Secondary characters: a loose essay
Sep. 5th, 2005 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterNo inspiration for fiction today, so instead I've jotted down some recent thoughts about the roles of original characters in fanfiction, with focus on how to avoid the Mary Sue trap. It's by no means complete, so suggestions will be welcome.
Classification of Secondary Characters in Fanfiction, with a focus on Original Characters:
1. The Plot Vehicle
This character is needed to get the plot moving. The damsel in distress that needs to be rescued, the old friend who calls out of the blue with information, the hot babe who hits on Character A so that Character B can get jealous and realize he wants Character A for himself, dammit. And of course the mysterious employer and the best friend who kicks Character B until he starts doing something. This is a fairly safe role for an OC if there’s no canon character who fits into your plothole.
The danger here is making the plot vehicle too aware of their role – a common misstep is the cool snarky girl who appears out of the blue and pushes the author’s OTP of choice together, an obvious author avatar. I think the major catch is making sure you’ve worked out the character’s motives beyond “do the Author’s bidding”. Then there’s follow-through – what happens after? Don’t disappear the plot vehicle after they have fulfilled their purpose. Otherwise their one-shot usefulness will be far too obvious.
2. Cannon Fodder
Also known as redshirts, these characters appear in a story only to be killed off. If they’re lucky, they’re part of a nameless mass that only gets decimated instead of wiped out. This is one place where original characters might be more welcome than canon ones, since it lessens the reader’s emotional anguish and saves the author putting “character death” warnings on the story.
There’s not much danger of Mary-Sueism here, but take a lesson from the movies – make the deaths count. Spend a moment developing those characters, and let the reader meet them before you crush them. There’s a reason why in a war movie you’re safe until you start talking about your sweetheart, parents or future plans – once you know Sergeant X isn’t just an interchangeable soldier but someone’s little Johnny who wants to grow apples in the future and marry his Molly, his death hits you much harder.
3. The Sounding Board
If your character needs someone to interact with, to explain the plot to, to prompt them into action, what you need is a sounding board. In the days of yore, that was usually the lady’s maid or the butler, but now it’s more likely to be an underling, a pupil, even a pet. Even the reader, if you’re up to writing diary entries. A good example of the Sounding Board is young Vimes in Pratchett’s “Night Watch”, who mainly listens to old Vimes’s lectures, or Virgil in the Divine Comedy.
The thing to remember here is that the sounding board should be almost invisible. Let the character(s) project their feelings onto them, but don’t let them act on their own too much. The plucky secretary can offer advice, but once you have her grab some guns and rescue her boss from a hundred mobsters, we’re crossing the line into Primary Character territory.
4. The Catalyst
This is a far trickier role for an original character, verging on Primary Character status. The Catalyst says or does something that deeply influences the main characters and their relationships. Sometimes that can be the character’s very existence, like a previously unknown child, sometimes something more subtle, like a new friend who makes the character realize the error of his previous ways, or a random encounter that changes someone’s life. Star Trek’s Q is a Catalyst, and so is Sands in El’s plotline in Once Upon A Time In Mexico.
It takes a deft hand to keep a Catalyst from taking over the plot; a rule of thumb I’ve found useful is to keep the Catalyst’s involvement (including descriptions of their actions, thoughts and interaction with other characters) limited to a third of their plotline at most. They’re not your Primary, and you have to remember that. Also make them full persons, with motives, personalities, pasts and futures – who do they get Christmas cards from, for example? Little details like that might seem insignificant, but they’re what makes for a rounded character.
5. The Visitor
This is a common vehicle in original fiction – the clueless, often young and always new to the surroundings person who can have the settings explained at them. In fanfiction the same device is used to get an outsider’s perspective on familiar canon, and provide fresh impulses to canon characters. It can be used beautifully – there are several superhero stories dealing with reporters who photograph the heroes, innumerable therapy fics, Tales of the Common People et cetera. Not to mention original fiction, starting with Dante.
But that way lies Mary Sue as well. It’s far too tempting to make the new recruit perfect, have her deeply impact everyone she meets, have her forge the strongest tie to the canon characters by having one (or more) of them fall in love with her. That is not the point. The true visitor should be the everyman; with a defined set of character traits, yes, but the point is to look, not touch the plot.
6. The Comic Relief
The running gag, the sarcastic commentator, the plucky sidekick spouting wisecracks. We’ve met them all, and we know how nauseating they can be at times. The trouble with humour is that even in a humour fic, you have to know when to stop. Also, sugar- or caffeine-induced hyperactivity (on the part of the character or the author), inside jokes and fart humour is never as funny to read as it is to write. So don’t, unless your fandom is a modern teen comedy on the lines of “Dude, where’s my car?” And remember Jar-Jar Binks.
7. The Emotional Relation
This role is the other half of an emotional relationship we know or speculate a canon character has. It can be a mother, cousin, highschool sweetheart or even a wife we never saw in canon. And here we move from tricky to danger, here be dragons.
It’s your call on whether you make it real or Mary Sue. This relation can even be a primary character, if you want to explore the relationship. Some guidelines might be not trying your best to make the original character special, keeping the angst (or rather the whining) down, and making it all believable. Is this the kind of person Canon Character would fall for? Is this the kind of person who’d raise a kid into Canon Character?
Note 1: Black versus White
You might wonder why I didn’t separate the Villain as a secondary character role. That is because good and bad are points of view. A secondary-character villain is usually a Plot Vehicle, Cannon Fodder or Catalyst, and appropriate guidelines apply. Moderation, motivation, personality – if you’ve got it, you’ve got it made.
Note 2: Age-old story
Something to keep in mind when assembling your cast is each person’s age, both absolute and relative to other characters. The rule of thumb would be to make it similar to that of similar canon characters unless you have reasons for the difference, though older characters can be interesting. It might be tempting to appeal to your audience (and make it easier on yourself) to make the character the same age as the majority of your readers, but caveat scriptor. Don’t strain the reader’s disbelief by having the doctor be nineteen, or have the fourteen-year-old be an international expert on antiques. Unless it’s an anime fandom, of course.
Note 3: Saturday Night Special
This is something many Mary Sue Litmus Tests focus on: how special is your original character? I think this should not be divorced from the plot role the character has to fulfill. If there are things they need for their role – powers, traits, abilities, position, parentage – they don’t count. Apart from that, one special trait is usually safe, though I place the cut-off at two. Most of all, keep it logical – it makes no sense if you make your doctor stupid because she’s already *gasp* female and blonde, so if you make her smart that’ll be like, totally Mary Sue.
Note 4: Reclaiming Venus
The issue that disturbs me the most about online fandom is how any female – even a canon one – is immediately in danger of the Mary Sue taint. Come off it already. Half the world’s population is female. If every secondary character is male, that’s sexist and untrue. The Mary Sue hunters think that all random females only interact with canon characters with the hope of getting in their pants. That’s… so misogynist, it leaves me speechless.
Classification of Secondary Characters in Fanfiction, with a focus on Original Characters:
1. The Plot Vehicle
This character is needed to get the plot moving. The damsel in distress that needs to be rescued, the old friend who calls out of the blue with information, the hot babe who hits on Character A so that Character B can get jealous and realize he wants Character A for himself, dammit. And of course the mysterious employer and the best friend who kicks Character B until he starts doing something. This is a fairly safe role for an OC if there’s no canon character who fits into your plothole.
The danger here is making the plot vehicle too aware of their role – a common misstep is the cool snarky girl who appears out of the blue and pushes the author’s OTP of choice together, an obvious author avatar. I think the major catch is making sure you’ve worked out the character’s motives beyond “do the Author’s bidding”. Then there’s follow-through – what happens after? Don’t disappear the plot vehicle after they have fulfilled their purpose. Otherwise their one-shot usefulness will be far too obvious.
2. Cannon Fodder
Also known as redshirts, these characters appear in a story only to be killed off. If they’re lucky, they’re part of a nameless mass that only gets decimated instead of wiped out. This is one place where original characters might be more welcome than canon ones, since it lessens the reader’s emotional anguish and saves the author putting “character death” warnings on the story.
There’s not much danger of Mary-Sueism here, but take a lesson from the movies – make the deaths count. Spend a moment developing those characters, and let the reader meet them before you crush them. There’s a reason why in a war movie you’re safe until you start talking about your sweetheart, parents or future plans – once you know Sergeant X isn’t just an interchangeable soldier but someone’s little Johnny who wants to grow apples in the future and marry his Molly, his death hits you much harder.
3. The Sounding Board
If your character needs someone to interact with, to explain the plot to, to prompt them into action, what you need is a sounding board. In the days of yore, that was usually the lady’s maid or the butler, but now it’s more likely to be an underling, a pupil, even a pet. Even the reader, if you’re up to writing diary entries. A good example of the Sounding Board is young Vimes in Pratchett’s “Night Watch”, who mainly listens to old Vimes’s lectures, or Virgil in the Divine Comedy.
The thing to remember here is that the sounding board should be almost invisible. Let the character(s) project their feelings onto them, but don’t let them act on their own too much. The plucky secretary can offer advice, but once you have her grab some guns and rescue her boss from a hundred mobsters, we’re crossing the line into Primary Character territory.
4. The Catalyst
This is a far trickier role for an original character, verging on Primary Character status. The Catalyst says or does something that deeply influences the main characters and their relationships. Sometimes that can be the character’s very existence, like a previously unknown child, sometimes something more subtle, like a new friend who makes the character realize the error of his previous ways, or a random encounter that changes someone’s life. Star Trek’s Q is a Catalyst, and so is Sands in El’s plotline in Once Upon A Time In Mexico.
It takes a deft hand to keep a Catalyst from taking over the plot; a rule of thumb I’ve found useful is to keep the Catalyst’s involvement (including descriptions of their actions, thoughts and interaction with other characters) limited to a third of their plotline at most. They’re not your Primary, and you have to remember that. Also make them full persons, with motives, personalities, pasts and futures – who do they get Christmas cards from, for example? Little details like that might seem insignificant, but they’re what makes for a rounded character.
5. The Visitor
This is a common vehicle in original fiction – the clueless, often young and always new to the surroundings person who can have the settings explained at them. In fanfiction the same device is used to get an outsider’s perspective on familiar canon, and provide fresh impulses to canon characters. It can be used beautifully – there are several superhero stories dealing with reporters who photograph the heroes, innumerable therapy fics, Tales of the Common People et cetera. Not to mention original fiction, starting with Dante.
But that way lies Mary Sue as well. It’s far too tempting to make the new recruit perfect, have her deeply impact everyone she meets, have her forge the strongest tie to the canon characters by having one (or more) of them fall in love with her. That is not the point. The true visitor should be the everyman; with a defined set of character traits, yes, but the point is to look, not touch the plot.
6. The Comic Relief
The running gag, the sarcastic commentator, the plucky sidekick spouting wisecracks. We’ve met them all, and we know how nauseating they can be at times. The trouble with humour is that even in a humour fic, you have to know when to stop. Also, sugar- or caffeine-induced hyperactivity (on the part of the character or the author), inside jokes and fart humour is never as funny to read as it is to write. So don’t, unless your fandom is a modern teen comedy on the lines of “Dude, where’s my car?” And remember Jar-Jar Binks.
7. The Emotional Relation
This role is the other half of an emotional relationship we know or speculate a canon character has. It can be a mother, cousin, highschool sweetheart or even a wife we never saw in canon. And here we move from tricky to danger, here be dragons.
It’s your call on whether you make it real or Mary Sue. This relation can even be a primary character, if you want to explore the relationship. Some guidelines might be not trying your best to make the original character special, keeping the angst (or rather the whining) down, and making it all believable. Is this the kind of person Canon Character would fall for? Is this the kind of person who’d raise a kid into Canon Character?
Note 1: Black versus White
You might wonder why I didn’t separate the Villain as a secondary character role. That is because good and bad are points of view. A secondary-character villain is usually a Plot Vehicle, Cannon Fodder or Catalyst, and appropriate guidelines apply. Moderation, motivation, personality – if you’ve got it, you’ve got it made.
Note 2: Age-old story
Something to keep in mind when assembling your cast is each person’s age, both absolute and relative to other characters. The rule of thumb would be to make it similar to that of similar canon characters unless you have reasons for the difference, though older characters can be interesting. It might be tempting to appeal to your audience (and make it easier on yourself) to make the character the same age as the majority of your readers, but caveat scriptor. Don’t strain the reader’s disbelief by having the doctor be nineteen, or have the fourteen-year-old be an international expert on antiques. Unless it’s an anime fandom, of course.
Note 3: Saturday Night Special
This is something many Mary Sue Litmus Tests focus on: how special is your original character? I think this should not be divorced from the plot role the character has to fulfill. If there are things they need for their role – powers, traits, abilities, position, parentage – they don’t count. Apart from that, one special trait is usually safe, though I place the cut-off at two. Most of all, keep it logical – it makes no sense if you make your doctor stupid because she’s already *gasp* female and blonde, so if you make her smart that’ll be like, totally Mary Sue.
Note 4: Reclaiming Venus
The issue that disturbs me the most about online fandom is how any female – even a canon one – is immediately in danger of the Mary Sue taint. Come off it already. Half the world’s population is female. If every secondary character is male, that’s sexist and untrue. The Mary Sue hunters think that all random females only interact with canon characters with the hope of getting in their pants. That’s… so misogynist, it leaves me speechless.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-05 11:15 am (UTC)And yet, still classed as MS instead of OFC. Most people have become so disillusioned by the sheer number of bad, bad, bad MS that they've given up hope of any decent OFCs. Even Hollywood has fallen into the trap - the spunky female, the quiet doormat who turns out to be a gorgeous sex kitten, the lovelies who always get the man, even when they have way more chemistry with other males in the cast.
Alas that Hollywood and the movieworld are so homophobic and can't let us have it, instead of the cardboard cutout females.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-05 11:52 am (UTC)That's what I don't get. The majority of fanfic authors are female, right? So why do they hate what they are so much?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-05 11:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-05 12:02 pm (UTC)I've decided to hell with it as far as my own fics are concerned. No more worrying about OCs in the Darth Qui-Gon Fic Of Doom, or the one about Dooku's wife, or some other things in the works. Quite frankly, I'd dare any MS hunter to prove how an icily-reserved sixty-something Serenno aristocrat could be my Mary Sue ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-05 12:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-05 12:25 pm (UTC)Plus, if Dooku's able to turn somersaults at 82, I would think that at 70 he was in prime physical condition ;)
Dammit, I need a Dooku icon... some day I'm not this tired, maybe :S
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-05 12:35 pm (UTC)Agreed on Christopher Lee, though. Gah! Him reading black speech on the LotR set had me acquiver. And he was so. frigging. beautiful when he was young - those eyes are mesmerising.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-05 12:58 pm (UTC)Plus, Dooku needs all the love he can get! *watches her muse retreat in
fearmild puzzlement*(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-20 10:20 am (UTC):D
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-05 07:11 pm (UTC)We are. Oh, we are. We just find fewer of them, on the whole, though some make up for it by being worse than any Sue I ever saw.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-06 02:26 am (UTC)The misogynism just grates.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-06 04:20 am (UTC)