Using Original Characters That Have a Prominent Role for Series that Already Support a Large Cast

I’m going to start by disclaiming that I’m not referring to plot device characters. For example, if you’re writing a fanfic for Star Trek and they go to a new world – a cast of original characters for them to interact with would be natural. What would not be natural would be a new crewman showing up on the ship or relatives showing up out of nowhere with no basis.

This may sound like a rant against “Mary-Sues” and the like, but that’s not quite what it is. If a show has a full cast of 4-6 people that show up regularly, than yeah – there’s not a lot of options for romance or having them interact with different people. An original character playing the part of  a main role could be forgiven in this context.

I have a much harder time forgiving this in series that have insanely large casts. For example – Bleach. There’s no need for an original character in this show. The cast has literally over 50 or so characters already available for use. You want a mousey girl? Try Squad 12’s Vice-Captain Nemu or Squad Five’s Hinamori. The outgoing girl? There’s about six of those. But to make the point short – you’ve got your choice of just about every personality and type already represented at one point or another.

Pick one.

In the sense of romantic relationships, a random meeting of two characters who have probably never met is just as likely to work as a random original character showing up.  Use someone who’s already there and create a new pairing. Make it work and you’ll get more readers. So – I guess my point is that you’re more likely to get new readers by making an odd, unheard of paring work well than if you create an original character.

Another example would be Transformers. Yet another series with hundreds of characters in its cast to abuse and bend to your will. And yet you still see original characters show up and steal the show. Though, this is one case where I’ve seen it done well and badly.

In a particular fic, they used a squad of police transformers (all original characters) that worked very well. They were designed well, intereacted naturally and felt like they fell into the universe. I stopped reading, however, when in the sequel one of them had kids with a main character of the transformers cast. (A decepticon if you’re curious) This is where the original character lost its value as a plot device and supporting role and fell into the land of lost interest.

It’s a fine line, really, and I think I just don’t see the point of creating love interests for series that already provide so much material to work with.

Pre-Established Relationships

Have you ever been browsing a section and noticed for the pairing it states “Pre-established relationship, So-in-so x So-in-so”? You know the ones – where you start reading and it’s ‘understood’ that the main pairing is already an item and has been for some time despite no hints at such relationship in the canon of the tv series or movie the characters come from. Some don’t even give you a warning; they just list the pairing and they’re already together and making out. It’s a very rare occassion where I find a fic of this nature and make it past the first page of reading.

But before I get too into this, let me address that this applies mostly to fics that feature non-canon pairings and I do make exceptions for fanfics that are sequels (As in the relationship was established in another fiction by the same author). And it is possible for such a thing to be pulled off seamlessly; its just difficult and requires a very high level of writing talent.

Overall, however, ‘Pre-established relationship’ fics bother me. I realize that the main fun of fanfiction is to be able to put characters in situations that wouldn’t normally occur in the canon – the joy of pairing fics in the first place – but there’s a level of continuity that needs to be there as well. Part of whole keeping the cast in character thing that many fics seem to drop – It’s like drawing a picture of Sailor Moon and calling it Dragon Ball Z fanart.

Personally, I like fiction that explains how two characters get together. The creativty of writing situations that would take two friends and make them a couple that actually seems like it could happen in the official storylines are really what move me.

When you start reading a ‘pre-established relationship’ fic, there’s a sort of jolt. That lingering “wait, they’re not an item in the show…” thought still lingers on the edge of your brain and puts disbelief in your system. It’s hard to take the relationship seriously and the reader is left wondering how the characters got from point A to  point B. That gap in storyline is usually what causes me to quit reading.

A Case Study: House, M.D.

House x Wilson is one of those pairings that gets abused by the “Pre-Established Relationship” condition. And it’s not hard to see why – you’ve got a set of characters who are best friends and have known each other for a number of off-screen years. It’s easy to go “oh, they got together when they were younger or first met!”

Sometimes, this works really well. For example, a fanfiction where they meet and have a relationship while they’re young and then break it off sometime before the series begins which leaves them at the ‘best friend’s stage can work very well.  Things get a little iffy when they remain a couple through the series time-line, but for the most part it works.

However, fics that just start assuming they are an item is a no go. No matter what season 5 has shown us about House’s obsession with Wilson – it’s still canon that they are 1) Friends and that 2) Wilson is a slut. has been married three times (and a close 4th with Amber). They have one messed-up-yet-beautiful relationship between the two of them, but it’s still a stretch to call it romantic.

I think this one bugs me the most because the gap between friends and lovers for House and Wilson is like a stone’s throw away. It’s not that hard to write a scenario that would shove them together; the show gives more than enough material to do it. So when I see a “pre-established relationship’ fic, all I can think of is “where they too lazy to write a background?” It might be pretentious, but put some effort into it.

At the very least, write in a two-line “hard to believe that fateful summer so long ago that I fell for him” (or something, anything) explanation. That’s all I ask, really.

Conclusion

If you must start a fic with two non-romantically involved characters in a pre-fic established romantic relationship, at least put the effort to explain how they got there. Thank-you.

However, that’s not important. This is the first in a series of rants that I shall have about fanfiction – a place to share my pet peeves. You can agree, disagree, or be neutral. Either way, let us continue:

Anti-Smoking Inserts In FanFiction

I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, you’re reading a fic for a series where the main character smokes (as this is not uncommon in Japan nor is it stigmatized as it is in the States) and you read a line that goes something like the following:

“…he lit up his cigarette and pondered that maybe he should drop his smoking habit…”

“…he knew he should probably quit because they were horrible for him, but he reached for it anyway…”

“…cancer stick…”

These bother me.  They’re out of character most of the time and they break the story line or flow of a sentence. I actually feel this way about most Public Service Announcement type inserts of this kind, but the smoking one really gets to me. I hate reading it and I instantly lower my opinion of the story a few notches.

You’re probably going, “what’s the big deal? Smoking IS bad for you! These characters shouldn’t encourage it and I need to inform the generations that it’s wrong!” Or something along those lines if you do not agree.

While that could be a valid argument, the fact of the matter is – the closer to canon a fanfic is, or the closer the characters are to their canon selves, the more likely someone will enjoy and/or relate to your work. You’re putting an original story line to an already established cast of characters, it’d be much like writing an episode for a serialized show. You’ll notice most tv shows have multiple writers for episodes and the important factor is they all manage to have the characters stay with in a set bound of personality traits.  Fanfiction, really good fanfiction, imitates this effect.

A Case Study: Saiyuki

We’ll be looking at Saiyuki today, because it’s one of those shows where two of the characters are die-hard chain smokers. Even to the point where they have preferred brands – and let’s face it Gojyo almost always has a cigarette in his mouth whether it’s lit or not.

At no point in the series does either express a desire to quit smoking. They are chastised for leaving cigarette butts and full ash trays laying about (And rightly so – that’s my only issue with real smokers; throw the butts away, please!), and neither are they told to quit.

They are smokers. It is part of their character and in Sanzo’s case – a part of his background and development as a human (See the Burial Arc).

So therefore, when one reads a line such as “Sanzo figured he should stop smoking because they might be affecting his performance in a fight….” or even “Goku wished Sanzo would stop smoking…” I have to pause at the huge gap in character and odd behavior.

The Conclusion

If you’d like to inform the world of the dangers of smoking, do so in an author’s note or provide a link to whatever you wish. But please, when writing anit-smoking bits, make sure that the character actually disagrees with smoking or has an expressed desire to quit. Otherwise their character is broken and the overall flow of your writing usually suffers.