Fannish 50 - On Building Out Characters

[cmk418]

One of my favorite things to do, particularly in HBO's OZ fandom is to take a minor or barely seen character from the ensemble series and flesh them out. Take the details found in canon and then create a backstory from those details. I did this to great extent in my (still unfinished) fic series "Great Risks", where I took Dino Ortolani, a character featured in just the pilot, in which he's the star, until he *spoiler alert* gets killed at the end of the episode, and envisioned a whole backstory connecting him to Ryan O'Reily. There are also the families and significant others of the characters who can interact in therapy sessions, regular visitation, or conjugal visits. And don't get me started on the staff who are never seen outside the prison walls (yet I have a very vivid image of Sean Murphy's place in my mind.)

I think it's one of the gifts that we have as fanfic writers that we can breathe life into characters who might have been a throwaway line or passing through in just a couple of scenes. It brings more to the table and even have people looking at a character or a relationship in a new way.

All this to say, I wrote a thing for the Public Works Bingo - By Proxy - which involves Mavis Woodson (aka Jefferson Keane's bride). Check it out.

Comments

[cornerofmadness]

That is an interesting take, really

[9cbffs]

A Dino Ortolani backstory fic sounds very interesting, I've often wondered about his history with Ryan. Also, I totally agree, this is one of my favorite aspects of fanfic writing too :) fleshing out one-off / background characters and creating extensive lore within a canon universe is a wonderful midpoint between fannish and original creation.