I have nothing against OFCs, to a point, if I know that's what I'm going to be reading and I'm not taken with it by surprise. To me, an OFC is best when like vanilla flavoring: a little bit can enhance the rest, but add too much, and it overshadows the entire thing. I'm differentiating, of course, between regular Middle-earth based OFCs and "girl dropped into Middle-earth from present day" sorts of fics. The latter I don't think can be done well very often except for parody. It can be done well, however, occasionally.
For example, I've read some of an ff.net fic, based on recs, about two teenagers dropped into Middle-earth, and I was very impressed with how the author gave us a look at how different life would truly be according to social norms and cultures and that sort of thing. This fic was NOT a romance, though, which helped it tremendously. And then there's Ariel's The Gift of Illuvatar, in which an OFC cares and falls for Frodo, but it's written so skillfully and beautifully and you feel so sorry for her that you can't help but love the fic.
It just completely depends on the characterization. Of course I'd avoid the blatant Mary Sues in the teeny-bopper fics, but some others can be okay. There's a story in which Aragorn is ill and found by a poor woman who falls for him . . . she's very much not a Mary Sue and the story is well-written. And then of course, there are the completely NON Mary-Sueish types of OFCs, such as older women who fulfill a motherly type of role or evil antagonists.
My own personal difficulty with reading OFCs, besides the fact that I'd generally always rather read about the canon characters I love---is that often, the OFC takes over the story. Now, if I know from the start that the story will feature a prominent OFC, I'm okay with it. I can choose to read or not to read. But I can't tell you how many stories start out with minor OFCs and next thing, the OFC is the heart of the story---a "bait and switch."
I realize writers engage in a sort of role-play when writing---I do that with Frodo, even. He is my Mary Sue in many ways. So I don't care if writers put their own persona into an OFC--how would I know that, anyway? It would be too subtle to pick up most of the time.
As for h/c scenes, OFCs rarely melt my butter when caring for our heroes. From a completely personal standpoint I'd always rather see Aragorn caring for Frodo than an OFC---but that's personal taste, only! And seeing OFCs receive care from canon characters does nothing for me---I prefer OFCs to sort of "reflect" the canon characters and shed more light on them, not the other way. If an OFC enhances the canon characters, I can like her---if she overshadows them, I usually will stop reading.
no subject
For example, I've read some of an ff.net fic, based on recs, about two teenagers dropped into Middle-earth, and I was very impressed with how the author gave us a look at how different life would truly be according to social norms and cultures and that sort of thing. This fic was NOT a romance, though, which helped it tremendously. And then there's Ariel's The Gift of Illuvatar, in which an OFC cares and falls for Frodo, but it's written so skillfully and beautifully and you feel so sorry for her that you can't help but love the fic.
It just completely depends on the characterization. Of course I'd avoid the blatant Mary Sues in the teeny-bopper fics, but some others can be okay. There's a story in which Aragorn is ill and found by a poor woman who falls for him . . . she's very much not a Mary Sue and the story is well-written. And then of course, there are the completely NON Mary-Sueish types of OFCs, such as older women who fulfill a motherly type of role or evil antagonists.
My own personal difficulty with reading OFCs, besides the fact that I'd generally always rather read about the canon characters I love---is that often, the OFC takes over the story. Now, if I know from the start that the story will feature a prominent OFC, I'm okay with it. I can choose to read or not to read. But I can't tell you how many stories start out with minor OFCs and next thing, the OFC is the heart of the story---a "bait and switch."
I realize writers engage in a sort of role-play when writing---I do that with Frodo, even. He is my Mary Sue in many ways. So I don't care if writers put their own persona into an OFC--how would I know that, anyway? It would be too subtle to pick up most of the time.
As for h/c scenes, OFCs rarely melt my butter when caring for our heroes. From a completely personal standpoint I'd always rather see Aragorn caring for Frodo than an OFC---but that's personal taste, only! And seeing OFCs receive care from canon characters does nothing for me---I prefer OFCs to sort of "reflect" the canon characters and shed more light on them, not the other way. If an OFC enhances the canon characters, I can like her---if she overshadows them, I usually will stop reading.
That's my ramble for the day! :)