From your description, it really doesn't sound like he's an expy. According to the page, an expy is "unambiguously and deliberately based on a character in another, older series".
But all right, terminology aside, you are I gather worried that your character hews too closely to others.
But why? There have been many Expies and Captain Ersatzes over the years, and to my mind they seem fine enough.
Now, you speak of an attached stigma—my thought, then, is that if it's brought up to in answer point out the long and not-unregarded history of such things.
I think that you have the idea, as I see it: treat her as a person, with her own life and aims, and not just as a device for the purpose of another character's story-arc.
What's wrong with a MacGuffin plot? Especially if the main point of the story lies in the characters, rather than the external events.
My Games & Writing
hi! so i've worked on a crappy Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanfic for so many years now, and although this is more of a personal project i don't plan on sharing, i still want to make the best out of improving on my writing.
the first Dueteragonist is a Venturous Smuggler with a Deadpan Snarker streak, and is Not in This for Your Revolution. he was once an accomplished thief, but has given up on it. because of it, his biggest strengths lies in dungeon exploration and finding the weaknesses of other Pokemon. the other Dueteragonist is cheery, curious and wants to try new things, but is also lethally naive, as a result of living a sheltered life. she also is prone to hiding her own insecurities, and the moment they're exposed, she becomes more distant so that nobody has to see that side of her. together, they're a Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl duo.
Savvy Guy has strong similarities to characters like Han Solo and Falco Lombardi - the main difference is that my character isn't Only in It for the Money. he wants to break the monotony of his current life, after years of being a thief and serving jail time. and he doesn't travel through space either, i guess. for Savvy Guy, i'm worried about how much of him is too much of an Expy. there's a lot of negative connotations on expies, and i want to not make him too much of a Solo clone, or whatever. i written Savvy Guy without really considering similarities to real characters, and only realised now on how similar he is to specific ones. i don't want to make a total ripoff, but i don't want to start changing him now after years of writing him. how can i go about writing a character and not worrying too much about expies?
as far as Energetic Girl goes, i'm worried about running the risk of Manic Pixie Dream Girl. it was Savvy Guy that initially approached her, and they don't become a couple until the very end of the story. but some of their dynamic feels like could signal to that trope. i once read a previous thread on how to avoid writing MPDGs, and fleshing out Energetic Girl's backstory, goals and who she is as an individual are the best ways to avoid those traps. i feel like i've written those parts of her thoroughly at this point, but how else could i avoid MPDG?
finally, there's the plot - they both travel continents to collect Zygarde Cells, as a cataclysm could happen if they're not all collected in time, therefore destroying the ecosystem 'monitered' by Zygarde itself. Savvy Guy knows more than he lets on, as he knew what was causing these cells to escape around the continents. Energetic Girl knows nothing, but sees this as a chance to grow as a team - she wants to explore because she doesn't want to live in her homeplace forever. i'm worried if this will become too much of a MacGuffin plot, or that the cells are more of a plot device. ultimately, the story is more about personal discovery and growing up as an outcast. but as it is still a PMD story, i want to write good battle scenes, dungeon crawling, and give the characters better excuses to explore than simply "collect 5 cells, go to next dungeon, collect more". what could i do to avoid a MacGuffin plot?
i apologise if this is too much to read, i don't really expect that there's a lot to discuss here. but i'm still interested in asking
Edited by zero-gravity on Jul 2nd 2022 at 6:26:59 PM