Sob Stories

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Sad stories do NOT equal sob stories.

I've noticed that many authors tend to jump on the 'this is a sob story!' ship when there is only a small bump in an OC's background. No one has a perfect life, and these OC's are no exception, especially if you specifically ask for no Mary Sue's/Gary Stu's.

In order to make a character realistic, there has to be some sort of conflict in their background. (The most common example I notice) Just because a parent leaves the OC at some point in time, does not make their background a sob story. Just one parent leaving is sadly not uncommon. It happens all the time, all over the world. Something that is common (at least, in my mind) cannot be counted as being a sob story.

A sob story is when the applyer goes out of their way to make their OC have a hard life in order to receive sympathy from the author or other readers. Only one sad thing happening in an OC's life absolutely does not mean they have a sob story. It is when the writer uses a combination of different sad moments, when there seem to be no ups and the OC doesn't seem to grow from these situations, that it is a sob story.

A sad story is when something typical happens to an OC, such as a parent leaving, financial issues, bullying at school or even getting in a bad accident. All these things are common and are highly likely to have happened to at least one of your subscribers in real life.

Sob story example: The OC was when they were six by their uncle, bullied because they're really pretty by piers, disowned by parents for some ungodly reason, moves in with extremely poor relatives who abuse the OC and for whatever reason have a limp in their right leg.

Sad story example: The OC's father left and started a family with another woman and cut all contact off with his child(ren) and ex-wife, leaving them in financial issues due to the mother being a housewife and not having a job.

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If You Are Writing: Just because one small thing happened in an OC's background does NOT warrant you to call it a sob story and tell the writer to change it. Sad things happen to everyone, there is no such thing as a perfectly happy life. That is called a Mary Sue/Gary Stu, which you stated you did not want in your rules.

If You Are Applying: If something doesn't seem possible, or you are adding more than a couple sad things into an OC's life (and don't show any growth of character through it), congratulations, you created a sob story. Take some sadness away and try to sprinkle some happiness in there, alright?