Mary Sue eh?
I've been thinking about writing lately. I haven't been particularly motivated to write, haven't had the time, nor the desire, but I have taken some time out to reread some of the stories I've written and am writing. Besides noticing that my writing style usually involves angst and complex characters, I also found myself more closely evaluating characters and exploring this...almost curse word type term "Mary Sue".
What is Mary Sue? My understanding of it is that it is basically any character readers don't receive well because of various variables. I'm simplifying the term, of course. Still, I've looked over the general Litmus test and started to feel like I was exploring a minefield. I find it all very confining trying to adhere to this Anti-Mary Sue climate. I started to realize that most every character is some form of a Mary Sue. I look around and see Mary Sues walking through every story I've read and written.
Every thing that has the potential to make a great story seems to exist within the confines of Mary Sue. The tragic characters, the unbelievable characters, the gritty, the beautiful, the heroes and the villains all seem to fall into this Litmus test. Is there no room for the extraordinary anymore? Have we all lost our ability to suspend or disbelief?
I try to introduce original characters into my fanfiction stories as often as possible. Truly, I'd like to begin shifting my attention more towards original works and retire from the fanfiction world. I'd say, that overall most of my original characters have been well received. But, since this whole Mary Sue concept floats around in the back of my head while I write, I feel less compelled to explore characters as much as I'd like to. Then, I give myself a good knock on the head, ask myself whether I'm writing from my desire for readers or from my desire to tell a story and then proceed with writing characters that are either received as Mary Sue and immediately dismissed or are welcomed as part of the world I am creating.
So, what's the point of all this, you might ask. Well, I find that the fear of creating a Mary Sue lingers in a lot of writer's minds and poses a real threat. I think it has the potential to keep writers from making a good story a great story. I think it closes down creativity, at times, since to be honest, all of us writers who publicly post have a deep down desire to be liked. We want comments, reviews, feedback, interaction. And, sometimes to get that, it means writing a story that refrains from risk and stagnates in medocrity.
The only question I'm left with, is my genuine curiosity as to whether open-mindedness is fading away from fanfiction. And does that truly stifle creativity? I don't know. Maybe you can answer that question for me.
What is Mary Sue? My understanding of it is that it is basically any character readers don't receive well because of various variables. I'm simplifying the term, of course. Still, I've looked over the general Litmus test and started to feel like I was exploring a minefield. I find it all very confining trying to adhere to this Anti-Mary Sue climate. I started to realize that most every character is some form of a Mary Sue. I look around and see Mary Sues walking through every story I've read and written.
Every thing that has the potential to make a great story seems to exist within the confines of Mary Sue. The tragic characters, the unbelievable characters, the gritty, the beautiful, the heroes and the villains all seem to fall into this Litmus test. Is there no room for the extraordinary anymore? Have we all lost our ability to suspend or disbelief?
I try to introduce original characters into my fanfiction stories as often as possible. Truly, I'd like to begin shifting my attention more towards original works and retire from the fanfiction world. I'd say, that overall most of my original characters have been well received. But, since this whole Mary Sue concept floats around in the back of my head while I write, I feel less compelled to explore characters as much as I'd like to. Then, I give myself a good knock on the head, ask myself whether I'm writing from my desire for readers or from my desire to tell a story and then proceed with writing characters that are either received as Mary Sue and immediately dismissed or are welcomed as part of the world I am creating.
So, what's the point of all this, you might ask. Well, I find that the fear of creating a Mary Sue lingers in a lot of writer's minds and poses a real threat. I think it has the potential to keep writers from making a good story a great story. I think it closes down creativity, at times, since to be honest, all of us writers who publicly post have a deep down desire to be liked. We want comments, reviews, feedback, interaction. And, sometimes to get that, it means writing a story that refrains from risk and stagnates in medocrity.
The only question I'm left with, is my genuine curiosity as to whether open-mindedness is fading away from fanfiction. And does that truly stifle creativity? I don't know. Maybe you can answer that question for me.