Fanfic and Original Characters

[paraka]

God guys. I know I keep talking about this fic that I'm writing, but it's really taking over my brain. Why is it that all my fic ideas are epic ones? This is why I've never tried writing before, because I just don't think I can write an *epic* as my first fic.

And this epic fic? Just got bigger. I had the main idea for my Sex Bot Fic, but I wasn't really sure how I wanted to end it. I was kind of leaning towards John either dying in battle, or going off to live in exile to have his hot robot sex. Now though, I've decided that since this is Terminator, why not end in war and time travel? John and Cameron are going to go back in time and try to *stop* the second war. Which of course spawned a whole other fic idea for how they go about it (with possible tragic consequences for their love). *headdesk*

This is all a lot of planning and big ideas considering I only have about a page of the thing written. Which brings me to my next question to the writers on my flist: How do you come up with your original characters.

There aren't a ton of characters in the Terminator fandom that have names *and* live. I'm hoping to grab some from the prequel novel I'm reading but I'm not done it yet so I'm not sure if they'll live. :S Also I need "bad guys" and am not sure how to present them.

Comments

[seleneheart]

Most of my original characters are morphed versions of people I know in RL or else they are skewed versions of other characters and/or actors. Some of them come from the depths of my brain, but not too many.

[diurnal_lee]

I . . . think that question is too vague for me. Do you mean like the inspiration, where it starts for me? Or do you want the entire process of arriving at a fully fleshed out character?

[paradisecity]

Ooh, what prequel are you reading?

For me, original characters are generally an amalgamation of characteristics I like in other people/characters. It's definitely a recipe: two parts Character A, one part person B, two parts character C, etc.

Good luck with the fic! It sounds like something you're really enjoying working on. :)