#I'm about to create an OC that is so evil and sexy

[takaraphoenix]

Just saw a Leverage GIF set that made me think about how much I would have loved to see Goran Visnjic play a villain on Teen Wolf.

I love this man, from ER to Leverage to Timeless, he has so much talent and his bad guys, I mean I am obsessed with Damien Moreau and he fucked me up so hard in Practical Magic when I was a kid.

Can you imagine the suave charm and evil manipulation of him as an Alpha werewolf.

I am unwell about how much I would have loved this.

[scribble-dee-vee]

Happy STS! Which of your characters do you think would be most popular among cosplayers? If you had to pick one of your OCs to cosplay, who would it be?

Oh heck yea! Thanks for the ask; I lowkey forgot that STS was a thing

So, I loooove cosplay as an art form/means of having fun! I used to do it more when I was younger, and I still dress up for cons/fan themed events. I also follow a lot of cosplay content online. I must admit that I think about the cosplay-ability of my characters a LOT. Like, every author wants a screen adaptation/a fully VA'd audiobook/whatever, but I specifically want silly creative ppl on the internet to dress up as my lads!!

That being said, I have many opinions on this front.

Taking a broad look at the Heart of Lead universe, I think it would offer a lot of different options to cosplayers. I could see the extended cast catering to people of all skill levels and interests, at least in terms of character design. You got regular-ass humans with one or two defining physical traits (although someone could always go in for more detail, because of the Victorian-fantasy clothes)! You also got characters with A.) complicated armor/uniforms/gowns, B.) wings/fangs/assorted fantastical traits, and C.) like,,, props?? Like there is a very large, somewhat evil sentient sword in this universe, and I would die happy if someone made their own for cosplay purposes. I would DIE.

All that in mind, here are the characters I think would be the most popular to cosplay, based on my observations of present-day cosplay communities online. I've given all them "most ___" awards, for funsies.

Dale Porter – most popular. No contest whatsoever. Sarcastic, evil, conventionally attractive white man. People love to cosplay characters with this profile; it's inescapable, and somewhat obnoxious. He's also fairly easy to cosplay, I would argue, as long as u got a white wig. (I would not personally cosplay him. He is my pookie but he can go ROT.)

Rosalind Lake – most sexy. If you want to wear an ostentatious dress and look hot in a femme way, here ya go. She's not the most important character, but her look is distinctive and fun. (I would definitely cosplay Rosalind.)

Wren Dorian – most steampunk. Listen, if you love steampunk/gaslamp fantasy/cabaret rock aesthetics, she is your GIRL. Big curly hair, big boots, massive belt full of tools, potentially goggles if you're feeling really fancy. Wren also gets some interesting design variations throughout the series that make her even cooler. (I would cosplay Wren. I have closet-cosplayed her before.)

Nicolas – most edgy. At least, that's how I think people would cosplay him. He wears a black trench coat and fingerless gloves for like half of the series; he has emo boy hair; he lowkey looks like Dream of the Endless. I'm not going to spoil his magical abilities, which make him EVEN EDGIER, but those exist, and they also impact his physical appearance. He's a sweetie boy baby who cries a whole lot, but he LOOKS very cool to one's inner 13-year-old. (I would cosplay Nicolas, and I have closet-cosplayed him before!)

Vesper – most fantasy. They're a faerie. He has wings. Their magic turns their eyes and fingers black. He wears sickass gender-nonconforming outfits, including such articles as capes and tiaras. If I was actually going to pour tens of hours into creating a cosplay from the HoL universe, I would 100% cosplay Vesper. They look cool as hell. (Also, fun personality – he's very outgoing and sweet!)

I'll leave it there for now, but I genuinely have SO many more opinions about HoL cosplay potentiality. There are options for the ppl who only cosplay evil dilfs,,,, for ppl who like to play princess dress-up,,,,, for ppl who incorporate gore and horror elements into their cosplays,,,,, we've got it all!!

(Now to get about FINISHING and PUBLISHING these books, so ppl can feasibly do this. Lmao.)

[divineprank]

do you have ship bias?

would you play a OC x canon ship?

[Munday asks!]

19. do you have a ship bias?

"Bias" is a weird word to use here. My Ganondorf is pansexual and I'm open to exploring just about whatever ship you wanna throw my way, as long as it's NOT involving children or animals. I'm open to safe, warm and fluffy ships, complex ships that explores characters to their fullest, ships that brings enemies into each others arms, and I'm even into the idea of breaking ships apart and creating lovers to enemies. I'll be honest, considering this is Ganondorf, the Great Dark Demon Lord King of Evil Thieves (did I get all of his titles..?), I am up for exploring toxic ships BUT ONLY as long as both parties are comfortable. It's Ganondorf, if he's far along in his sickness, it's not unlike his character to not be the best lover!

However these RPs will be heavily tagged and I will be using a read-more cut so vulnerable people don't have to read them on the dash. If you don't cut these types of RPs with me, I will not be engaging further. Also, I will not be participating in anything sexually violent. I refuse.

Oh, and I will definitely not RP with you if you're underage. If you're a minor, fuck off. Go away.

23. would you play an OC X canon ship?

Yes! I am OC friendly!

BUT!

With how many people have started simping for Ganondorf, and, frankly--hi, how are ya? Could'a really appreciated you stans back in 2006 when everyone started complaining about how Ganondorf is in too many games (back then, Ganondorf had only been in three games. He's on his forth now.) And because everyone was sick of the imaginary over-saturation of the character, Skyward Sword happened and proceeded to not only ruin a fantastic character, but also keep him away from us for the following 12 years because Nintendo has this really weird way of going about listening to criticism wherein they will stay as far away from the object of the criticism as possible, or they will over-correct so hard that the object of criticism no longer resembles what it once was. (Majora's Mask 3D, anyone?)

Uh. Anyway, sorry, yes I will ship with OCs! BUT! And this is a huge but for all you Ganondorf simps! I can't bring myself to ship with self-inserts right now. If your OC is a self-insert; if it's a character that's essentially a personal representation of yourself, I'm sorry but I won't roleplay an active ship with this muse. Ganondorf is a wonderful and sexy character, yes. It's popular to like him and his body right now. But I'm not here to fulfill your romantic fantasies. I know that sounds assy of me, but honestly I don't care. That's my boundary and I really hope you respect that.

I will roleplay with self-inserts! Just not romance or sex stuff.

[evansbby]

ouuu i can definitely tell that steve is just using reader to get ari angry since they're rivals. i love the small details of steve's dark side that peeked through, you're brilliant! ans your writing is perfect.

you write angst so perfectly i'm soooo jealous. i swear i've never been attracted to assholes until i discovered your fics. ari is so cruel but you really cannot help but be drawn to him. usually writers write characters too evil/cruel that you cannot get into them but you write them so well all i can do is be turned on ngl. like the way he treated reader after they had sex was AWFUL but you somehow made it so sexy OMG.

100% convinced you can take a character that is a literal piece of clay or sumn and write it to be the sexiest most charming character ever 😭😭😭😭 also you're such a one of a kind writer, i read fics in almost every fandom imaginable and i have never seen such a wonderful incredible writer like you!!!!

ngl wicked games might be your best fic yet (i say this every time you release something new but whatever). there's something so satisfying about ari not even running after reader (i think in your other fics ari is def more possessive and would never allow oc to run off with steve but he's such an asshole in this one he just stays with his girlfriend)

chapter 2 has definitely inspired me to write my own fic of a full blown asshole character like wg!ari omg (a fic for a completely diff fandom and also the plot would be very diff as well i would never blatantly steal or copy or anything like that). something about this type of asshole character just does it for me....like he has a gf and strings you along and keeps acting like he owns you but never actually claims you and all you're good for is sex UGHHHH. You're a genius.

Steve deffo has some vendetta against Ari, it’s just sad that poor reader is the one who got caught up in whatever is going on between those two! 🥺🥺🥺

AHHH thank you so much, I’m not worthy of all this praise omfg thank u🥺🥺🩷🩷 I’m really happy you’re enjoying this story!!! I always aim to create characters who are multi-faceted who people can connect with in some way or form, rather than just solid boring characters, so I’m thrilled you think I write well!!

Alsoooo listen I had such a hard time writing the part where Steve and reader leave together bc I was like “there’s absolutely no way Ari wouldn’t go after them” BUTTT see what happens is that Sharon throws up on Ari as I mentioned in another ask, which is why he’s unable to follow them and he loses them in the crowd 😭 I actually wrote that but then deleted it and never rewrote it!!! But it happened!

Also omg I’m so happy I inspired you!!!! I know feeling inspired is the best feeling ever and honestly writing assholes is the most fun for me bc you’re always testing how far you can take it🤭🤭🤭 good luck with your own fic, this is so exciting!!

[hythlodaeus-mynewoldfriend]

To what extent have other people's OC influenced your own? Perhaps in the sense of inspiring your ideas? Or giving you "permission" to create a character you might not otherwise have done? Perhaps a lore-breaking one, or an overtly sexy one, or a self-insert, or a villainous one etc?

Oh good one! Apologies this got a little long so its under a read more.

The first ever true oc I made back in 2020 was the one where another oc did inspire me to put her out there more and allow for her to not be a Deputy (as that was who you the character was in the game), which at the time I was feeling it hard to insert her smoothly into that storyline and I do like to stay canon compliant as much as I can. See their oc not be a deputy just had me go "Oh wait I can do that?! I don't have to make my sweet little Cat a deputy? Well then let's not do that!"

Outside of that I do have friends that I discuss ocs with and they influence more in the sense of giving an outside opinion on things I'm unsure about or thinking about as I can get stuck in my own head about it all. Its also a reassurance thing at times or just a checking if it fits in with lore as I like to be canon compliant as much as possible.

As for making ocs that has happened! Stasia and Carly were ocs that were encouraged and made/developed more because there was someone else that was a big lover of evil, villain type ladies. Stasia started off as a 2-D antagonist that was needed for a story and soon got developed because they kept asking questions about them and frankly it was nice to get into thinking about their motivations in more depth for that universe. Carly was also a 2-D character that was used as motivation but since then because of that person also got developed into who she is! I focus more on dynamics of characters to be interesting to me and I never had an oc that was so morally opposite me and it was a nice change. I've had ocs where they go "evil" but they start off as a good guy. I do thank this person for kind of pushing me out of my comfort zone with oc creation as I love them and they wouldn't be around to hang out in ffxiv where they also fit nicely into the story and frankly are going to get more development with where the story has gone and looks to be going! They were the first ocs that got transferred in and, if I can toot my own horn here for a second, have inserted themselves into the story so amazing that it just offers up more fun having those on the other side of where the WoL started morally and still don't follow the moral code I follow. And truly of the two the one to jump out and have a vibe that worked well was Carly as it almost felt like she was calling to have Zenos as her man considering in the og verse there was never a man that could match up to her or feel like an equal to her. She in turn dragged Stasia and that woman fit so so well into being Emet-Selch's protégé that I love it so much especially with how that final scene in Shadowbringers goes! Like god I could talk about that so much but I won't in this ask.

All in all, people influence me and more push me into stepping outside my comfort zone and sometimes the comfort zone of the overall fandom majority. This does also include AUs that are just for fun and self indulgence (which is a whole other discussion) and I'm happy to talk to them and bounce ideas off of them as I feel it has helped my development of ocs immensely.

[panickedpansexualprincess]

Hey Raven! For Devi, ofc, the following questions!

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?

💐 BOUQUET - create a bouqet for them! what do those flowers mean? are any of the flowers their particular favourite?

🍧 SHAVED ICE - do they still have any objects from their childhood? what significance does it have to them? what would their reaction be if they lost it?😨

FEARFUL - when scared, do they go into "flight" or "fight"?

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people?

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

🪤 MOUSE TRAP - what will always lure them into certain danger? a loved one in danger? a promise of something they are always searching for?

📚 BOOKS - how were they at school? what is their best subject? what is their worst subject? do they have a favourite subject?

Looking forward to the answers!

Heeee, thank you for the ask! Let's dive into them! Also, totes stealing your idea with the sticking pics between answers, thank you for the idea! XD

(picrew here)

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?

🕷️ Devi doesn't really have any mundane fears- fear of anything normal was stamped out and fairly well exterminated by all the training her moth put her through growing up, nor could she allow herself any fears for her sister Khaterah to use against her. The closest she's come to a mundane fear was having issues with anything touching her throat after- ahem- the episode with Belphie; she tackled that fear summarily and forced herself to get over it through. >.> Well uh, let's call it sexy exposure therapy. XD Insert plug for Conquering Weakness hahaha.

Her biggest fear is one that's a little less easy to tackle; she can't stand the thought of one of her loved ones being hurt because of her life, past, or family, and while she'd refuse to call it a fear, it certainly is her biggest fear. Thankfully, her human loved ones are all very capable of defending themselves, and her supernatural loved ones... well, there's not much her sister would be able to do against demons or angels. It's one of the reasons she's so quick to throw herself into the fray if there's ever danger around- much better to put herself at risk than someone she cares for or loves, both for their safety, and for her own sanity.

💐 BOUQUET - create a bouqet for them! what do those flowers mean? are any of the flowers their particular favourite?

💐 I'm going to go with amaryllis, which can stand for pride, strength, and determination; purple columbine, which can stand for resolution, fortitude, and success; gladiolus, which can stand for integrity, strength, and victory. Probably purple variants of all three, since purple is Devi's color, hee! It would probably be an odd bouquet, but the symbolism feels right for her, and hey, why not give the florist a bit of a challenge? XD Devi's not big on flowers, so she doesn't necessarily have a favorite, but I think out of the three, she'd like amaryllis the best.

🍧 SHAVED ICE - do they still have any objects from their childhood? what significance does it have to them? what would their reaction be if they lost it?

🍧 Does Vette count? XD Vette is her oldest friend and lover; they met when they were very young, when Vette's father worked as a mechanic for Devi's mother, and they bonded almost immediately. They grew up together, best friends through thick and thin, and Devi would do absolutely anything for Vette.

No, Vette doesn't count? XD Shoot. Well. No, she doesn't have anything else from her childhood. Being too attached to anything material growing up would've just given her sister a weakness to use against her, so Devi learned early not to.

(picrew here)

😨 FEARFUL - when scared, do they go into "flight" or "fight"?

😨 Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeefinitely fight! Unless, you know, flying into a fight counts as flight. XD Devi is a fighter down to her very bones, and given the choice of running from a fight, or facing it down, she'll jump headfirst into it Every. Single. Time. Much to the dismay of most of her loved ones, because, well. Even if she should run, yeeeeeeeah, that ain't happenin'. She's got waaaaaaaaaaaay too much pride to run from a fight.

(picrew here)

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people?

🙈 Devi hates being letting anyone see her weaknesses, even her loved ones- hazard of having a twin sister who wants you dead, and has been trying to kill you since before you hit puberty. She will do almost anything to keep from being seen as weak, even if it means putting herself at risk or pushing herself farther than she can safely go. Injured Pride is a really good example of this, where she not only hides the severity of her hurt ankle from everyone, but she also refuses to let anyone see how hurt she is when things with Lucifer escalate so badly, and it just makes the entire situation that much worse. As Simeon points out to her, her pride and refusal to show weakness are huge blind points for her that bite her in the ass more often than not.

(heroforge)

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

🌌 >.> Eh heh. I guess... this is were I publicly admit her origin, for anyone who hasn't heard it before? I created Devi years ago to be my Light Side Sith Warrior runthrough of Star Wars: The Old Republic. ^^;;;; WELP, cat's outta the bag now! Heeeee.

I knew I wanted a strong warrior type character, with a strong sense of justice, who was killer on the battlefield. Her name was the first thing I chose, her physical appearance second, just because of character creation, lol, and it's a general appearance that, universe and species difference aside, I've tried to stick with through the years. Her history and background are courtesy of the family tree I put together for my characters in game: her mother and sister were also created for SW:TOR, and I've adapted them of course from one universe to the next, and then changed things as needed.

🪤 MOUSE TRAP - what will always lure them into certain danger? a loved one in danger? a promise of something they are always searching for?

🪤 A loved one in danger will always lure her out, definitely, but... lbr, it's very easy to lure her out. She's chaotic bundle of pride who will jump headfirst into something if you either challenge her, or if it just looks slightly entertaining. XD She's a definite thrill-seeker (again, much to her loved ones' dismay, ehehehe) and as odd as it might seem, enjoys being in the thick of action even when it's dangerous.

(picrew here)

📚 BOOKS - how were they at school? what is their best subject? what is their worst subject? do they have a favourite subject?

Devi didn't exactly have a... standard education. All of her schooling was done through private tutoring, paid for by her mother and especially honed for getting Devi and her twin sister Khaterah ready for one day taking over their mother's criminal empire. She was expected to do well at everything, and do well at everything she did: she learned to become a master at learning what she needed to quickly, and holding onto that knowledge for however long was required, because the consequences of failure were, well. Not fun, to say the least, and falling behind her sister was not an option.

Her personal favorite subjects were their more physical studies, especially since Khaterah could rarely best her in a fight, or in anything physical period; she always challenged Devi, but most of the time they were evenly matched, or Devi was just ever so slightly better than her sister, and it was a personal point of pride. Her worst subject was history, and it was the subject she struggled the most with- a lot of dry facts to learn and keep hold of when there was so much else on her plate, and she had little interest in it to boot. She managed though, again, because failing wasn't an option.

(picrew here)

Well, that was fun to do! And I get to show off some picrews and looks that didn't make Devi's visual reference post, so, yay! Thank you again for the ask, I really appreciate and enjoyed answering them! Hope you enjoy the answers! 💜🥰😘

[zeenmrala]

Oh Moon, pleasepleaseplease tell me more about your Jedi OC. That whole last chapter with her in it was amazing! I live for different interpretations of the Force. Plus I'm very heart eyes for her.

oh my goodness! this was so wonderful to find in my askbox 🥺 thank you so much for this, for letting me gush about my gorgeous umbaran girlie lol. this may be a bit of a mess: but i am just so happy to talk about her and my fic, so i may get carried away.

i am so beyond pleased that you liked her and the chapter. avona is my first, proper star wars oc and so she has a very special place in my heart.

spoilers ahead for by the light of the second moon

i have an ever evolving love-hate relationship with the jedi, and i could talk about them and this all day. but to cut a long story short - i read the high republic novels and fell in love with how they portray the jedi and the force, the focus on how it's a very personal and individualised experience for every force user, for what it means to know and use the force. it just made jedi that much more interesting to me. so i always wanted to create a jedisona, to create my own jedi and ponder how one could experience and harness the force, the connection to the rest of the universe around them.

and then i've always thought umbarans were cool and creepy and fun, and then i started reading into the dark by claudia gray, and we meet an umbaran jedi. and then i was just obsessed lol (as i oftentimes become with aliens and space wizards) and so i knew if i ever made a star wars oc, i'd want them to be umbaran, or togruta because they're my favourite star wars species (don't tell maul).

it all kind of fell into place naturally - i had an idea for an umbaran, for someone so colourless and blank physically to everyone else, but to herself just bathed in the constant rainbows and light of the force. which is a striking image in itself. the idea of wires of neon lights framing everything and the force being reflected in them was just something i couldn't get out of my head. it's so whack and i thought it was dope so i had to do it

but then that chapter and a lot of the story in general is about the subjectivity of good/evil and the blurring of the two, but i really wanted to pair that with a really stark and contrasting pair of force users battling it out under the storm

so i wanted the fight to be very light vs dark, very clear cut in how it looks - but we know for maul and dear reader we need maul to win. but part of us doesn't, because we know what will happen if he does. a padawan, a kid, will have to die. a Jedi Knight dedicated to peace will die. it's crazy cos they come across so fucking aggressive and annoying in the earlier chapters from readers perspective. because it's a very emotionally charged situation. she has been influenced by maul. and they are overbearing. but they're still just people, at their core, good people trying to help their friends and do what they do. recruit for the jedi.

so basically, i wanted her to be the antithesis to maul. the order and control to his chaos. the light to his dark.

it's painful to me, because avona will and does sacrifice everything to try and save reader, with no hesitation - even though she has no attachment to her, she wants to save her because it's the right thing to do - because of that, and because she's a jedi. whereas maul, who we have a very romantic attachment to and who knows reader very well, is conflicted and refuses to save her before he slays the jedi. because he's a sith. like fuck, we dislike this woman, and we've been nothing but rude to her this whole time - and she is desperate enough to enflame the emotions of the sith to save us? but the man we are falling in love with won't drop the fight to come to the rescue? man it's all just very twisted and sexy. hahaha.

the whole calming/enflaming emotions thing came from her being umbaran and the whole thing about them being manipulative. just wanted to play on it, and then the dynamics of if it's morally right to influence the emotions of others, even as a jedi

it was just so fun writing jedi stuff and it's made me wanna do way more in the future.

i'm so sad she isn't in the fic more than she is, and it's all my own fault for writing what i did lol. i didn't expect to become so heavily invested in her. but i do think she's a really wonderful character and im proud of her for sure.

thanks again so much for giving me the opportunity to swoooooon over her 🥰✨

[tanomm]

Hello again everyone! It took me a while to post again because I am working on a bunch of drawings at the same time cuz I have no self control gssgsgsg

Well anyways, I just wanted to post about an oc I hold very dear to my heart. It's the first time I ever digitalized how his face actually looks like, so I'm really proud of it aaa

Here he is:

And if anyone's curious about his lore/backstory I'll be writing it below!

Well, his name is Jimmy and he's a tree person. Tree people are mutant plant/mammal hybrids that were artificially created and ended up taking over the food chain. I'm not sure if they were intentionally created or if they were an accident, but independently from that their insatiable craving for human flesh was 100% not intended.

They all have gray-ish skin tones and tree branches growing from random bits of their bodies, hence the name. They are omnivores but have a mostly meat based diet, especially human meat. Even though they're not forced to eat human flesh to survive, it's a preference the majority of em have cuz it just tastes better than regular meat for them. They look pretty human-like cuz they evolved into looking as human as possible to lure prey from far away, but the position of their facial features is almost always very off.

Jimmy is a little bit of an anomaly though, he actually doesn't like how human meat tastes like, which in turn made him an outcast among his people and made him decide to move to a small cottage in the middle of a swamp. However, he's not one of the good guys, because he still hunts down any human he finds lost in his swamp and brings their bodies to tree people villages to sell and trade for stuff he needs, so he's basically a hunter/merchant.

He's one of the main antagonists of the protagonist in the beginning of the story, going as far as actually capturing him. Fortunately for the protag, his sarcastic and whitty remarks actually saved his life, making Jimmy curious about his lack of fear of death and sparing him of his life for some days. While in Jimmy's cottage, the protag was planning on killing the dude and escaping from there, but he decided for the whole not-killing-eachother thing to last a little longer out of intrigue for the first tree person that didn't immediately try to murder him at any chance given. Those not killing eachother days became weeks, and soon enough they formed a pretty strong bound together, becoming an inseparable team.

Right now, the two of em are living in the swamp cottage, where they kinda developed a calm and surprisingly domestic life ( I might alter this whole thing if I give the protag a goal he'll have to achieve by leaving the swamp, but that's the whole story for now ).

N now that the lore is over, here are some fun facts about Jimmy:

- Even though he's able to speak, he's more of a quiet guy as a result of being a social outcast

- He wears a hollow tree trunk on his head as a mask n animal pelts on his body to protect himself from getting hurt

- He has a shit ton of guns on his cottage, but he still prefers to hunt with an axe to make it more thrilling

- He has terrible posture and walks around with his back hunched

- The reason why his hair is tied it's because the protagonist wanted to see his face more.

- He's way sweeter than expected, even surprising himself with how sweet he is towards the protagonist

- He doesn't care about killing his own kind if they threaten to destroy his calm n peaceful life

- He likes swimming on the multiple lakes found in the swamp

- He likes listening to music! Especially romantic songs

- I designed him after thinking "damn I want a sexy monster oc" ( honestly this whole story was based on the concept of sexy monster and monsterfucker protagonist dhdhshhs)

- my two biggest influences for his design were Little Nightmares and Dead by Daylight, but I did make his back branches bigger after getting into Resident Evil for some reason

[girlucifer]

aaa i really love hearing people talk about their ocs. yours seems so sweet and i really like the way you describe her. so for the ask game

👁️ EYE - what colour are their eyes? do people notice their eyes? is there anything special about them (shows emotion easily, literally magical...)?

💐 BOUQUET - create a bouqet for them! what do those flowers mean? are any of the flowers their particular favourite?

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people?

🎁 PRESENT - what types of presents would they be most happy to receive? are they good at gift giving?

📎 PAPERCLIP - a random fact.

sorry if it's too much i'm just really curious

[ask game]

👁️| what color are their eyes? do people notice their eyes? is there anything special about them?

they are just the basic indian girl. brown eyes, showing nothing ever. nothing special... but of course, brown eyes are inherently sexy on woc so its ok <3

💐| create a bouquet for them! what do those flowers mean? are any of the flowers their particular favorite?

pink roses- cute, innocent, plus my mom grows them in her front yard so. just something cute!

white amaryllis- symbolizes pride & strength, so you know where i'm going with this. my mc's primary vice they lean the most into is pride thus the bond they share with the prince of pride is one of self-recognition ☆

white chrysanthemums- november's flowers are chrysanthemums (bday is in nov!) and i suppose white mums symbolize loyalty and truth... something my mc thrives in and very much prioritizes!

pink asters- just a cute little one, i love pink if you couldn't tell!

🙈| what's a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people?

naturally they hide much of themselves away in fear of rejection or humiliation- their true feelings, their thoughts and opinions... naturally being surrounded by these powerful demons, angels, and sorcerers alike, my mc is totally out of their league and will only continue to tuck away their feelings to win over these elite figures but over time -hopefully- they will learn to be more vocal and believe in themselves!

🎁| what types of presents would they be most happy to receive? are they good at gift giving?

they'd be happy to receive anything! the thought of a present makes them soo happy ♡ however they dont show it so every time one of the brothers gives them a present they are like omfg mc you hate it dont you ... :( and mc is like 😶 no i love it 😶 on the other hand, they are horrible at gift giving and rather provide their appreciation through acts of service and quality time together ♡

📎| a random fact!

my mc is now updated to have a scar on their left eyebrow due to me needing some stitches last month and my mc being. a mirror copy of me 🥺 so they have a lil cut there! they are like am i still sexy 🤧🤧 to lucifer who's like you never were. can you please get off my desk . . .

thank you soooo much anon this is soooo sweet that you like my mc! <3 and do not even worry about asking too much because i will talk forever and ever! thank you again and i hope you have a lovely day week month year etc etc you are everything to me right now! stay safe and enjoy today! <3

[freedom-of-fanfic]

I'm kind of torn on the Mary Sue issue. On one hand, I don't care what anyone writes for their own amusement, but writing is still an art that does and should have standards for professionals. As someone who has degrees in writing and does it as a profession, it's a little insulting to be told that the work your poured tons of research and time into is on the same level as amateur self-insert fic. That's why I advocate for different standards for fandom vs pro work.

I feel you, anon. and I have a lot of respect for people like you who got degrees and write professionally, because words are held rather cheap with the internet being around and anyone who can get paid to write words impresses me to some degree. but:

 I’ve always felt like comparing fanfic and original fiction to be not exactly congruous? and 

I think Mary Sue suffers from maligning because she’s disproportionately evoked by the youngest/least experienced of writers.

this got … pretty long … so i’m dividing it up a little for ease.

the concept of ‘standards’

first of all, I also advocate for different standards between published/professional/marketed works and fan works, but I do so because of 1)potential spread and 2)they aren’t accomplishing the same thing.

In general, a fanwork will have limited appeal outside of the fans of the canon the work is based in; they cannot stand on their own without some additional effort. Further, fandom has its own language to some degree or another, and fanworks are frequently best understood in the context of other fanworks, like scientific papers citing other scientific papers in passing because the audience is expected to be other scientists in the field who have read it. In other words: the audience is probably fairly niche and in on the ‘lingo’. its potential damage circle is therefore relatively small. if somebody fucks up their research for a fic, it’s nbd, for instance.

On the other hand, an original work with a professional marketing team will certainly reach a much more diverse audience and probably a much larger one. It’s therefore responsible, imo, to be proportionately aware of the potential impact of the subject material and approach it accordingly (though true fiction will always have an unpredictable effect on any given individual, so there’s only so much the creator can do). I’d expect accuracy where research was done, if for no other reason than to avoid spreading false information to such a big potential audience.

and of course I’d hope that if somebody is being paid to write, their grammar/prose/proofreading will meet a certain standard of readability. (the same cannot be expected of free works done for fun that take a few minutes to post on the internet.)

having said that: standards for quality fiction writing will always be subjective. I’m always going to have questions about why The Sound and the Fury is an American classic (I couldn’t make sense of it no matter how hard I tried).  What gets published can be as simple as having good luck with the slush pile reader that day. I’ve seen fanfiction complimented with incredible research: there’s a Tokyo Babylon work-in-progress with an author who has traveled to fic-relevant locales to nail story and character details. I feel the line is blurring these days, especially because there are people who make a living off writing commissioned fanfiction now (too small-scale to be an IP concern, of course).

I think the fundamental difference between fanworks and original works is not quality of the work itself or effort expended.  It’s related to structure and aim. 

Fanworks, even AU fanworks, are like interior decoration. A 'good fanwork’, even an AU fanwork, works within a pre-built framework to elaborate on or add to or evoke what drew its audience to the framework in the first place. 

Original works build a whole new house, creating a new framework from bare construction materials to draw in and house the emotions of its readers. (and then maybe its readers decorate the house with their own fanfic.)

tl;dr: if an AU fanfic was so different from canon and the characters were so OOC that the author can shave the serial numbers off and repurpose it as an original story, it might be a great original work. But it wasn’t a very good fanfic, was it?

why is mary sue so offensive to us?

I don’t know if you’ve ever read the post Mary Sue, What Are You?, but what I keep coming back to is its iconic opening. the author describes an OC at length: orphaned as a child when her parents were killed in front of her, she decided she would dedicate her life to fighting for justice. She grew up to be rich, athletic, beautiful, sexy, angsty, a genius, undefeatable in a battle of wits and agility, and everyone who meets her is instantly lovestruck. In other words, a classic Mary Sue …

but also Batman with female pronouns.

I think one could argue that Batman is not always well-written, but the relevant point here is that Batman - and Mary Sue - might be 99.9% perfection in the shape of a human around whom the universe revolves, but if its their own canon and the universe doesn’t recognize their perfection the way the reader/writer does, it’s not really 'bad’. (And there’s something to be said about why giving this power fantasy male pronouns seems to render it so much more palatable than female pronouns, but for more on that I point you to the referenced essay.)

Your ask is worded to suggest that Mary Sue is synonymous with unprofessional writing. I … kind of agree? Mary Sue is frequently the main character of Baby’s First Fanfic, and let’s be real: Baby’s First Fanfic is often being written by somebody who might be as young (or younger than) 12-13 years old, with all the inexperience, grammar mistakes, and lack of training that suggests. and as far as characterization goes, I think that anyone who takes decent writing classes will be discouraged from writing a Mary Sue. But like Batman, Mary Sue can be a perfect princess and get away with it under certain circumstances.

I posit that Mary Sue characters (or Gary Stus) - whom I will call Flawless OCs from here - are not really a problem on their own. Further, Flawless OC is more agregious in fanfic than original works. Because what makes the Flawless OC so irritating isn’t their perfection, really: it’s what the character’s presence must do to the universe (which is, in the case of fanfic, the universe the reader came to experience in the first place) that’s the real problem.

To show what a good fighter Flawless OC is, they defeat the best canon fighter.

Flawless OC has a backstory more tragic and painful than the most tragic canon backstory, and they cope with the trauma of it better.

There’s no room for Flawless OC because canon wasn’t holding a spot open for a self-insert, so now there’s a 6th Lion or a 10th Fellowship member or a Second Child Who Survived Voldemort.

The entire universe bends to ensure Flawless OC has perfect luck; their enemies are helpless before them. Everything seems to go their way except in the chapter where the their love interest is supposed to rescue them from danger. (the rescue goes flawlessly, of course.)

Depending on the author wish that Flawless OC is meant to fulfill, Flawless OC will defeat any undefeatable enemy, solve the unsolveable problem, be the envy or lust object of any character, etc etc, often without regard for the original context of the enemy/problem or the canon personality of the character.

In short, Flawless OC usually have two major issues: 

they render canon irrelevant to glorify Flawless OC, and 

the universe constantly validates their choices to a degree that wrecks narrative suspense. 

what makes each of these things 'bad writing’ is different.

The first problem I mentioned - warping of mythos, plot, and characters to accomodate the Flawless OC - is a fanfic problem.  Canon-warping absolutely allowed, but what makes it fanfic - the canon source that acts as our shared experience and usually our main reason for being a potential audience to the fic - is almost always nigh-unrecognizable. That makes for bad fanfiction, but it doesn’t always make for bad fiction. Change all the parts of canon enough and you’ve arguably got an original work. It might even be a good original work if the author has writing skill.

The second problem - the validation of the universe - is what makes Flawless OC a dull read in any context. If Flawless OC wants something, you know they’ll get it. If Flawless OC hates someone, you know they’re going to catch hell. If Flawless OC needs to be vulnerable for their love interest, something just bad enough to make them vulnerable will befall them. The perfection of the OC is less of an issue than the lack of meaningful conflict. (A character can have no faults and still be interesting to follow if they must struggle against a universe that doesn’t care.)

to wit:

there’s a fantasy book by David and Leigh Eddings - The Redemption of Althalus - that I read long ago. it stuck with me to a peculiar degree because for a book with such a unique conceit, it was incredibly boring. This is published fiction: it had editors, a marketing team, and was written by professionals with lots of experience! But looking back, none of this saved the story from featuring Gary Stu in a universe that catered to his every need.

The main character, Althalus, is ostensibly a person in need of redemption for being such a bad person all his life and never punished for it, but he’s a loveable, quick-witted rogue almost from the start. To 'redeem’ himself, he’s tasked with saving the world from Enemies (we’re told they’re evil, but I don’t think we see them more than once or twice).  Protected by the Goddess of Luck - literally - for the entire novel, there’s never a single moment where Althalus’ victory over the Enemy is in question. He never does anything really awful that would explain his need to be redeemed (in fact, it turns out the Luck Goddess is the one who protected him from punishment all his life). The enemy is weak, forgettable, and constantly outwitted, and the protagonists, supposedly people of gray morality, never did anything worse than be snarky.

The unique conceit that kept me reading was the House at the End of the World. Being the home of the Goddess, it had doors that opened to anywhere on the planet. but for an idea with such double-edged possibilities, it turned out to be an impregnable fortress of Good. The House and its owner were the forces that bent the whole book’s universe to the inevitable triumph of the main character and his companions.

A counter-example might be Miraculous Ladybug. I’ve often wondered if Mary Sue could be written well and be likeable, and Marinette - the titular Ladybug - is probably close. She’s good at almost everything and always outwits her enemies; even when she seems confident to the point of arrogance, it’s justified by her endless successes. (Her only real flaw is being clumsy when she’s distracted, and it only happens when it’s conveniently cute. this is a walking Mary Sue cliche.) Her power is to be lucky, after all.  

However: even though everything ends up right for Marinette at the end of every episode, she’s not rewarded when she acts poorly towards others. She causes herself problems when she does. Her luck powers give her the ability to bend the universe a little, but the universe is otherwise unforgiving; she’s subjected to the same banalities as everyone else and learns to be a better person along the way.

OTOH if you put Ladybug in another canon with a makeover to recast her as Flawless OC, changing everything so she could occupy a central role like the one she has in her own series, she’d be insufferable: hence Ladybug is a solid example of how a Mary Sue can prosper provided she’s in a universe designed to both feature her and contain her powers for the sake of Good.

I apologize for how long a reply this is. Still: I hope it successfully illustrates for you that:

though original writing and fanfic writing use the same tool (words), and both can use them masterfully, what original writers like you do and what fic writers do are, in general, very different things.

And Mary Sue is what you make of her. In the right universe, she’s just a very lucky person. :)