Okay, I'm admitting it. I am both a Mary-Sue and a Gary-Stu (I'm bi, so I figure nobody really cares about the gender of the characters I create even if they're based on myself). OC's are fun to write, create, etc. but as was stated above, they can't be perfect or they're stupid. My current OC, for example, is named Raven Knight (okay, okay, it's a stupid pun . . . but I couldn't think of anything better) and is the lead singer in a "local" band (you know, the kind that plays in pubs and probably never puts out an album) that Remus plays guitar for. She's sexy, she's smart, she's a good singer. But she's also a touchy little bitch. (Think Snape on one of his really, really, really bad days.) Cross your eyes at her and she's liable to go nuts on you. I've had several people tell me (since I openly admitted that she is in fact a self-insert, even though she looks very little like me and I deliberately made her vocal abilities better than mine) that she is one of the best self-inserts/Mary-Sues/OFC's they've ever seen, and when I ask why, they say it's because she acts real. She's a Muggle and although she's been exposed to the magical world via Remus and his friends, she's not entirely accepting of all of it. She's not ready to believe at the drop of a hat that it might be all real and not just a joke. Her only magical powers consist of having an extraordinary ability to make everyone within a 100-mile radius run and hide when she slams a door just right (PMS ROCKS). She's not related to any of our dear heroes or heroines.
I think the people who make themselves into Dumbledore's daughter, Snape's daughter (yes, I've seen that happen when a rather lurid Mary-Sue outlined her genealogy - she somehow ended up with three parents, all of whom were male - James Potter was the other one), McGonagall's niece, and then said character is 17 but only starting now at Hogwarts because she THOUGHT she was a Squib all this time and really isn't, but in spite of that she knows more about magic than the entire Trio combined, is better in Potions than even Snape, and SHE is the one who REALLY has to fight Voldemort because she was ACTUALLY Harry's "identical" twin (I hated to point this out to the poor girl, but identicals are ALWAYS the same gender . . . ) - what they're out for is to say "Nyah, nyah, look, I'm better. I'm more powerful. I can do so much better than (insert author's name here, including JKR's name) because *I* know how to create an all-powerful character!" and they miss the point that the HP characters are so poignant, so endearing, so REAL because they ARE real - everyone knows the bossy know-it-all who can quote Shakespeare (Aristotle, Plato, Machiavelli, whoever) at the drop of a hat; the overshadowed, hand-me-down-world adventurer; the perservering kid from a shitty background; the playground pariah who grows up into a son of a bitch because he doesn't know anything different; the Mr. Chips who, in spite of his great advice and warm, calming demeanor, can never be quite right because he cares too much; the practical joker who stops at nothing for a good laugh. They're part of the life of EVERYONE. I could in fact take my own social circle and rename everyone in it to fit a Harry Potter character - even Dumbledore.
I think there is a difference between OC's, self-inserts, and Stues (my word that encompasses both genders): self-inserts may or may not stick around for a long time (Raven's shown up twice in a 21 chapter story, and her part is usually comic relief), but they're essentially you, as you truly are (unless you give yourself black hair instead of blonde *coughcough*), faults and peccadilloes and everything. OC's may or may not be based on you, yourself, as you are, or on anyone you know. All characters start as OC's, even Harry and Snape and Dumbledore. They are JKR's OC's. Stues are the annoying characters who can do all and see all and be all because they (think) they kick ASS, y'all, and who's going to stop them?
Wow - I'm sorry, I wrote you a novel! (geez . . . I guess this explains why all my friends encourage me to write fanfiction.) Anyway . . . okay . . . I commented . . . I think I'm going to just slink away in shame now . . . because my mouth is too big . . . *snort*
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-07-11 07:11 pm (UTC)I think the people who make themselves into Dumbledore's daughter, Snape's daughter (yes, I've seen that happen when a rather lurid Mary-Sue outlined her genealogy - she somehow ended up with three parents, all of whom were male - James Potter was the other one), McGonagall's niece, and then said character is 17 but only starting now at Hogwarts because she THOUGHT she was a Squib all this time and really isn't, but in spite of that she knows more about magic than the entire Trio combined, is better in Potions than even Snape, and SHE is the one who REALLY has to fight Voldemort because she was ACTUALLY Harry's "identical" twin (I hated to point this out to the poor girl, but identicals are ALWAYS the same gender . . . ) - what they're out for is to say "Nyah, nyah, look, I'm better. I'm more powerful. I can do so much better than (insert author's name here, including JKR's name) because *I* know how to create an all-powerful character!" and they miss the point that the HP characters are so poignant, so endearing, so REAL because they ARE real - everyone knows the bossy know-it-all who can quote Shakespeare (Aristotle, Plato, Machiavelli, whoever) at the drop of a hat; the overshadowed, hand-me-down-world adventurer; the perservering kid from a shitty background; the playground pariah who grows up into a son of a bitch because he doesn't know anything different; the Mr. Chips who, in spite of his great advice and warm, calming demeanor, can never be quite right because he cares too much; the practical joker who stops at nothing for a good laugh. They're part of the life of EVERYONE. I could in fact take my own social circle and rename everyone in it to fit a Harry Potter character - even Dumbledore.
I think there is a difference between OC's, self-inserts, and Stues (my word that encompasses both genders): self-inserts may or may not stick around for a long time (Raven's shown up twice in a 21 chapter story, and her part is usually comic relief), but they're essentially you, as you truly are (unless you give yourself black hair instead of blonde *coughcough*), faults and peccadilloes and everything. OC's may or may not be based on you, yourself, as you are, or on anyone you know. All characters start as OC's, even Harry and Snape and Dumbledore. They are JKR's OC's. Stues are the annoying characters who can do all and see all and be all because they (think) they kick ASS, y'all, and who's going to stop them?
Wow - I'm sorry, I wrote you a novel! (geez . . . I guess this explains why all my friends encourage me to write fanfiction.) Anyway . . . okay . . . I commented . . . I think I'm going to just slink away in shame now . . . because my mouth is too big . . . *snort*