How To Not Make A Mary Sue

 Hello everyone, it's your favorite friendly neighborhood Father here and today I'll be demonstrating how NOT to make a Mary Sue OC!!!

First off, "What is a Mary Sue?" Well, a Mary Sue is a female OC (Original Character) who is extremely overpowered. She has a "Tragic backstory", a perfect life, supposedly perfect looks, and everyone loves her. These characters are usually shunned in the internet writing and roleplaying communities and it's easy to see why. Trying to interact with these characters becomes a pain after only a few minutes. Since your dear Night Father does not have any artistic skills, I will be using an app called "Gacha Club" to show examples of what a Mary Sue looks like and what one of my "OCs" looks like. Let's get into it, shall we?

This disgusting creature is a generic Gacha "Mary Sue". Wearing a short skirt and barely a top, with long, ugly pink hair, and lots of it. Hybrid princess, am I right? This will not do at all. Too much makeup and too much visible skin. Now, let's see one of my OCs.

Ah yes, beautiful. A nice, sensible color palette, not too many accessories, and not an outrageous amount of skin showing. Just by looking at the character, you can tell she's been through some rough times, accounted for by the scars on her face. When not used just for a fashion statement, gloves in Gacha situations are commonly used to hide scars that the person is ashamed of. She's clearly magical but not totally overpowered. 

Now, it's time to make YOUR character!

Step One: The Body

Body size, shape, and skin color are very important when it comes to making a good OC. It helps define where your character comes from and how diverse they are.

Step Two: The Hair

Hair color and style can help show parts of your character's personality without even realizing it. For example, an adrenaline junkie scene kid might have crazy dyed pink hair, or a brave, fearless warrior might have flaming red hair. A woman with her hair up in a tight bun could be perceived as mature, while a teenager with her hair in pigtails could be thought of as naive. 

Step Three: The Eyes

Eye color and shape can be very important regarding ethnicity. An African American could have dark brown eyes or even blue eyes depending on the genetics. Asians usually have narrow or large eyes, depending on the genetics or where they come from.

Step Four: The Top

The shirt a person is wearing can say a lot about their personality. A simple t-shirt with a funny phrase could show the silly side of a person or a fancy formal dress-shirt represents maturity. A school uniform could show prosperity and fortune. 

Step Five: The Pants/Skirt

Short skirts, capris, jeans, legging, a dress. There's so many possibilities. Depending on the type of pants you can assume what kind of climate a character lives in. Long, comfy looking pants hint at colder weather, while shorts suggest a tropical climate.

Step Six: The Accessories

Accessories can hold a big part in a character's life. Perhaps a gift from a now deceased family member, or a family heirloom. Glasses can help you dive deeper into a character's soul. But make sure not to put TOO MANY ACCESSORIES!!! No headbands on top of hats you hear?

Step Seven: The Species

Depending on what type of writer or creator you are, it's likely that you'll want at least one of your characters to be a supernatural species! This can be determined by lineage or by an event in the past. Like being bitten by a vampire or dying and becoming a zombie.

Step Eight: The Backstory

Backstory is one of the key elements to a good character. Why do they do the things they do? What's made them into the person that they are? How have they grown as an individual throughout their life?

The End.