OOC Canon

Sorry, have to rant about this...

A lot of people are complaining that OotP was OOC. Those people who are doing the complaining have largely been influenced by fandom and fanfiction and it should be explained to them that there is a difference. But, telling them that canon characters by definition cannot be OOC is an inherently false premise.

Now, I enjoyed book five. It wasn't perfect, but it was a good read. And I don't think anyone was OOC, per say, just that they all had OOC moments to further the plot along. But there is no rule saying that everything written by an author is automatically in character. If you've ever written an OC, you'll know how hard it is to keep them within their character boundaries (and if you've ever written a mary sue then you'll know how easy it is to keep them OOC). Published authors aren't imune to this - in fact, I'd say they get away with it more often than a fanfiction writer who is called on it.

Robert Jordan's a good example of this. He's a famous and popular fantasy author (for all that his novels get more annoying to read by the day), but he has a habit of letting his characters loose their personalities as soon as they fall in love or get a relationship. Mat lost nearly every aspect of his personality as soon as he met his future wife. The same thing happened with Perrin earlier in the books, and can anyone honestly say that Rand is even close to that boy we saw in the first book?

Or an example more people are familar with - Star Wars, or at least the prequels. Anakin and Padme's romance is so unrealistic and OOC it's painful to watch, especially on Padme's part. Lucas' dialogue is largely to blame. And I won't even belabor the OOCness that everyone else in the SW's universe seems to suffer to keep the plot going.

Now some would say that if the author is okay with the characterization, then they have to be in character, but it really all comes down to how the character was presented. The author may think they're still in character, but the character, as written to the reader, isn't. Writing isn't about hiding your book in a closet somewhere. Some people will notice OOCness no matter what, others wouldn't notice if the book smacked them upside the head, but any writer can stray OOC. There aren't any criteria's for what's OOC and isn't. Terry Pratchett's Vimes is so different at this point from his original appearance that he seems like a different character, but if you read through the books that feature him, you can see his character develop and change making the Vimes of the latest book just a logical extension of the Vimes of the previous books. Sometimes authors just forget to explain this character development. I remember having the feeling of OOCness on Paul Atreides part in Children of Dune simply because he was so different from his character in Dune and the explaination given for his change, while valid, felt underdeveloped.

OOCness happens everywhere. As fanfiction writers or readers, we're more sensitive to it than most, but claiming that an author cannot be writing OOC simply because they're published only works in an ideal world where authors aren't falible and human.

OOC Canon

Sorry, have to rant about this...

A lot of people are complaining that OotP was OOC. Those people who are doing the complaining have largely been influenced by fandom and fanfiction and it should be explained to them that there is a difference. But, telling them that canon characters by definition cannot be OOC is an inherently false premise.

Now, I enjoyed book five. It wasn't perfect, but it was a good read. And I don't think anyone was OOC, per say, just that they all had OOC moments to further the plot along. But there is no rule saying that everything written by an author is automatically in character. If you've ever written an OC, you'll know how hard it is to keep them within their character boundaries (and if you've ever written a mary sue then you'll know how easy it is to keep them OOC). Published authors aren't imune to this - in fact, I'd say they get away with it more often than a fanfiction writer who is called on it.

Robert Jordan's a good example of this. He's a famous and popular fantasy author (for all that his novels get more annoying to read by the day), but he has a habit of letting his characters loose their personalities as soon as they fall in love or get a relationship. Mat lost nearly every aspect of his personality as soon as he met his future wife. The same thing happened with Perrin earlier in the books, and can anyone honestly say that Rand is even close to that boy we saw in the first book?

Or an example more people are familar with - Star Wars, or at least the prequels. Anakin and Padme's romance is so unrealistic and OOC it's painful to watch, especially on Padme's part. Lucas' dialogue is largely to blame. And I won't even belabor the OOCness that everyone else in the SW's universe seems to suffer to keep the plot going.

Now some would say that if the author is okay with the characterization, then they have to be in character, but it really all comes down to how the character was presented. The author may think they're still in character, but the character, as written to the reader, isn't. Writing isn't about hiding your book in a closet somewhere. Some people will notice OOCness no matter what, others wouldn't notice if the book smacked them upside the head, but any writer can stray OOC. There aren't any criteria's for what's OOC and isn't. Terry Pratchett's Vimes is so different at this point from his original appearance that he seems like a different character, but if you read through the books that feature him, you can see his character develop and change making the Vimes of the latest book just a logical extension of the Vimes of the previous books. Sometimes authors just forget to explain this character development. I remember having the feeling of OOCness on Paul Atreides part in Children of Dune simply because he was so different from his character in Dune and the explaination given for his change, while valid, felt underdeveloped.

OOCness happens everywhere. As fanfiction writers or readers, we're more sensitive to it than most, but claiming that an author cannot be writing OOC simply because they're published only works in an ideal world where authors aren't falible and human.