30-Day Fanfic Meme - Days 6-7-8

[wiseheart]

Since those are short answers, I decided to deal with 3 questions in one post, so that I'd get this meme finished before work restarts.

Day 6 – When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?
I have no specific preference. I write male characters more often simply because the source material usually has more (and better-crafted) male characters. But I love to write females, too. Uhura being my absolute favourite. And Éowyn from LOTR - the book version, not the anorexic wallflower of the movies.

Day 7 – Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character?
Quite often, actually. I'm trying to keep an open mind. Two of the main characters I went from despising to loving with were Rodney McKay (SGA) and Jack Harkness (Torchwood).

Day 8 – Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they're not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs.

I do write bunches of OCs. My Halabor stories (Tolkienverse) hardly feature any canon characters at all. My method of keeping them believable is to find people in real life on whom I can base them. Since I know how these people would react in a situation I've created, I can show convincing reactions from the character in the fic. It doesn't always work, of course, but often does.

Comments

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Wow! That is really interesting. It is totally different to what I do - but that is probably because I'm no good with faces, so apart from vague ideas about things like hair colour and physical fitness, I don't usually think of the physical appearance of my ocs.

It is fun to learn how differently other people do things! :)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'm not good with faces, either. I can't imagine them myself, so I need a solid basis where to start from. OTOH, in other aspects I'm a very visually inspired writer - I see something, that kick-starts my imagination, and I roll with it as long as the momentum carries me.