Hard and Fast Guidelines for Creating a New OC

[Morning Glory]

These are simplified guidelines to follow when creating an OC that will help you avoid the pitfalls of a new character creator. Lots of new writers post OCs with these characteristics, not knowing that the community has problems with them. It's not any fault of theirs--they didn't know. This guide should help new OC creators know what to avoid when making a new pony. However, these rules are not foolproof, nor are they absolute. Feel free to create a character that goes against this guide--it is in no way infallible. Just be aware that the community has seen a lot of ponies with the attributes listed below. Good luck, and go make some great ponies!


Alicorns

This applies mostly to RP characters. If you want to write a fic about alicorn characters, go for it.  The issue arises with Roleplay. For one, alicorns are way too overused by new players. It's basically a meme, or cliché at this point. It might feel special and original to you at the time, but veterans have seen the same move over and over again. The core problem is that roleplaying is a game.  A game with multiple players. A lot of players(especially those who participate in less casual roleplay and follow a plot or story) have established an Equestria for themselves that does not have "normal" alicorns. And that's because at the end of the day, we all want to play fair.  There's too much of an advantage to playing an alicorn. Each of the three pony races are balanced amongst one another. The alicorn combines all three, and trying to tack on a contrived weakness is just an attempt to justify not playing fair. While it may be possible to create a good, balanced alicorn OC, and it certainly can serve a causal Rper well, know that the community generally turns their noses up at new alicorns.

Orphans

Again, too many new players go here too. I'm not sure if the goal is to make other players feel sorry for the character, and hence want to help them and interact with them, but it's so popular, it seems like everywhere you look you see a new sad, lonely waif weeping in a corner. The biggest issue with orphans (other than them being overused) is that they wouldn't happen that often. Simply because this is Equestria. There shouldn't be many orphans at all; parents are very likely to stay alive, and if they didn't have the resources to support a child on their own, surely the community or the princesses would offer them support--you really think Celestia would hoard wealth and not offer welfare to her subject in need? Or that a neighborhood or community wouldn't work together to help out a family in a rough spot? Ponies by nature are loving and supportive folk. They wouldn't leave their fellows out in the cold.

Wallflowers

In the same vein as orphans, a lot of new OCs are characterized as lonely, ostracized little castaways with no friends and no one to love them. It's a little hard to believe that when these ponies live in say, Ponyville. It's a friendly place to say the least. Cranky had no luck (despite his best efforts) avoiding making friends. Your pony wouldn't have either. That's not to say you can't have a grumpy or sullen OC, but the trauma victims trope has been way over-done. This is a happy, friendly, supportive place we're talking about here. Where did all these depressed, abused ponies come from? I'm not sure if this is again an author's attempt to get other players to feel sorry for their characters, or a way to make them stand out, but it does quite the opposite--it's all be done before.

Amnesia

Sometimes I wonder if new players are drawing their inspiration for their OCs from daytime television soap operas. This is one of the biggest clichés in story telling history. Ever. It's lazy. It's an uncreative way to bring mystic and intrigue into a character. Or to leave their past ambiguous so the creator can change it at will. Add some sort of history to your pony, even if it's just a quick few sentences.

Relation or interaction with the Mane-Six or other prominent characters

It's just too much of a stretch to ask other players to believe that our favorite ponies have relatives we've never heard of. Sure, maybe one or two, but since everyone has this idea, it ends up being that Rainbow Dash has 21 sisters, 56 boyfriends and 88 secret long lost twins. All the relations of many different OCs just contradict one another too much. Your characters should be able to stand on their own, not be propped up on an attachment to a canon character.


Take care with your color choices

Ponies come in lots of colors, but you should notice a pattern. Bright or pastel shades. Muted shades can work too, but nothing too over-saturated or dark. One body color. One or two mane colors (usually). Characters that are covered in unusual markings (stripes, spots, etc) and 7 different clashing colors are just too much. Your character's appearance shouldn't define them anyways. Make them fit into the world. They shouldn't have just walked out of a crayon factory. Or a Halloween shop. You don't really see any black or dark red on ponies, generally (but the OC community sure does). They should be small accents only. As should clothing. It's clear ponies don't wear much in the way of clothes in everyday life. Unless your character is a fashion model or a Canterlot aristocrat, there's no need to cover your pony in accessories.

Put some thought into your cutie mark and special talent

Take a look around and you'll see a lot of repeating cutie marks and special talents in OCs. Loads of scholars, writers, and librarians. Piles of wannabe Wonderbolts. Try something new and different. And take a look at cutie-marks from the show. Most of them are simplified icons of basic items or symbols. Try to follow the trend, but not so much that you add to the pile of repeats. If you want to have a star cutie-mark, try to add some additional element or stylization that makes it different from all the other stars, flowers, hearts and lightning bolts.

Too much power

Being the best writer or Rper is not about have the strongest, most powerful character. Take a good long look at your OC and make sure you haven't added a little too much strength. It's natural to want to have a powerful character, but the best OCs are the ones that are balanced. Remember that Rainbow Dash is considered to be the fastest pegasus around. Your pony should not be faster than her without a darned good reason. Same thing goes for Twilight Sparkle. She's clearly illustrated as an exceptionally powerful unicorn trained under Princess Celestia herself. Other unicorns should not be outstripping her magic. Let your character be a civilian, not a trained combat vet. Most Rps don't involve that much combat anyways. This is Equestria, not a war-torn wasteland.

The Mary Sue

While the community may be a little too quick to call a new OC a Mary Sue, often there's some rationale for it. The Mary Sue is a character that is so completely beautiful, popular, amazing, talented, smart and special that she (or he, we have Gary Stu as well) actually loses any particular value. Other players aren't really interested in playing with a character that has everything they could ever want, and then some. One that they're expected to fawn over and adore. For a start, nothing interesting would ever happen-- it's totally predictable, and that character has no where to grow and learn and improve. There are a lot of characteristics that someone may point out as "Sue-ish" but the base of the problem is forcing other players to love your character just because you say they should. You can characterize your OC as beautiful, talented, and popular (even if it is cliche), but it's when those features take away control from other players where you run into the real problem, and the community will generally make their opinion known. Make sure your character's personality is balanced just like their skills and weaknesses. Everyone has a quirk or vice. Rounding out your character with flaws will actually make them more likeable in the long run.



Thanks for reading this guide. I hope it helps you create some great new OCs! Remember when you're working on a new OC that you can always ask the community for help and guidance. There's lots of players around that love to help newbies learn the ropes. If you're stuck, or not sure what to do, just ask. Someone will be happy to walk you through the process or offer suggestions if you need them. Don't be afraid to change and improve your character as time goes on. There's always room to grow and improve!