How to Spot A Mary Sue - Comments

I really liked this and agreed with most everything you said except a little tweak on the whole name thing. Generally I will consider a character a Mary Sue if their name happens to match up with a physical characteristic (An Asian girl named Jade who just so happens to have green eyes) or their style/personality (a goth named Raven) or their impact on the world (a character Riot who just so happens to be followed by destruction). It's one thing if these were to be nicknames given by peers but I promise no parent in real life has enough foresight to name their children these sorts of names the day they're born (especially considering that most parents pick their child's name before the child is even born). It's one thing when you can pull this off realistically (like having hippie parents to explain a color or nature related name like Azure or Lotus example), but this rarely seems to be the case in much of what I read, and often character's will be formed more around a name than is realistic.

@ lozzieee wants.
Oh, great! I'm glad to hear it helped you so much. :)

I don't know if I agree with the name thing. I tend to punish characters with my own name more than those without, especially in fanfictions, perhaps as a combatant to treating them too well. Maybe it's subjective, I don't know.

I really enjoyed this article. I've been worried about my current OC for a while now, wondering if she seemed too perfect despite the short temper and ADHD. Now, I don't feel like she's too perfect. She does need more flaw, though, as does her love interest.

It was a very good article and I found it incredibly helpful to my own writing. I will be sharing this with my writing friends and sister so their characters become more fleshed out. Thank you, and well written!

I agree with the entire name thing. (Unless it's the main character from worst fanfiction ever penned: My Immortal). When I tell someone I want to have meaning behind my character's name, they give me a weird look and say, "That makes them a Mary Sue". NO, it's called SYMBOLISM.

Thank you for the article and the link to the Mary Sue test. I'm developing a character for a story I have in mind and was pleased that she wasn't a typical Mary Sue. (I answered truthfully, honest.)

Great article! Understood the point clearly, good job!

I liked this article; it was very factual and presented the idea of Mary Sues well. You did a nice job of explaining what a Mary Sue is, and I think that people would be able to fix their own using your tips. In particular, I liked the idea of contrast, though of course you'd need to ensure that the flaws make sense too-- not just contrast for contrast's sake--and that they are presented as readily as the "good points."
One thing, more about the opinion than the writing style: I disagree with what you say about a name not impacting a character. Maybe it has no meaning to the audience, but naming someone after yourself would change the way you view them as a writer (unless you're exceptionally objective). It would make you more careful around them, less inclined to kill them off if the plot demands (you might even change the plot to avoid that demand), and more inclined to get them into favorable situations. Honestly, in my experience, naming a character after you in fanfiction is nearly a guarantee of OC shipping--pairing them/you with your favorite person as wish fulfillment.
As a basic breakdown of Mary Sues, though, it was, again, quite good.
I hope that more people read this article so we can think about things like this!

I wouldn't say the idealized version of yourself is something that greatly impacts Mary Sues. All my own stories are grown from the person I want to be - and that person isn't a necessarily nice, healthy or a perfect person, but I don't feel as if my characters are Mary Sues/Gary Stu's. Though, this may only be in my own case.

Otherwise a nice, informative article; if a little opinionated. I would also suggest linking more 'Mary Sue tests' as the one you did link has reached it's bandwidth; giving a range of sites is always good.

This is something I don't see a lot of: a sympathetic look at Mary Sues. A lot of people are pretty unforgiving of people who have trouble with fully-fleshed characters. But you were informative and kind.

I love this article. Thanks for writing it- it's really helpful! Turns out I have created a few Mary sues :)

I'll be using this article as a reference for all my characters from now on!

I love this article :3 It's awesome. And the test was really fun.

Good article. (: test was fun.

Fantastic article. Extremely well-written and helpful. Definitely one of the best regarding the topic that I've seen