30 Days of Fandom Meme: Day 8
8 - 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.
I do, but generally as secondary characters in fic. I don’t think that I’ve ever written a fanfic from the point of view of an OC, or where the OC was the main character, and I’ve never gotten complaints about Suedom even though some of the OCs have been fairly larded up with Tragic Backstory, because they’re not taking the focus of the fic away from the canon characters.
Having said that, I think anti-Mary Sue rhetoric is completely overblown (I know goldjadeocean has some good posts about this). Fics with OCs as main characters are not to everyone’s taste - I know I generally don’t read them unless I know and love the author’s work - but they’re also incredibly easy to avoid. Is an OC listed as a main character? Is that something that bothers you? Then scroll on through.
I do, but generally as secondary characters in fic. I don’t think that I’ve ever written a fanfic from the point of view of an OC, or where the OC was the main character, and I’ve never gotten complaints about Suedom even though some of the OCs have been fairly larded up with Tragic Backstory, because they’re not taking the focus of the fic away from the canon characters.
Having said that, I think anti-Mary Sue rhetoric is completely overblown (I know goldjadeocean has some good posts about this). Fics with OCs as main characters are not to everyone’s taste - I know I generally don’t read them unless I know and love the author’s work - but they’re also incredibly easy to avoid. Is an OC listed as a main character? Is that something that bothers you? Then scroll on through.