Chapter four: The daughter of Poseidon/Hades/Apollo/Kronos/Atlas/Artemis (AKA the Mary Sue)

Guys, I'm done. Ten out of ten, the best characters ever in fanfiction are these. Amazing skills and writing here. Fabulous originality.

Let's meet the wonderful character that is Pearl Ocean Tide Aqua Jackson, the long lost daughter of Poseidon who for some reason shares Percy's last name. Her story is one of the least flawed things I've seen on . Seriously. Who in Taratrus could have guessed that such a normal, beautiful girl with many friends and perfect grades would be the daughter of Poseidon who 'died'? And found by Leo/Nico/Some other random OC! It was seen in the stars! And then her fantastic superpowers which make her unbeatable for no reason! That bit when she got a prophecy (more on that later), gods that was well done! I couldn't have guessed that Pearl here would fall in love and have the perfect boyfriend in Leo/Nico/OC. But holy shit, the sequel is their children?! I CAN'T WAIT!

So there's no way you can't tell that was me being sarcastic. This, mis amigos, is how to write an OC.

Mary Sue

Ah, good old Mary Sue! For those who don't know, since I barely explained it, the term Mary Sue comes from a Star Trek fanfiction originally (I believe) where there was a perfect character called Mary Sue and all the characters fell in love with her.

The most well known, undisputed examples of a Mary Sue are *pukes typing her name* Bella Swan from Twilight and Ebony (Enoby) from an infamous Harry Potter fanfiction called 'My Immortal'. Other accused Sues are: Ginny Weasley, Katniss Everdeen, Annabeth Chase (and I will back this up when I get to it) etc. So basically, the main character or the main character's love interest.

But what defines a Sue?

Name – In terms of Percy Jackson, a common theme is to name your OC after the godly parent. For example, a child of Apollo might be called Ray, a child of Demeter might be called Demeter. I'm not trying to be sexist, it's just that most of these are female. Just don't do this, it's not poetic it's just stupid. Use subtle symbolism like Rick Riordan does, like Piper's name (The Pied Piper anyone? Charmspeak?) Also, avoid middle name usage. There's a reasons it's not included in the books! A very common thing is to have multiple, non-name middle names. That worked in the Hunger Games, it doesn't work here. Note also to not give your characters wish washy names, like Isabella Swan (seriously Meyer? Beautiful swan?)

Appearance – I think most of anyone can relate to this: it's pretty damn impossible to look flawless, it's hard to look decent on a good day! So why, then, are OCs stunningly beautiful. Annabeth has no need to be described as beautiful, she just IS for the sake of it. That's just a thing, which I can't respect. It is, however, okay to describe the Aphrodite kids as beautiful. As a quick character case of that cabin, they're either beautiful on the outside or on the inside, but some like Piper are both. THAT is fine, within reason. But even they are not flawless!

Usually, a Sue is 'skinny enough to be anorexic', but still curvy in all the right places. Her skin is flawless. She is practically a goddess.

Just, make your characters believable.

Everybody likes them – A Sue automatically has friends, no matter what they do. Even the villains tend to be attracted to them. The main love interest's life revolves around them, it was love at first sight.

This is what tends to be the downfall of characters. Please, name me one person you know who gets on with literally everyone in the world. Some people just don't! If someone does dislike your character, make it for a good reason, not just because they can!

Flaws – Flaws? What flaws? What aren't flaws: clumsiness, not bothering with appearance, being nerdy, being quiet (but not antisocial). I wouldn't even say that being shy is a flaw.

EVERYBODY has bad qualities. Personally, I'm very short tempered at times, a bit overly dramatic and I find myself lying a lot. Amongst others, but those are examples of real, human flaws. People are not perfect!

The danger with this is if you write yourself as the main character. You don't write you, you write dream you!

Consequences – Although having no flaws is a major factor of being a Mary Sue, some Sues have had a few legit flaws. They don't, however, face consequences for doing anything bad. They cheat on someone, then they're automatically forgiven. Bitchy? Forgiven. Make a fatal mistake? Ha, something saves them!

Chosen one – One of the biggest sins of all, and why I consider Percy Jackson, Harry Potter and similar characters to be slight Gary Stus (Percy more so). Every single freaking time an OC ends up getting a prophecy, or being the saviour of the world. JUST DON'T USE IT AS A PLOT DEVICE.

If you want more information on Mary Sues, google the litmus test.

Look, I don't like OC centric stories at all. I don't know why that is to be honest, but I DO know it can be done very well if you put the effort into making it so. Just don't make them the love interest of Percy, Nico or Leo. Or if you do, stick to the golden rule and keep them in character.

OCs can be very effective, and even in small roles make sure to do them right,