Fanfiction: the definition of Mary-Sue

[Sapphire_Flame]

Well said, Twisted Angel.

Tortured pasts are forbidden.

As are mystery pasts. If your character doesn't know anything about their past/has some sort of amnesia, shred the fic immediately and start over.

I do agree with much of what is said here; I've had one or two Mary-Sue accusations of my own fic at FF.net, which I rather resented, but it has made me think more about my character and how she is relating to the canon characters I'm using. There are a lot of really horrible Mary-Sue's on FF.net. But there are stories with Original Characters that are done quite well, and with a minimal amount of Sue-like incidents.

One thing to mention: Making OC's too perfect is a major mistake. So is making them too angst-ridden in an attempt to avoid the above. Finding a happy medium can be difficult, but excellent if done correctly.

To you readers of FF.net, I recommend the authors shirebound, Baylor, and Pearl Took. Truly excellent authors.

Abedithon le,

~*~Aranel~*~