OOC?

[halojones]

Okay, I love asking all you fine ladies questions.lol

So, here's another one.

One thing I always find a little funny is when you are writing an au/human story, people will be like "your characters are too ooc."

Take Edward for example. To me, there's certain factors that make edward edward in Twilight:
1) he's a vampire
2) he comes from the early 1900s
3) he reads minds, something that seems so completely intrusive in terms of abilities that it would isolate you big time
4) his personality, regardless of the above factors

Now, if you make the dude human...1,2,3 are wiped out of the equation. That's a BIG chunk of what makes Edward Edward! And yet, people expect some sort of correspondence that wouldn't logically be there with the twilight series edward once you've transplanted him in a totally different realm.

Does anyone else find the charge that ff characters are "too ooc" a little bit funny?

What do you think is actually "essential" to all the characters in terms of traits, and what do you see as "situational" in terms of traits for:
edward
alice
emmett and so on...

[guineapigbarbie]

I feel like I’m on a debate team...such intense questions.

Well my story might now be AU/human but i do understand where you're coming from. My character that’s OOC is not Edward but Bella. When i read Twilight, she was one in which i related to the most. Quiet, kinda a loner, but underneath it all a little bit of a smart ass. So, when i started writing my story, I wrote Bella as how i would view that situation. When i was getting responses of, "wow, Bella’s really sarcastic", i had an "oh shit" moment. I didn't intend for her to be that i way, I'm just that way. I think Stephenie's characters are more like herself or the people who inspired the them. Just like some of our characters are like use. Ok now im just rambling and i really didn’t even answer you questions i just kind of reinstated what you said, but oh well. Your a genius and i agree with you, therefore I'm happy.

[qjmom]

Now while I am not a big fan of OOC Edward, I really like OOC Bella. I love a sassy girl!!

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the drug addict/prostitute/porn star Bella (and I have seen a lot of summaries with one if not all of those used to describe Bella). I like sassy, sarcastic Bella. I have always felt that in Twilight Bella is kind of meek. I mean she is super smart and reads all the time ( I would be willing to bet she would write OUTSTANDING fanfic!!), yet she just kind of sits around and lets things happen to her.

One of my favorite fanfic Bella's is in Rite of Passage and The Long Way Back. She is smart and a smart ass. She doesn't take any crap and can dish it out with the best of them!!

And guineapigbarbie, you have one of the best sassy Bella lines in your story!! I love when she said...

"Nah, I'm not too worried. I speak fluent sarcasm, Alice took smart-assness as a second language, and Rosalie is thinking about majoring in Bitchism. I think we have all the bases covered."

Love that!

I don't write Bella because I am the TOTAL smartass/bitch and I can't get into her head enough. If I ever do write Bella she is going to have to be at least a little OOC.

[blondie]

I'm loving this discussion - the whole OOC thing is a murky pool... and yes, human stories are OOC by definition... I think!

'Essential' elements of various characters... Here's some Edward... my take, anyway

Edward: I think that one of his essential traits is that he is older than his years. While that trait is also applied to Bella, it is the core of Edward. In human terms, he is like an elderly man in a kid's body. Whether he can read minds or not, he is insanely knowledgeable. In my day he would have been the 'brain' at school - not social, always at the top of the curve. He's not old-fashioned as much as he is exceptionally moral. He's controlling, and manipulative in that he thinks he knows everything. He is exceptionally prone to overreaction.

Why do we all love him? Oh yeah, exceptionally polite, deeply devoted, and intensely loyal. He is selfless when it comes to his girl, though it gets twisted through his 'know it all' lens.

Some situational stuff: Edward has endless financial resources. He's a loner in a big family. He's never had a girlfriend, and is intensely attractive to his first love. He is in high school (when you make Edward a different physical age, I think that pulls him OOC). He has a dark past, and has experienced some kind of redemption from it.

When you start messing with these things, Edward starts resembling so many other romance heroes... After reading more romances recently it is amazing to see how similar so many of the heroes are.

Another funny discussion would be to compare Wrath (BDB) to Edward... they are similar in so many ways it's kind of scary. If you took BDB and changed Wrath to Edward; Beth to Bella, and a few other names you'd have a AU ff of twilight...

[guineapigbarbie]

And guineapigbarbie, you have one of the best sassy Bella lines in your story!! I love when she said...

"Nah, I'm not too worried. I speak fluent sarcasm, Alice took smart-assness as a second language, and Rosalie is thinking about majoring in Bitchism. I think we have all the bases covered."

Love that!

Thank you so much. That is a huge honor coming from you. Stories like PF and B&B are the reason why I decided to write.

[vjgm]

I'm loving this discussion - the whole OOC thing is a murky pool... and yes, human stories are OOC by definition... I think!



Another funny discussion would be to compare Wrath (BDB) to Edward... they are similar in so many ways it's kind of scary. If you took BDB and changed Wrath to Edward; Beth to Bella, and a few other names you'd have a AU ff of twilight...

Did Blondie just compare Edward to Wrath?? *swooning in my chair*

Of course, Bella isn't nearly as cool as Beth, I would argue. Beth is devoted and strong, where I see Bella as weak and whiney. But Edward and Wrath.... it just makes me love them both more!

For me, even when I am trying to write them 'in character' I always go OOC because I write funny... and the Cullens, are NOT funny. Even Emmett, he's playful, but not hilarious even though in most FF that is how he is depicted.

Edward is very straightlaced, and to make him funny at all, you really have to go OOC with him.

I think unless you are truly writing 'in canon' you go OOC with them, you have to, otherwise things get extremely dull. To push the drama or the sexiness or the funny, you automatically have to take them OOC.

I love the OOC reviews, I'm always like, duh they're OOC.... they aren't nearly as funny in the books. If I wrote any of my stories like I thought they'd actually happen in the Twilight world, keeping them In character, I'd be out of a job for sure.

[withthevampsofcourse]

you guys are so right and so funny!

jandco and i have been talking about this, 'cuz with our crazy fanfic experiment, our characters are seriously OOC. and while most reviewers are lovin' the potty-mouthed side of edward, some are like, "umm... not so much."

and man, some are really questioning my decision to have jasper make out with bella just to irk her.

i think one of the best things about edward is that he has this sort of holier-than-thou attitude that he doesn't express verbally, but it comes off in his demeanor. what makes it good is that bella shatters it, and that's what happens when you fall in love. some of your core values, beliefs, and mannerisms are irrevocably altered when you start to see yourself reflected in the eyes of love from your beloved. he opens up and starts to become warm simply because bella loves him.

to me, that's hot.

so my thinking is that by twisting your edward or whomever the hero of your fanfic is into whatever OOC depiction you choose... the meeting of the other half has to change that. my new OOC edward is a cocky, pompous jerk. he meets a sassy, potty-mouthed girl that he's insanely attracted to. she's just gotta put him in his place, right? sort of twisting on that whole they're-both-quiet-reflective-smarty-pantses in the other extreme; they're both smarter-than-their-own-good-and-show-it-with-their-mouths types who will both be floored when they fall in love.

[halojones]

thanks for all the great responses so far ladies.

I love how prideful Edward is too--he's so indignant, and I love the rough draft copy of midnight sun, cause he's way more acidic than I imagined, which made me so happy!

I think he's so mr. darcy 2.0 in that way, which is great cause i'm a huge pride and prejudice fan. I love how edward and darcy are quite happy to be above it all and to be indignant of their social peers. They feel too superior to want to fit in and are so bored with what's around them. A

And yet, in walks these two girls who aren't their counterparts/equals in alot of ways in terms of status, or looks, or achievements,etc. But they are these girls who not intimidated by them like everyone else...if anything, they are total smart asses with them because they see through their pretenses so intuitively. And the dudes love it!lol


Yeah, I love that dynamic between bella and edward big time---bella is very disarming to someone who seems unable of being disarmed. I think that's a big part of how addictive the story is!