Er, as much as I like to hear that I'm right, that's not actually what I said.

It was said that a Mary-Sue was a romantic interest that eats up a lot of the story without being interesting.

I replied that this wasn't an example of a Mary-Sue, rather it was just bad writing.

I will say that you can have boring/bad romance without having a single, solitary Mary-Sue involved, however more often than not, any romance a Mary-Sue is involved in will be uninteresting, poorly written garbage.

 

That's the best definition of a Mary Sue I can think of.

Mary-Sues can be very varied, from Hermione getting a makeover to a Dark/Independent Harry. A Mary Sue might have flaws, objectively speaking, but they stop being flaws when it becomes obvious that the author thinks they're cool (ex: lying unblushingly) or unimportant.

A Mary Sue is revealed in the writing: the author will never make her look bad. It's revealed in how the other characters see her: they will be impressed, they will like her, find her funny/brave/etc, and if they hate her they will be ridiculous and/or evil. And most of the time, the more the author will strive to make us like her, the more she will feel artificial.

The problem is, the author can be genuinely fond of a character and that will alter their judgement; in order to avoid falling in the Mary Sue trap, the best way is still to get a proof reader who has no opinion on this particular character. A second, unbiased pair of eyes is very useful for every aspect of a story, and for Mary-Sues in particular.

 

Tinn? You must not wikicopypaste!!

 

...

Uh.

My bad. Haven't read the wiki link.

 

I think a key aspect of the Mary Sue is the quickness of introduction. A Mary Sue will be introduced and within a day will be best friends with the trio, will know all their secrets, take part in all their adventures, gets their in-jokes and basically represents a character transplant.

A good OC will have a realistic introduction.

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MartyStu
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CanonSue
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PossessionSue

What happens when you hyper-avoid Mary-Sue but fail: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AntiSue

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FixerSue
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GodModeSue
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JerkassStu
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ParodySue
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PuritySue
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RelationshipSue
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SympatheticSue
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TsundereSue
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainSue