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tansyuduri β OC Guidebook: OCXCannon
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Published: 2010-06-27 17:48:56 +0000 UTC; Views: 11108; Favourites: 89; Downloads: 30
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The OC Guidebook: OC X CannonOk first of all some advice nobody is going to listen to but I'll add anyway. Then I'll get to the rest
That said I know people aren't going to listen so lets begin:
If you are going to do ocXcannon there is a general rule of thumb to bear in mind. Under no circumstances should you shift the cannon character's personality or actions to match your OC!
Pairing an OC with a cannon is a very different process then any other type of romantic writing you do. Its' not like OCXOC which if I haven't made it clear already you should be doing unless you're a very experienced writer.
The best way to think of it is unlike most times, you are dealing with a character that is not under your control! Let me explain. in order to do OCxCannon you have to shift your OC to match the other person. NOT the other way around!
A cannon character is a prestablished person their behavior is going to replicate their behavior in the cannon! This is why you must be an experienced writer. Unless you can replicate their behavior patterns exactly your pairing will seem bogus and superficial to anyone who truly knows theΒ series the cannon character is from. This is harder even then it sounds.
Not only must you be able to memorize and recreate the character's speech and actions in any situation similar to ones found in the original, but you must also be able to know their behavior in situations never found in the original! In order to do this you have to be able to get inside the characters mind and know them so well you can "feel" how they would respond to anything. (This helps in writing any FanFic but is crucial in OCXCannon romantic situations)
This happens one of two ways.
The first way is for your personality to be so much like that of a cannon character that you can just maybe modify a few things and be able to write them from instinct.
The second way is much more complicated, and hard to describe, and comes in stages while writing or rping a character unlike you in personality.Β
At first for a cannon you are guessing and unsure. For a OC this is the getting to know them faze. Second, after a certain amount of time the character sorta forms a little place inside your personality. This is walled of from your general personality but you can go to it and use it when rping or at any time to act like this chara. It generally takes a little bit to get into and out of and while in it you feel what that character is feeling in response to anything. (This is the stage when you can start "feeling" what the character would do)
There is a danger to this however. (Especially if you're doing a "evil" character or something.) After awhile like this that wall will start to fade and the characters personality will get added to your own.
Now as I understand nobody is going to take the time for this or change anything I'll just back off now after adding a few pointers and review notes
That's all for this entry
Once again I'm sorry if I've done anything to insult or offend
Happy OCing
This article is part of tansyuduri's OC Creation Guidebook and cannot be copied redistributed or stolen without credit to her AND a link back to this EXACT document. It is however encouraged to be used and disributed through linking. Thank you for your rrespect and cooperation with the above terms.
I can't believe I even have to add this but If you wish to make your own tutorial and use info from this I would like the credit due to me for the effort and time I put into making and researching this. Please! include a link back to this as a source. Like you would do for an official paper written for school or work
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Comments: 211
I'm thinking of making a xingese female oc but I don't know how she will react to them and them reacting to her.
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My OC is paired with Roy and I've written only like maybe two FanFics with them, but I have a friend who RPs as Roy and she is one of the best RPers I know. She would do Roy X my OC all the time but even though I have a good grasp on how Roy acts, I'm terrified to post any of the FanFics I have for this ship ; ~ ;
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I'm not much of a writer, I've tried writing LingxOC and like you said, it was extremely difficult to pull off, in the end I gave up and went back to just drawing XD The only advantage I've got with LingxOC is that LingFan isn't cannon, really..
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Yup... Doing EdxOc (Cliche I know but when you get a good idea you go with it :I) when you love EdWin is hard.. kinda hard to figure out how winry would fit it without pairing her up instantly with someone else, making her seem unlikable, killing her etc.
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Maybe you could set your story about ten years in the future, so their life circumstances have changed? For example, they grew apart, they both wanted to pursue different interests, they were sick of each other (lol). In a long enough period relationships can easily drift and become platonic. And no blame assigned to either one!
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Ooh.. good point. i'd have to rewrite a bit, and change her age, but that would make quite a bit of sense... Thanks! ^w^
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Hmm... my OC Clipper (Winona LeBeau) is a bear chimera who was originally a member of the military and then Greed's group, but she left them a while before the events of the FMAB series occurred. In order to stay out of the military and lab 5's hands, she reentered the military (she looks different than anyone remembers due to chimera-ness) and got herself assigned to Briggs. As Pippin said, "The closer you are to danger, the farther you are from harm', in that the military wouldn't be looking for her in their own ranks. While at Briggs she develops an attraction to Major Miles. Other than that, I don't know how I would continued their relationship, since she's a very new character of mine.
Any tips?
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Here's an idea: Write a scene where Miles meets Clipper from Miles' perspective. (Just for your own use, it doesnt' have to be genius.) Then continue it from Clipper's perspective. It's a bit like role playing both of them, and you'd get to see if there was any chemistry or a spark there.
Or just keep developing your character, bearing in mind any thing she might have in common with Miles.
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Β Thank you for the pointers! She's probably going to remain untouched for the time being, since I keep swamping myself in other stuff, but this is helpful!
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Let me just say, this is very helpful :3
I agree with the whole "Don't let Ed fall in love with your OC instantly thing." I mean seriously, it's not in his character. Not to mention that rushing romance is no fun at all XD
I'm actually trying to do the almost impossible EdxOC, but I am fully aware it is hard to pull off. And I am NOT one of those people who would change the character of one of the canon just to get with a OC of mine. In all honesty, I hate it when that happens.
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Are some characters more difficult to pair up with OCs than others?
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Characters that would be hard to pair OCs up with would likely be any of the Homunculi- just my personal thoughts while drafting an OCxGreed pairing
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Greed is the only Homunculi I can actually see having an interest in humans, because he likes them more than his Homunuli brethren.
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Yes....the hardest thing is to keep them in character. While I do attempt to pair an OC with one of the homunculi, I have to constantly search a way for it to work, because most if the homunculi lack empathy for human beings or have not felt empathy for a long time.....how can they feel for a human when they can't even kill them and feel remorse? It's a delicate and difficult situation...
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It really is pretty fun to try and print their "emotions" and actions towards the OC though. I treat it as a sort of game to get them as realistic as possible in each one of my stories. Yeah, Fullmetal Wiki has become a close friend of mine as a writer, lol
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Also, it's funny, but I've always loved Ed and Winry together and it feels sort of odd seeing him paired up with OCs, not that the OCs aren't really great though!
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I did my best, hopefully, in creating Marta Nachash, who is Alfons Heiderich's de facto love interest. Since she's the Amestrian Marta/Martel's 1923 Munich counterpart, I didn't have to design her completely from scratch, but I had to make some adjustments to fit the time and place.
I remember seeing the Shambala movie and seeing the Earth counterparts of Greed's gang and I thought Marta/Martel should be in there somewhere. I also liked the idea of Alfons Heiderich having a love interest and of there being an actual Jewish character, as Fritz Lang was more Catholic and atheist (I think) so that's how I came up with My Marta.
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I really like her being the counterpart of marta. It just fits quite well with what you mentioned. You managed to slip it in like it belonged there. I love that. There is one thing... do you want me to tell you?
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Sure! Any input is welcome!
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What was Alfons and Marta's relationship like. Alfons seem like the kind of person too drivien to but a large amount of time into a relationship. Marta is an unusual case since she works on the rockets. But she would problbuy have been the instigater for the relationship right? what where things like?
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Good question! Well, in my own head canon, Alfons and Marta pretty much grew up together in Munich as his mother, Tressa, was a part time housekeeper for her family and his father, Eisenheim, was a patron of her father's bookstore. They shared alot of the same interests and goals, went to study under Oberth in Rumania together with Ed and the others, and became the youngest members of the rocket team. Their feelings for each other grew as they got older, but nothing official, and no admittance on either side, though Ed and the guys would sometimes tease them about it. Things changed however when Alfons decided to accept Thules offer of sponsorship for their projects, as you know from reading "Next Year In Jerusalem".
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That sounds perfect then.
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Thanks! Glad you think so!
It's funny, I got some high scores on the Mary Sue tests, though I don't really see Marta as one, but maybe that's biased...?
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Hmm... Sometimes mary sue tests don't work that well. Which onese got you?
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LOL! Yeah!
I don't remember everything, but it was on that FMA OC Mary Sue Test and that other Mary Sue test.
Possible Mary sue traits? Well, she's paired with a canon character (Alfons H) is based off a canon character (Marta/Martel?) is a member of a different ethnic group (Jewish)is usually pretty plain clothes (but wouldn't mind getting dolled up for a special occasion) is as knowledgeable and skilled in rocket engineering as Alfons and the guys on the team, she and the guys have been in one or two fights with the local Jugenbund, her father (A former soldier) taught her a bit of self defense and one or two other useful little survival tricks, she gets seized when investigating Dante's hideaway (but manages to escape) she discovers some important info about what happened to Alfons... Do you think these seem like Mary Sue traits...? I do try to make her an asset, but definetly not unrealistic or better then the other characters.
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Based off marta is not in the way I meant it to subtract points for the test. Give back the points you deducted for that
You pull of jewish just fine thats not sueish in your oc
Plain clothing is not bad, in fact at times its quite good. but if you have questions on clothing my guide will cover them when it comes out.
make her as skilled as the guys on the team but not as skilled as alfons who definatly seemed to be leader.
You'll have to tell me more about the later plot.
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He he! Great!
I'm so glad you think I pull of a Jewish OC well! It was cool researching the details of holidays like Passover and Hanukkah and how things were in Munich at that time.
Do you think hair in a bun, a jacket over a shirt, skirt and slip on shoes would work? I looked at what the other females in the movie were wearing and I don't think it would be out of place.
I figured since both Alfons and Marta both became interested in rocketry at the same time, both studied under Oberth together, they would both be pretty much on the same level of knowledge and skill. Would you say Alfons was the most skilled and the leader of the guys even though he was probably the youngest?
If you read "The Devine Comedy" [link] the scene in the plot takes place in Chapter 5
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Hey, question. I'm re-making my OC and I was wondering if it would be acceptable if I had her dating Mustang in High School, and he broke her heart. Would that be too Sue-ish?
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not at all as long as he was not too mean about it.
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Okay! Thank you for the response! ^^
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I actually find it really easy to use canon characters. You are right though, when I'm testing the waters on a new anime or fiction, I tend you write about characters I dislike. It allows me to stay realistic with how they will react, and lets me focus on my character connecting with the world around them.
Ed is a VERY hard character to write, because he's so emotional, yet guarded. He's the most complex character I've ever had to write, even for those he loves, he can be so incredibly guarded. But alas, even a guard must drop his shield. The question is when....
Anyway, Canon X OC has been the way I've written for over 9 years, and I admit it took me a very long time to learn how to get into my character's head, even my own OC's!
Still liked this guide, can't wait for more!
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there are curently many more and more coming
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well...my character is supposed to be with envy *dont hate ^^* but i dont know how envy would react in a situation like that....
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This is a great guide! 
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I have an EdxOC pairing and it works out awesome
It's mostly because I'm writing on pro-level and I do all of (and probably too much of) my homework before I write to have unrealistic storylines but DON'T KILL MY TROLL MOOD!!( I don't come into these very often) ... I can say that this tutorial is pretty good for those who don't already do all of these things, so props on this hehe
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After reading this I feel a tad better about myself since I've roleplayed as Ed a lot but at the same time I'm terrified cause now that I think about it, my fic isn't all that good T.T
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you never know, even if its not good right now you can keep getting better!
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Well, I've been wanting to post some stuff about my OC so she can get critiqued and so I can improve her but I kinda freak out....
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I can relate. hmmmm.... Just remember that even if there are sue traits if you like the story that way you can keep them.
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That's actually really good to know... I guess my story makes alot more sense now... I just need to re-do my writing style since it's more dialog than anything else... like some sord of a roleplay you could say...
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Roleplay is really fun. I wanna find a nice place for it
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I normally just roleplay on facebook with two good friends of mine. It's super effective when getting to know a character.
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My advise for ocxcanon pairings is to pair up the oc based on comparability. It is easy to pair up your oc with a canon he or she is already compatible than to waist e time adjusting a oc to the canon your a fangirl of.
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