Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24573226-20160623204034/@comment-27447621-20160827034309

Arrias99 wrote: I will have some characters appear to help Naranja and Ruby out such as Nora and Ren and when the exams are said and done, the whole cast will make a major appearance.

I scroll through a multitude of forums regarding writing RWBY fanfiction and they say in order to make a story worth reading, my character should be alone.

So whose guidelines should I follow, theirs or yours?! No need to get testy. I think your story should be your own, but there's nothing wrong with asking for other ideas. I think solo-OC and Group-OCs both have their pluses and minuses.

With solo OC, you can do less work in describing and crafting characters and work more on the story, but, if not done carefully it can sound like self-insertion, wish fulfillment, and a whole host of other nasties. You also have to predict a lot more about how a character may react because your situations are yours alone but the preestablished characters have a set personality. If for example, Blake turned into a mushy motormouth, there would be issues.

With a group, you can create your own character in your own timeline however you want it to be crafted, but you have to be careful not to over- or under-explain your characters while also progressing the story. You control every reaction and choice made and no one can say "they wouldn't do it like that", but you're working with an audience that needs the charater to be laid out a bit more than a solo OC, because you're usually dealing with a team of four.

If done skillfully, Solo or groups can work. I prefer group-OC stories, but to each their own. Does that make any sense?