Kathryn Andersen wrote:
I think male authors are less at risk of being accused of writing OFCs as Mary-Sues. Bloody sex discrimination...
True. Very true. And the more I think about it, the more sexist it seems. Because if a guy writes a story where there's a guy who's brave, handsome, knows 20 languages, is a crack shot, rescues Our Heros, has one of the femmes fall in love with him, will he be accused of writing a Marky Sam (the male version of Mary Sue)? No, he'll just be accused of borrowing the character of James Bond...
But James Bond is generally accepted to be a male wish-fulfillment character; Marky Sue by default.
Speaking as somebody who _loathes_ Mary Sues (though I may have a narrower definition of them than some people) I certainly don't see all OCFs as Mary Sues, and I like properly developed OCs.
Mistral