Becoming a fan writer is seen as an easy, non-complexed hobby for you to pick up when you're bored. Which, like many things, it can be, but we all must admit there's a difference between a fan writer and a good fan writer. Some authors can make good writing look effortless, almost as if you can do it yourself, but then try and it turns flops. Well, don't worry because I'm here to help!

Writing can be difficult at times, especially with fanfiction, where you have to get the world and characters correct, along with other necessities like well crafted/complexed writing and consistent updates. And other things that could stump you on your path to becoming a good fan writer.

Today we're starting with the fun, yet hard job of OCs.

For all the newbies out there, an OC stands for Original Character, and in other words your imagination's fake little guys (and gals) that make your plot more interesting. OCs span from being the Main Character of your story to a background character mentioned offhandedly.

Now, many people find making OCs an easy process, but it's a bit harder writing them out in your book as realistic. This is a big issue with many OCs in Riordanverse fanfictions. A quick example of the common unrealistic OCs seen in many PJO fanfictions is:

"I'm Alkmini Achilles Lightning Bolt Storm. Despite being able to fly, shoot lightning from my eyeballs, and create babies from my brain, I was shocked to find out that I'm the daughter of Zeus, because OCs don't come in boys apparently. Now is a good time to mention that I'm the most attractive person on the face of the Earth and everyone in the story wants to get with me, but I'm going to gaslight myself the entire story into thinking I'm hideous. I'm also white because we can't have POC main characters for some reason, no sir. Oh no, I'm being attacked by fifteen thousand monsters at once, instead of using one of my billion powers, I'll fight all of them in Hand in Hand combat, I slay 9,000 of them, then I pick up sword for the very first ever and slay the reason of them without getting any injuries. Not even a papercut. Ever though I'm perfectly fine, I faint. "

(That was sarcasm if you don't realize)

Yikes! Here's a few tips to make your writing better than that.

Make your character more normal or relatable! Give them a regular name, news flash- normal names still have amazing meanings. This will instantly be a green flag for your readers.

Make that POC character, but make sure to be respectable if you don't know the traditions/customs of the race you choose, give them weird quirks or traditions in their family, give them friends and possibly a good relationship with their mortal family, You can still make them have a strange life, but giving them some normalcy can be good.

Your OC doesn't need to be a Big Three kid, or a child of Athena, Ares, or Apollo. One reason being, the Big Three were just released from their childless oath, so unless your story is based years later, it won't make sense. The Quadruple As (Ares, Athena, Apollo, and Aphrodite) are overrated, when being a child of Dememter, Hypnos Hermes, and other underrated gods are just as good- if not better!

Please, don't make your OC invincible, they are fighting monsters constantly- and they're a teenager trusted with a sword! Make them stay in the infirmary after a battle in your story, make them get hurt, it's realistic and can make a great hurt + comfort subplot.

Similar to the last one, let your OC have fails, let them lose a battle or two. Give your OC something to fight for, but let them fail to get it, even if it's something small like an old item. Let them retreat from a monster battle. They can't always win.

Now for some more in depth tips:

Don't flabbergast your reader with an info dump about your character in the first chapter. Make your reader learn about your character through other characters in the story, flashbacks, and small bits and pieces here and there.

Note to you: If it isn't necessary to your characters growth or the story itself, you don't need to add it.

Your OC doesn't have to be the main character, they can be the sidekick, background, or important character that shows up to give the protagonist a hand once or twice. That doesn't change the worth of your OC.