I started writing the main section of my novel for NaNo and I found that the main character talks to herself a lot. Some of you may remember me saying here that I do this as well. She's just come out that way, I've not done it on purpose, but now I'm conscious that I mustn't write her like me...or more to the point how I'd like to be!! *lol* She musn't be a 'Mary Sue'!
I've heard of the name a few times before, often in connection with fan-fiction, but I thought I'd look into it a bit more.
'Mary Sue' - A female character who is so perfect that she is annoying. The name originated in a very short Star Trek story that mocked the sort of female characters who showed up in fanfiction. It usually refers to original female characters put into fanfiction, but can refer to any character.
Mary-Sues are characters who are usually extraordinarily gorgeous, amazingly talented, unusually powerful, and exceedingly attractive to whoever the author has a crush on. They often possess ridiculously fancy and pretentious first names -- Angel, Raven, Jewel, Lorelei Bianca Julia Marizza Snape -- and are very, very annoying.
This is a test I found to check if your character is a 'Mary Sue'.
And if you decide you do want to have a Mary Sue in your book then this could be quite useful ;-)
I'm Starr Devereaux, with Silver Topaz eyes, hair the colour of Tousled Mahogany and my signature scent is Ivory Night-Blossom. My paranormal power is Time Travel and my specialised skill is Expert Pilot. My distinguishing marks are Pointed Ears and my newly revealed relationship to a major character is that I'm Tyr Anasazi's Watcher.
So now you know! :-D
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Writing A Novel - My Trials And Tribulations Along The Way....
5 comments:
This is a great post. I can see how tempting it is to write a Mary Sue character and how easy it is to write characters who think and act as the author.
Very common trap. It's hard to write wearing somebody else's hat, isn't it?
Rand is right that it must be hard to writing about another character. When I had done writing for myself I at times made up characters that I would want to be. It was easier that way for me. It was like a secret person that I wanted to be.
Although my daughter's name isn't Mary Sue it is Amy Sue. My husband wanted to name her after my real birth name in which was Debra or Debbie and then add Sue..Debbie Sue...I was like no way.
my name IS Mary-Sue and i'm not so sure i like it anymore!!! i'd never heard of this before. ick!
I don't think there is anything wrong with a MarySue, as long as she is interesting. One of my favourite authors is Robert B Parker, and if Spenser isn't just an idealized PI version of Parker? Same with most writers. But I really enjoyed this post and it was very informative!
Thanks :-)
I think as long as you write her/him knowing that the character could become a MS, you can be aware of any changes you might want to avoid it.
And as Toodler says, sometimes they are good characters to have.
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