Subject: To you, what is a Good OC?
Author:
Posted on: 2011-10-29 17:51:00 UTC

A few months ago, VM posted a thread in which she cried out against the misuse of the term 'Mary Sue', and put forth her own defenition of one. This resulted in a constructive discussion (which I added little to, I'm afraid) in which Boarders put forth their own defenitions of what a 'Sueish' character is.

So now, if you don't mind, I would like to do the inverse: What defines a Good OC? I mostly agree with VM's defenition (though I failed to realize it for some time), that the crucial quality is depth, that its okay for characters to be powerful and beautiful as long as they have personality and character (is this redundant?)

Giving others a place is also a plus point. In VM's thread, people have mentioned that even though Drizzt Do' Urden from Forgotten Realms is a Canon Stu, he's a mild one or even well-written (though not because he is a Stu). While I only read Exile and Siege of Darkness, I think that Drizzt is bearable because of the proximity of characters like Belwar, Cattie-Brie, and Buenor, who are each allowed their own intresting personalities and stories.

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