Signs Your Fictional Character is a Mary Sue

[author_by_night]

So, guys? There's a problem. Her name is Mary Sue.

She has invaded our shows. Our books. Our movies. It's becoming a real problem.

Below are some signs that a fictional character is a Mary Sue. If you're writing her. stop immediately. If you've come across her, run the other way and DO NOT STOP. At least not until the next episode.

Poll

Comments

[katmarajade]

HA! Love it. So true. *eye rolls* How dare there be women doing anything other than fretting and looking pretty on the sidelines?

[ragnarok_08]

Oh my god, that is so true!!

[ani_bester]

OMG that is so true now.

It's funny, I am old enough to remember when Mary Sue just meant "I am seeking out fanfic to read about these specific characters and not an OC. And no matter how cool, if I wanted an original character story, I would not have been looking up fanfic"

And somehow that became your wrote an OC who is female ewww.
I remember writing a rant piece way back in the A-Team fandom about how any OC female character who hooked up with one of the guys was branded a Mary Sue, when LITERALLY every episode consisted of an OC female character who probably hooks up with one of the guys.
But dar eto do an actual fic like the canon and it was a horrible Mary Sue story 0.o Talk about insane!

[author_by_night]

I feel like I came right in between the two meanings (first discovering fandom in 2000). There was a difference between a fanfic OC and a fanfic Mary Sue, but the line was blurry, and with some being more strict and others being more lenient. Then you had Canon Sues, and then suddenly "Mary Sue" started being any female character ever.

(Although in fairness, even with fanfic OCs it got like that with some Litmus Tests.)

I remember writing a rant piece way back in the A-Team fandom about how any OC female character who hooked up with one of the guys was branded a Mary Sue, when LITERALLY every episode consisted of an OC female character who probably hooks up with one of the guys.
But dar eto do an actual fic like the canon and it was a horrible Mary Sue story 0.o Talk about insane!... yeah, really. I never got stuff like that. Or with Harry Potter, when OCs were never allowed to be related to anyone. I understand in theory, there were way too many awful Long Lost Sibling fanfics, and I didn't like fics where the family members/

[nightfalltwen]

For me, Mary Sue is only in regards to fanfic. There's a great writeup by Seanan McGuire about Mary and why she cannot exist in her own canon.

She can be poorly written and a terrible character, of course. No question about that. But poorly written doesn't automatically mean MS.

http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/396047.html

[author_by_night]

What a great essay! I think I remember reading it around the time it was first posted.

She can be poorly written and a terrible character, of course. No question about that. But poorly written doesn't automatically mean MS.

Exactly.