Krystal's guide for making a good fan chare
I'm sure you all have heard this. "Your OC sucks! You have no creativity! Get a life!" While these things may be hurtful, in some cases they may be true. In order to have a good fan chare, it is a good idea to follow these basic guidelines
1) Species
2) Name
3) Basic design
4) Advanced design
5) Story/background
6) Others

1) species
When you decide to make a fan character, one must first decide what kind of animal, robot, or hybrid it should be. If you are going to use an overused species (like hedgehogs and foxes and cats) it is a good idea to make them as original looking as possible. Avoid making a deep blue hedgehog with Shadow's quills or giving tails more tails. Try to create variety amongst your character (unless they are a relative which will be discussed later)Pick a unique color or make them multi-toned. Give them a neat hairdo, whether it be punk, classy, preppy, or upbeat. Its your fan chare, its your choice. If you want to be more complex and proffesional like, choose a species not commonly used or make a hybrid (like a hedgynx or a Echidat) avoid raunchy names that just sound bad when combining a species, or simply call them a hybrid like Nugget (whom has 6 different animals in him. Picking a species name would be a pain)Or go exotic with a mythical creature (dragon, unicorn, ect) Don't pick a species if you cannot make it unique. Just like Sonic does not look like a hedgehog, in choosing a species, yours should have creativity.
2)Name
In naming your character, be creative. Base your name on their color, what they specialize in, and their personality. Don't make it too cheesy and cheap though (like Punches the echidna or Speed the hedgehog. But hey, if the name works, I'm not saying don't go with that =p) Also, it is a good idea to avoid human names. They normally just seem too big of shoes to fill. Stick to creative names that are not overused, like Trist (Krystal's dad) or Dew (her brother)
3)Basic design
This basically means that how creatively you make your base and how it will look with more complex details. How well you make your base can determine if you have a good fan chare or not
4)Advanced design
Ok, so you have picked a species, fur color, chest pattern, muzzle type, and basic hair type and any markings they may have. Remeber, details can make or breal your character. Not enough can make them boring and bland. Too many can make them gaudy and unpleasant to the eye. Keep the accessories to about no more then 5. Arm bands, glasses, belts, piercings, wings, clothes, and tatoos are the most common form of accessories. Just don't overdue it, and I'm sre it will be ok ;)
5) Story/background
It just pains me when others flame people because they made a character who is related to the official cast or who has a fan couple with them. There is NOTHING wrong with these, but here are some guidelines to follow:
If your character is related, make sure to give a good reason why your character was never mentioned by the official one (and don't do the lost sister or lost brother thing, that is the easy way out) A good reason would be "I never talk to Trixie because what she did to our family was inexcuseable and I refuse to talk to or about her"
If your character is the child of two official/fan chare oficial, avoid making it a sudden birth. None of the main cast is ready to be a parent other then Vanilla, Vector, Shadow, and Eggman. Try to make it a reasonable time (i.e. don't make Amy have a baby until she is at least 18-20 years of age)
Also, when choosing a power for your character, avoid making them more powerful then the original ones. No one is faster then Sonic and Shadow. No one is smarter then Tails and Eggman. Other wise they would have been mentioned before. Don't make your character in the limelight all the time if official characters are involved. If it is a story purely of fan chares, that's fine. Only give them 3 powers or less. A good solid character needs to have weaknesses. If you give them a superform, don't give them too much power and make them have a limit.
-_- I am tired of people saying you should avoid making your character gay/lesbian/bisexual. Wanna know why it is ok? (well for one Krystal and Flea are bi) there are MILLIONS of animals in the Sonicverse. At least a few have got to be gay/lesbian/bi. That's how it works. But please, don't make an official character change orintation to be with yours. Sega would have stated by now if anyone was that way.
Make your setting reasonable. It should take place on Earth or Mobius where they have stated that events took place
6) other
In general, be creative, give them weaknesses, powers, a good personality, and creativity, but most improtanly: USE YOUR IMAGNIATION. Don't use what someone else has done.
Any comments, questions, or suggestions? Feel free to stop by and tell me
Luvvies for chu ~.^
~Krystal the lynx