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I completely understand your frustration with the topic as a whole. I too write OCs and I find that when you, as a fanfic writer, admit to writing OCs as main characters you're scoffed at and looked down on by your peers. It's extremely irritating that overpowered OCs (Mary-Sues/Gary-Stues) have given practically all OC-works a bad reputation. But I have to say that I'm sure everyone- even those writers who don't write OC-driven fics- has written a Mary-Sue before at some early point in their writing career.

That aside, I don't really have too much of a problem with reading Mary-Sues as long as the story doesn't get too ridiculous (e.g., the character's only flaw is that they're too pretty and they have a long-suffering personality for it). I don't mind the "troubled past" cliché, or the "romantic interest of the main canon character" cliché, but I do mind the "every power in the book and then some" cliché as well as the "only flaw is that they're too perfect" cliché.

On a side note, what I find interesting is that you'll have some people who totally bash OC Mary-Sues and yet they're fans of animes/mangas like Fruits Basket where the female lead is a Mary-Sue. whee

Hm, usually when I stumble across parodies they aren't really done too well and fall victim to all of the failings of the work they were trying to make fun of. For example, your complaint about plot build up, Kunoichi. My understanding of a parody is that it makes fun of key aspects of a work while remaining well-thought out so that it is actually funny and not just another painful thing to read through.

I think we may have derailed your thread with this parody talk. sweatdrop

Anyway, on topic, sometimes I'll tolerate Mary-Sues in the case of wish fulfillment for fans. For example, there was this really well-written fic that I read a while back that centered on an OC who was beautiful, smart, charismatic, and knowledgeable on all things Harry Potter. It was a "thrown into X universe" type fic and the purpose of the character was to keep awful things from happening in the HP universe. She was Snape's romantic interest and helped him overcome his obsession with Lily's death and even quelled some of Harry's hatred towards Snape.

Oh my gosh... Okay, in the same vein as characters being decent and then coming into some powers, there was a fic that I just recently read. I think I read it yesterday... Anyway, the fic started off normal and then one of the canon characters overdosed in the third chapter and suddenly the main OC is talking about "I promised I would never use my power..." and touching the comatose character's arm so she could get into his head and essentially "fix" him. My mouth was literally hanging open as I read it. It was a genuine "dafuq" moment, for lack of a better word. xp

See? This is what gives OCs a really bad reputation. As a writer, you don't necessarily have to lay everything on the table in the first chapter- a little mystery can be exciting. But to constantly reveal more and more things about a character? It's different if the traits that are being revealed are believable or somehow connected but it's an entirely different kettle of fish that you're dealing with when those traits are so ridiculous that they're completely outside the realm of reality. I know that it's fanfiction, but that's not really a good enough excuse for poor characterization. It's always a turnoff for me when you get a character that's labeled by the author as "blah" (meaning they're lacking in some areas... obviously not a technical term sweatdrop ) but then the author turns around and is like "Hey, I know this character is physically weak and all, but look at all of these other things that she's absolutely wonderful at! I know that I never even hinted at her having any sort of talents and I sorta just sprung it on you in this chapter, but let's just roll with it~"

Ooh, yes. The Tom Riddle fics. I've read a handful of those. I think I'll link them in the Outside Guild Recommendations thread when I get the chance~