Mary Sues: What They Are, and How to Avoid Them

[Chevaleresse]

Thread is a work in progress; please don't post in it until I'm done. Bring up questions and such in the RP Chat Thread or a private message.

So, what's a Mary Sue?

The answer can vary, as there are many kinds of Sue. The best general definition I've come up with is that a Mary Sue is a character that is too perfect, too influential. This doesn't perfectly fit, but it will suffice for now.

You haven't answered the question. What makes a character a Mary Sue?

Lots of things can make a character a Sue, but the most important thing is that the character is highly improbable in the given universe. It's a combination of factors that create the monstrosity known as Mary Sue. I'll list these later.

So why is Mary Sue bad?

Mary Sues are toxic, whether they occur in a roleplay, fan fiction, or original fiction. Firstly, they're unrealistic. No one can relate to a character who is absolutely perfect. Second, the character is just plain not interesting. Mary Sue is perfect, so she can't develop. She doesn't change over the course of a story; she remains a constant spot of irritating perfection. Third, and most relevantly to this forum, Mary Sue commands all attention. She can do everything better than everyone else, so any other characters are relegated to cheerleading on the sidelines.

You haven't said anything specific about what makes a Sue.

Well, there are a lot of things that can contribute. I'll list the most relevant ones.

• Mary Sue has no flaws. Any flaws she might have are just hidden advantages.
• Many Mary Sues have unusually colored hair or eyes, especially for their universe. Most anime is exempt, with many canon characters having highly unrealistic hair colors naturally. Eyes, on the other hand, are not usually exempt. Violet eyes, while cool (and possible in real life) are a big one, followed closely by multicolored eyes.
• Katanas or other setting-inappropriate weapons. Especially dual-wielded weapons, which is highly impractical in real life for most weapons. Peasants don't dual wield katanas. Samurai didn't use claymores.
• People fall in love with Mary Sue for no particular reason, even if she's mean or even cruel to them from the reader's perspective.
• For this forum in particular, and I believe it's been mentioned before, the ability to talk to animals (or Pokemon.) While appropriate in certain settings, normal people can't talk to animals. Pokemon are a bit less of a stretch, and some are actually shown to talk to humans, but there is only one canon character who can talk to any Pokemon.
• Being closely related to a canon character, especially if Sue would be a strong influence on that person. If Cynthia had an older sister, she probably would have mentioned her at this point, especially if she was a strong influence.
• To be blunt, she's always smoking hot, or at least cute, regardless of the situation. Wash her down a sewage pipe? Disheveled beauty with surprisingly little smell.
• Everyone who says anything bad about Mary Sue ends up with some sort of misfortune befalling them, or the mere fact that they insult her is used to show how bad of a person they are.

What, so I can't make my character special?

Of course you can. An interesting character always has something remarkable about them, whether it's an ability to remain beautiful at all times, unusual perseverance, or unusually colored eyes. The real thing that makes a Mary Sue is a combination of factors, including an author's unwillingness to see the issue inherent to said character.

How do I make sure my character isn't a Sue, then?

Well, for one, people will let you know. Second, there's a reason that a lack of meaningful flaws is listed as the biggest factor in creating a Sue. Real people have flaws. So should your characters. Your character is unusually good-looking? Maybe they're extremely vain. Maybe they focus on their appearance to cover up deeper insecurities. Good at reading people and knowing the right thing to say? Maybe the character is actually very manipulative. Maybe they're nosy and cant keep out of people's business. Mary Sue isn't interesting because she doesn't have real flaws to balance out her abilities.

Edited February 6, 2014 by KingMurdoc

[Ojama Yellow]

Huh. I can't believe that I didn't know what a Sue was up until now. Good of you to make this thread, Murdoc.

(Doing this on phone is so damn hard -.-)

[Slicster]

*Cough* Kawaiihikaru owns the biggest Mary Sue known to human with her 11 tailed fox and warping from the Naruto world to Harry Potter and all the guys fall for her bullshit.

[rustytengo]

hey look at this to understand Mary Sue....oh and you bronys have fun as well.