So I was thinking about Mary Sues recently 'cause a friend of mine got accused of writing one and I was all OMFG HELLS NO.

It was just one of those OFC = Mary Sue things which drive me batty because uhh no, not all Original Female Characters are Mary Sues, thank you very much.

And that's one thing that bugs me because I've got some fandoms which canonically have single episode female characters that do get hit on by the major male character. Sometimes I think this fear of Mary Sueing keeps people from writing these OFC's (these two fandoms would be BSG and A-Team, though there are also some well done OFC's in HP fics I've read, yay for good writers knowing they are good). This in term IMHO stifles some of the fics that could be done, and I'm just thankful both fandom have writers who are secure enough in their writing abilities that they actually do write OFC's. *yay*


So anyway, I was thinkigna bout what makes a character a Mary Sue to me and what makes him or her a well written OC. I know there are these huge "is you character a Mary Sue" tests and such but I see a lot of 'em that would give positive readings to OFC's that I think are very well written. There are jsut too many exceptions.

And then I realized this.
You know I really only worry about one things when deciding of an OFC is a Mary Sue? Do the canon characters react in character to her (or him)?
That's it.

If yes, then I like the use of the character.
If no, I probably won't read the fic.

And that's it. That's really what it all boils down to, for me as a reader. Do the canon characters react in character to the original character? Even if 'in character means' flirting with, having sex with, adopting, praising, falling into lust with, whatever, it'll probably work for me as a reader. And if the characters do react in character but I still have issues with the fic, then most likely the OC is not the issue. but the writing in general is the issue.

Everything else gets too complicated or has too many exceptions, at least for me.



Also an a related note, I hate it when actual character like Harry Potter or Bella Swan are called Mary Sues. At that point, if you don't like how they are written, it's just bad writing IMHO. I can see where the argument can be made that the label does work, but I kinda think a lot of original characters are author projections, but we just don't mind the well written ones (btw, I like Harry, I just threw Harry in cause I see the accusation a lot).

. . . Except in comics were new characters are inserted randomly by current writers, which make it canon but you're going, well damn, that writer just wrote a Mary Sue. But that's a personal exception I see, which is, for me, caused by the nature of the fluctuating writers on comic books versus the one author per story things you see more often with books.

And I'm totally not thinking of Brubaker writing in James Buchanan Barnes here.
Ohh no, not at all. =P

You know I was driving in the car having random serious thoughts about life and cultural differences and subcultures in the US and how we deal with 'em, and racism (all brought about most likely by the Civil rights baseball game yesterday)


And then my brain goes 'Wow! with the stupid culture 'The Woman King' ep. gave the Sagitarons, they retconned Tom Zarek into being like unto a god with charisma."

I appreciate that my brain can go from serious real life concerns and concepts to stupid fangirl concerns in 0.1 seconds.

Yay my brain

Ok, I'm sure this has been asked before, but I've just run into it several times in one day so it's on my mind and hey, this is my LJ right =P

Why, for the love of god, do some slash fans feel the need to rub slash in the faces of the actors, creators, or writers, or whoever that created or portrayed the characters being slashed?

Seriously, what is the point of that behavior?

What possible validation can there be from havng he actors know about slash?
Especially if you're gonna be creepy and wierd about it!

I guess there's some feeling that, especially when it's fictional characters, one shouldn't be embaressed about homosexuality, but then . . . what about things like this.

Why would someone want to flaunt Real Person Slash in front of the poeple being slashed? I do think that's getting pretty far into the realm of wierd.

And hey, if one shouldn't be embaressed by slash, and that's the rational for this behavior, why do so many people hide the hobby? If the reason for showing slash to actors and creators is to move slash above ground, why not start with uhhhh you know actual people you know?

But people don't, so I think there is still a feeling that it's odd and should be somewhat underground. Or at least the NC-17/R stuff, and I've noticed it is the heavier rated stuff that, for whatever reason, tends to be flaunted.

And why, if an actor says the don't think the characters are gay, do they get attacked as homophobic by some people (here I refer to Sean Astin, who said so in his book and people felt it was homophobic . . he said he was fine with the homsexual interpretation but it wasn't his, and HOW is that homophobic? Why are some slahs fans crazy ike this?)

Anyway I don't know.
All I know is going to anime conventions these days makes me embaressed to be a slash fan and I think it's part of the same mentality.

And it's very odd to me and I wish people wouldn't be so stupid about it and respect those who aren't slash fans without calling them homophobic.

Because dude, guys *can* be friends. Seeing Frodo and Sam, or Starbuck and Apollo, or Sirius and Remus as just friends isn't homophobic. Hell, it's the friggen canonicle intepretation!

Only in he minds if the seriously slash obessesed is hugging a former close friend whose been in hell on earth for the last 13 or so years absolute, undeniable, canonicle proof of gayness 0o


However, to be fair, people who deny he homosexuality in thing like Tokyo Babylon are being equally dense, I think.

Anyway . . .
Just a little rant because I've been exposed to some stupid slash fans on a forum recently.

And as a finale note, and the very least, if you're gonna flaunt slash to an actor, flaunt your own. Supid slash fan was flaunting someone else's NC-17 slash to an actor and that's all kinds WHOA NOT COOL!