Your characters and why they shouldn't be called Mary Sue

As all aspiring authors know (and every person that has ever read a book, a comic book or anything similar) characters are extremely important. They are a turning stone for every story. You, the author use them to progress the story, explain it, react to it. There is literary no story without characters (even if they aren't human or even alive!). So it is extremely important to be able to create characters that are not only good for your story but also interesting, with realistic traits, reactions and an amusing back story. And I do mean very important. There is nothing sadder than reading a potentially interesting piece that is ruined by boring, bland, Mary Sue-ish characters.

Ok, first things first. When creating a character there are some things you have to consider. You should, before all else, look at your own writing style. Does your story revolve around your character? Or is it the other way around? Or have you found the golden balance between story and character? The answer to that question should tell you how to write your characters. They should always be interesting and fleshed out, there is no doubt in that. You should know them, and know them well - after all you have to know how they react to different situations and conditions. But, when writing a character based story, putting more focus on your characters than the story itself, they should be visibly developed and completely believable in the text itself. Their personality should unfold with the progression of the story. If you are writing a more plot driven piece you can be a little (key word - little) less detailed with your characters, as to not overload your reader with information. Most of the time, especially if the story itself is great, you can get away with decent characters. A balanced story is the hardest to do - you must have exactly the right amount of character development, detail, story progression and complexity. 

Second, believability. I don't know how many times I mentioned it until now, but it is key for a great story. Make your characters human, with developed personalities, flawed, realistic. Even if they are extraordinary, make the reader believe that if he sees them on the street they wouldn't seem all that unreal. This is a good point for me to explain the "Mary Sue" phenomenon. For everyone who knows what it is just pass to the next  paragraph or bare with me. The so called "Mary Sue" characters is very wide spread in fan fiction in works of beginning and amateur authors and sometimes even in the work of professional authors. The character is usually perfect, better than everyone else, without any flaws. They are beautiful, popular, kind, strong and independent. And they are not interesting. I honestly want to weep when I see such a thing. It shows an immature writing style and poor character planning. Both Twilight and Harry Potter (easily the most popular works of my generation) both suffer from "Mary Sue" characters; although in Harry Potter it becomes less prominent as the books go on. But seriously, do not make Mary Sue characters. They are stupid and make you look stupid.

Now, moving on - back story. There are two main points to a good back story - interesting, and if you can manage it, not cliché, events and having it explain the personality of the character. For the first part, you can only rely on your imagination and good sense. Not much to say about it, except one thing - the "dark and troubled past" thing? Don't. It's so boring and stale now, it's not even funny. For the second part of the requirement - think. Think logically. Think about what event would lead to what. I know logical thinking isn't always easy for artistic types, but practice makes perfect, it's going to be extremely useful in the future, I can promise you that!

Well, that's the gist of it. I'm sure there are more points I could elaborate on, but I can't think of anything right now. Feel free to ask any questions on blasphemy43@gmail.com. Cheers!