Pretty much all my stories so far have featured a core OC & I realised today that for the couple of one-shots I’ve done, I have a passing relationship with those OCs, but for the longer stories, it’s like I live in the OC’s head. Part of it is no doubt the nature of spending months writing from a character’s perspective, but it feels odd now that I’ve recognised it. Like having an alter ego or a twin.
Does this make any sense to any other writers or am I just talking complete nonsense?
I agree that OOC isn’t necessarily bad. I also agree that OOC within the context of the fic itself (or even the original story) bothers me. I’ve absolutely read novels where a character suddenly deviates heavily from their developed persona and it almost always seems to be a matter of convenience. E.g., to justify making them a villain or a less desirable love interest. It makes me crazy.
Yep. Like the “idiot ball” concept in TV, random sudden OOC is almost certainly down to plot needing a convenient reason for something to be crowbarred in & the writer not having a more elegant option. Very off-putting imo.