30 Day Fandom Meme Day 8

[leethet]

Day 08 – Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they're not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs.
Yes. I’ve written male and female OCs, peripheral and important. Any female OC who is romantically involved with a canon guy is automatically a Sue to most people, but I try to make my OCs human, and only involve them in what’s necessary and realistic for their level of skill. My OCs are almost never beautiful to anyone except those who love them (like most people) and although they always have skills, they’re never superheroes. I do tend to make them articulate and sometimes too verbally clever, and that’s a definite flaw in my characterization. Not everyone is clever.

Comments

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

You just hit on the sore spot. my current MFU story is at stalemate for ages because I had the unbecoming idea to bring in too many OC, one of them, a sort of black superwoman, was getting more an more looking like a Mary sue (though I have strictly nothing in common with her, but still, she was functionning as one). I suppressed her and that suppressed my inspiration altogether.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

It can be hard. By definition you want to write about people who are exceptional in some ways. If they're ordinary in every way ... sorry, but that kind of person doesn't get involved in meaningful ways in adventures. It's valid to write about the everyday struggles of such a person, but that's not the kind of fiction I write (I'm not that subtle - I can read, and admire, such fiction, but when I write about ordinary people they are dull dull dull). So, you've got someone worthy of adventure - how do you avoid making them all too awesome, and still manage to have adventure-worthy? There're a few key things. They can not be the one who saves the day. They can not be admired uniformly by everyone. They must have human failings (easy to say but hard to do - it's all too easy to create superficial flaws because we like a character so much we don't want to make them assholes, even in small ways. I want to admire my lead characters; it's hard to make them, say, sexist or stupid because then I simply can't admire them any more). More importantly in terms of plot, they must not have abilities that are crucial to success. I mention this in another comment elsewhere - if a crucial plotpoint comes up and your heroine is wholly at a loss - wholly - she's not likely to end up a Mary Sue. Others must "win," even if she helps. And if she really screws up somewhere (substantively, not "oh, no big deal"), she's also unlikely to be a Sue. Any romantic involvement increases the changes that readers will see her as a sue, even if she isn't - I suspect that happened in my MFU story where the college girl provided some extremely minor assistance to the guys. It got almost no response, which, false modesty aside, rarely happens for my stories, and I suspect, because I described her as pretty and bright, she was seen as a Sue. But she was basically useless in the case (as any normal girl would be) and her crush on IK was unrequited. So it's hard to avoid irritating your reader if there's any romance with canon characters. It's probably easier when there's none.

If you wanted to be more specific about your black superwoman ;-) maybe I could help you pinpoint spots in the story where she could shine a little less brightly? (I won't be offended if you'd rather not)

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

I'd be only too glad to ask for your advice and help in this, if I didn't deem the character un-salvageable eventually (at least in this story, I think to save her for another one, if there is another one): I belatedly realized she had no proper place or role in it; she has a lot of qualities and talents, as many as flaws (she may be a real bitch sometimes, with strong reasons to be so) but all being considered, I've no use of them in the story (the heroic and astute act I've planned as an outcome has to be performed by...one of the villains!).

Actually, I was simply smitten with the gale because of the back story I had imagined for her and her sheer queerness. Another serious difficulty is I've no idea how an uneducated (but ambitious) black-Indian Seminole girl can speak and behave; she could have ended looking like a Jane Austen heroin!

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I belatedly realized she had no proper place or role in it;

This is key to preventing the self insert or the Mary Sue. Everyone does something - some things are big, somethings are small - but if someone's just there to look shiny, that someone's often a Sue (just as someone who's there to fix everything for everyone, toss off smart remarks, and save the day, is a Sue).

If you decide to use her elsewhere, you know how the internet is - I bet you can find some Seminole folks (at least descendants) who can guide you!

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I should clarify - when I say they must not have abilities that are crucial to success, I don't mean they should lack every necessary ability. Only that they cannot be the one who, you know, carries everyone to safety, has the medical knowledge to save their lives, happens to know exactly how to get coconuts open so they don't starve on the tropical island, and is able to make a raft out of palm leaves and turtle shells, AND can navigate by the stars, AND speaks the language of the men on the rescue ship ... it's best to let your heroine have an area (or two - no more) of excellence and let others carry the rest of the plot-advancement.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

I love your description! At the point when I dumped her, she was mainly succeeding in furiously irritating Napoleon (who would have bedded her no question, though). But yes, she had much too many various talents for her own good and too much awareness of them. Plus she was a pet experiment from Waverly (Illya-like) but I didn't mean to give her a great part in the final success; it would have been more an educational journey for a an over-ambitious and presumptuous young woman. My aim was too high for my capacity. Needless to say that most of it remained unwritten in my imagination but that effectively prevented me from using the other, more convenient, possibilities that were included in the premises of the story.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

My aim was too high for my capacity.

I think I want a t-shirt with that written on it, to wear when I write!