. The final two handmaidens in the set are completely original to me, and so not relevant here.

To begin with, I didn't think of these three characters as being original ones. I may have come up with their names and their entire personalities, but I hadn't made them up. They were still in the movie/official material, however undeveloped and barely seen. So I thought of them as extremely minor canon characters, inasmuch as I thought about it at all. There wasn't any need for me to define things when I was just writing along.

Then to my considerable surprise, during the Fanfiction Awards, the protagonist of this story was nominated for Best Original Character (Female). I raised an eyebrow when I first came upon it, but decided not to say anything, as the character didn't have a chance at making it to the voting round, and so was in no danger of taking the prize away from a real OC. And I was right about that.

But the truth is, the longer I worked on the story, the further away my character became from the handmaiden in the set picture. Eventually, she was more inspired by her than actually being that same character. She even came to look less like her. So in the end, I may have begun writing about that background character, but I ended with an OC. The other two characters continued to be the handmaidens in that scene in my mind, but even they drifted towards being more original . I'm not certain that my readers even knew that's where they all originated--as while I didn't make it a secret, I didn't make much of it either. Which does explain that nomination. The one tie they all still had was--as one of them mentions clearly in a flashback bit--that they were in the procession at Senator Amidala's funeral.

Then!: several years after I finished with that story, and around the time I wrote what would be the last spin-off story--which, if memory serves, was 2013--Star Wars Insider published an article that promised to reveal all about the handmaidens in Padmé's funeral scene. They had been assigned names with the matching accented é's--which were, as one would expect, not at all similar to the ones I had come up with. Oh, and they weren't Apailana's handmaidens after all. They were one and all Padmé's handmaidens.

(Which I can only explain as lazy thinking--why on earth would the Queen be accompanied by Padmé's attendants rather than her own?--but that's another issue.)

With that, my three characters were now all OCs in all truth, and probably AU as well. I would even list one of them in my entry in the Original Characters Index, making that official.

So I guess I have related this story to get to two points: When we refer to unnamed background characters, there is a difference between a random person in a crowd, and one who has a clear role that has already provided some characterization. A Jedi would be an obvious example. A Royal Naboo handmaiden would be another.

And: Never but never assume that those in charge won't eventually get to slapping a name and a few sentences of biography on every character with even a few seconds of screentime, no matter how unlikely. If they haven't already done so when you weren't paying attention, that is. This is Star Wars: they have names for literally everybody and everything.

And when that happens, you'll have a true blue OC after all.

Which would make them eligible for all challenges here--I suppose.

 

This is a question I've had in the past about my own stories, and I can remember at least one time when I asked the thread runners to have a look at my story and decide if it was eligible or if I should submit it out of competition. My personal approach to that would be that even a story that involves ECs should still be primarily about the OC, but I realise that this isn't a measurable unit.

You just set yourself up for constant badgering for a story that features Uncle Bowen and Aunt Peru; you realise that, right?

More seriously though, what I had in mind when I said "backstory" wasn't specific story elements but something more generic, along the lines of "orphaned child of a fallen hero is raised by hard-working relatives", because specific story elements are an obvious disqualifier from the get-go. Borrowing specific, individualised story elements isn't finding inspiration; if it isn't intended as an AU it's just grand theft (okay, arguably, all of fanfic is grand theft, but this would be the sort of grand theft even fanfic disapproves of).

On the other hand, the "orphaned child of a fallen hero" background is very much an archetype, and it would be extremely far-fetched to claim that any character with that background who happens to be dissatisfied with the life he has with his hard-working relatives is a carbon copy of Luke Skywalker. Which is why I think that a third criterion is necessary here; e.g. a character with that background and personality who is also blonde, blue-eyed, not too tall and has a ridiculous 1970s mop of hair does come too close for comfort on a SW fanfic site.

Just to clarify something I didn't mention in my previous post, the 3-criteria rule does exclude that character of mine about which this conversation started, since he borrows name (Cottle), personality (extra-gruff) and skills (medical doctor). However, going by only 2 criteria would be an issue, because "extra-gruff medical doctor" is, again, an archetype, and that would end up disqualifying a whole lot of characters as OCs; and "Cottle" is enough of an everyman name that it's a stretch to claim that any old character with that name is indisputably an alternate version the BSG character.

 

Hello again, everyone!

It occurred to me that I never got around to posting the results of our Poll: Almost-OCs and Gray Areas, even though I extended the deadline more than once, and the most recent extended deadline was some ten days ago! Very sorry about that; my only excuse is that RL ran away from me a bit.

So, here they finally are. For the first two, the prevailing response was very clear:

1. Should characters borrowed and transplanted into SW from other fandoms, properties, or preexisting source material be counted as valid for the purposes of current, competitive challenges in the OC Revolution thread? No
2. Should characters of the type described in question 1 be considered acceptable for ad-hoc, belated, and/or noncompetitive entries to challenges in this thread? No​

So, that will be our approach going forward in this thread.

For 3 and 4, though, which many of our voters agreed represented a substantial gray area, we ended up with a somewhat less straightforward combination of answers:

3. Should unnamed background characters from within the SW universe who are fleshed out within a fanfic story be counted as valid for the purposes of current, competitive challenges in the OC Revolution thread? Tie between yes and no
4. Should characters of the type described in question 3 be considered acceptable for ad-hoc, belated, and/or noncompetitive entries to challenges in this thread? Yes​

Given this less straightforward situation, I’d like to hear you people’s thoughts about how to proceed with this one. Shall I (or some other person in authority in this forum, or someone else altogether) break the tie? Should we go with “yes” for #3 to match #4, given that the point has been raised that there shouldn’t be different rules for competitive and noncompetitive entries? Or given what a gray area this is, would it make more sense to go with “no” for #3 in the interest of caution, while allowing more leeway for noncompetitive entries? Guess it’s time for another discussion, or something! (And this part of it can be just a discussion, rather than a formal poll.) As always, I’m very eager to see what people say and what ideas come up!

 

I have posted a story for the challenge, Memory Fuel, featuring Aes Rimi from Of Small Propagules.

 

Great, thanks! Got it in our challenge index now.

 

So I wrote a fic sort of for my left over drabbles, then it got out of hand length wise...then I was like "YES! This fits with this quarter's OC theme - nightmares!" then I realised that it was supposed to be of your character having a nightmare, not your character living a nightmare and dreaming of better times...

 

having a nightmare and living a nightmare could be the same.
And we have one month left for this challenge

 

In that case can I please submit Padawan Mine with Tara Tarindae (mentioning Davin Dor)

https://boards.theforce.net/threads/padawan-mine.50059225/

 

Ohmigosh, I see I totally forgot to index this—apologies for that! It is safely indexed now, and we are up to three fabulous entries! Incidentally, there’s now one (1) week left in our current challenge before it comes due on June 30, so keep the good stuff coming!

 

[]Oh my![/] I just noticed that it's been more than two weeks since the due date of most recent challenge, which according to the post above was June 30—very sorry about that! I would say it is time for some voting, wouldn't you? So here goes...

2023 Second Quarter Challenge: Nightmares
Voting Time!
​

There are three (3) excellent stories in the running, which are:
Prophesy by @Vek Talis
Memory Fuel by @Mechalich
Padawan Mine by @Kit'

As usual, please vote by PM to this sock account. You will have the usual two (2) weeks to do so, with votes coming due Thursday, July 27, at 11:59 pm (23:59) PST. And I of course don't have to remind you of the rules for fair voting! The winner will, of course, get the opportunity to come up with this thread's next challenge. So let's get 'em in, people!

 

One week and a few hours to go. Get your votes in.

 

And now three (3) days left! Votes will come due on July 27.

 

And today is the last day to vote! You have roughly 21 hours left to get your votes in. Results will be announced tomorrow!

 

All right, everyone! The votes are in for our 2023 Second Quarter Challenge (Nightmares), and our winner is:

Memory Fuel by @Mechalich ​

Congratulations on your win, Mechalich! You get to come up with this thread’s next challenge—watch for a PM from this sock. And many thanks to all three of our excellent participants for another awesome challenge experience!

 

Congratulations @Mechalich! A very well deserved win for a fabulous fic.

Both fics were excellent though I found it very hard to choose.

 

Congrat @Mechalich

 

Congratulations, @Mechalich !

 

Thanks everyone!

 

All right, everyone! We are pleased to announce our brand new Third Quarter 2023 Challenge, kindly provided by @Mechalich:

Negotiations ​

You know what to do! TOS applies, as always. Stories are due in our usual eight (8) weeks, on Tuesday, September 26, at 11:59 pm (23:59) PST.

Happy writing to all!

Challenge Index
The Taking of the Firstborns by Chyntuck
The Kammris Falcon – Jedi Noir by Kit'

 

Okay so I`ve got some ideas for this challenge though this comes with two questions:
1. Do both parties in the negotiation need to be OCs? Or could it be the PoV of an OC who negotiates with a Established Character?
2. Can this be more than one negotiations (thus potentially being more than one chapter)?

 

I would guess that (1) it would be fine for the OC to negotiate either with an EC or an OC, and that (2) more than one negotiation is probably just fine. @Mechalich , as the proposer of the challenge, what say you?

 

Either or is fine. Multiple negotiations are also not an issue.

 

We’ve reached the one-month point in our Negotiations Challenge! Exactly one month left to submit stories before the deadline on September 26.

 

My entry for the "Negotiations" challenge is up: The Taking of the Firstborns.