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The Life and Mind of DamnBlackHeart
This is to help me stay actively writing. So expect to see rants, tips on writing, thoughts on subjects, me complaining of boredom, reviews, anime, movies, video games, conventions, tv shows and whatever life throws at me.
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Fanfiction: OCs/Self-Insert Immediately Knowing Stuff |
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Something I’ve noticed is that a lot of OCs (Original Characters) and Self-inserts (or sometimes refer to as SI-OCs) are able to recognize that they’re in another world so quickly. It’s not realistic when there’s nothing special about the location for them to make that connection. For example, if they found themselves transported into a forest how do they know it’s Mirkwood from The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit? That forest could actually be ANY forest in the real world, or even any fictional one too.
Oh, so they noticed there are giant spiders in it? Well, that doesn’t mean anything because that forest could easily also be the Forbidden Forest from Harry Potter. Or any other fictional work that contains such creatures or even the possibility of them existing in it.
It would actually make better sense (and be more believable) for the character to not be aware of where they are at first. Once they start picking out the strangeness of the location and their situation, than they would try to rationalized it. Are they lost? Are they dreaming? Hallucinating? Were they abducted? Is it all a prank? Did they lose their mind? Obviously, the character will reach a point where they can’t ignore or keep denying their new reality.
It takes readers out of the story when they’re wondering how exactly does the character know where they are without any evidence. Unless the location is unique and recognizable, like the Hogwarts’ castle, the Shire because of Bilbo Baggins’ house, Konohagakure because of the Hokage Rock, and so on. The character shouldn’t be quick to accept it either. Instead they should assume that they’re at a movie set with actors, at a theme park or at an extravagant fan convention. They’ll try to rationalize it first or be in denial before ever accepting that they’re actually in another world. However, the OC or SI-OC may not need that much convincing if they have been reborn into a particular fandom.
The OC and Self-insert also shouldn’t be able to recognize the canon characters by their appearance either. Sometimes it may be obvious I suppose, such as Naruto’s iconic orange tracksuit, but for others it won’t be that easy. It won’t make sense for the OC to be able to recognize Legolas from the other blonde elves. Nor should they be able to pick out Aragorn from among the other humans passing through Bree, inside Prancing Pony Inn or running into him while they’re in a huge forest.
It’ll be too convenient if the canon characters look exactly like their actors and actresses, because chances are they won’t. They might share a few physical characteristics with them, but it certainly wouldn’t be enough for an OC or Self-insert to automatically figure it out. Not until the canon character actually introduces themselves to the OC.
After all, depending on the source material, such as if it’s a book, it allows readers to form their own interpretation of what a canon character looks like base on the author’s description of them. For example, Hermione Granger is described as having frizzy, untamable dark hair, brown eyes, and protruding teeth, but more often is defined by her intellect and devotion to her friends. She’s played by Emma Watson, but it could have been anyone in the role as long as they matched the description. The color of her skin was never specified either and for this reason some people depicted Hermione as black in their fanworks.
 DamnBlackHeart · Sat Sep 14, 2019 @ 03:44am · 0 Comments |
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