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So I have an OC of mine I occasionally work on, and might like to RP him in some memes. (I don't really have time for another game but I do have time for the odd thread)

1. What makes you absolutely never want to thread with an OC?

2. What makes you want to thread with an OC?

3. Or in general, what do you think makes an OC interesting and not boring/bland/annoying?

- Link character personality and background information from the profile. THIS IS VITAL FOR OCs. If I don't recognize someone on a meme but I like their setup, I click through to the profile, and if there's nothing there, I don't tag.

- Tag out with substance or put something in your original tag. You can't skate by on people recognizing you when you have an OC; you have to entice them with your writing.

Otherwise, just don't pick a PB who's a common canon character, and you should be fine.

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Interesting OC-wise, I usually look for:

- Individuality; they should have their own interests and opinions, and these should be clear in your writing. Think about how they appear to different senses; think about how they perceive their surroundings. Filling out some of those extra-long character surveys can be a good way to develop this. The major flaw I usually see in OCs is that they tend to be either bland or too changeable; without a canon portrayal to base your writing off of, you need to think harder about their motivations, their physicality, and their quirks.

- Fallibility; this applies to more than just OCs, but it's very important that you're willing to let your character be wrong. If they're from a historical or fantasy setting, they shouldn't be a superhacker. There are things they don't know, times they totally overreact, opinions they have that aren't the same as yours, things they believe that are just flat-out wrong... because that's true of everyone. Think about where their weaknesses lie, and let those weaknesses show when it's appropriate.

- Originality; it's easier to get attention and tags as an OC if there aren't fifty OCs on the meme with nearly identical backstories. If you're going to go for a popular genre like urban fantasy, for example, put your own spin on it. Look up unusual myths. Research! Research is wonderful. It'll give you ideas you didn't even know existed. Do not make a tragic vampire or teenage werewolf or nature-loving elf or rugged demon hunter unless you're going to do something really unusual with the base concept.

- Setting; put some thought into the world your character comes from. There's no bigger red flag for me in an OC description than a line like "His world is basically [popular canon], except [slight difference.]" Setting shapes a character's expectations, interactions, and reactions. This is a great way to write originality and individuality into your character; does she rebel? Does he conform? To/against what? What's "normal"? How do they relate to their world in terms of politics? Religion? Social expectations? Family? Race/species? Wealth? Education? Technology levels?

This is good advice!

oh my god this is great *u* thank you!

Speaking as an OC player, here!

1 and 2 would be similar to canon characters for me:
BAD:
- posts with little for me to reply to
- bad spelling and grammar
- sparse information in journal
- bad presentation (I'm shallow, I'll admit it.)

GOOD:
- hooks in your posts, funny/interesting prose
- characters that sound unique or i think would have a good conversation with mine
- effort with presentation of journal (it doesn't even have to be amazing! just something that looks like you've spent at least 5 minutes setting up for people to be able to navigate)

3. Characters that aren't all about themselves.
It's a hard one - it's actually the one thing I struggle with most - because the temptation to info dump LIKE CRAZY in tags is especially great with OCs because they don't exist anywhere else. But characters that are always in the middle with melodrama, or always showing off, are basically the most draining things. Unfortunately a whole slew of people aren't going to be interested in your OC off the bat, and you have to avoid the temptation to make it all about them.
Aside from that? There shouldn't be anything. Just write well and don't get disheartened if people drop you. It'll happen.

this also is good! Thank you! :D

And the journal thing, I figured making like a post for the guy's info but I didn't think of using the profile page for organization or uh other decoration of the journal, ha, I'm usually pretty plain journalwise. 8D Thank you!

I like just putting links in my HMD post! That's a pretty quick way of keeping track of things (and giving people easy reach of things), esp. if you end up using your character's journal for a load of things (like I do).

Like I said, it doesn't have to be amazing, but I think the default dw-given layout is kind of a warning flag for people because it's like you've just dived in without thinking.

Bless your heart

OCs

Re: OCs

below anon

op here

Re: OCs

op

ayrt