Oh, I have something to say. They are FREAKIN' ANNOYING AND I WANT TO ONE DAY PUNCH ONE OF THEM IN THE FACE! *takes deep breath and smiles* Yep, that's it!

Realize that some people DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A SUE IS. Or, they THINK they do, but they don't. The people who think they know what a MS is but don't think that Sues have blonde hair, blue eyes, are beautiful, are perfect, and kind and smart, and make everybody fall in love with them.

THAT IS NOT NECESSARILY THE CASE. That's only one breed(probably the Princess one), and it's not even used much.

Usually, Mary-Sues are characters that the author longs to be. In that case, they might make the Sue have unique talents like magical powers, and special features on their bodies, and have personalities that are admired (like the Rebel Princess breed, where the character is supposed to be prim and proper but actually is bold and breaks rules all the time).

Some Sues have the Barbie inside them, in which they have MANY big and small talents.

Most authors make their Sues charismatic--funny and witty and smart. Some make theirs beautiful.

Most make them fall in love wit their favorite character. Some Sues are heros and save everyone, or, if they are victims themselves, wait no longer for their heros to come and rescue themselves.

Most Sues can defend themselves.

Some Sues also have unique things they keep with them, like a special pet or locket or whatever in their hair.

Some... meh, I don't feel like typing anymore. Maybe I'll write some more later. This is already so long....

I will list my most hated Sues/stu in the land of Books ( if you look you can see what I'm talking about)

1. Max (from Maximum ride)
2. Piper (from Heroes of Olympus)
3. Bella (from Twilight)
4. Edward (from Twilight)
5. Dylan (from Maximum Ride)
dylan seems like one of those awful OC's that are made for the sole purpose of having the main character fall in love with them. Oh wait. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE FREAKING IS!!!!
6. Jason (from Heroes of Olympus)
EVEN RR CALLS HIM 'TOO PERFECT' IN THE MARK OF ATHENA!!!! I HATE HIM WITH EVRY FIBRE OF MY VERY SOUL!!!! HE AND PIPER SHOULD GO AND JUMP INTO TATARUS AND SAVE ME THE TROUBLE OF TOSSING THEM IN!!! Oh wait… since their a 'couple' their everlasting love will freaking save them FROM THE PIT!!!
Ahem. There is a lot more ranting that i want to do on jason freaking grace and his freaking girlfriend movie star but that would be unkind to those who like them.

OH WHO FREAKING CARES!!!! EVERYBODY WITH HALF A BRAIN CAN SEE THAT JASON IS A GARY STU!!! I MEANS HE IS THALIA'S YES THALIA'S LONG LOST BROTHER!!!!! HOW MUCH MORE PROOF DO YOU NEED!!!! WHAT IN HADES POSSESSED HERA TO CLAIM HIM?!?!?!?!?!?!?! *SNARL* God I need to stop before I bust my brain form my ranting. Ugh.

I'll admit, I HATE Mary Sues. But it's really hard not to create one; especially if it's an OC, because we always want our character to be perfect ;). But still, some Mary Sue's are intolerable.

I think the easiest way to try to avoid creating a Mary Sue is to really focus and think about whether the character has enough flaws. And if you're making him or her particularly powerful, or the point of the story is to pair the OC with the canon character, you need extra flaws or moments of weakness to balance out.

I might be less fussy about Mary Sues and potential Mary Sues than others though. I only count the really severe ones. And with most of those, you can guess the Mary Sue from the synopsis and choose to avoid the story.