MarySue My previous entry prompted

MarySue
My previous entry prompted a question about what a MarySue is. There’s a GREAT essay at Bad Fanfic! No Biscuit! which postulates that a MarySue’s real problem is that she’s just a version of the author plucked straight from the author’s fantasy life. Regular characters contain elements of the author, but have been pureed by the process of character development. Not so the MarySue. She is Perfect (or at least she has only endearing flaws).
I loathe MarySues, partly because I have to work so hard not to write them myself (my first ever fanfic had one, unfortunately).
I adore metafic about MarySues, though. My favorite at the moment is here.