Meta: My OC is not named Mary.
I started to make this as a bullet point aside in a post of miscellaneous pointless tidbits, but then it began to expand into a ramble that's long enough for its own post, so here we go.
Earlier today, I got to thinking about how woefully disrespected OCs are in fandom. They've got a bad rap, n'est-ce pas? Everyone assumes they're going to be obnoxiously flawless, shallowly-characterized Mary Sues, and that bothers me. Why? Why do they have to be? Why can't a good writer build a solid original character in this fandom, flesh them out, and use them in a way that's important to plot- or even, God forbid, pair them with an established canon character? Come to that, why can't a writer focus an entire story on an OC? Well, they can, of course, but the bottom line is that nobody save perhaps the most devoted of their flist will read it. And lack of demand means a lack of writing; you probably find more decent Filch/Hagrid fics than you can find decent fics truly involving OCs.
And I, for one, think that's a damn shame.
For me, the draw of HP fandom actually has very little to do with the main characters, with a couple exceptions. On the whole, though, I find even the ones I like to be fairly flat in canon, or often even problematically characterized. Fleur is a good example of this- she's a character who has a lot of potential, but I feel like it's never quite realized in the books (she's the Beauxbatons champion but we never see her do anything but lose, and always against boys? Puh-leeze.) But this isn't a Rowling's Characterization Rant (though goodness knows I have several of those)- my point is that what keeps me interested in HP fandom is the world itself. It's got huge amounts of untapped potential things to explore that canon can't possibly delve into, even in seven books. Consequently, often the canon characters aren't in a position to do so, either. But the right OC easily could; OCs have the potential to open up all sorts of new niches in the HP universe and shake things up in interesting and unexpected ways.
So where are they? Come on!
I'm coming at this from a very pro-OC place, obviously. I write, but I also RP, and in a lot of my RP 'verses I have OCs who necessarily must be able to stand up against the canon characters they play side by side with. Come to that, one of my absolute favorite characters to play and to write is a young Unspeakable by the name of Mercy, who a couple of my flisters are familiar with. Chances are, if you've read enough of my fics and have an eye for detail, you've seen her name mentioned- the passing reference characters in my fiction are often fully-developed OCs in their own right. Yet I don't dare write them in a way that makes them integral to plot for fear of turning readers off, and readers in turn never read OCs because no one tries to create good ones. Kind of a catch-22, and I'm guilty of perpetuating it. It'll take willingness from readers to take a chance on reading OCs, and willingness from writers to take the chance on writing them if the attitude is going to shift- and I think it's worth shifting. OCs and Mary Sues aren't synonymous, and fans would do well to remember that and trust their favorite authors to be able to create solid original characters in the HP universe with the same skill they create original plot in it.
Originality, after all, is what keeps us from stagnating as a fandom; don't restrict that creative fire.
Earlier today, I got to thinking about how woefully disrespected OCs are in fandom. They've got a bad rap, n'est-ce pas? Everyone assumes they're going to be obnoxiously flawless, shallowly-characterized Mary Sues, and that bothers me. Why? Why do they have to be? Why can't a good writer build a solid original character in this fandom, flesh them out, and use them in a way that's important to plot- or even, God forbid, pair them with an established canon character? Come to that, why can't a writer focus an entire story on an OC? Well, they can, of course, but the bottom line is that nobody save perhaps the most devoted of their flist will read it. And lack of demand means a lack of writing; you probably find more decent Filch/Hagrid fics than you can find decent fics truly involving OCs.
And I, for one, think that's a damn shame.
For me, the draw of HP fandom actually has very little to do with the main characters, with a couple exceptions. On the whole, though, I find even the ones I like to be fairly flat in canon, or often even problematically characterized. Fleur is a good example of this- she's a character who has a lot of potential, but I feel like it's never quite realized in the books (she's the Beauxbatons champion but we never see her do anything but lose, and always against boys? Puh-leeze.) But this isn't a Rowling's Characterization Rant (though goodness knows I have several of those)- my point is that what keeps me interested in HP fandom is the world itself. It's got huge amounts of untapped potential things to explore that canon can't possibly delve into, even in seven books. Consequently, often the canon characters aren't in a position to do so, either. But the right OC easily could; OCs have the potential to open up all sorts of new niches in the HP universe and shake things up in interesting and unexpected ways.
So where are they? Come on!
I'm coming at this from a very pro-OC place, obviously. I write, but I also RP, and in a lot of my RP 'verses I have OCs who necessarily must be able to stand up against the canon characters they play side by side with. Come to that, one of my absolute favorite characters to play and to write is a young Unspeakable by the name of Mercy, who a couple of my flisters are familiar with. Chances are, if you've read enough of my fics and have an eye for detail, you've seen her name mentioned- the passing reference characters in my fiction are often fully-developed OCs in their own right. Yet I don't dare write them in a way that makes them integral to plot for fear of turning readers off, and readers in turn never read OCs because no one tries to create good ones. Kind of a catch-22, and I'm guilty of perpetuating it. It'll take willingness from readers to take a chance on reading OCs, and willingness from writers to take the chance on writing them if the attitude is going to shift- and I think it's worth shifting. OCs and Mary Sues aren't synonymous, and fans would do well to remember that and trust their favorite authors to be able to create solid original characters in the HP universe with the same skill they create original plot in it.
Originality, after all, is what keeps us from stagnating as a fandom; don't restrict that creative fire.