Mary Sues (and How to Avoid Them)

"Mary Sues (and Gary Stus) ... are essentially characters who have no weaknesses or flaws in their universe. I say 'in their universe' because, while the characters in-universe (perhaps reluctantly) accept that they're flawless, we can see that they're actually annoying, whiny, self-centered, melodramatic, and a lot of other unkind adjectives."

I apologize for reusing the quote I used last week, but otherwise I wouldn't have known where to begin. As an aspiring writer, I have a particular hatred for Mary Sues. Many of us have written these characters unintentionally and have unwittingly let them corrupt what might otherwise be good writing.

The common trait Mary Sues possess is their uncanny level of "perfection" in what they are assigned to be in their stories. However, like evil ice cream flavors from Hell, Mary Sues have a variety of personas they can take, such as...

1. The Common Sue. These are the good guy Sues, the heroines, the main characters. They're beautiful, smart, funny, have lots of friends, have guys pining over them, and other such traits. It's basically the same thing if they're a Gary Stu, only gender-reversed. If the Common Sue has any problem it's that they can't deal with their perfection and may go on long angst rants over their gorgeous figures, millions of friends, and hundreds of admirers. After all, who says being perfect is easy?
2. The Godly Sue. These are the "chosen ones" of their stories and also often take on the main character role. They usually possess most (if not all) traits of Common Sues, but these are given the added bonus of possessing otherworldly powers or natural abilities beyond those of their peers (provided their peers have powers to begin with) that make them nigh invincible.
3. The PMS Sue. These Sues have all the traits of Common Sues, but instead of having infinite patience, they have none. As their name implies, they're always PMSing. Anyone who gets in her way is easily a goner, she thinks the boys who all adore her are pains, and she'll rebel just to show that she's a badass and is willing to flaunt it.
4. The Not-Sue Sue. These are what happen when the author tries so hard not to make a Sue that they create a character whose perfection is fired in the opposite direction. These have no positive attributes whatsoever. They're remorseless. They're dishonest. They're so ugly their mother wouldn't even love them, but then again they've probably already murdered her so that doesn't matter. They're so perfectly flawed that they fall into a Sue category all their own.

I remember reading from a certain author once that "there's nothing more boring than a perfect hero[ine]." They've basically nailed it there. "Perfect" characters, regardless of gender, status within the framework of the story, or otherwise are annoying and boring reads.

Curing the Disease

If Mary Sues are the disease, then what is the cure? The one-sentence solution is to balance your characters. Here are a couple methods I follow when I create any character -- hero to villain, male to female, main to supporting cast -- and mold them in such a way to avoid the dreadful consequences that come with the unwitting construction of a Mary Sue.

1. Keep track of the positive attributes you apply to your characters. Every character, regardless of status, should have "good" qualities -- these can show your character is ethical, is particularly skilled at a certain trade, or more. Maybe they have a soft spot for dogs or volunteer at a homeless shelter, or perhaps they're highly skilled at mathematics or archery. Everybody is good at something and/or is innately a good person; by giving a character a few positive qualities, you make them more believable.
2. Keep track of the negative attributes you apply to your characters. While everyone should have good qualities, nobody is perfect. To make a character believable, they should have weaknesses -- they can show your character is innately flawed, is clumsy or unskilled at a certain trade, or more. Perhaps they've killed a man or are schizophrenic, or maybe they can't read or are afraid of cameras. People have areas where they fall short and their written characters should be no exception.
3. Maintain a balance. This doesn't mean your characters have to be 50% "good" and 50% "bad." But always pay close attention to the traits that make your character good or bad or the things that they are good or bad at. A 40-60 split is okay, but anything beyond that can be a little iffy. Once you reach 30-70 territory, I suggest adding extra positive or negative attributes as the case may be to achieve the final balance you seek. These can be little things. Make them a good basket-weaver or deathly terrified of long words. Not only do these balance your characters, but they add a certain level of quirkiness that humans naturally have and you make them more believable.

Still having trouble deciding if your character is a Mary Sue or Gary Stu? Here's the source I use: The Mary Sue Litmus Test that's found on Ponyland Press. I've found it's pretty good to help you judge whether your character is too "Sue-ish" or at an appropriate balance of good and bad characteristics. I highly recommend it.

~ Dreamnorn

Self-Inserts in Fanfiction

It's perfectly fine for someone to write about themselves. It's also acceptable to use original characters (OCs) in fanfiction pieces. That being said, what exactly is so terrible about writing yourself into a fanfiction and being a character set in a favorite fictional universe? Self-insert writers, as they are called, receive a lot of hatred from their audience. Where does this hate come from?

People like to embellish themselves at times. In real published autobiographies, depending on tone, seeing things that are obviously fake can be interpreted as being either funny or arrogant (although most serious autobiography writers attempt to keep things honest). In self-insert fanfiction, the writers rarely play these embellishments for laughs. Authors will often imbue their self-inserts with phenomenal looks, near invincibility, and perhaps even "powers" beyond those of their peers. To add insult to this injury, they will attempt to pass the self-inserts off as original characters when they truly aren't. They evolve into Mary Sues.

I'll cover Mary Sues (and Gary Stus) and their characteristics more next week, but they are essentially characters who have no weaknesses or flaws in their universe. I say "in their universe" because, while the characters in-universe (perhaps reluctantly) accept that they're flawless, we can see that they're actually annoying, whiny, self-centered, melodramatic, and a lot of other unkind adjectives. The sad truth is that self-inserts often transform into the Mary Sues and Gary Stus of fiction.

While this is the biggest issue with self-inserts, even ones who are more true to the author's real traits can often fall into these literary "traps" that can only end in aggravation from their audiences. Therefore...

Self-Insert Situations to Avoid

1. Don't make them the main character. When people read fanfiction, they expect to follow the non-canon adventures of canon characters in a certain fandom. Even if you attempt to pass off a self-insert as an original character, it's easy to see through that. Besides, they couldn't care less what you would do if you were part of this universe.
2. Don't make them the love interest to a canon character. "Shipping," or romantically pairing two characters within a fandom together, is a terrifying force to reckon with. Your audience already has an idea of who they ship with whom and they tend to dislike rival ships, particularly those in which they can find no basis whatsoever (with the exception of crack pairings, which are meant to be funny). If you're serious about your self-insert being a love interest, you're in trouble. Even pairing yourself with a minor character can breed hatred.
3. Don't make them the main character AND the love interest to a canon character. That's literary suicide.
4. Don't make them be blood-related to a canon character in any way. This includes but is not limited to being a main character's child, parent, cousin, or sibling. I know how cool it is to imagine oneself being related to a total badass or hunk or whatever strikes your fancy, but for whatever reason it grates on people's nerves to see someone write themselves in as these characters' family members, so this is best avoided as well.

With all these common mistakes that turn self-inserts into grave warnings against reading an author's fanfiction, why would anyone write a self-insert fic? It can be hard to say what might compel a writer to create an entire fictional story around themselves and these characters in the situations mentioned above. Can self-insert fanfictions work at all? In most cases, they tend to scare away readers simply with the summary.

This does not mean self-insert must be avoided at all possible costs. There are multiple scenarios in which self-insertion can work well and invoke positive emotional responses from the readers. From my experience, these are the criteria under which they fall...

Self-Insert Situation Ideas

1. Don't make them the center of a long-running story. Self-inserts work best when they are placed in a situation where they can enter a story and exit just as easily. They should not be main characters by any means, but they are welcome to be minor (perhaps recurring) characters or even a character on a different timeline or universe parallel to the fanfiction.
2. Keep their appearances short. "Short" can be relative, depending on the kind of story, but never keep them in for more than one chapter at a time. An off-topic chapter about the author trying to keep their characters on-task might be funny as a comedy break for a more serious fanfiction. In a more comedic-oriented story, a self-insert could show for brief scenes to help or hinder the characters, remind them they're in a story, and generally serve as a source for fourth wall-breaking jokes. (Such as in this Fair-Haired Adventure Seekers fancomic for The Legend of Zelda.) This directly leads to...
   
3. Never take a self-insert seriously. It's already a funny idea to throw yourself into another character's universe to begin with -- why not roll with it? Of course, you're welcome to satirize a more serious tone with a self-insert, but actual seriousness makes you look like an amateurish fanfiction writer as opposed to a fanfiction writer who decided to throw in an extra joke to lighten the mood or keep the story rolling. Along these lines, having a character threaten the author is an easy way to amuse your audience. Here's a famous example of this in action.
4. Stay true to your flaws. All good characters have flaws and, however briefly you may be a character in a fanfiction, you should have flaws too. Characters flaws are often pointed out (either subtly or plainly) and played with in stories for plot, and since you're making a self-insert, he or she should be no different. A lot of funny material can come from a character discovering an author's weakness or perhaps even blackmailing the self-insert.

Self-inserts can work. While I don't recommend them to be an actual plot device (unless your story is a comedy which breaks the fourth wall), they can work for side-plots involving the characters interacting with the writer who is in the story as the writer. They aren't necessarily in the story as much as they are a part of what creates the story, which is true -- you're the fanfiction author, you're the writer, and you're your own self-insert. Just be careful with this character, as it can be a lot like handling literary fire: if you stop being cautious for one second, you'll drop the torch and the entire fanfiction will go up in flames.

Next week for avoiding Mary Sues,

~ Dreamnorn

P.S.: Couldn't find a good picture for this one, but don't worry. There will be plenty of images for the next update.

The Name Game

When someone names their child in real life, what’s their motivation for choosing a name? As far as I can tell, we choose names for our pets and children based on how they sound. Sometimes parents may research meanings behind names – my folks had known that Avalon means “island in mists” before they named me as if they knew I could become a contented loner. But not everyone is as careful as my parents were; if you name your kid Rovino, you’re calling him a mistake (as in Italian that means “I ruin”).

Now jump into the world of fiction. Suddenly everyone’s name has meaning regardless of whether their parents or guardians knew it would be significant to their child somehow or not (and, more often than not, they didn't). Such names could highlight the physical or emotional. They could be ironic. And like any statement, some names are subtle while others are less so.

Perhaps the greatest offender of the physically-classified names I’ve seen is the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. Every feral cat in her main cast has some kind of identifying name. Graystripe is a gray tabby. Longtail has a long tail. One-eye actually has two eyes – but don’t worry, one of them is blind so he can keep his name. For these woodland cats, I see no fault in this naming system until you encounter the more odd names. With all these visuals, what comes to mind when you hear “Mossears” and “Berrynose?” I personally see one cat with ear fungus and another with a nose that looks like it was stung by a bee.

There are also several series that extensively use the obvious personality-based name. The first that jumps to mind is Care Bears. While I didn’t grow up with them, I’m pretty sure I can infer a lot about their personalities (little there may be) just from their names. Friend Bear is friendly, Secret Bear keeps secrets, and their lion friend, Braveheart, is brave.

You hear that? Even the lion from Care Bears is braver than you.
(Photo taken by Brian Negan)

In terms of subtlety, some series names certain characters more obviously while others you find a connection with only after getting to know the character first. The newest addition to the My Little Pony franchise, Friendship is Magic, is an example. Twilight Sparkle is a night owl (hence the “twilight”) and studies magic (hence the “sparkle”), but this isn’t innately obvious when you encounter her name for the first time. But then there are also names like Fluttershy, who’s a shy pegasus. Some of these characters are exactly as they sound; others you need to dig a bit deeper to learn about.

Some series play with having subtle and obvious names on the same character. In the anime Axis Powers Hetalia, all major characters are personified countries. They’re usually referred to by their country title (Russia, Japan, etc.), but every character also has a “real name.” Not only does each name match the ethnicity of the country in question, but they all carry a significance relating to their personalities or histories. For example, North Italy’s name is Feliciano, which means “happy” or “lucky” (which references his personality). Germany’s name is Ludwig, which means “famous war” (which references WWII – the era in which Hetalia mainly takes place). I could go on and discuss the significance of any of their names, really, but that would take forever because the cast is so large.

Before I stop babbling about some of the naming techniques of my favorite series (Care Bears doesn’t count), there’s one more naming convention that people enjoy playing with: the ironic name. An iconic example is naming a ginormous elephant, dog, or monster “Tiny” for comedic value (or a dog like this "Jumbo"). While this type of irony is often used for humor (as in pun-based names), ironic names can also carry a serious tone. The main character of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller has a dream so high, it’s unachievable. His last name is “Loman” – a grave foreshadowing for the fate of his dream that he has worked so desperately for.

When it comes to naming techniques in your own stories, it always helps to think about the kind of story you’re telling and the audience of your work. For example, works written for young to preteen children often have characters with more obvious physically- or emotionally-based names while adult works tend to keep things subtle. Stories for teenagers can go either way depending on the effect you wish to convey. Subtle or obvious irony can work in anything, but be careful how often you use it so that you don’t dilute its effects. Finding the perfect naming system can be a tough decision, but when done right, it can go a long way to adding meaning and significance to what you write.

The one who forgot to mention punny names,

Dreamnorn

What is This Nonsense?

...Or, more accurately, what will be this nonsense? What are my goals? Surely I must have one if I desire to post a blog on the Internet, right?

Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself.

You can call me Dreamnorn (my screen name) or Avalon (my first name). I'm sure the "About Me" subsection might have caused you to raise an eyebrow, but I can guarantee that I'm not a dragon (although that would be epic). It's just that dragons are extremely cool, so referring to myself as one makes me feel awesome even though I'm certainly not anything remotely close. In actuality, I am but a humble a writer who attends OCHSA. As of this post, I'm a junior.

Boy, someday I'm going to look back at the tone of this post and laugh. Meanwhile...

This blog's quest is to convey observations, opinions, and recommendations based on deep truths that I've uncovered over the course of my not-quite career as a creative writer. I may not be published outside of the great and glorious Interwebz yet, but through years of hardcore observational research, I've become somewhat genre savvy. I've discovered several trends that I would love to bring to light, discuss why they're so effective in their given mediums, and attempt to aid writers by providing prompts based on the subject of each post.

Why am I doing this piece-by-piece in a blogging format? There's too much to cover. And believe me, if everything was forced upon you at once, you might just go mad from the revelation. I know that if I suddenly had a "eureka" moment about every trope and trend in literature at the same time, my mind would have --

KRAKOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

...Yeah. That.

So, ultimately, those are my plans for this little blog. I hope that you'll enjoy all the wisdom drivel I'll have to share. Hasta la vista, bloggers!

~ Dreamnorn's Explosive Intro