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Writing Tips for the Naru-Verse by RawrTheDinoLycan

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Chapter notes: 'Ello peeps! I am your Guide Lycan, and I do hope I help some of you in some way :). If you don't like parts of my Guide, I encourage you to stay tuned as perhaps you'll find some chapter helpful!

I remember being a new authoress and having no idea what to do, so I do hope I can help some of you newbies avoid mistakes that I made when I first began!
Hey my fellow writers! I am here to -hopefully- shed light on a few common mistakes made by new writers. So if you're new and willing to learn, than I really hope my little splurge helps you! If it doesn't than 'eh *shrug* I tried.

RULE NUMBER ONE!

Okay, so you know when writing your stories there is one thing you have to do first. That, my dear friends, is keeping your character from becoming a Mary Sue or Gary Stue. I will give you some examples of Mary-Sues in modern literature, as well as tell you how to keep YOUR character from becoming this detested creature!


MARY SUE (1) Bella Swan from the popular Twilight Saga.


Okay Twi-Hards don't attack me! I just call 'em like I see 'em. Now, Bella Swan is a Mary Sue because she is perfect. Like, literally, she has no flaws. She is beautiful and automatically has boys clamoring for her attention but she has so many that she gets 'confused' because her heart doesn't know who to choose. Everybody wants to be her friend, even the fake popular girls who don't really like her never betray her. The only one who doesn't like her is a female vampire. Okay. One person doesn't like her, but ends up liking her later in the story. Mary Sue.


Now, some of you may be saying "Hey! She's clumsy! That's a fault!" No. No it is not. Her clumsiness is, as we authors say, an 'endearing quality'-- but not a flaw. Everyone likes her clumsiness and thinks it's cute.


My final case is that when she does become a vampire, as we all knew would happen, she is much more powerful than any of the others. She also has mega awesome powers that no one else has or has ever heard of. And even though she can read his mind, Edward can't read her's. Oh, and she comes to hate her former best friend because he has a crush on her little hybrid kid. Cause yeah, that makes total sense.


Mary Sue, Case Closed.


MARY SUE (2) Orihime from Bleach.


Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I liked Orihime in the beginning because she was just so cute. But come on people, Mary Sue much? She's got huge boobs, perfect figure, sweet personality, and the power to heal people. Where are the flaws? I am hungry for them!


"Oh, she's weak! That's a flaw!" Hmm, I say no. Like Bella, this one's endearment is her inability to rescue herself. She is the classic example of a princess constantly in distress.


Well I could really go on with Mary Sues, but I don't feel like keeping you here for just that one lesson. So! Let's go on to how YOU can keep your beloved OC from becoming a MARY SUE!


PREVENTION!


Step 1: Make her not look perfect.
When I say perfect, I mean don't make her drop-dead gorgeous and every guy wants to be with her because of that. I say this because no one in the Naruto verse is like that, nor is anyone in real life. Why? Because what makes a person attractive differs from person to person, so obviously no five people are going to become head over heels for the same chick because of her personality.


Step 2: Personality has to have some faults.
Okay, NOBODY is perfect so you cannot give your character the perfect personality. She needs some type of annoying, not endearing, characteristics. Sakura, for instance, is kind of shallow and easy to anger. Naruto, on the otherhand, can be super annoying while Tsunadae use to freeze up at the sight of blood and is quite the procrastinator. Your reader has to be able to find a characteristic of your character that they love to hate. This makes your character more relatable and 'human.'


Step 3: She cannot be all powerful.
Why? Because no one is all powerful. Your character cannot be able to take on all three sanin, plus Madara, plus Itachi and still win. Yeah, that's just not possible. There should always be a multitude of characters more powerful than your own that they fight or come into contact with at some point. This is one reason why you should put thought into creating your own jutsus, within reason, and giving your character a chakra element. That way, someone of the opposite element will always be a challenge.


This by in no way means that your character cannot be gifted like Itachi; however, even Itachi has his faults. Plus I don't want to be seeing any 9 year old Anbu members.


Step 4: Don't give her a tragic back story while forgetting the personality.
She can have a sad back story because, hey, sometimes shit happens. However, do not forget the personality issues this will bring up. One of my pet peeves is when someone gives an OC a dark past, and within the first two chapters I have heard about that past from the OC's mouth. No. Your OC isn't going to go spewing out information about her past if it is really that dark. Also, your character should NOT be healed too quickly by a certain character. And if something tragic happens, than there should be personality faults. She shouldn't be chipper and excited about life is she watched her whole family burn alive. That just doesn't happen.


Actually, Sasuke is a great character to look at. It took us for frickin' ever to find out his back story and why he's such an emo kid douche. Don't make your character a Sasuke Copy-And-Paste though. Don't. Do. It.


Step 5: Don't make them harbor an effing tailed beast! My gawth!
All of the beasts are taken. Done. End of story. Good-bye now.


Hoooooowever! It is completely acceptable to give a character a demon, or some beast connection so long as this is well-written. Giving her/him a copy and past of another tailed beast? Eh, I'm not convinced.


I also think it's completely possible to take out another tailed beast and insert your character's if you want. However, this will completely change the Naruto world and certain aspects of it, so you need to take this into consideration. This should be handled by a more-advanced writer.


Step 6: All the boys DON'T want her, ESPECIALLY MOFO'ING SASUKE!


Grrr, I hate this. Despise it in fact. When you have a perfectly good character, but you RUIN her by having Sasuke automatically in love with her while they are in the academy. Yeah, the guy is getting over his whole family being murdered and is still obsessed with killing his bro', i.e., he's NOT looking for a relationship.


If you want ANY true romance then I believe it must be slow building. This is a personal preferance of mind, but I feel it is a must when it comes to moody characters such as Sasuke, Gaara, and Neji (to name a few). With these characters they will NOT feel instant love, or even an instant crush. They may feel intrigued by your character's power or past, but certainly nothing too make them immediatly fall head-over-heels in love with your character.


With this being said, small instant crushes are okay when place with the correct characters. Kiba and Naruto, for instance! I can perfectly picture the two of them gaining small, yet strong, crushes on a girl should she do something seemingly profound.


I hope I helped! If you have any questions please leave them in a review or PM me. Also, I do not want anybody sticking up for Bella Swan. I don't care if you like her, I think she is a Mary Sue and nothing is going to change that. Ditto with Orihime.


* Ah, these are completely my opinions on writing and what I enjoy reading. Everyone has his/her own taste and, for the most part, cannot be faulted for that. My sole purpose here is to try and educate some of the younger writers who are just getting started. They can choose whether or not to follow my advice, i.e., anybody yelling at me for giving "crappy" advice will be ignored and their comments both reported and deleted because young writers can stick up for themselves thank you very much.

** For a good basis on how to create a wonderful and neverbeforeseen Oc please check out DropDeadThenDance's Forgotten Characters (or concepts?). She is a wonderful authoress, and all of her characters are simply delightful and refreshing. DO. NOT. STEAL. HER. OC'S. Merely look at them and know how to avoid becoming a Mary-Sue.
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