Characters you re-use?

Are there any characters you've created that you use again and again?
I know everyone has a charter they've used a lot(probably way too much).
The character I reuse again and again has to be Alexis Hart(Somtimes I change her last name to Sol), an 18 year old ex-Pokemon trainer from Verdanturf Town.
Her only Pokemon is a Hypno's named Cameron(he frequently stalks my story's protagonist). Her father (an officer of the International Police and her sister Micheala...I often reuse too(I may or may not introduce her mother later).
I usually kill her off at some point in the story(usually near the beginning...in fact there's only one fanfic where I haven't killed her violently..because of that, she doesn't have much of a personality)...her death changes the protagonist completely, makes the story somewhat more interesting, advances the plot, and just in general makes the story better.
I'm not sure why I keep using her because she usually isn't that much of a major character(I don't consider the protagonists crush a major role, because that's really all she is), plus she's really not usefull at all. But I think Alexis is awesome.

I only re-use characters in the context of the same universe and same time period. Basically, it's not really "re-using" when it's the exactly same character appearing, but it kind of is...

But it's quite likely that I'd use the characters' personalities again with some tweaks if I really like them.

The thing with Alexis is that She's the same person, but she's in different universes(two Pokemon fics, an old roleplay, and a zombie apocalypse thing I started writing earlier this year).

As a general rule, I don't think reusing characters for completely different stories should be done. That makes it amazingly obvious that said character is a Mary Sue or the equal of a writer's pet/DM's pet in D&D terms. I think it also shows a lack or creativity. Of course to each their own, but that's just my opinion.

Your charcters should fit your story world, not the other way around.

Phantom said:

As a general rule, I don't think reusing characters for completely different stories should be done. That makes it amazingly obvious that said character is a Mary Sue or the equal of a writer's pet/DM's pet in D&D terms. I think it also shows a lack or creativity. Of course to each their own, but that's just my opinion.

Your charcters should fit your story world, not the other way around.

Click to expand...

I think in Kai's case, it wouldn't really be a sign of Sue-ness; if you use the same character as your protagonist over and over, yeah, but in this case it's a side character.

As for me, I used to reuse my self-insert and expies of my friends (hahaha don't remind me of those days) but I do it less these days.

Phantom said:

As a general rule, I don't think reusing characters for completely different stories should be done. That makes it amazingly obvious that said character is a Mary Sue or the equal of a writer's pet/DM's pet in D&D terms. I think it also shows a lack or creativity. Of course to each their own, but that's just my opinion.

Your charcters should fit your story world, not the other way around.

Click to expand...

... why would it have anything to do with sueness? And really, what's wrong with a 'writer's pet'? If someone can write a huge long series with the same character, they're really attached to who they're writing, too. Is that really so different!


Sometimes I do it just to hone out the character, it's practice! Usually it's only in NaNos, where I'm like "hmmm I don't think I wrote that character how I wanted to last year" and want to try them again.

I actually think it's really creative to put a character in different environments and situations and things! You're testing out what's interesting and paying attention to the changes that happen every time due to setting change.

Cirrus said:

... why would it have anything to do with sueness? And really, what's wrong with a 'writer's pet'? If someone can write a huge long series with the same character, they're really attached to who they're writing, too. Is that really so different!

Click to expand...

You don't play D&D I take it? A DM pet is very annoying, ask any player.

Besides, it's just my opinion.

I know someone who for EVERYTHING uses this same character. In everything it's the same characters, but different worlds. The character was a complete Gary Stu, they even made it their username for EVERYTHING. It started to feel so forced on you, to the point where you just got outright tired of the character and wanted to grab the writer/player by the shoulders and scream "DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!"

I can't even put the feeling of the frustration into words. Literally failing in that now.

Yep! We're discussing our opinions! And I don't play D&D, but it seems a bit different to recycling the same characters in original prose storytelling.

Cirrus said:

Yep! We're discussing our opinions! And I don't play D&D, but it seems a bit different to recycling the same characters in original prose storytelling.

Click to expand...

It's not all that different when you think about it. There are a ton stories based on real D&D campaigns.

Think of an author. You read their first book, and you're enthralled. You love the writing style, you love their sense of humor, their descriptions. Easily you've found a new favorite.

Then you read their second story, not a series, just another book. You love it too, but you start to see some similarities between the two. Not a lot, but enough that you notice.

Then the third comes out, one of your favorite genre's too! But then you stop and think half way through, this looks familiar! You stop and realize, it's the same characters, just recycled.

An author who is amazingly guilty in this is Jodi Picoult, where her books all follow the same formula. In the end you can easily predict what will happen in each book based on the end of the other.

Yeah, I probably wouldn't recommend it in publishing, if only because that could get genuinely confusing. But when it's just your own stories, why not? You could call it bad practice, but... it's just teaching you how character changes between settings.

But come on, a few small amount of us is in any way likely to publish. The majority of writing discussed here isn't stuff that we imagine being published. Different guidelines apply between practice and publishing.

If you say "when it's just your own stories", then why not just satisfy the little devil inside your mind and write everything as Mary Sue for wish fulfilment?

I agree with Phantom. Most instances of major recurring characters are self-insertion and those don't work well.

Sure, go ahead? Whatever makes your writing improve!

How on earth are they mostly self-insertion?? I don't feel they have anything to do with sueness either, still ?_?

I don't think there's anything wrong with including recurring side characters as a kind of cameo in-joke for those who have read your other stuff. I haven't done it myself, but in principle I don't see how it hurts. Yeah, when a major character is always the same even in unrelated works it's pretty suspect and probably annoying for anyone who doesn't like that character, and if you're reusing the storyline as well it's just going to make your work predictable, but short cameo appearances don't automatically make the story predictable or stale. In theory it sounds like it could be pretty fun to have a recurring minor character who appears in radically different universes and is adapted to them but still recognizably the same. Again, they'd have to be minor enough to not have readers feel like you keep forcing this character upon them, but just because it's character reuse doesn't make it predictable or Sueish.

Most instances of major recurring characters are self-insertion and those don't work well.

Click to expand...

Holy broad, sweeping, and totally unsupported assertion, Batman! Somehow I get the feeling that you must not be thinking of the same kind of recurring character as I am. Perhaps you could provide an example of what you're talking about?

What I think Phantom is talking about (wrt literature; RP characters are a bit different) is something kind of different--not so much reusing characters, like, "Man, I really like writing about Bob, I'm going to write about him again, but this time as a space-ninja instead of a potato farmer", but rather writers who can kinda only write one particular kind of character, or one particular type of plot, so all their books kind of end up being the same, albeit unintentionally. At least, I'm guessing it's unintentional. I don't think there's any problem in setting out to revisit a character that you enjoyed, but if you never break out of your comfort zone and fall into a sort of rut where you're essentially creating over and over again probably isn't a ton of fun for you, and probably not for your readers, either. There's more to avoiding that than just "don't use the same character twice," though.

Cirrus said:

Sure, go ahead? Whatever makes your writing improve!

How on earth are they mostly self-insertion?? I don't feel they have anything to do with sueness either, still ?_?

Click to expand...

Generally, you are very emotionally attached and empathetic towards characters you use a lot. You are most emotionally attached and empathetic to someone who is the same as you, that is, self insertion characters, which are much more likely to be Mary Sue than most others.

Oh and in my opinion writing only to satisfy yourself may make you happy, but I don't think it's a good way to improve. In fact, you might not improve at all (character wise).

Oh and ninja

Negrek said:

Holy broad, sweeping, and totally unsupported assertion, Batman! Somehow I get the feeling that you must not be thinking of the same kind of recurring character as I am. Perhaps you could provide an example of what you're talking about?

Click to expand...

Can't really give specific instances because I've forgotten the specific details, but when I'm on fanfiction.net looking at random profiles (from reviews etc.), they often have something "this is the character that appears in all my stories and it's me" (basically, admitting that the recurring character is them). Of course, a recurring character in the same universe is completely plausible, but when it jumps from completely different stories then obviously the author is very, very attached to them.

yiran said:

Generally, you are very emotionally attached and empathetic towards characters you use a lot. You are most emotionally attached and empathetic to someone who is the same as you, that is, self insertion characters, which are much more likely to be Mary Sue than most others.

Oh and in my opinion writing only to satisfy yourself may make you happy, but I don't think it's a good way to improve. In fact, you might not improve at all (character wise).


Can't really give specific instances because I've forgotten the specific details, but when I'm on fanfiction.net looking at random profiles (from reviews etc.), they often have something "this is the character that appears in all my stories and it's me" (basically, admitting that the recurring character is them). Of course, a recurring character in the same universe is completely plausible, but when it jumps from completely different stories then obviously the author is very, very attached to them.

Click to expand...

I don't really see the point in ragging on new writers who really like their power fantasy OCs. (Calling them 'self inserts' is kinda inaccurate, since they're never actually like the writer, and 'Mary Sue' often gets used to mean 'a female character who exists'.) It keeps them interested in writing for a bit and they'll eventually realise it's hard to write stories with compelling conflicts about power fantasies. I'd also much rather they make it blatant that that's the sort of fic they're writing than for me to click it expecting canon-ish characters and one's been co-opted for a power fantasy insert. Draco in Leather Pants, most Vriska fic, that sort of thing.

That sort of id fic's cathartic and I think most people have those playing through their heads as daydreams; that a lot of fic writers get started by writing those down makes perfect sense to me. So long as they don't do those for years and years, who cares? Anime and video game fandoms tend to be mostly teenagers; a certain amount of tackiness is to be expected. Going NO MARY SUES EVER isn't going to teach people how to write; it's just going to discourage people from trying.

---

Kai, why do you keep writing an OC that you immediately shove in the fridge? :( It kind of sucks that you keep introducing this female character who could be interesting if you bothered and then killing her off to give the protagonist manpain! Or, well, I assume the protagonist is male; you said 'protagonist's crush' and I've never seen this setup used with lesbians, because it doesn't usually happen in stories where women are ever relevant.

This is relevant.

---

The thing with DM pets is that they tend to piss off everyone else playing. That's not remotely relevant to non-collaborative writing. If all problems get solved by one particular character in the cast, that's tacky because the rest of the cast is superfluous, but it's not rude to other people. It's just tacky and poor writing. Doing that sort of thing while roleplaying or cowriting is rude to other people investing their energy in it.

Well, when I started writing at around ~10 or so, I never had a self insert. In fact, my main character was female. And they weren't overpowered at all. So I don't see why people who start writing at around 13 or something would need the overpowered OCs to start their writing career.

Congratulations; that is you! Some people take longer to understand what is or is not interesting to read. Yelling at them about it by going DON'T WRITE MARY SUES OR SELF INSERTS isn't going to help anything! It is mostly something to let them get bored of.

Power fantasies aren't just about being ... well, typical shounen protags. There's also the characters who always know the perfect comeback, or who get the Best Significant Other, or ....

Viki said:

Congratulations; that is you! Some people take longer to understand what is or is not interesting to read. Yelling at them about it by going DON'T WRITE MARY SUES OR SELF INSERTS isn't going to help anything! It is mostly something to let them get bored of.

Power fantasies aren't just about being ... well, typical shounen protags. There's also the characters who always know the perfect comeback, or who get the Best Significant Other, or ....

Click to expand...

I didn't yell at anyone. And actually, it likely is going to help, if you don't go about it in away which makes them lose their confidence in writing.

I also didn't say they have to be typical shounen protags either. In fact, a large amount of ones I encountered were the romantic partners of certain canon characters.

yiran said:

I didn't yell at anyone. And actually, it likely is going to help, if you don't go about it in away which makes them lose their confidence in writing.

Click to expand...

It definitely seemed to me like you were saying "I STARTED WRITING YOUNGER THAN MOST OF YOU AND I DID IT RIGHT" And no, yelling DON'T WRITE MARY SUES OR SELF INSERTS at people probably won't help regardless of how you're saying it. (at least add something constructive)

Folks of all ages start writing at different times with different characters; I started plotting fic at eight (which was the funniest shit ever in retrospect because I had a thing with getting characters possessed??? poor ash) which contained a self-insert. You happened to start writing later with a non-self-insert character.