Own Characters

[Intensity Angel]

I've been thinking about this for a while. I know obviously I've used characters of my own creation in fan fiction, but I'm stumped on something. When it is appropriate to use a character who is somehow connected to Spectrum for both OS and NCS fan fiction? Maybe if the character is a colour coded officer or an Angel. I mean the senario when a character is a Mysteron agent or killed in a story to become a Mysteron agent, just in a normal siuation so to say, like in the middle of a threat or something.

[Marion]

I don't think any one objects to own characters, providing they're in keeping with the CS universe.
I have used own characters both as 'expendable extras' (Lt. Cerulean in 'Busman's Holiday) and recurring characters, (Lt Flaxen) but I try to keep them as secondary characters, giving no more information about them than is necessary to progress the story or their character development.
I also try to limit the number used to any degree in any one story, although several might be mentioned in passing. There are few enough central characters to cover all bases and we don't want to kill them off more than we have to - except Scarlet.
Own characters become a problem if they come to dominate the narrative and usurp the central position of the canon characters; either by being better at something, or being the centre of concern/interest/admiration for everyone for no logical reason. Even if the own character doesn't do that, there is the issue of them distracting from the narrative, plot or canon characters by their sheer number or the 'screen time' allocated to them.
That's when they start to verge on Mary-Sueage.
The reason people read fan fiction is becasue they are FANS of the series - they want to see and read about the characters they like from the show.
At least, that's how I see it. It is a difficult balancing act sometime - I am currently writing a 'future timeline' story where only Scarlet is still around...

[hazel]

My personal thinking on this is that you can't mix and match characters from OCS and NCS, at least not the principal characters. There are far too many differences - names, nationalities, backgrounds and even sexes have been changed for all of them, so that they are, to all intents and purposes, a totally different cast.

You're on safer ground with secondary characters. For instance, we never saw Lt Silver in OCS, so perhaps she could make an appearance in an OCS story, as one of the comms duty lieutenants. With original characters, the world is your oyster of course, as long as those original characters don't simply replace canon characters.

Another possibility to consider: I thoroughly enjoyed the way Talia Gray introduced NCS uniforms, equipment and transport into her OCS story A Catch at Christmas ( http://spectrum-headquarters.com/fanfic/a_catch_at_christmas.htm ), calling them "upgrades".

[Intensity Angel]

Good luck with that Marion.

For a story I'm trying to write, I've introduced some new characters as backup characters to the plot that is going on. I want the focus to remain on this non Spectrum character and Scarlet however its been suggested to me by a tutor to bring forward this one background character as I'm planning on using them again and again in other stories. I don't want the situation to focus on that character for a long period as they are supposed to do something then disappear then come back again, if that makes sense.

[Marion]

Sounds a bit complicated, Intensity, but I would say it could be done, if you take care.
When I first used Lt Flaxen, she played a significant part in the story, but the narrative was told entirely by Captain Scarlet to the other canon characters - so it was told from his point of view and (I hope) the impression people got was of Flaxen as seen by Scarlet.
When she appeared in a later story, she appeared as herself - unfiltered by Scarlet's jaundiced eye - if you follow me?
To focus the story entirely on one new character - to the detriment of the canon characters - is not something I (personally) would recommend. However, if the new character is the baddie and the nature of their character is important, then you can't really omit it. If you just want to describe someone who is a sparkling character in their own right, because YOU (the author - not you personally, you understand?) like them, IMO you are better writing an original fiction story and not trying to winkle it into OCS.
NCS - more difficult to judge. Most of the Angels, for example, barely had a character and you could use one of them, or an officer who gets mentioned but not seen. However, you might still end up with a Mary-Sue if that character outshines the central canon characters.
If you have planned stories where your own character is to appear - say in a set for the challenge of 5 - then my advice would be to introduce the character slowly, don't dump everything there is to know about him/her in the first story, or people will wonder what all that information is about - unless it is pertinent to the first story, of course.
For me, as a writer, it makes it a far more interesting project to have a character develop over a series of stories than to have a fully-formed picture from the start and not be able to introduce nuances to, or new aspects of, that individual as the story arc progresses.
I find that a more engrossing read too. Other people may disagree. As I said, it is a difficult balancing act.
Later: By the way, does the Tutor know you are planning a story for an established fandom, or does s/he think it is an original work?

[Skybase Girl]

This is interesting for me at present, Intensity, because it has resonance to a story I am currently writing. I am introducing a character who does not appear in NCS , but who has the name and certain links to a major OCS character. She is not the same character, however.

I do not intend that she will take over in any way, although she is an integral part of this particular story. However, I did hope that if it worked out well, she could make a periodic appearance in other stories. I first devised much of this story several years ago and giving her a name and certain similarities to a much - loved OCS character seemed, at the time, like an affectionate tribute and a way of bringing into NCS fiction a character I thought was too good to lose.

However, now that pen has been committed to paper, I am less certain this is a great idea. I am conscious that it may simply be confusing. I do concur with Hazel's view that the two series should be separate, although I agree Talia Grey's attempt at "updating" craft and equipment was very cleverly done and worked extremely well.

It may be that I will have to see where this goes and take advice as to whether or not it works. I don't think I am venturing into Mary-Sue territory, but that might be for others to say. ( Assuming, of course, that I can progress beyond the 5000 words I have so far )

[Intensity Angel]

Marion,

My tutor knows I'm writing fan fiction and has had a look at the site. She knows where I'm coming from.

[Marion]

Skybase Girl said:

I do concur with Hazel's view that the two series should be separate, although I agree Talia Grey's attempt at "updating" craft and equipment was very cleverly done and worked extremely well.

I'm sure most of us have thought of ways the 60s technology of OCS could be updated by technology of the 'Noughties.
For instance - in OCS the Spectrum agents have a dinky little ID card with a picture, a thumbprint and a signature telling the World they are a Spectrum Agent - not very likely in these days of swipe cards and retinal scanners, etc.
What doesn't mix - IMHO -is the characterisation. I can't see Dismal Destiny's tantrums being tolerated for more than 5 minutes on Cloudbase, or the original Colonel White putting up with all that use of first names while on duty.
That is not to say it can't be done - or that someone from either series couldn't make a guest appearance in a story about the other series - people have written cross-over stories that use other Anderson shows, after all. It would just be difficult.
That said, someone will probably do it and do it well -someday.

[Kambei]

Skybase Girl said:

I do concur with Hazel's view that the two series should be separate, although I agree Talia Grey's attempt at "updating" craft and equipment was very cleverly done and worked extremely well.

I'm sure most of us have thought of ways the 60s technology of OCS could be updated by technology of the 'Noughties.
For instance - in OCS the Spectrum agents have a dinky little ID card with a picture, a thumbprint and a signature telling the World they are a Spectrum Agent - not very likely in these days of swipe cards and retinal scanners, etc.
What doesn't mix - IMHO -is the characterisation. I can't see Dismal Destiny's tantrums being tolerated for more than 5 minutes on Cloudbase, or the original Colonel White putting up with all that use of first names while on duty.
That is not to say it can't be done - or that someone from either series couldn't make a guest appearance in a story about the other series - people have written cross-over stories that use other Anderson shows, after all. It would just be difficult.
That said, someone will probably do it and do it well -someday.

I am updating weapons and technology for OCS at the moment. New handguns, less bulky anti-mysteron weapons, better communication equipment based on hands-free. I am trying to find something to use as a Mysteron detector. I was looking at a thermal imager that was being used on Mythbusters the other night and it gave me one or two ideas.

I am using characters from other series as cameos. Just have to see how it works out, but only to the extent that some were used in the TV21 XL5 story where the Astran Kaplan was assassinated.

I have been reading this thread carefully, and taking into consideration what people have said, i will be really scaling back the use of a new character.

[Skybase Girl]

[ Marion said;.
What doesn't mix - IMHO -is the characterisation. I can't see Dismal Destiny's tantrums being tolerated for more than 5 minutes on Cloudbase, or the original Colonel White putting up with all that use of first names while on duty.
That is not to say it can't be done - or that someone from either series couldn't make a guest appearance in a story about the other series - people have written cross-over stories that use other Anderson shows, after all. It would just be difficult.
That said, someone will probably do it and do it well -someday. [/color][/quote]

I could take issue with this ! DD of NCS never really had a tantrum - admittedly ,there were certain instances where her actions, both physically and verbally, could be called into question, although in the main, since the Colonel was not present, he wouldn't have known about it. Ironically, she did not behave as badly as some of her male counterparts.

Compared to OCS Destiny's ability to look and act, at times, like a parody out of Les Folies Bergere, complete with over-the-top pout, penchant for clothes and perfume and a hairstyle that would surely have got caught up in some machinery or other....

Need I say more ?

Only this - that if ever there was proof that the two series should not mix, maybe we have it !

[Marion]

It is a well known fact that I am given to slight exaggeration, Skybase Girl - especially when trying to make a point.
I agree some of the men acted like spoilt brats too.

Most of the OCS Angels were stereotypes - and if it were not for the merchandise, they'd be as much ciphers as the NCS Angels. Each series has it's strengths and weaknesses, neither is perfect, although OCS Blue comes pretty damn close... (sigh)

[Elentari]

For instance - in OCS the Spectrum agents have a dinky little ID card with a picture, a thumbprint and a signature telling the World they are a Spectrum Agent - not very likely in these days of swipe cards and retinal scanners, etc.
What doesn't mix - IMHO -is the characterisation. I can't see Dismal Destiny's tantrums being tolerated for more than 5 minutes on Cloudbase.

From memory, the Spectrum ID card opens out - and I agree you wouldn't see any like that nowadays, but there are still some government issue ID cards that just have the name of the organisation, a photo of the person and their signature. No thumbprint, retinal scan or magnetic strip.

I can also remember being told about ID cards issued by an international industrial company that did have a swipe card function (to open doors to restricted areas). Unfortunately if you carried the card around with you elsewhere, it was also apt to set off those anti theft scanners at the supermarket, video store etc.

BTW exaggeration or not, I agree with Marion's assessment of NCS Destiny. If I had to work with such a misery guts I'd be putting in for a posting elsewhere. I don't reckon NCS Magenta would last long either before he'd be facing a barrage of complaints from female staff.

[Intensity Angel]

If I'd known I'd start a riot because of this topic, things might be different! (I'm being a little sarcastic here).


I am planning a story for next year based around both series and I'm using an idea from an old Star Trek episode to mix them but not in the way people think.

The NCS characters are very much unique from the OS characters, hence I gave NCS Rhapsody Angel a very different background from that of her OS counterpart. Fine I mention in one fan fic that NCS Rhapsody worked in MI6 or something like that (that's just my idea) but her main old career focus is that of her naval days where she met Captain Grey.

If Gerry Anderson wanted the CGI characters to be exact replicas of their OS predecessors, he would left them untouched and with the same backgrounds as their predecessors.

He probably made NCS Magenta a flirt to give the series some spice and NCS Destiny as she was as she is techincally a heroine.

Mind you I got a bad impression of her when I first started watching the series.

But this doesn't link in to the topic, what if a new character was used to say, bend and twist a NCS character, like a new Angel critising Destiny Angel and forcing the worst out of her, forcing her to make mistakes or something.

[chrisbishop]

Generally speaking, as far as fan fiction is concerned, a writer can do whatever he or she wants with an original character, and use it to whatever extent is necessary to progress the story. You can make it a villain, an assistant to the hero, a witness, whatever, and give him the persona you want. You can kill it or make it return in other stories. This character is your own, and there are no rules about what you can do with it. As long as the writer doesn’t forget that this character is to move inside an already defined background, and that this background and the canon characters are to be taken into consideration for the story. If not, the writer runs the risk of writing something that, at the worst, might not even be recognisable within the fandom, or, in the least, that his/her character might become a Mary-Sue that will take the story over, to the detriment of the canon characters.

By the way, I see no riot in this present topic – only a very civilised debate over what is accepted or not in original characters created by fanfic writers. So let the debate continue!

[Marion]

Intensity Angel wrote:

If Gerry Anderson wanted the CGI characters to be exact replicas of their OS predecessors, he would left them untouched and with the same backgrounds as their predecessors.

He probably made NCS Magenta a flirt to give the series some spice and NCS Destiny as she was as she is techincally a heroine.

Mind you I got a bad impression of her when I first started watching the series.

Why Gerry Anderon changed some of the characters around has been subject to much debate elsewhere - but as far as I'm concerned, it was a mistake. He should've used new characters and not obliterated the originals.... still too late now.
Making NCS Magenta a creep hardly adds 'spice' to the series, and you have to remember that - however unlikely it seems to be - the stated target audience for NCS was 4-9 year old boys who are the most unlikely audience to appreciate spice - or so I'd have thought.
If NCS Destiny was supposed to be a heroine - she wasn't a very good one. She came over as moody, egocentric and selfish. That is not to say some people aren't all of those things and that they might make it to positions of authority, but they hardly make a good 'heroine' in a show for children. Those kind of characters make for dramatic tension in far more adult storylines and shows.
I can appreciate that in the decades since the original series, the desire to make a female more of an active agent had become prevalent, but Destiny was a bad choice, after all she was supposed to be the leader of the Angels pack in a far more active way than the original was ever stated to be. If she kept getting involved in 'adventures' she wouldn't have been doing her day job very effectively.
Lady Ochre could have done the job much better - especially if she'd been called Captain -something-other-than-Ochre.

There are ways the characters of both series could be mixed, and plenty of scope to introduce original characters too - as long as it is not to the exclusion of the core characters of your stated series.
The same thing applies to cross-over stories with a different existing fandom - you have to decide which audience you're going for and tailor the amount of screen-time and importance given to the 'secondary' fandom accordingly.
In fact, mixing fandoms is even harder, I think, as not every CS fan will know enough about the other fandom to make large amounts of info-dumping un-necessary, so that you are, in effect, writing a 'new character' to the CS universe, but one with a great deal of baggage from their own fandom.
I've only ever used other Anderson shows and then only when it suited the plot. Other authors have done it with great panache, and I admire them for it.