cybermathwitch | (no subject)

Advice on MarySues - as in, avoiding them.

I have this idea for a Supernatural fic. It involves an original character (who has started talking to me and won't shut up! Cause I need that during NaNo, right...) who is female. It's going to eventually be OT3 (cause I found a fic using a character that was in an ep of the show that worked on that principle, and while I can't quite get into Wincest (I'm trying, but nothing I've read so far has really worked for me) I can *totally* see them w/ the same girl at the same time.

ANYWAY, I want to write this. I know that no matter what I do, someone, somewhere, will decide that since it's an OFC it's a Mary Sue, but I want to minimize that reaction. I don't want her to be that kind of a character, I want her to be "real". Have any of you lovely people written fics w/ OFCs? (Or OMCs, for that matter?) Or read fics you really like with original chars in them that work? How do you think one should go about making a character *not* be the dreaded Mary Sue?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a fine line, writing an OC that's not a Mary Sue.

You have to be careful how and why you bring them into the story and what abilities they have.

For example, in the Buffyverse, we refer to Mary Sues sometimes as being MSTS, or More Scooby Than Scooby. They're better at research than Giles, better at magic than Willow, etc. Or they're more badass than Faith or something like that. Sometimes people want to bring in new Slayers. Those can easily become Mary Sues. It's a fine line to walk.

Other things you want to watch out for come in physical descriptions. raven-black tresses that fall to her waist, any type of unusually colored eyes and, for some reason, an excellent singing voice, are all hallmark traits of the Mary Sue.

Here's a link: link to a helpful site. Take the test. If you score too high, revamp and test again.

Good luck from the ML who is probably not going to reach 50k.

i've written several OFC stories in spn (collected under my 'cinnamon' tag) as have many other people. there isn't much of a stigma attached to it in this fandom. in fact, something currently en vogue is

fecundfic, which name i think speaks for itself.

as to the writing advice part of it, just be honest. that's the best thing anybody can do. i wrote a long four-part story in Lotrips that i was sure would get me flamed to hell for being a marysue, but people loved it, and i truly think it was because the creation of it came from an honest place.

second that. I think i meant to say something similar lol.

Oy, I uhm, have actually written a bunch of stuff with OC's but I dun't think I ever posted any of it.

No wait, I did, back when I did like 3 or 4 thingies in the Pretender fandom (dunno if it is posted anywhere) and hm, I think there's a mary sue-ish character somewhere in one of the things I wrote (not pretender). But then again, never posted :)

And since today, while doing laundry I played around in the writing pond (never ever going to be anything i fear) I think I can ponder on your question a bit. Mind you, I wrote when I was in high school and it wasn't good at all :) I think the best way to go about avoiding mary sue's is uhm. Make them appear like a normal person?

Actually I'm curious to know how to avoid it too. and i think it also depends a bit on the fandom you're writing in?

One important thing to remember is to make the character real. As you know, my fic experience is Potter-related. Well, nobody in that 'verse is all great and powerful. Harry has anger issues, Neville doesn't believe in himself, Hermione is a know-it-all, Ron can't live up to his brothers, Snape is cold-hearted, etc. etc. When a character comes into a fic who is good at everything, powerful, strong, handsome, sexy, funny, confident, humble, sweet, likeable, etc., it falls into the "too good to be true" category and is usually labeled a Mary Sue (or Gary Stu).

I have written (along with Faraday) some OCs that to my knowledge have never been given such a label. Of course, one was an 11 year old girl, one was a very old woman, so they didn't fit the typical "perfect love interest that's better than all the other characters combined" idea. There was, however, a very handsome and talented man in PSL, and the main thing we did with him that I think worked was that a) he had some issues and some insecurities (but not too much) and b) he didn't end up with Draco in the end. He was more of a necessary stepping stone to help Draco get past his own issues.

Hope this helps some.