What is your opinion on someone writing a fan fiction of...

[Mister Goober]

...of an Original Character (OC) in which he is some kind of decorated scientist from Esthar who visits Balamb Garden post-Ultimecia fight and teaches the science of weight training for combat enhancement and improving physical strength?

I've been in like four college semesters so far so I definitely have a strong feel for how a college setting truly feels like. There's no reason I can't emulate that in a Final Fantasy 8 story and setting... Maybe my OC's purpose is to show the world that junctioning magic is only truly powerful if a person's base physical abilities are actually very good. So a dude who can deadlift 500-pounds is a far more powerful fighter (same magic junctions installed within him) than the same guy who can only do 300 even with similar magic junctions and GF.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Miko]

I haven't read or written a fan fiction in a long, long time. However, my own individual opinion & preference is that if you're writing in new characters into a story with already established characters, you have to do it carefully. I never liked fan fictions where the new OC is the main character of a story, unless they are perhaps the antagonist of your story.

I don't quite understand the plot of your story, though I don't think I would necessary oppose having a character as you described in a fic so long as it seemed to fit well enough into the FFVIII universe. I don't know what your conflict for the story would be though, and with my own personal preferences I'm not sure I would read a story solely focused on a character teaching the science of weight training & combat enhancement. I think it's entirely possible to decorate a character as such, though to have a plot line solely focused on that topic is a niche subject that wouldn't reach many people. I do think that really taking into consideration the lore of the game and applying it craftily in a story line is very interesting though, as it helps you stay truer to the game and seems more authentic I suppose.

That's just my own personal opinion though. I think if you want to write about the above then you should write about the above, regardless of the feedback you get. I haven't written fan fiction in a long time (aside from the fun little events we run here during Birthweek & Christmas) but it used to help give me a creative outlet in the past that I found very therapeutic. Sometimes people write for themselves, and that's more than perfectly okay. If you find another personal who shares a similar interest, then all the better.

Good luck & happy writing!

 

[Dionysos]

In my opinion any fan fiction is worth pursuing if you have an idea that you are passionate about and would like to give it a go. If it will give you pleasure, why not do it?

There are never any guarantees that it will find the audience you hope for. That's the sad risk of it. I've written short fan fiction stories on this site and also for KupoCon events. Sometimes the ideas land. Sometimes they don't. And sometimes they really don't. I rarely win any fan fiction events on this site (although I did win a prize for a KupoCon one I wrote about FFVIII's Brothers ), but I enjoy writing and always like challenging myself with creative writing. When I was a child, being a storywriter was the very first thing I ever wanted to be (if you ignore 'hero' as a serious occupation), and although I lost confidence in that idea very early on it brings me joy today as an adult to give it a go every now and then.

If you enjoy writing too, why not give any idea you have a go?

Ultimately you should write what comes from your heart. If I was to give any advice about your idea and what might turn some readers off, it would be to try and avoid this character being too much of a self-insert character. Now, that doesn't need to mean that a character can not share traits in common with the real life you, but perhaps avoid making it obvious. Maybe some experiences can be shared, but if you can avoid thinking that you are writing yourself into the plot then the reader might be able to connect with the character more easily. If it can feel organic to the world that you are writing for (say, you are writing that character to fit the established world and not reshaping the world to fit the character) then more people might buy into the idea. And perhaps avoid shipping the character with the main cast from the original game. In fact, I think the story might land better if the story gave more space to other SeeD members and Garden staff, etc, than the main cast. The main cast's presence somewhere could be guaranteed by their importance in the world of FFVIII after saving the world, but if they are brought in just to praise your original character then that can be a red flag for some readers.

However, not always. It really does depend on how it is written. For example, I can imagine that Zell would have something to say about this original character's exercise routines.

Good luck with your story if you decide to pursue it! And you'd be welcome to share it with us if you do!