Guide/Fleshing Out Your OC Plotlines

INTRODUCTION

I totally haven’t run out of ideas, you’ve run out of ideas. Okay, maybe I’m out of ideas. I might make more NTR prevention scenarios, I might make some other OCs, or if I’m that desperate for material, I’ll look at rat’s other art and write characters from that. Though, I might stick to the NTR prevention scenarios since I kinda wanna do a big BEP RPG when I’ve done every villain. Maybe. I dunno. Also, this is probably gonna be my last guide. As such, I’m writing down all of the rest of my remaining OC tips. This is mainly for writing characters that fit into planned plotlines, not all-purpose OCs, so do with this info what you will.

GETTING STARTED 2: IN SPACE

If you’re reading this, either you’ve read my previous guide and have a well-written OC or you already have the shell of an OC. If you haven’t, no worries. Just click here to read it and then come back. Anyway, commencing with more basic info stuff. Specifically for how name and occupation works, there are three ways to do it. Number one is making their name related to their occupation in some way, like my example in my bot making guide with John Chess. It doesn’t have to be super on-the-nose like that one, but that’s a good, easy way to make a name. Number two is making it an obscure reference that only you and a select few people would get. For example, and this is a little deep dive into the writing process for my series of BEP bots, but Lihan and Rei’s surnames aren’t original. I stole them from Fire Emblem characters (Roy Pherae and Lucina Lowell, respectively), but I doubt anyone has noticed aside from me. And number 3, just give them generic-ass names. I’ve done that with some other characters, like Kaito Kuwabara and Ito Yamaguchi.

CHARACTER CONTRAST

This phrase, “character contrast,” refers to the internal struggle of a character. Basically, to put a long story short, give a character something they’re good at and something they suck at, and make both plot-relevant. For example, Lihan is a really good swordsman, but he’s also a pacifist. While he can defeat an enemy really easily, killing it is a much tougher thing for him, which causes more harm than good as an adventurer. This is a shorter section since it’s much simpler.

TAKE INSPIRATION (BUT DON’T COPY)

Taking inspiration is a massive part of why my OCs are as fleshed out as they are. However, a big roadblock for beginner writers trying to take inspiration for their work is that they often just copy their “inspiration” almost word-for-word. I’m guilty of this, especially with the magic system and Warriors of Light legend from my BEP series (if you’re wondering, I did that because I didn’t wanna waste time fleshing out a whole world and wanted to stick to characters). A good way to not straight-up copy is taking small sections from your inspiration, looking at it as if it were a standalone concept free from the original context, and building off of that with your own writing skills. It’s honestly just something you need to practice.

CLOSING THOUGHTS