For those here who write fan fiction, I have a few question for all of you.

Do any of you have Original characters? Have you ever thought about or have you ever written stories with those characters(that doesn't involve just placing them into fan fiction but a story actually about them)?

Did you find it easy to write stories with your original characters in them, or did you find it harder than writing fan fiction stories?

I'm planning out one of my own original stories, with all of my own characters and their own world. While I haven't exactly began writing it yet, I am doing little things to get myself out of fan fiction mode(such as drawing pictures of my Original characters, writing small bits of their own histories etc.) and honestly, I'm finding it hard to share these stories or artwork.

The artwork is easier to share, however the stories of them and their history I'm finding it actually harder to share with others. The characters in this story I'm planning, have been with me(In my mind) for a majority of my life. So it's kind of weird, I don't know how to explain it really. It's not that I'm afraid people will dislike them, nor do I dislike the stories themselves.

It's more like...it makes me nervous? I find it hard to actually write the piece, even if I have it all planned out and have everything in my mind, it's hard for me to actually type out the words when it involves my own characters. Which I find kind of funny. One of my Original characters that will appear in this story as a side character has been around the longest and because I adore him so, I decided to put him in one of my fan fiction stories as a background character(or an extra body, he was actually Kagome's dad in the story).

But when I wrote him in that it was so easy to write him into the story and write about him(But while he was still his character and acted the same as his usual self. The creature he was in that story is different than what he actually is, so his appearance changed too.) However now that I'm writing him in all his glory, I'm feeling nervous to actually share him with others or write out this small tale about his history and how he came to be the creature he is now. It's the same with my other characters, this makes me nervous to how it will be when I actually start writing the story that involves all of them.

So that's why I was just curious, has anyone else had this problem or difficulty with your original characters? If so, how did you ease out of it, or at least make it easier to write?

Because I really do want to share their stories.

I feel a lot differently about original characters in original stories, like you are talking about, and original characters in fan fiction. A lot of times, in the InuYasha universe, a femal fanfiction writer will create a character who is transparently herself. Reading fics where this is the case, I can feel the jealousy the writer has toward Kagome. The charcter they introduce (usually Kagome's "cousin from America"), who turns out to be better than Kagome in every way. Kagome basically gets relegated to the refuse bin, and the fanfic writer rides off into the sunset with Sesshomaru. Obviously, I am not fond of this type of original character. But some original characters really add to the story. I think you have to kind of take a step back and make sure you are not making the original character too perfect, no matter how attached you are to them, or how proud you are of your creation. Even Sesshomaru has elements to his character that are not ideal. So making sure your original characters, whether in a fanfiction universe or one of our own imagining, have some quirks or faults. That will make your readers love them more, not less.

BTW, the way you have written about your long-standing imaginings of these characters makes me think of the Bronte' family- children of an impoverished clergyman, they grew up in a cold, damp churchyard surrounded by poverty, disease, and death. But together and separately, they created books filled with their vivid imaginings, and went on to become published authors when they became a bit older. I bet you would like to read about the Bronte' family, because you would find a lot of common ground with them.

I write originals. Sometimes i've injected them into fanfics, never a sess/kag fic.

As for sharing my originals, i think the hardest part of that is that it is something you created, so if someone critizes you feel like you yourself is being attack beause it was your brainchild.

Other than that, i get anxious with everything. i am a very insecure person. My stories are all something that came out of my brain and i really hope others enjoy them.

If you feel confident in your story and characters and love them then send em out and see what others think just don't take it too hard if others are not immediately in love with them as you are.

Good luck.

Ah yeah, I also really dislike it when people put themselves into stories and then let themselves take over and make their characters perfect. This is going to sound weird, but when I come up with Characters, I usually make their physical appearance first and then do their 'character'. But when making their character/personality I actually start with their flaws first and then let their good points come out later on, as they grow.

The character that I was talking about that I put into one of my older stories was kind of taking over whenever I put him in So I had to stop writing about him and put him back in the backseat because it's just his character to be rather showy? I guess. People didn't seem to hate him, so that was good, but he was making me lose focus on the actual storyline and the two main characters.

He was in this crossover story with TwilightxInuyasha(when I still kind of liked Twilight, ha) www.fanfiction.net/s/4693104/1/Bleeding_Love. My Original character is Landon. But I think why I'm also having trouble with him now is because for this piece I'm going to write, he is going to be younger(way younger) than his age now, so while he does still have some of his goofy personality, it isn't at the same level. He is also kind of restricted with how he lives and the time he is in, so he can't have 'free' behavior.

So Yeah, I agree with you on not making original characters to perfect. Flaws make everything or everyone more interesting anyways.

Hm, I've never heard of that family before. But now I am really interested, thank you for telling me about it. I will look into them

I admit, I came into fan fiction backwards. Most of my work isn't fan fiction at all but originals, something I was writing long before I started writing fan fiction. By this point, I have well over 100 original works of various lengths posted here and there so I can safely say that original characters aren't a problem for me. For me, I go about creating them in a similar way that I do in working with the personalities and such when it comes to fan fiction. I think, though, that is just habit is all. Eventually, when you get more comfortable with things, you'll find the formula that works for you in this area.

As for self-inserts, they are something else aren't they? Same with Mary Sue/Gary Stu stuff (the perfect characters that are all powerful and can do no wrong)... erk!