Q

I want to write an OC, but I don’t want her to be a Mary Sue. Any tips?

A

The definition of a Mary Sue varies from one person to another. You can do everything right by most people’s standards, but there will always be someone for whom any OC is a self-insert Mary Sue.

It’s a byproduct of sexism. Many YA books meant for a female audience have been accused of having a Mary Sue by people who tend to enjoy characters like James Bond, Batman, Aragorn, and Luke Skywalker and haven’t picked up on their double-standard.

My advice is not to worry about creating a Mary Sue and instead concentrate on writing a good original character. The former focuses on things not to do (which can still lead to a flat character), while the latter pays attention to what you ought to be doing. If you do it all well, even if your OC does turn into someone’s definition of a Mary Sue, she’ll be an in-depth character whose actions make sense and whose purpose in the story is clear.

Be warned; it isn’t a simple matter of slapping some traits together, sprinkling in a few flaws and mannerisms and calling it a day.

STEP 1: WHO IS YOUR OC?

You probably have a vague idea of who your character is, so start by writing down general information: age, gender, career, socioeconomics… This is the kind of blurb you would use to describe your character in one or two sentences.

Let’s say our character is a fifteen-year-old Muggle-born from a lower-middle-class background. She’s just received her Hogwarts letter because she was born in 1998, and someone working at the Ministry destroyed all records of Muggle-borns to protect them from Voldemort.

STEP 2: GET TO KNOW THEM.

You’ve got to ask your character questions. There are a lot of character interview sheets online, but I find those counterproductive. They include too many questions, most of which are too general to allow you to dig deep enough into your character.

It’s best to come up with your own questions. Follow a single line of questioning until you reach a conclusion. Don’t answer the questions with only “yes” or “no”; you’ve got to expand if you want to get anywhere. The conclusion you reach will be one of your character’s inner values.

For our newly discovered witch: How does she get on with her family? (This is a basic but important question that you can ask most characters.)

Let’s say our OC and her family are close, but it’s only her, her siblings, and her father. That answer leads to more questions.

→ What happened to her mother? She died a couple of years ago from a heart defect.

→ Did our OC take care of her ill mother? Yes. As the eldest child, she felt it was her responsibility to pick up the slack when her mother was at the hospital and her dad was at work.

Three questions in, and we already have an inner value: She feels responsible for taking care of her family.

That feeling of responsibility will likely play a significant role in the story. How will our OC feel about being asked to leave for Hogwarts? Will she choose her family or magic? What choice does her family want her to make?

The things you learn through this series of questions will add a possibility for more conflict in your story. Maybe our OC will find out that the wizarding world can easily cure the heart defect that killed her mother. If only she’d received her Hogwarts letter earlier, her mother could still be alive.

People don’t have only one inner value and neither does your character, so you have to keep going. 

Was our OC good at Muggle school? Is she good at making friends? What future does she dream of for herself? Ask as many questions as you can think to ask, and remember that not every answer needs to be complimentary. Maybe our OC, because of her feelings of responsibility, is controlling.

If you don’t like one of the inner values you find (either because it doesn’t fit your idea of the character or because it doesn’t work with the plot), start over. Go back to the initial question and pick another answer. Our OC doesn’t have to get along well with her family. She could hate the responsibility thrust upon her when her mother died, or her mother could still be alive.

STEP 3: FIGURE OUT THEIR MANNERISMS.

Just as your character’s inner values will affect their personality, they’ll also affect their mannerisms.

You want your character’s actions to reflect who they are, and that starts with their physical tics. If you add mannerisms without knowing where they come from, they’ll feel hollow and superficial. Don’t decide that your OC often grinds her teeth, chews her nails, or can’t sit still. Instead, use her inner values to figure out what little habits she may have.

Our controlling Muggle-born might have got into the habit of folding discarded blankets, picking up forgotten toys, and straightening crooked frames—exerting control over her environment.

STEP 4: UNDERSTAND THEIR MOTIVES.

What does your character want?

Their objective will be the driving force of the story. If they don’t have a goal or aren’t proactive in achieving it, readers probably won’t like them very much.

Take Harry Potter. He’s the main character of his series, yet he’s rarely anyone’s favourite. A reason for that is that he’s reactive instead of proactive. He only acts when the plot forces him to (the story leads him; he doesn’t lead the story).

Make your character’s objective something specific. It can be general or vague when the story begins, but the sooner your OC knows what she wants, the better. Harry’s objective in every book is to make it to the end of the school year and/or defeat Voldemort—an admirable but broad goal, not to mention repetitive.

Heroic objectives can work, but they’re harder for readers to relate to because they aren’t personal. No one is so selfless that saving the world is their main objective solely because it’s the right thing to do.

In Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill gave a more realistic reason for why he wants to save the galaxy: “Because I’m one of the idiots who lives in it!” That reason is refreshing and relatable.

As a rule, the bigger the plot, the more personal your character’s objective should be. Objectives will ground them and will narrow the scope of their actions.

A goal that has the potential to end badly for your character is more interesting to read about because of the risk (stepping into a war zone to save a loved one, going against deeply ingrained societal norms to protect a friend or a belief…)

Writing a compelling character and plot is a game of risks and stakes. What does the character want (the objective)? What will get in their way (the risks)? What happens if they don’t achieve their objective (the stakes)?

Answer those questions for all your main protagonists and antagonists (and anyone else who plays a deciding role), and you’ll have characters capable of leading your story. Remember to use their inner values, or else they may as well be cardboard cutouts.

So what does our Muggle-born want?

From the little we’ve found out about her so far, we know that her family is important to her, so keeping them safe will undoubtedly play into her objective (and possibly become a major plot point). As far as goals go, protecting loved ones isn’t too bad. It’s specific and personal, but we can do better.

Why does she want her family safe and happy? Does she have an even more personal and less altruistic reason?

Maybe she wants them to be happy so that she no longer has to look after them. That can be an interesting plot point, and it opens doors to a character arc through her inner conflict. Will her selflessness or selfishness win out? Why? What will she learn along the way?

For our OC, the risks and stakes will emerge from the plot, and the story will take form based on the characters’ inner values and objectives. If planning a novel were a linear exercise, it would be a lot easier.

STEP 5: SET THEM LOOSE.

It can be tempting to pursue every line of questioning with your OC, to have pages and pages of information about them, but that will only get you so far. You have to write your story.

Set your OC loose and trust that you’ve done enough research to know how they will act and react. Keep a loose grip, and remember that no matter how much planning you’ve done, your OC may diverge from the path you’ve carved. They may only be chasing butterflies, but keep writing and decide whether or not the scene is worth keeping when you edit.

Read stories featuring original characters in the fandom you want to write one for, and give yourself an idea of what works and what doesn’t.

If you need a story recommendation, xHemlockx (who was a big help with coming up with the example character for this article) has written some of my favourite original characters in her stories The Estranged Convict and A Squib at Hogwarts.

It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.

WILLIAM FAULKN