For all you fandom newbies out there, who may be wondering what an OC is, OC stands for Original Character. Sometimes OCs are inserted right into the original plot of the book/TV show, other times a character is added into a plot that the author devises that takes place after the book/TV show finishes.

An example of a inserted OC would be Venus from my Generations Series, or Ariadne from the Daughter Of Night. Both of these lovely ladies have been inserted directly into the original plot of their respective fandoms.

An example of the second type of OC is Halley, also from my generations series. Halley's story takes place after the Harry Potter timeline wraps up, therefore she isn't present in the original narration of the story, but characters from the original books are present. (I haven't yet begun publishing this book, but you will all get a chance to meet Halley soon enough!)

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So now that you fully understand what an OC is, let's get to what this chapter is actually about. How to create an effective OC.

OCs often act as wish fulfilment for the author, which has lead to the term 'Mary Sue' (Gary Sue' for men) being spawned. This is a character without any flaws, who is overly beautiful, and faces no challenges.

The way to avoid making your OC a Mary Sue, is giving them clear flaws an insecurities.

For example, Venus is terrified of hurting her friends and family. She bottles up her anger and rage, so that it explodes out of her during the full moon, which leads to her hurting herself.

Give your characters big fears, things that will change how they approach situations, and their perspectives on things. Make them human.

If it helps you, base a character off of a person you know. This could help you gain perspective on making your character a realistic and believable character.

Now that you've got your character's flaws sorted, you've got to think about their other attributes. Are they sarcastic? Are they loyal? What kind of background do they come from? Who are their friends?

Assign them specific characteristics, for example, do they love food? Nature? Adventure? Books? What makes them really mad? Who drives them insane?

Once you've atabilised their flaws, and their personality, it's time for the perfect name! Names are an important part of your character. We don't want any Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Ways here! Keep your name sensible. If you're adding a character to an already a stabilised family, think about the other names in that family.

Let's take the Weasley family as an example. William, Charles, Percy, Fred, George, Ronald and Ginevra. Four of them all go by nicknames (Bill, Charlie, Ron and Ginny). A lot of these names stem from old English noble names. So if you're doing an eighth Weasley book, you want to stick with traditional English names, your Elizabeths, Marys, Victorias, Annes. Those types of names. You can give them a nickname if you want, for example, Elizabeth Weasley could go by Lizzie.

Try to stay clear of giving them more than one middle name, two if it's an absolute must. I have only ever met one person in my entire life with more than two middle names, and that's because her parents couldn't decide. Yes in the Harry Potter world there are people like Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore, but try to steer clear of that in your character, you want to stick to a name that fits into the world.

Look at the PJO universe. The only person with a known middle name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, and that's because she comes from a rich (and kind of posh) family. Fit your character to their world, keep in mind everything about the fandom that you're slotting them into.

Alternate ways of naming your character is to look into popular names the year that they were born. I find that this is quite a good way to name older characters, who way have been born a while ago (ie. Marauders Era Fanfics)

Now you have their name, personality and flaws, start thinking about their unique impact on the story you're slotting them into. There's no point putting an OC into the exact same story, readers want a fresh perspective.

My pet peeve is when in fanfictions (I see this particularly in Harry Potter's twin sister books, but I'm sure it happens elsewhere too) the author litterally copies the original book word for word, just changing the names.

Sure, you can borrow some dialogue, but don't steal lines from other characters just to give them to your OC. Don't let them replace people, I've seen books where characters from the original series are quite litterally ignored in favour of an author insert OC.

Clichés are the bane of the fandom world. Try and steer clear of them at all costs. Percy Jackson's twin sister who was raised on Olympus and blessed by every single Olympian... I think not. Sally Jackson would not let one of her children go and live somewhere without her, and the Gods would never voluntarily raise a child when her mortal mother was alive. Even if Sally was dead, we've seen Leo who bounced through the foster system. The gods would never take in one of their demigod children. If you want to do a Percy Jackson's twin story, go ahead, no one is stopping you, but if you want your book to stand out from the crowd, put an original twist on it. The best way to find out what is cliche and what isn't, is to read stories like the one you're planning, and try to avoid the things that crop up regularly.

Once you've got their unique impact on the story sorted and you've got your plot planned out, you want to think about your summary and your book cover.

Personally, I've always made book covers myself. I've always enjoyed photo editing (even though I'm not necessarily very good at it), and I find that it helps the cover relate to the story if I create it myself.

Although there are many places on Wattpad where you can go to get a cover made for you by wonderfully skilled people.

I tend to assign a face claim to my OC and use them on the cover, although it depends what part of the story you want to highlight in the cover.

The cover is VERY important, because it is the first impression that people get of your book. Make it stand out, but also make it fit the fandom you're aiming at.

The summary is also very important. Stay clear of things like 'Elizabeth Weasley isn't your normal girl...'

The summary is meant to attract a new reader, and if they read that, it will look just like every other book, and the reader will switch off.

I like to put a small extract of the story (an example of what the reader can expect), along with a brief description of the story. Do not give away you're entire plot, but leave the reader with unanswered questions, which will make them want to click onto your book.

I hope that this helps you, and I hope you can use this when trying to create your OCs!

~Em xx