This lesson is dedicated to dolliie and NARUMIYAS who requested this! 

Hello guys! Sorry for the occasional updates, but I hope you guys! If you have questions about the lessons, clarifications, and such, feel free to comment and tag my name. If you have any lesson requests, don't be shy to comment them, loves :))

This is a combination of separate lessons, one is how to get started and the other on how to make sure that your OC doesn't get out of place in the story. 

Lesson 9 || Technicals 101

Okay, so this sort of process is really different for a lot of people. Some may not go through the same rigorous process as I am, though there are others who might be even more rigorous or meticulous. But this is the part where you sit down and understand your OCs and your story itself. The problem with a lot of the books I've read through the years is either it's evident the author is just playing the story by ear or the character by ear. In other words, they didn't really lay out a solid foundation or it could be they thought it was solid but along the way they realize it isn't as solid as they originally thought it would be.

But who knows, haha.

We'll go through this step by step, and this is probably going to be the shortest lesson I'll have in this book.

Let's start with your OC and the rest of the cast. Here are the questions you need to have answers to when finalizing your OC.

1) Who is your OC? 

(Name aside, who are they as a person? What's their role in society? Who are they to the people around them? Friend? Foe? Lover? Nobody? Who are they in the story? A hero? Villain? A gray type character? Zero to hero? Hero to zero?)

2) What's their personality?

(What's their morals, beliefs, ideals, how do they behave? What type of character are they, i.e. tsundere, himedere, dandere, yandere, etc. Are they cold or warm? Boring? Funny?)

3) What's their goal?

(What are their dreams or ambitions, what are they trying to achieve or prove? Are they trying to make someone fall in love with them, are they trying to find their destiny and who they want to be in life? Are they trying to find someone or themselves?)

4) What's their struggle? 

(Insecurity? Weakness? What's blocking them from their goal, is it themselves or someone else? Who is their enemy/antagonist of the story whether major or minor, character development-wise, story-wise)

5) What's special about them?

(What makes them stand out? Talents? Flaws? Strengths? Weird characterizations whether personality-wise, skill-wise, mental-wise, physical-wise?)

6) What's their history that made them who they are?

(Did they have a happy childhood? A bad one? Were they neglected, abused, or did they have good peers to help them pull through? Did they have trauma during their childhood, adolescence or during their already adulthood life? Did they have an inspirational figure in their childhood or during some time in their life?

7) How does your character look like?

(Eyes, hair color, height, fashion taste, skintone, etc--tip: don't bomb drop how your character looks like and actually specifying what they wear. It's good to spread out the description through the chapters, sorta like building them up as the story goes. The first chapter only needs the first impression and the important details of their appearance.)

Moving on to your story process.

1) What's the genre or story trope?

(Drama? Hero to villain? Damsel in distress? Sci-fi?)

2) What's the moral of the story?

(Lessons? The take away? That's up to you though if you don't really have one. I usually like having one or a few)

3) How does the story start?

(This is the most crucial part because this is where you introduce the premise)

4) Do you know how your story will climax?

(Like, what's the turning point? Has the OC finally realized what they need to do, has the lie finally been unveiled? The mystery unveiled?)

5) How does the story resolve?

(The ending in other words, haha)

6) What are the ups and downs of the character as the story progresses?

(We don't expect that the story would be smooth-sailing, yes?)

7) What's the story drive type?

(Internal or external or both?)

So the big question now:

How do I make sure the OC isn't out of place in the story/anime universe I'm writing?

In all honesty, I am not 100% sure. But from my experience--it's how you introduce the story in the first place. Let the story flow naturally with the character in it. How they interact with people, how they walk, and exist in their setting. This works immediately in a non-superpower/supernatural environment, but when it comes to universes like Bungou Stray Dogs, vampire-esque, werewolf-esque, or maybe in a historical setting, it'll change.

1) Make sure their behavior matches the era (time period) or setting (place).

2) Don't make them super special it overshadows the rest of the cast for no reason.

3) Make your OC empathetic to your readers, or at least make your readers like your OC.

4) I said this earlier, but while you're writing your story, let your OC blend in together with your writing. Sorry, that sounded so vague but that's how I could describe it, haha.

Also the 5) names--I've read stories with OC names that sound out of place. Who names their OC some fancy non-Japanese name in a Japanese setting? Unless they are born western in the first place. But don't use a fancy non-common European name in a Japanese setting. Maybe you haven't realized it, but it could come off off-putting. I've seen some Naruto fics and the OC names aren't even Japanese and I advise against it. Name your characters right and it'll help tons, I promise.

Okay, so to the more document part that y'all been waiting for! Documents, OC sheets, and etc.

Here below is a screenshot of my documentations. In all honesty, I don't use character sheets since I simply note and write the descriptions in paragraphs. But if you know your character like the back of your hand, which you should, you won't really need a character sheet. But a character sheet is a guide and reminder, so it's up to you if you think you need one.

Among the documents I do have though is:

1) Premise of the story + story notes

2) Chapter summaries

3) The actual chapter document

4) Character notes (to be honest I keep this with document 1)

For OC sheets, they usually go like this:

Name

Aliases

Birthday

Age

Race

Ethnicity

Gender

Height

Weight

Blood type

Occupation

Relatives

Hobbies

Appearance

Personality

History

Relationships

Abilities

Trivia

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I hope you found this helpful, please comment your thoughts, suggest ideas, and good luck on your writing!!!

//hugs

See you at the next chapter! And don't be scared to request lessons, or something.