The Stretch Theory: How to Avoid Writing OOC

In my last article, I talked about character analysis and how it works. I touched upon the dangers of characters being written out of character, and now I've gone and gotten myself all excited about talking about that. So, here we go.

WHY OOC DOESN'T WORK

First, I suppose I should explain why writing OOC doesn't work. Well, first of all, readers who go on Fanfiction looking for good stories usually are doing so because they are looking for more of a particular show, movie, game, book, etc. that they really love. They love the characters, or the idea, or just the concepts, and they go to Fanfiction hoping to find more of that particular fandom. They like that fandom the way they've always known it. But if they then come across a story where the characters don't act like they do in the movie, show, book, or game...it just isn't the genre they loved anymore; it's something else. And, chances are, that reader will scrunch up their nose in distaste, hit the back button, and never read the rest of said story. All because the characters didn't line up. You could be a fantastic writer. You could have the coolest plot ever, and it could be an awesome story altogether: long, detailed, filled with adventure. But if the characters don't line up, your chances of it being a success is far smaller.

Not that there aren't people out there who like OOC stories. You'll still get readers, I'm sure, but my point is that there will still be that huge percentage of readers who will just walk away, uninterested, because of bad characters, or bad "casting" of characters. Your story idea could be horrible with characters from Winnie the Pooh, but awesome with characters from Darkwing Duck. Casting is very important, almost like a real show or movie. The 'actors' of your story matter, and throwing them into situations that they just don't belong in is a very dangerous and often unsuccessful game to play indeed.

AVOIDING THE CORNY AND WEIRD

Often what happens, when a character is OOC, is that the story just becomes weird, or just plain corny. Unless that is what you're going for, you don't want that. I've read stories where I was reading along, actually enjoying it, when suddenly something happens and I'm like, "Wait...What?" If Bilbo Baggins is fighting orcs, I don't want to see him being saved by a fluffy unicorn (OK, that's a little extreme, but you know what I'm talking about).

One thing to always do when writing a story that you know would only take one small slip up to be corny is: EXPLAIN. Sometimes something seems silly just because it is so sudden or unexpected that we get that “Wait…What?” reaction. Something happens that needs explaining, but none is given. This is a terrible mistake, and will lead to the story either seeming rushed or just plain silly. If Bilbo in your story HAS to be saved by a fluffy unicorn, just having one appear out of nowhere would just be weird. However, if throughout your story, you somehow incorporated it in a believable way, when the unicorn shows up the readers won’t be shocked into “Wait…What?” but more of an “Aha! I knew they were going to use that later on!”. Would the whole Bilbo/unicorn thing really work? I don’t know. But I believe that, in writing, you can make anything work (within reason) if you do it right.

In my Mario fanfic “Destinations” I am constantly struggling to balance the tightrope, hoping not to fall into the black pit of corny and weird. Which is hard to do, since the Mario universe is full of stuff that, when written out, sounds corny. I mean, what’s so scary about turtle-like creatures that you can flip over with one swift kick? In one chapter of my story, called ‘Down Below’, I had to have Mario and Luigi meet some of these creatures for the first time. It would have been very easy for the whole thing to be very comedic, or even ridiculous. But I didn’t want ridiculous. I wanted suspenseful and, in a way, a little scary. I wanted this to be a serious scene, and yet I was dealing with silly material. All it would take would be one slip, and my goal would be lost. And so I worked very hard on that chapter and, so I am told, I succeeded (though I’ll leave that up to my readers to decide).

It can be done. If you explain things the right way, and build up the right atmosphere, you can manipulate the feelings and moods you want.

Which leads me to talk briefly about crossovers. How in the world do we, as writers, create crossovers without them seeming corny or weird or silly (unless, again, that is our goal)? Well, again, it’s all in how you write it. I have read some REALLY bad crossovers. The characters just didn’t work, and there was no explanation of why they were together in the first place. Corny, corny, corny. But, then again, I have read some fantastic crossovers, such as Chill13’s “A Fateful Trip”, a Star Trek Voyager/Gilligan’s Island crossover, and Pipann's "Trials of Tyria", a Asterix/Guld Wars 2 crossover. How did they do it? They MADE it work. They understood the characters of both fandoms, and used realistic explaining and planning to make it work and not seem silly. I was especially impressed with “A Fateful Trip” because my initial thought was “How does that even work?” To me, Gilligan’s Island mixed with Voyager seemed silly, just in description, and it absolutely blew me away when I found out that that was not the case. The story made sense, the connections were all there, and all it took was a skilled writer to point them out. The same goes for "The Trials of Tyria". I have never played Guild Wars, and yet, mixed with the Asterix universe, it still makes perfect sense to me. The world seems real, and Asterix fits in perfect in a world that, originally, he never was meant to belong. Definately a piece of very good fanfiction writing.

THE STRETCH THEORY

A while back, just for my own personal use, I developed a character theory that I call the Stretch Theory. What it says is that every character has a limit to which they can be stretched. Some can be stretched far from their original design without a problem, and still be in character, while others are so limited that they can hardly be stretched at all. Hmm, let me see if I can explain this better...Let's pick a character I've already mentioned: Winnie the Pooh. Ok, this is an example of a character that cannot be stretched very far. He can be a little, but not much. What do we know about this character? Well, he’s a toy stuffed bear who likes honey. Ok…This character would work well in a story with a low-adventure level. He can carry hurt/comfort shorts, humor, friendship, family or maybe even light adventure (as I seem to remember a few of his movies being), but I would not want to see him in horror, romance, or probably not even angst. I mean, would you want to read a story about axe-murderer Pooh?...Maybe you would…But I’m telling you, that would be extremely OOC. Why? Because his character CANNOT hold that kind of stretch. If you were to do that, Pooh would no longer be Pooh, but a different character altogether. It just wouldn’t work.

On the other hand, there are a lot of characters out there that can be stretched pretty far. Some that I have noted would be most Hogan’s Heroes characters, Star Trek, Asterix, Darkwing Duck, and quite a few others. They are usually individuals with very strong, well-developed characters. Like Darkwing Duck for instance. His character is extremely well developed, even in the show. We know more about his inner workings than most characters you will ever come across. We know his weaknesses, his passions, his hopes, and his greatest fears. He seems almost real in that we know him in a very detailed way. And, because of that, his character, and the characters around him from the same show, can handle being stretched much further than our dear friend Winnie the Pooh. Darkwing can easily handle angst, hurt/comfort, mystery, family, friendship, adventure and, if written right, maybe even horror (though that is never my favorite). Darkwing’s character can stretch that far, while still being able to retain his original character. The writer can place him in situations that are, honestly, quite dark, and still keep him in character. Again, it’s all in how it is written.

Asterix is another one I mentioned. And one that I have written for a number of times. When I write, I like to always stretch the characters as much as I can, while keeping them in character. I like throwing characters into situations that literally stretches them to their limits, because, I believe, that is how a character grows. It’s that way even for us real-life people. Our characters grow through trails, and it is the same for these made up characters. Characters need to grow, from the beginning of your story to the end. They should not be the same person at the end that they were at the beginning, but they must also still be THAT character.

DEALING WITH BLOOD

This goes right along with what I said about the Stretch Theory. Many of us writers, myself included, sometimes like to injure our characters for dramatic effect or, quite simply, for feels. I know, we’re horrible, but that is very often what the readers want. They want to see their hero stretched to their limit, to the point that they might even be broken physically. But you, again, have to be very careful. Blood is a very serious thing. And I’m not even talking about the gory, yucky stuff. Just mentioning a tiny, little cut in a story, even in a non-detailed way, will up the seriousness of your story, because it emphasizes the vulnerability of a character to the extreme. It says “Look, they can be hurt. And if they can be hurt, they can be killed”. Some characters just can’t stretch that far. Again, with Winnie the Pooh (what in the world is a Pooh, anyway?) we can see that he would not be able to be in a story with blood. First of all, he’s made of fluff and doesn't bleed…But also, his character isn’t equipped with the emotional framework to handle it. He’s a simple toy bear. If he were to see blood, he’d probably just blink at it and show some worry or sympathy, at the most. It just wouldn’t fit. But, then again, with Darkwing I have read many stories in which the vigilant hero is quite badly injured. I’ve seen him shot, stabbed, break bones, and, though that sound horrible, it still works. Because his character DOES have the emotional framework to handle that kind of seriousness. His character CAN be stretched that far, and all without becoming OOC.

The same with Asterix in my Asterix fanfictions. Having a stretch level only slightly higher than Darkwing, these comic book characters from a series of children’s comics can be stretched to a surprising degree, and still retain their original characters without seeming OOC. Which, if you think about it, doesn’t really make sense. In the comics, the main level/focus of the stories are very light, and cheery, and comedic. How could characters from something so humorous carry something so weighty as evil druids and near death experiences that I have put them through in my stories, and yet still be told by readers that they are true to their original characters? Simple. These characters can handle it. Their characters are so well defined, that all it takes is digging a little deeper to find that they can remain in character even against very serious odds.

But, of course, as I said, all characters DO have a limit. Even Darkwing, Asterix and the other high-level stretch characters I’ve mentioned. So the question is, how do you know how far you can stretch a character? My answer: Good question. For me, I just sort of know, and I think it would be that way for a lot of people. But not everyone, and that’s fine. It is very hard to look at your own work and see what your readers see. Which leaves you with the choice of finding someone you trust to Beta-read for you, and have them let you know when the characters don’t fit and are becoming OOC.

Again, it’s all up to you, the writer. Some of you might like the corny, the ridiculous, or the OOC. And that is perfectly fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. And, like I said, SOMEONE out there WILL read it. If that is the case with you, than feel free to just forget everything I've just said. Don’t worry, I won’t be offended. But if you truly are struggling to keep your characters in character, than give this a try. If it doesn’t work for you, try and developed a system that DOES work for you.

You are the writer.

WRITE!