There are two ways you can go when writing a marauder fanfiction:
a) Take a canon character that already exists and write in their point of view e.g. Lily Evans or Sirius Black.
b) Make up your own character and insert them into the Harry Potter/Marauder world.
This chapter is going to be about character inserts, or what we generally call them, OC's (standing for Own Characters). I've decided to have a whole chapter series on OCs as there is so much to say, but today, we'll mainly be focusing on Mary-Sues and cliché things.
Let's start by defining what 'Mary-Sue' and the term 'Cliché' means.
• Cliché is a term used to describe something that is overused and unoriginal. This could be directed at someone's book plot or an OC.
• A Mary-Sue (for girl OCs) or a Gary-Stu (for male OCs), is basically a cliché, or overpowered character. This means that they are good at everything, look perfect, (sometimes) have special powers or aren't completely human, and liked by everyone. This is usually because the person who made the OC is trying to make them how they wish they could be. E.g. they might make their OC perfect because they wish they looked perfect.
So what exactly would a Mary-Sue character be like? How many of the Mary-Sue traits listed above would you need for your character to be classed as a Mary-Sue? How do I stop my own character becoming one of these monsters?
To answer the first question, I've written a little fact file below of what a Mary-Sue would be like.
Name: Mary-Sue Rose Smith
Looks: Blond hair, green eyes, clear skin, long eyelashes, hourglass figure, straight teeth
Personality: Kind, caring, funny, respectful, intelligent, compassionate, good-natured
Powers: can talk to animals, animagus
This is what you would call a Mary-Sue fact file. What makes it Mary-Sue? Well, here is what I've found:
•She has powers, which is a bad thing because it makes them less realistic and there is no reason listed as to WHY she has those powers.
•Her personality and looks are flawless. Giving your OC flaws is an essential part of making them. Without flaws, the OC is simply unrealistic and boring to read about. As we all know, everyone has probably more than a couple of flaws, and there is no perfect person. If you want to make an OC seem real and relatable, you MUST give them flaws with both their looks AND personality.
To answer the second question 'How many Mary-Sue traits are needed to make my character a Mary-Sue?' is pretty simple. Some good traits are absolutely fine. Everyone has them. All you need to do is make sure that the traits that would be considered 'Mary-Sue' on their own are balanced out by some flaws. So to answer the question directly, if you had 5 main good traits for your character and 1-2 main bad traits for your character, I (in my opinion) would consider that a Mary-Sue.
Finally, to answer the third question 'How do I stop my character from becoming one of these?' I've made a checklist for you all to tick off so you'll be well on your way to making your marauder insert OC well on it's way to becoming Mary-Sue free.
Checklist
• My OC has two or more flaws with her looks.
• My OC has two or more flaws with her personality/two or more bad traits.
• My OC has just as many/very similar amount of good traits and bad traits.
• My OC has none or one power (if one, there must be a reason for it e.g. genetic).
• My OC has both friends and enemies.
That's all for this chapter! Thanks for reading, and please leave suggestions for future chapters in the future.
~Rolayde~
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➳ The Marauder Manual
RandomHere's a fact: many people are put off of writing marauder fanfiction either because a) it's hard b) they have no inspiration c) they're not ready to be released to be in to the only HP era with next to no context d) they don't want it to turn in to...
