50 Questions for OC Makers

24 Jan, 2026

OC Questionnaire from tofutush

1. A little self-introduction!

Hi i'm nullmi or Naomi/Nomy if you want a real name.

2. How long have you been making OCs?

A pretty long time. The first OC I made was in 3rd grade. A self-insert Naruto character named Nachiro. "Na", from the first syllable of my name, and "chiro" coming from "Chihiro" from Spirited Away.

3. Who was your first OC ever? (If you don't remember, answer for the earliest that you do remember.) Are they still in use? Did they go through any iterations?

The self-insert OC aside, my first proper OC was made during my flipnote hatena days.

Here's their flipnote animation. They might have been based on the various shoujo manga I was reading at the time. I guess they're vaguely OCs. They don't have names, and are fairly generic looking...

In that regard, then technically my first real set of OCs would be these fantrolls.

4. Who is your favorite OC, currently?

Sena and Ray

They have a dynamic that's fun to write.

5. Who is your newest OC as of right now?

Some modern day OCs. They're pretty banal, so I don't really have the need to post art of them online.

6. How many OCs do you have? If you have multiple, then do you have blatant favoritism?

I have a lot. I usually make a new set of them if I have a new story idea.

7. Do you create OCs with other people, or is it mostly solitary?

Solitary. I do not like co-writing at all. I enjoy having full control of my characters and stories.

8. Do you create your OCs for specific story(s)? What are the genre and common themes featured in your story(s)?

Yes, I'll have a plot idea and make a character based off that. A lot of my stories are family-oriented.

9. Are your OCs from a fandom?

Most of them are. Their origins can be traced back to the Homestuck, Disgaea, & 2P Hetalia fandoms.

10. Do your OCs live in their own universe(s)? How different is their world from ours? (If you have fandom OCs you can still answer this with the world of the franchise!)

Most live in one big OC universe. It's a lot easier for me since I like to dive into world building more often than not.

11. If you got isekai'ed into your OCs' universe (if there are multiple, pick some of the most notable), how long would you survive?

I'd probaly fit in. Find a job as a graphic designer making hotel advertisements or something. Or maybe I'd be making propaganda for a corporate entity. Business as usual.

12. Do most your OCs belong to a (set of) species?

I really liked the world building for Homestuck and Disgaea, which has a lot of co-species, co-worlds colliding. Humans and aliens or demons and angels, I can't help but be drawn to these concepts. Plus, I think the co-species interactions are fun and intriguing.

13. Do you draw pictures of your OCs? If so, what kind of pictures do you draw?

Yes, I draw them a lot. I usually make really silly slice-of-life panels of them when I'm waiting on something at work.

14. Do you enjoy drawing new reference sheets?

Yeah, it's a fun process for me.

15. Do you write about your OCs? If so, what sort of text do you write?

I've experimented. I've written them out in prose, television-like scripts and comic scripts.

My favorite medium is through television episode scripts, akin to Star Trek, Pushing Daisies or any typical TV show from the early 2000's that has a somewhat zany cast.

Like: A plot features Character 1 attempting to figure out where their suspicious neighbor disappears off to in the middle of the night. They suspect foul play, or mafia, or illegal happenings, etc. They take it upon themselves to fully investigate the matter until the case is solved.

B plot is Character 1's roommates, Character 2 & Character 3, whose pies have been going missing before their weekly school bake sale. They suspect Character 1. Character 1 is completely unaware of this assessment.

insert whimsical investigation sequences here.

Then, the A plot & B plot which started out diverged, finally start coinciding with the conclusion being: Character 2 has been stealing all the pies behind Character 3's back. Then, in the middle of the night, proceeded to sell these pies to the neighbor. A neighbor, upon being caught and interrogated, confessed that wife has started dieting for the new year, but he can't help but stuff his face full of pies. End story.

It's a story telling structure I've gotten really cozy with, but I'm not sure how I'd translate the format into my dream OC project.

16. Aside from drawing and writing, is there anything else you're doing for your OCs? Like… making a website, perhaps?

I'm making a private obsidian directory that links all their art + stories, etc. Having a website for them is fun, but I scrape and redo their stories quite often. It's kind of tedious to always update their pages when my story telling process is so chaotic.

17. What's your general process in making new OCs?

In the past, I just made an OC based on what I think is cool. These days, I make an OC when I think I have a solid story concept.

18. Relatedly, which comes first for you, the OC or the story setting?

The story setting and the theme.

In my fandom days, I was really open to writing very light fluff fiction. The main focus tended to be character interactions. I took memes and redrew fandom characters for clout.

I wasn't really happy doing any of that, but I got a lot of attention. It felt shallow.

Some of my recent favorite pieces of work are the following:

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
Psycholonials by Andrew Hussie

They all have a central theme to explore, a message that the author wants you to see and uses characters and story telling as a medium to convey it.

The interactions are complicated, difficult to parse and sometimes needs to be elaborated on in several chapters thereafter. This type of storytelling is difficult to replicate in a viral comic or text post. You'd have to understand the context of the character, the intent of the interaction and the themes in which all of this ties together.

I want that. I want that kind of writing, that kind of uncomfortable but authentic sincerity.

It's not easy, but it's something I'd like to emulate with my own writing and characters.

19. Relatedly, how do you name your OCs?

I try not to use common names. I sometimes share my OCs with my siblings and when it happens it usually goes like this:

Me: This is Bryce.
Sister: Uh, I had a student with that name... Was a little shithead.
Me: This is Raymon.
Sister2: Like the cat from Animal Crossing?

It's just easier when they have uncommon names, so people you show your work to don't get that kind of irrelevant correlation.

For last names, I look at local public company newsletters or the local newspaper since my OC world is heavily based on the island I grew up on.

20. Relatedly, do your OCs gain a life of their own during the creation process?

A little bit.

21. Relatedly, do you focus more on the design of the OC, or their personality? Or is it an even blend, or something else?

Hmm, I mostly focus on the personality and design from there.

22. Do you assign your OCs birthdays? Is their calendar different from ours?

I gave them birthdays, but I tend to forget. The calendar they have is different, but I'm not planning to delve too much into the differences since they don't really matter in the grand scheme of the story.

23. Do you keep track of OC creation dates? Do you consider the creation date to be their birthdays?

No. Sometimes I just write a story, or draw a character. Then, I keep adding onto the story, or keep drawing the character. That's when they become an OC.

24. How do you handle OC ages? Do they age up with you, stay static, or grow within the universe?

They generally age with me. Some Ocs started out as 20 year olds but I'm almost 30 and I don't think I relate to people in their early 20's anymore.

25. Are there any rules you set for yourself when making OCs? How often do you break these self-imposed rules?

Hmm, I don't really have rules for OC creation. I just try to ensure that they don't become too unrealistic. Bad writing is often when you point to a character and scream, "Are they an alien? Why is every conversation so stilted, so strange? A human wouldn't act like this."

26. What are things you enjoy the most in OCs?

I love characters who have Special Magic Eyes

Will absolutely eat that trope up.

27. Conversely, what are your pet peeves about OCs?

I think that the pressure people face to make POC OCs is seriously the worst thing. Like, speaking as a brown skin Filipino living on a colonized island, let me give it to you all straight, I don't give a fuck if all your OCs are white. I'd rather have that, because at least you'd have something you really believe in and something that would be worth exploring. The version of islanders and POC people make up in their head are nothing but fantasy caricatures.

My OCs are the way they are because they're based on my experiences growing up on Guam, visiting the Philippines and interacting with real people.

Sometimes I get this sense of other-worldliness when I see people make islander OCs. It's so jarring it gives me the shudders. Like, you guys are designing clowns at a circus, meant to be ogled and paraded by visitors and tourists. They're spectacles and props on the stages of your insipid design, rotating in a cursed closed space for your own amusement and clout.

You love us? You love islanders and people of color?

Puh-lease.

Have some self-awareness and introspection.

There's no humanity in those characters. They are just lifeless and husk-less. And the attempt to be the paragon of inclusion is an unrealistic ideal when you ignore the voices of actual POC.

Don't fearmonger yourself into creating an OC just to try to show that you aren't "One of the bad ones."

Read books from Oceania. Read comics, and articles and follow the happenings in the Pacific as closely as you follow the media news cycle of the people who hate us.

I'd rather have people make OCs that represents what they are, what they care for, and what they believe in, than a shallow representation of what they think POC need.

28. What's the most common trope you fall into when making OCs and their stories? Do you even like these tropes?

Over explaining character intent. In real life, you just say stuff you don't mean sometimes. You just do things that don't make sense with no explanation.

29. Conversely, do you have any trope you like but doesn't get to use it much in your OCs?

Redemption arcs. I wish all of us could write like we're in a Steven Universe episode, but unfortunately some OCs just stay evil.

30. Tell me the weirdest and wackiest piece of out-of-context OC lore you have.

Atan Båba.

31. Tell me the saddest and most tearjerking piece of OC lore you have, with context if needed.

What if it was your mom who was emotionally unavailable.

32. Tell me the scariest and freakiest piece of OC lore you have, with context if needed.

Friedrich Nietzsche.

33. Tell me the sweetest and most wholesome piece of OC lore you have, with context if needed.

Found family?

34. Tell me one meta thing about your OC lore. Like scrapped / revamped stuff?

Bryce, Psyche, Aurita, Amber Claire, Alma Flora were all meant to be antagonists in a "Elite Four + Champion" way.

35. How do you think your OCs think of you? Are you their parent, their creation god, their suffering-bringer…

Probably a bit like how andrew hussie is depicted in their comic.

"Ugh who is this fast-talking otaku..."

36. How much TRAUMA do you give your OCs!!

A considerable amount.

37. Do you have a Mary Sue? Bonus points if they're your self-insert!

Maybe. I try to make sure everybody stays humble. But if I had to pick, Ixora?

38. Do you have a self-insert then? What role(s) do they play?

Yes. But they're not significant.

39. What are your biggest influences when it comes to OC or worldbuilding? Could be media, other people's OCs, anything.

First and foremost, Neil Gaiman has done some heinous things and honestly, lets all look for better works of fantasy fiction.

But, sigh, I really liked American Gods, The Graveyard Book, Good Omens and Stardust. American Gods in particular influenced how I like to write "higher powers." The touch of humanity, even amongst gods, impressed high school me so much. I even had fan gods for the universe.

I read a lot of C.S. Lewis's books when I was younger. They had my parents' "born again Christian" seal of approval since C.S. Lewis was a well known Protestant. I particularly liked "The Magician's Nephew." However, my favorite book is "Till We Have Faces." It's a slow-burn introspective retelling of "Cupid and Psyche" of Greek Mythology.

It stemmed from C.S. Lewis's frustration with the characters of the original story and their flawed logic, which is very relatable. I too have been burdened by the illogical choices of book characters and have been plagued to write my own interpretation / correction.

Till We Have Faces is not a feel good read, and is really frustrating. It also won't be everyone's favorite book, but it is mine.

I'm also influenced by Haruki Murakami's short stories, especially the really banal ones but you can just figure by the passages that the main character

I also really liked Disgaea's world building and character interactions. Dialogue is quick and snappy, and angst is well-paced despite the chatty and character centric format.

My main comic inspirations are Keroro Gunso, The Pokemon Special manga, xxxHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. There are big plotlines and events, but in between tends to be smaller and zany slice-of-life aspects.

Finally, Homestuck. It was neat. It was different. I'll admit, it consumed my life.

40. Are you happy with these influences, or would you like to break away more?

I'm not sure. It's stuff that I love, but some creators and fandom are now explicitly tied to controversy.

41. Do you try to break out of your comfort zone when coming up with new OCs and stories?

Yes. I don't want to write a slowburn coffeeshop 200 chapter story here.

42. How do you organize / categorize your OCs, if at all?

Usually by world > story group > importance.

43. Do you have any advice you would like to give to new OC creators?

Dont make fandom OCs because you'll spend years trying to rework the fandom aspect of the character.

If you make a character from a different background than yours, for goodness sake keep them human. Keep in mind common racial stereotypes and avoid them.

44. What are some boundaries you think people should have regarding other people's OCs (or things to take notice of if you create together)?

Don't turn someone's OC into your comfort character.

45. How often do you think about your OCs, expressed as a percentage of your waking time?

60%?

I have the ability to see movies in my head so i just play out OC scenes like they're an episode rerun of my favorite show.

46. What impacts do you think your OCs had on your life?

OCs become my way to vent out my inner feelings and frustrations. I have quite a lot of life baggage but having a little guy in my head fixes all of that.

47. Do you want to become POPULAR? If you are already popular, what's the secret ingredient?? :eyes: :eyes:

I am not. It's not something I'm trying to achieve, because the end goal of popularity is to be [via the lens of American beliefs] successful in life and your career.

I already have a job I like so there isn't a motive for me to climb the ladder.

48. Are there any songs you think describe an OC or a story perfectly?

Black Hole Fantasy by The Crane Wives
Not exactly a perfect fit for an OC's story, but suits them thematically.

49. Might you have a paracosm? Look it up!

I don't think the concept of a paracosm applies to me, since it seems like that's more of a defined and constructed world.

However, I get bored a lot when I'm going about my day so I often daydream.

50. Finally, do you still recognize the word "OC" after seeing it so much?

Yup. I am tired though.