I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has problems with LJ user tags. :)
Actually, I think one of the problems is that the Mary-Sue test (you know, where you get points for relationship to existing characters, special features, getting off with key main character, etc) produces a high percentage of yes answers with regard to Maud...
Hm. When I first took the Mary Sue Litmus Test (HP version), Maud scored 12. I took it again just now, giving Maud a point for everything that could possibly be said might relate to her (including some things I really don't think do relate), and got 17. That makes her "borderline... can go either way depending on the author's skill" at worst, according to the score key. Which test did you take?
I think what probably rings people's bells, though, is that some of the points Maud does score are for characteristics usually regarded as notorious: Durmstrang exchange student, Snape likes her, the story is told from her POV, etc. Of course, when I wrote the story I had no idea that Durmstrang exchange students were overdone. (I'm not even sure they were overdone at that point, actually, though they've certainly become so since.)
All of which is to say that Mary Sue seems to be in the eye of the beholder, and what sets off alarms for some readers doesn't necessarily bother others. For my part, I can't stand HP fics where the OCs have beautiful and/or trendy first names, especially when coupled with merely ordinary or (worse) equally fancy last names; it wreaks havoc with my suspension of disbelief, because JKR just doesn't do that. So if somebody writes a Snapefic where the heroine's name is "Shaylana Andrani" or "Brittany Hamilton-Smith", they're going to have to work exceptionally hard to get me not to scream and throw my monitor across the room. Whereas other readers, I know, can assimilate such names with barely a blink, but will balk when told that Shaylana or Brittany is exceptionally good at Charms and has captured the heart of Sirius Black, or whatever...
no subject
Actually, I think one of the problems is that the Mary-Sue test (you know, where you get points for relationship to existing characters, special features, getting off with key main character, etc) produces a high percentage of yes answers with regard to Maud...
Hm. When I first took the Mary Sue Litmus Test (HP version), Maud scored 12. I took it again just now, giving Maud a point for everything that could possibly be said might relate to her (including some things I really don't think do relate), and got 17. That makes her "borderline... can go either way depending on the author's skill" at worst, according to the score key. Which test did you take?
I think what probably rings people's bells, though, is that some of the points Maud does score are for characteristics usually regarded as notorious: Durmstrang exchange student, Snape likes her, the story is told from her POV, etc. Of course, when I wrote the story I had no idea that Durmstrang exchange students were overdone. (I'm not even sure they were overdone at that point, actually, though they've certainly become so since.)
All of which is to say that Mary Sue seems to be in the eye of the beholder, and what sets off alarms for some readers doesn't necessarily bother others. For my part, I can't stand HP fics where the OCs have beautiful and/or trendy first names, especially when coupled with merely ordinary or (worse) equally fancy last names; it wreaks havoc with my suspension of disbelief, because JKR just doesn't do that. So if somebody writes a Snapefic where the heroine's name is "Shaylana Andrani" or "Brittany Hamilton-Smith", they're going to have to work exceptionally hard to get me not to scream and throw my monitor across the room. Whereas other readers, I know, can assimilate such names with barely a blink, but will balk when told that Shaylana or Brittany is exceptionally good at Charms and has captured the heart of Sirius Black, or whatever...