let’s talk about canon.
more specifically, let’s talk about what is canon, what isn’t canon, what diverging from canon means and what using canon to inspire your character implies, and then let’s talk about original characters.
canon, as defined by the “urban dictionary” ( because let’s be honest here, the context we use certainly isn’t gonna be in the oxford edition ) states “canon” as “another word for official. used quite often in fan fiction to differentiate between the official storyline in which the fan fiction is based on.” which, although specifying fanfic, obviously applies in rp. it is the defining point between what actually occurs in the series, film, book or play's universe and what we, as the rper, write outside of it. for the sake of continuity, i’m just going to use television as a base example.
technically speaking, none of us write in canon. because that would mean we write for the show. the would mean that what we write, the audience watches on screen. that is not what we do. everything we write contradicts canon. it didn’t happen onscreen therefore it is not canon information. it is not official.
using that logic, the vast majority of us write divergent portrayals of a canon character. do you see where i’m going with this?
now, most people would consider diverging from canon a point in the character’s storyline where you disregard what occurs beyond and write your own version of events, or ignore those events completely. there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. diverging from canon doesn’t automatically change the values and attributes of your characters. an example: you write a villain. in canon, your villain dies at the end of the series. you diverge from this point, and your villain lives. this doesn’t change anything about your villain’s backstory, or your villain’s personality, or your villains motives.
in my opinion, there are three character classifications. canon compliant: abiding by the series’ timeline without deviating. canon divergent: following the series’ timeline to a point and then altering events to suit your portrayal. and canon inspired: using the characteristics and/or storyline of a character as a base to build your own version.
for those of you who are about to say that “canon inspired” characters are basically stealing. it’s not. clearly stating that you are writing a character inspired by another character in the series is not stealing. writing a character inspired by another character in the series and claiming it as your own, is. there is a difference.
original characters are trickier. on one hand, this is a character who’s entire history, their name and their personality; were all thought of, created and developed by an rper. these characters belong to them. but, at the same time, the odds of coming across an original character with a completely original concept are low. there’s almost nothing original nowadays. everything is inspired by something. assassins ? secret agents ? personifications ? criminals ? they’re everywhere. unless you blatantly copy and paste and repost headcanons, aesthetics, in character pieces re. threads or starters or memes or drabbles - your original character is almost guaranteed to be based off of or inspired by something else.
tl;dr: the point of this post is, no one is truly canon and you can do whatever you want with/to your character provided you’re not breaking the law re. gross things no one wants to see on the dash. cool? cool. feel free to reblog this. or don’t. you do you, boo.