Back at it with my personal do's and don'ts, but for asoiaf this time

This is mainly focused on hotd honestly because there's a lot of hotd fics out there rn but it's fine

I asked the discord server for the donts so this isn't just my opinion this time 😌

DONTS

1. Make Rhaenyra a bad mother

This is being placed at number one because I DESPISE IT SO FUCKING MUCH WHY DOES IT EXIST??????

Honestly how can anyone look at Rhaenyra in the show + book and say "yup she'd actually hate her daughter if she hate one" ????? Be so fr rn

Me when I read a fic where this happens:

Like what reason do you have for writing that? Do you honestly think it's a good plot? Does it make sense? NO IT DOESNT

(Take this rant as an insult if you've written this you lowkey deserve it /hj)

2. Reuse GOT characters as faceclaims

I'm sorry but if you decide that the only possible fc for your oc is Emilia Clarke then like.... Why???

There are SO MANY people who've use Daenerys as their faceclaim and then they name the oc Aemma or Visenya, she's Rhaenyra's eldest daughter or Viserys' bastard (who he loves more than any of his legitimate children for some reason idk) and she gets with Aemond.

Please be original and try to use different faceclaims for characters PLEASE I BEG

NO MORE DANY OR SANSA PLEASEEE

There are so many actors/actresses you can use and there are plenty of faceclaim books on wattpad

3. Make the oc have their own team

Idk why some authors think it's a good idea. ITS NOT. There's two possible heirs to Viserys and that's the eldest child (Rhaenyra) or the eldest son (Aegon... ew). Rhaenyra's daughter wouldn't inherit before Rhaenyra, neither would her sister or cousin. No one would even consider someone else, unless the oc is a male, but even then it's a bit of a stretch.

"Oh but team pUrPlE" no shut up

The only way this would possible work is if the oc is rhaenyras elder LEGITIMATE sibling but then you'd either a) be replacing Rhaenyra in the dance completely or b) be erasing the dance in its entirety (if the oc is a man)

4. Outright villainize either side

If you make either of the teams 100% evil, it doesn't make the story interesting in the slightest. Each character on the show has done good and bad things, and while some of them might be worse it doesn't mean they're completely one sided.

Play around with the complexity of the characters and think about how they would act in certain situations. You'll find that you get very interesting plots and dialogue if you do.

On the other hand, don't make characters do things that don't make sense for them just to try and add complexity.

I've seen people make Alicent take in Rhaenyra's (brown haired) daughter and treat her as her own when it reality she would hate her and probably even call her a bastard to her face.

Or some people make Aemond switch sides which is just

5. Make the oc claim more than one dragon

This plot just never makes sense AT ALL and it's stupid. Not even Dany claimed 3 dragons. She bonded with one, Drogon, and had a good relationship with the others, but they wouldn't have allowed her to ride them if she tried.

It's literally canon that a person can claim only one dragon and a dragon can have only one rider at a time. You making your oc claim 5+ doesn't make your story cool, it makes it unrealistic and your oc too powerful and I guarantee that most people won't want to read it because of that.

6. Do not and I repeat DO NOT romanticize targcest

When I write hotd/asoiaf stories, i make myself follow the westerosi custom. Cousins marrying each other is normal and I'll be willing to accept someone writing that (I've written it and continue to write it in Our Dark Waters and Sound of Silence).

But sibling incest??? TWINCEST??? Gtfu pls it's weird. No normal person would actually FALL IN LOVE with their sibling and it's not something to romanticize.

The uncle/niece, aunt/nephew dynamic is an ick as well

7. Make your oc a copy cat

If your oc goes to Essos, gets the unsullied and the Dothraki and has three dragons, claims the throne for herself and has Emilia Clarke as the fc (refer back to point 2.) then you shouldn't write your book.

Why would you WANT to just steal and already existing storyline, I honestly don't see the point and it just shows you're not very creative honestly. That might sound rude but it's the truth.

The same goes for ocs just stealing lines and plot points of other already existing characters in the shows.

Like the oc killing Vaemond instead of Daemon, the oc literally just taking Alicent's place, the oc taking Sansa's place in the Ramsey Bolton plot (and not changing anything my about it) etc.

Please be original

8. Make your female oc go to wall

I've seen a lot of people do this and very few of them did it right. Those who did it wrong made 2 major mistakes:

1) the men of the watch just accepted the female oc as if nothing happened????

2) the female oc shows up and straight up admits she's a woman

If you want your female oc to be at the wall, she'd have to probably cut her hair and pretend she's a man because women would NEVER be accepted at the wall.

Even then it probably wouldn't work because men and women look very different from the ages of 14 upwards and any normal person would be able to tell.

I promise you that someone like Alisser (that autocorrect to alistair like 15 times im crying) Thorne, Jeor Mormont or Sam Tarly would instantly know they're not stupid.

Don't insult them by making them not realize or making them break the rules because your oc a sword wielding got or whatever.

Most people have the oc be sexually assaulted for no reason as well and it's like >:( why would you do that.

9. "I can fix him"

No you can't. I promise no amount of love is gonna get aegon, ramsey or joffrey to become the best, most doting husbands on the planet. If anything, they'd make your oc worse.

I can't stand fics where they make joffrey be all lovey dovey with their oc because that would never happen wtf? Did you see how he acted around Margaery? He didn't straight up abuse her but he was still a little psycho.

The same goes for Ramsey. He literally fed his girlfriend's corpse to his hounds and you think he's going to treat your oc like a precious angel????? In what universe???

Aegon is never going to become some upstanding citizen. He's never going to be an amazing husband or a great father. Have you see that man? He's a mf looser who thinks it's ok to sexually assault underage girls and watch children in a "1v1 me bro", INCLUDING HIS OWN KID.

If you're going to write fics for them, the romance or whatever probably won't be cute. It shouldn't be cute. That doesn't fit with their character at all.

DO'S

1. Make your oc from other houses than the main 5

99% of fics in this fandom (including my own admittedly) tend to have ocs from five houses:

Targaryen

Stark

Baratheon

Lannister

Tyrell

And maybe on a stretch an author makes them a Greyjoy, Martell or Arryn. In hotd fics MAYBE a Hightower or Velaryon.

Don't get me wrong, these aren't bad choices, but most of the ocs become muddled together and not original.

When I first started writing Our Dark Waters, the concept for my ocs wasn't done before (the book was in the first 20 to be published so like) and now I've seen the same concept done a bunch of times *cries*.

Unfortunately, every single possibility for a Targaryen oc has been used up in the hotd era. That doesn't mean you can't make a Targaryen oc, just be prepared that at least 10 other fics exist where your ocs backstory is a thing. You're gonna have to make their story and character traits original in order for them to stand out.

In GOT, Lannister and stark ocs are extremely common. I have a bunch too, but I'm well aware that it's over used.

Try branching out with your ocs house! The asoiaf wiki exists, just type in the region you want your oc to be from (Crownlands, Stormlands, the north etc.) and in the first paragraph you'll find notable houses you can use.

2. Do your research

Once again, the asoiaf wiki exists. It's just one google search away. If you're not sure about something, hop on google and look it up! 99% of the time you'll easily find it.

I can't even begin to tell you how jarring it is when you're reading a fic from a fandom you know the lore of very well and the author makes a mistake in it. It can happen to everyone, but you can easily cut down on the amount of mistakes you make by just searching things up.

Reading a fic where the author clearly knows what they're talking about is just so 😩😩

3. Allow your oc to fail

No one likes a story where everything goes right all of the time. Don't be afraid to make your oc fuck up. Let them stumble, get someone killed because of their mistakes. Add stakes to your story!

Have the reader or the edge of their seat wondering what will happen next. And oc who makes a lot of mistakes and has to fight tooth and nail for what they want is extremely compelling!

4. Make your oc interact with more characters

Most writers will only have the oc interact with a select few people on the show. This is especially true in hotd fics where there's technically only one plot going on.

The oc will hang out with Rhaenyra, Alicent or daemon, maybe Aemond and the Velaryon bros if they're their age. For some reason the velaryons get completely ignored (an actual insult!!! they slay!).

In got the oc will interact with like five people during the entire show:

Cerise, Tyrion, Robb, Jon, Daenerys

With maybe a few scenes with minor characters. This can get incredibly boring and repetitive, so try to broaden your spectrum! This depends on where your oc is ofc, but you can also make more minor ocs for your character to interact with!

5. Give your oc their own plans and ambitions

Having a character who just sits there and helps already existing characters with not motivation except "they're my friend/lover" is something I DESPISE. If your oc is helping someone achieve something, ask yourself why they're doing that.

Do they want more power? Are they driven by guilt? Duty? Is this action just a means to an end? What will they get out of helping this character fulfill their goal? What is your oc's goal? Are they genuine about it?

If you can answer these questions and successfully weave the answers into your writing, you'll have a much more compelling storyline!