Departing From The Norm (GASP!)

Hey, everyone. Lida here. You may have noticed that I haven't posted in this blog lately, mostly because I haven't been feeling well. I entered an Original Character contest on a site a frequent called Court-Records, and thus, I'm inspired to change topics and depart from my normal posts. Instead of my usual "Read Or Stay Away" posts, I'm going to make a list of what I look for in fanfics that star OCs (and even those that don't). 

•  When I look at an OC, I want to see one that stands out. They could do so with their personality, how they relate and speak to other characters, etc. If I'm writing an OC, I don't want people to go, "Oh, it's just another -insert canon character here-" or "Oh, it's just another Mary Sue/Gary Stu", and when I'm reading an OC-centric fanfiction, I don't want to have either of those thoughts. 
• Grammar and spelling should be decent in any fanfiction. I'm not looking for it to be perfect. It's not like we're professional writers with an editor to look over our work. I'm just saying that giving your fic a once-over before posting it somewhere would be a good idea.
• Canon characters acting in-character, or, if there are no canon characters and they're all OCs, that they are all consistent. A way over-the-top, emotional character shouldn't magically become calm, cool, and collected. If a canon character has to act out-of-character for your plot to work, I say, get a new plot. A canon character briefly acting OOC for one scene is forgivable, but for the entire story is bad.  Speaking of canon characters...
• In an OC-centric fanfiction, canon characters shouldn't just randomly be thrown in for no reason. If they serve no purpose in your story, then why have them there in the first place? 
• Finally, and most importantly, I'm looking for an OC-centric fanfiction that makes an effort to follow all of these things. If I notice you make an effort, it doesn't matter if you fall short on all of these things in my opinion, I will still read over what you've written and probably enjoy it. ^_^ 

Thanks for reading,

 ~ Lida.