Okay, so I've read plenty of TVD fics where the OC is undoubtedly related to someone.

either it's
- Elena's twin sister (commonly known as The Other Gilbert)
oooooooo, how creative

- Elena's twin brother (for all those unfinished lgbt fics)

- Elena's younger or older sister (for those unique writers that say they wont do a twin story)

then you got:
a Salvatore sister, either it's their little sister or Stefan's twin
and those few unfinished lgbt ones where it's another Salvatore brother, typically the youngest as well

the few Lockwood sisters

(by the way, who the hell decided to write a story about a Lockwood sister and and Klaus Mikaelson??? He kills her mother, enslaves her brother, any functional person would never end up staying with that person)

the few Donovan sisters

and the occasional Forbes sister (or cousin)

but almost never a Bennett sister (or brother) i mean come on guys? really? the one recurring thing in the fanfic world is siblings and no one wants to give Bonnie one? really?

then when it comes to the Mikaelsons it's either a random sister mixed in or:

- Klaus' twin sister (so another hybrid, but since they wanna be original they decide to make her extra special so why not let her practice magic even if it's quite literally impossible (unless you're Hope, but everyone knows Hope is a one time thing, you can't just carbon copy her, you gotta change shit up? fine, but get new ideas, don't add new things just to tweak it)

- Kol's twin sister, usually it's just another Original Vampire unless they spin it and make her extra powerful for stupid reasons because honestly, whatever happened to those simple vampire stories?

- it honestly bugs me that just Klaus and Kol only get twins, not to mention that you'd think people would stop with those stories since Freya showed up. She and Finn are twins, do you seriously want the Mikaelson's to have two sets of twins in the family? What are they, the Gemini Coven?

And now that Legacies has gotten pretty big, the main thing nowadays are Hope siblings, specifically, Hope's twin, and I'm like??? no???

Hope is the most powerful creature in the universe so far, so you cannot just carbon copy her and stick a nametag that says 'Amber'

just- dont

also, i've already written something similar to this on my klaus fic and well, here it is again, it's basically a much more detailed version of what you just read

So, the people out there that want to write a TVD fic? I've got a lot of shit to tell you, but I do have one crucial, important piece of wisdom to bestow upon you:

Don't make your OC related to any of the main characters.
Please, just don't.

No one wants to read about another Gilbert, either it's Elena's twin or it's just a Gilbert sibling that basically has the same thing that happens to Elena in the first season, happen to them as well only slightly altered.

Okay, I understand that everyone has to start somewhere, but you gotta be honest, everyone has to have read something like it at least five times.

The main bad, wait no that's not the word, the main boring thing about making your OC related to the 'good guys' of the show is that it makes for boring reads. (Not trying to poke holes in anyone's stories, forgive me if I stir the pot).

When you make your OC related to Caroline or Matt or Tyler even, (quick thing, how come Bonnie never gets a sibling??? It'd be predictable but we could have more diversity) it fills in a lot of questions about backstory and such, so you get less homework and don't have to brainstorm as much, that's what I call lazy writing.

+ Can I just, take a moment to make a quick point, who remembers the great and powerful pork rind loving Kai Parker? Remember him, he was crazy but it was a fun crazy. It was also a murder crazy, but hey, everyone loved him as a villain right?

+ The reason why they all loved him is the same reason everyone loved season one Damon, and then Damon in general. It's because he was humorous. He was crazy as fuck, but he was funny about it, it was a great spin to the usual brooding and calculating 'i am the most powerful creature on earth, fear me' villain.

+ I mean, didn't Silas lasted for about ten episodes? Same thing with Qetsiyah. Meanwhile, after resurrecting, Kai proceded to get drunk at a karaoke bar and sing an off-key version of 'Knockin' on Heavens Door'.

+ Kai Parker has been in our hearts since he appeared on screen.

+ What's my point to this? Making your OC related to the main characters makes them usually have sympathy with the rest of the characters. You know, the standard, 'Elena's my best friend too, I'd die for her' and yadda yadda, it's boring and predictable, and after a while, Elena got boring too. Instead, making the OC fun and/or actually smart at times is much more entertaining.

Back to it:

Also, no one wants another Mikaelson sibling that happens to be Klaus' twin sister or some times it's Kol's twin sister. (Just putting it out there, how come it's never been Elijah's or Rebekah's twin?? I'm not encouraging it, don't do it, but is it weird that it hasn't been written yet?)

Your usual TVD Fanfiction pie or cake can be made by the following ingredients:

A Salvatore/Mikaelson sibling had a past love with one of the Mikaelson/Salvatore brothers and is now back and they realize they never stopped loving each other.

That's it, that's 83% of all TVD fanfics. I'm not joking.

The other 7% are actually way too good to be considered fanfiction, and the other 5% are the lgbt ones that never make it past 5-10 chapters. You know it's true.

And finally, there's that 5% that are lgbt ones that actually have more than 25 chapters or are completed.

end of

But, since a lot of people will probably think that their story is going to be different, it's going to be thought out and nothing like those, then I ask of you to at least pick the right fucking face claims, and for that, please be directed to the next chapter: proper face claims

but please, be better

all in all, this chapter was meant to stop you from writing a character that is related to an already existing character on any of the shows

if you make a character related to someone you immediately have a lot of backstory covered, and it's basically a cop-out, you're not giving yourself the opportunity to figure out where your character comes from or an actual backstory from them, so, when you go to write your first original book, it's going to be extra difficult because you haven't had the experience yet

this not only applies to life, but also to writing, just substitute the word 'person' with writer
thank you Ron Swanson