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]

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!