Writing Tips and Reviews

OP and Mary Sue

OP and Mary Sue characters. Both the makings of what people hate in stories like Sword Art Online. But why do people like to make their characters this way? Especially OCs. Let's figure out the works of these types of traits and how to do them right in a few ways. There are many way to do these right, and many ways to do them wrong so let's see what we have.

OP:

OP characters are not short in shortage, these characters are too powerful for their own good and make battles look like child's play. But that's not what makes a battle interesting. Despite common thought, having an OP character is not good when done the common way. This common way is the main character having all the cool powers and making the antagonist look like a loser from the get go.

The other way of doing this is the Overlord way, Ainz is a perfect example of how to do this right. Unlike others of the trope, he isn't just born powerful, he's actually just a normal everyday guy playing a game that he spent years grinding on. But he knows how to moderate his power, he doesn't go into every battle with full power, and he sure isn't bragging about how powerful he is. Because that's just annoying. (The other do it for him.)

Spending years training, be given the power or being born with it had its many way of execution. Child prodigies are an example of being born with the power and being good at it from the get go. But they're still not obnoxious about it. No one likes a character who goes around bragging about how much better they are than everyone else. Instead, maybe make them feel bored and want to try something else. In all cases, there has to be a motivation for what they're doing and why.

Battle scenes aren't just about who's going to win. With an OP character like Ainz, it's obvious he's going to win. It's what happens in battle that makes it fun. For Ainz, everything is planned out, or at least most things. Random battles are also fun to watch since it's him testing what he can and can't do. The action and the meaning of the battle should be the main focus. Mostly the meaning.

Mary Sue:

The perfect little piece of sparkles. They're the center of attention and totally perfect in every way possible. To say it short, everyone hates this trope, but new writers do it all the time. And no, being abused and depressed is not a flaw.

How do you avoid a Mary Sue? Yes I'm using the term for both male and female because I don't care. Mary Sues are done when, well, everything is about them. They're perfect with no mistakes and I'm serious when I say that there are people who don't know what flaws are. Easy to say, just make flaws. Personality flaws, power limitations, anything, just at least a few. Please, I'm done reading about how "awesome" a character is when they're just a Mary Sue.

(Look up "Terrible Writing Advice" for more on why OP and Mary Sues are terrible character tropes.)