Mary Sues and How to Avoid Them

Mary Sue

I don’t think I’ve seen this Topic here, and hell knows it’s a very important one.

You just got a fic going, a fanfic of course, can be for Harry Potter, Lord Of the Rings, Twilight (which I personally don’t respect at all) or even a band. And your character is a teen female, amazingly gorgeous though she doesn’t knows that, which has had a tragic past, is awesome at everything, everyone likes her except the common enemy of the main characters and of course ends up falling in love with the main character.

If your character fits that description you’ve got a case of Mary Sue. Which is at the least, every grave…

Mary Sue Symptoms

Remember kids, a character with realistic personality and background is worth tons!

You've got a typo in your intro, a very grave typo.

Even better! Take The Mary-Sue Litmus Test!

It's not always accurate, meaning if you take it for your character and it tells you she is a Sue (or that he is a Stu) you shouldn't automatically flip out. However, it does help you to realize things you can do to improve your character along the way, and so is as least helpful in that aspect.

Oh, Audrey.

I took that test, it's very long by the way, and I got an 5. Yay?

One of my characters from a really old, seventh frade stories was a major mary-sue. I took the Mary-Sue Litmus test and got a 51.

pfft... terrible. I'm so happy I've improved. :XD

Mary-Sue. She sucks.

Edit: to the person that started this thread... "knows" should be know. I just thought I'd let you know. ahahah pun. I think.

I used to write Mary Sues out the ass.
Original characters aren't one of my strong points to start with, but at least now they aren't Mary Sues.

Jinxeh:

Even better! Take The Mary-Sue Litmus Test!

I got a five for Lexie in Baby in the Closet.

13 for Jackie Flores from No Man's Land. I consider it rather astounding, because the Gerard Way thing should have added way more points, but the 'redeeming' part at the end helped out a little bit. But hey, 0-16 means no to the character being a Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu, so I'm cool with it. :lol:

I'm always worrying about Mary-Sue's and I try really hard to make sure my characters are as un-Sue-ish as I can make them.

Surprisingly, Cora from Snowglobes scored 11 on that Sue test.
:tehe:

Jared Way from Have Kids, Then We'll Talk.

17-21

Probably not a Mary-Sue, although a character can go either way at this point. Fanfiction writers should pay attention to ensure that their characters aren't getting too Sue-ish. For an RPG or original fiction character, however, you're probably perfectly fine.

-

Not too shabby :tehe:

Shay got an eleven.

Jack [for a WIP] got a two.

Snake got a nine. Thank God...
That boy is no Mary Sue :file:

Ashley got a two. :cute: *doting parent mode*

n old character of mine got a -9. I didn't even know that was possible. :think:

Shannon Way got a 21.
I still object to the idea that he may be a Gary-Stu.

Yay~ Clyde got 11~ And Vanadia got -2? XD What?

Aahh... Mary Sues... I think we've all made a couple at one point, I know I have X'D Glad those days are over~ Though I think some authors on this site may need to take that test... Just saying xO

Thankfully I've never created a Sue character, but really, the whole Mary Sue battle kind-of annoys me. Some really awesome stories have Mary-Sues in them. Take Harry Potter for example, Hermoine would have been trashed on here for being a Sue. She's really smart, a talented magician, pretty, skinny, and bags a canon character (Ron). Yet, some people still regard her as a favorite character.

Idk, sometimes I find that anything a character does can be regarded as Sueish and the opinion can get quite silly at times. I don't write directly thinking about if my character is a Mary Sue because she's actually clumsy or not. Instead I try to concentrate on making a realistic character by means of justifying her actions and personality. I mean, if everybody wrote all their main characters with no Mary-Sue traits whatsoever there would be no variety, not to mention all the characters would be pretty much the same.

Rose Red:

Thankfully I've never created a Sue character, but really, the whole Mary Sue battle kind-of annoys me. Some really awesome stories have Mary-Sues in them. Take Harry Potter for example, Hermione would have been trashed on here for being a Sue. She's really smart, a talented magician, pretty, skinny, and bags a canon character (Ron). Yet, some people still regard her as a favorite character.

Idk, sometimes I find that anything a character does can be regarded as Sueish and the opinion can get quite silly at times. I don't write directly thinking about if my character is a Mary Sue because she's actually clumsy or not. Instead I try to concentrate on making a realistic character by means of justifying her actions and personality. I mean, if everybody wrote all their main characters with no Mary-Sue traits whatsoever there would be no variety, not to mention all the characters would be pretty much the same.

I do, to a point, agree. But then, think about Hermione for a second. It took a few books, and therefore quite a few hundred pages before she really started becoming the pretty character we got to know, and she didn't get Ron until the end of the series, and several-thousand pages. (Though it never stated her as being thin; that's just movie canon speaking there, though I have no doubt she was thin.) She started out as a small, bushy-haired, buck-toothed little kid that had little to no social skills - she became a more likable character over time. Very rarely is a character in fanfic able to "become" a Mary-Sue over time, after improving themselves so slowly. When they start off perfect, and therefore don't need that character development - that's where the line is drawn.

Also take into account her flaws. For all she does well, and exceedingly so, she has just as many flaws that make her human. She can be rash, temperamental, jealous, and she doesn't always make the right decision pending whatever situation she's in. She's a brilliant person, but once again...not so good, socially. The author of a Mary-Sue might throw a flaw in here or there simply for the sake of there being flaws (such as, say, her being implausibly well-liked, but hey - she's also clumsy, therefore it's a flaw, so she's suddenly less perfect! Yeah, it doesn't work that way...) but it's never quite that believable.

I agree, a canon-Sue can work, but it's very rare. (I think that Princess Cimorene from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles is a perfect example of this.) Not even some of our favorite and well-known published authors can pull it off every single time. As such, it's just easier to avoid them as a whole.

Tamara Green from Holding His Hand Like a Brand New Kite got a 12.
Scarlet Leto got a 20. Not bad, considering her character needs more development at this stage. :think:

Jinxeh:

I do, to a point, agree. But then, think about Hermione for a second. It took a few books, and therefore quite a few hundred pages before she really started becoming the pretty character we got to know, and she didn't get Ron until the end of the series, and several-thousand pages. (Though it never stated her as being thin; that's just movie canon speaking there, though I have no doubt she was thin.) She started out as a small, bushy-haired, buck-toothed little kid that had little to no social skills - she became a more likable character over time. Very rarely is a character in fanfic able to "become" a Mary-Sue over time, after improving themselves so slowly. When they start off perfect, and therefore don't need that character development - that's where the line is drawn.

Also take into account her flaws. For all she does well, and exceedingly so, she has just as many flaws that make her human. She can be rash, temperamental, jealous, and she doesn't always make the right decision pending whatever situation she's in. She's a brilliant person, but once again...not so good, socially. The author of a Mary-Sue might throw a flaw in here or there simply for the sake of there being flaws (such as, say, her being implausibly well-liked, but hey - she's also clumsy, therefore it's a flaw, so she's suddenly less perfect! Yeah, it doesn't work that way...) but it's never quite that believable.

I agree, a canon-Sue can work, but it's very rare. (I think that Princess Cimorene from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles is a perfect example of this.) Not even some of our favorite and well-known published authors can pull it off every single time. As such, it's just easier to avoid them as a whole.

True, very true. I guess I'm just a little irriated over the whole Sue thing because I've talked to one to many people who think that any pretty, smart, etc female sucks because they have three Mary Sue traits and are generally normal. I guess it's all up to interpritation, and what the reader prefers when they read a story. I've never actually heard of the Enchanted Forest Cronicles before, so I'm sorry that I don't know what you're talking about.

Would Bella from the Twilight series be considered a Mary Sue? Because she annoys the hell out of me. She's a dofus and still gets everything she wanted/needed, plus the "perfect" man. Yeah, she's clumsy, but apparently every boy loves her....

Something that I've found that makes life easier is to write characters with realistic expectations for them. Think about how believeable they would be to know in real life. It's more likely for a person to have one major talent than multiple ones, but there are always exceptions to the rule. It may sound creepy, but I try to think about what I would regard them as if I knew them in real life :XD

I didn't think Hermione is anything like a Mary Sue. She's supposed to be sweet and nice but she's also supposed to be a bit annoying, a know it all, and even though she is pretty she was never described that way ... she was supposed to have bushy hair and big teeth XD. (not that that isn't pretty but you know, certainly not a Sue type trait).