AdminRec: The OC Is Not A TV Show

Ava Sinclair/Avalonia
Evening Falls - Rated T
AU/Adventure Drama/OC
14 Chapters, 176,391 Words 12/24/08 - WIP
[ FFN ] [ Twilighted ]

Elisa was once an everyday Twilight fangirl, but now, inexplicably, she's become a part of Edward and Bella's world. Her struggle to fit into her new life, however, may become a fight to survive that neither she nor Bella may win...

I have just one fundamental question to ask about the OC (original character) in the Twilight Fandom: why is it that only when the prescriptive labels of Bella or Edward are used, we are more accepting of a character that is just virtually an OC? Calling something out of character means that it’s NOT THE ORIGINAL CHARACTER! But for some reason, we need that comfort of familiarity to embrace a story and to spam it with love. Us humans and our little persnickety penchants.

I notice there is one trend that seems predominant when we see that OC (aka OOC in AU-Human in my opinion) in a Canon/AU piece. The tendency to speculate that it must mean Mary Sue/Marty Stu is rampant and many run screaming for the cover of our Fandom Hills clutching to canon names like they are the second coming.

For shame!

Why? Because we assume someone can’t add another dimension to a story many find faultless (I am not one of those people.) Here we are in the midst of a serious talent and yet, we pass it by because of something that takes such liberties as using a different name? When I see a piece of work that not only stays true to the canon of any fandom, but then has the absolute audacity to include their own OC to mix up the established order of things, I am completely awed with the skill of the FanFic Author.

And it’s all because of Elisa and her creator, Avalonia/Ava Sinclair.

Any of you Twilighted old-schoolers will most likely recognize the story Evening Falls by the banner if not by name. It’s the banner with that cute little blonde chick from Gossip Girl and it’s attached to a fic about a girl who was most definitely not in the original Twilight Saga. Elisa is a fully developed and brilliantly actualized original character who is assimilated authentically into the story of our beloved Cullens.

Her journey actually begins in the first installment of a three-part series Avalonia has planned. The first completed fic, Extraordinary, introduces us to Elisa, an average Twilight enthusiast. You don’t have to read Extraordinary to follow Evening Falls, but it’s your loss if you decide to skip it. You’ll miss out on what makes Elisa so fantastic.

Her simplicity.

She is a parable for every girl: you, me, our sisters, and friends. She is a tween whose life doesn’t quite make sense and whose parents just don’t understand. She is slightly self- serving in her rationalizations without being petulant like most giirls that age, but as she experiences loss, we see her mature.

As Evening Falls begins, we see an Elisa who is a bit more wise, but still retains the little quirks that make her endearing, such as her love of books and her precocious snark. She has learned how to accommodate the needs of being a daughter, friend, and sister, but without compromising herself.

"And without thinking, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Harry kissed her..."

"It's about time, Harry." I muttered, turning the page as I shifted to a more comfortable position in the dining room chair. "She's only been waiting on you to get a clue for five years..."

At the start of the story, she is no longer in the Twilight universe, but circumstances of life are about to change that – permanently. A wrong place, wrong time situation occurs and she is transported back to Forks and to the home of the Cullens’ amidst the planning of Edward and Bella’s wedding. With true human perseverance she forges ahead to make the most of herself, including doing everything possible to help Bella and Edward’s reach their HEA.

What’s so subtle about Evening Falls is the relationships Elisa forges with all of the other Cullens. Rosalie becomes so much more than Mommy Dearest and Emmett is the big brother he was always alluded to be. Alice is wonderful as per usual, but it’s Jasper who is the glitch in Elisa’s new family. That’s right, he kinda doesn’t want her there. His motivations are just being revealed and I have no intention of spoiling it for you.

Elisa blends so seamlessly into the story that I swear she has always been there. With each step of her journey, we are introduced to even more original characters which are each pleasant surprises in and of themselves. In addition to the new faces, the canon character stories are not lost. No worries. We still have hefty doses of Edward and Bella for all of you purists.

But in the end, for me, it’s Elisa’s voice that completely captures the reader’s attention and makes everything else white noise. The following passage is one of my favorites in all of fandom. It’s directly after the La Push wolves are demanding Elisa come live with them, but she declines. This is only taken well, depending on where one is standing in the argument, because she has no intention of going vamp unlike our determined Bella. The family is curious about her reasons, because why would anyone not want to be sparkly and immortal?

"OK, well, I want to finish school, of course, and go to college. I don't really know what I want to be yet. I used to want to be a dancer, or an actress, and I still kind of do, but now I think maybe I want to do something that isn't just about me. Something that helps people, but I haven't figured out what that is yet. And sometime between...I don't know, seventeen and twenty-one, I guess, I plan on finding the love of my life. Around twenty-five, I'll get married, and I'm going to have kids. I think I'd like a lot...like maybe four or five. It was just me and my brother growing up and I love him, but we never had much in common, plus he and my dad were totally bonded. I used to feel like I didn't belong. It was hard sometimes, never really fitting in. I always thought if I had more brothers and sisters there would be someone that could be more than a sibling...that could be my friend, and that's what I want for my children.'

'So anyway, I'll raise my kids, and have a career, and shop a lot, and be kind of vain all through my thirties and forties. You know what I mean...I'll color my hair, do a little Botox, and lie about my age. Then, somewhere about fifty, I'm just going to let it all slide, go gray, gain about forty pounds, because I think it's important to be huggable when you're a grandma, and bake cookies all day. And I'll retire, and spoil my grandkids until my children get mad at me and travel the world with my husband until I die peacefully in my sleep. So that's it...that's the big plan. Go ahead and laugh." I folded my arms defiantly.

I swear I said the same exact thing when I was her age. Granted, it didn’t work out that way, but the thought is nice and the thing is, Elisa is more the girl next door than Bella ever was. She has dreams and goals, and a little thing like relocating to an alternate universe is no reason to stop her. She is the anti-emo in a fandom so inundated with the tragic, angsty heroine. She is at the very least refreshing, needed to remind us all that it doesn’t have to be dark and dank to be good.

I love her dearly not only because through her, I met a friend, but because I see so much of the burgeoning female in her that it makes me nostalgic at every turn. This is SOLID story-telling. So many of the things that have endeared us to the canon are mixed with the refreshing voice of this lovely girl, that I can’t help being sucked into the purity of this story. So join me and my eighties-hair sized grin the next time Avalonia updates. You won’t be disappointed.

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Smellyia is the administrator for this blog and is still emo over the end of BSG one week later. She has been told lately that she rants in her sleep, but always tops it off with a resounding and definitive "So Say We All!"

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