How to Handle Canon Characters

[TrainerRyan]

In allot of Fan Fiction, people like to mingle their Original Characters (OC) with Canon Characters (CC), infact going to give a part to a very familar Character in my next 2 chapters. Anyhow, when dealing with CC, would like to know what are the best ways to handle them.
To me, One Time Characters would be the easiest because you can add so much to them without taking too much away from their Sources. For Example, did Damien learned from his exprience and grew as a preson, or did he go deeper down the road of Dickisness. I could do a story about that without damaging much of his source material.

 

[Beth Pavell]

It depends what you want to use them for. First thing I'll say is this: a canon character is not a costume. Too often I've seen fanfics where supposedly they're about canon characters, but the way they're written makes them impossible to distinguish from one another. I think that this should really apply to relatively minor canon characters where possible. So in order to make the canon character recognisably that character, you need to study the source material, whatever that may be (I practice what I preach here - I've lost count of the amount of times I watched Gettin the Bugs Out to get Bugsy's dialogue right)

When it comes to development or expansion, that will easily be a bigger challenge the more one-dimensional the character is. Take Damien for example - in the show, all he is is an abusive trainer to be beaten by Ash and hated by the audience. Spinning that out into something believable, even if you keep that characterisation consistent, is going to be hard. If you're in the mood for reading, I suggest reading Memoirs of a Clone from this site - it is an extremely good example of a difficult canon character expanded in a story while keeping true to the source material

 

[Lugion]

I like to use little questionnaires about my characters, even if they're canon characters, just to make sure I can really get inside their heads.

I haven't really used those with the characters of Stainless Steel, but that's because: 1. I started that story almost four years ago and really haven't stopped working on it since, even during that rather sizeable gap where I wasn't publishing anything of it; and 2. The story takes place almost 20 years before the games do, so rather than using the canon characters, I'm developing them into what we know (which honestly isn't much; I have a lot to work with there).

 

[Kelleo]

Well, firstly, when I write canon characters, I keep in mind the most notable things about their personalities and the way they talk. Take Ike from Fire Emblem, someone I write often because I'm a big fan of him.

Ike is usually blunt, very passionate, straight to the point, never afraid to stand up for someone or himself, tends to not think before he acts, and is a bit reckless. But he also helps people because he wants to. He enjoys what he does for a living and he never asks for any reward, just the usual payment. And despite his blunt tone, he's very kind and caring. He also doesn't really like the fame he's garnered as a hero.

I then ask myself "is this something Ike would say or do in this situation?" and assess whether or not the answer is yes.

Of course, it's also fine to develop these characters if you feel they haven't gotten enough development or have the potential for even more. In Ike's case, I later have him change his mind and start being more accepting of his fame. He still doesn't ENJOY it, but he decides it's his destiny and he makes the most of it.

And when it comes to development, I ask myself "is it realistic for this character to develop this way?" and assess whether the answer is yes.

 

[PiccoloX]

This sums up the subject perfectly.
[video=youtube;UAgHBsJUbPw]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UAgHBsJUbPw[/video]

The majority of cannon mingles brink on the edge of absurdity because anyone who knows of the cannon character will immediately spot the flaws in your rational. But hey, it's called Fan Fiction for a reason, right?

 

[TrainerRyan]

This sums up the subject perfectly.
[video=youtube;UAgHBsJUbPw]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UAgHBsJUbPw[/video]

The majority of cannon mingles brink on the edge of absurdity because anyone who knows of the cannon character will immediately spot the flaws in your rational. But hey, it's called Fan Fiction for a reason, right?

As much I may be tempted to do a Digimon Crossover later on, for now I would have OCs that are set in the Pokemon Canon to mingle with CCs

 

[Steel_Justice]

I think Kelleo got it spot on just write a canon character to do what they would do going by their established personality, if they're someone important then you have plenty of examples. Though there can be character development before or during the story but make it consistent and believable for the character. For example if you were to use Ash in a pokemon fic you could have him learn to be a bit more careful when he does things since he always leaps before he looks but not overly cautious since a 180 in personality is not very believable.

 

[Legacy]

Some people might disagree with this, but I honestly think when you use canon characters, you have to master how that character's personality is in the original works. For example, when I had a fic featuring Ash Ketchum, I made the mistake of making Ash a smooth, ladies-man-type, which is completely against what Ash is. You need to capture this and not waver too much from how the actual character behaves otherwise you'll lose the reader.

One way to get around this and add more of your own personal flavor to a canon character: add a time-skip. Perhaps Ash develops better romantic skills when he grows up?

 

[Flaze]

Even then you still have to make sure not to lose the original essence of the character itself, we all grow up but we have a basic personality that sticks with us.

 

[TrainerRyan]

Posted Pokémon R/B Chapter 3: Pika Blues and Bug Mastery the other week and I have featured both Brock and the 1 time character known as the Samurai. Since Brock is going to be in my next chapter too, would love to have some feedback, seeing what I can do better

 

[The Dude]

I will be contrarian and say you can do whatever you want with canon characters, as long as you write it well, and make the character consistent. And I mean, as long as your version of the character is somewhat that character, it's fine. Most video game canon characters are so vaguely defined that you've got huge wiggle room.
Volkner's going to be a critical supporting character in my fic, and I think as long as you keep that he's an Electric type Gym Leader from Sunyshore in Sinnoh, sort of a community civic leader (he's responsible for the modernized power system), bored with his recent challengers, and friends with Flint, you can do whatever else. Although, I haven't watched the anime since 2006, so I have no idea how he's portrayed in that.