leandraholmes

What exactly is a Mary-Sue and how can authors turn her into a well-developed original character?

Many of you writers who have developed original characters – both male and female – have probably asked themselves if their character was a Mary-Sue (or the male counter part Gary-Stu), and like I you probably haven't found a sufficient answer. I won't be giving you one as my opinion can't be measure for what the majority of people think, but I'll give you some thoughts on the topic.

My friend narya86 and I are currently working on a Supernatural fanfic, a series of stories to be exact, that will feature two original female characters and love interests for Sam and Dean Winchester. So I've been browsing the web, taking various Mary-Sue litmus tests (e.g. The Universal Mary-Sue Litmus Test which some of you might know) and I've gotten a big variety of results, ranging from "true original and well-developed character" over "borderline MS" to "real Mary-Sue". I don't think our characters are Mary-Sues, although they certainly have some characteristics of her. But I've been pondering this for a while and came to the conclusion that no test could really give a sufficient answer.

In the following, I will go through some of the questions of the abovementioned test and add my thoughts to it.

I. Self-insertion

The most often mentioned indication for your character being a MS is self-insertion. However, I strongly disagree. There are many published and successful authors who have shaped a character after themselves, family members or close friends (from Shakespeare over Goethe to Tolkien). As long as the reader can still see an autonomous character and doesn't feel like reading a biography it doesn't matter if you actually intended it to be you, or like you. I would even go so far as to say that every author somewhat brings themselves into the world they create, be it in one character alone or in many, and many authors (such as Kafka) found a way to deal with their own issues and wishes through their characters. Again, as long as the reader doesn't really notice it and can identify with the character too, it's fine.

II. Naming your character.

I think we can all agree that naming the character after yourself is a bit uncreative and something you rather want to do in a parody, where you bring the real you into a story. However, there are so many indications given as to what makes a name sue-ish which I don't agree with completely.

a) Unusual names: I've known people in real life who had unusual names, and I've read many books/seen movies and TV-shows with characters with unusual names. So I don't really see why that should be something that makes your character a Mary-Sue. However, it depends in which fandom you write and how you explain the name in your story. If you create an elf in Middle Earth named Sarah you've been very uncreative and unrealistic. And if you name a real life character Arwen please explain that her parents were huge Lord of the Rings fans and total geeks, and that poor Arwen has suffered people making fun of her because of that name.

b) The whole 'cool nick name' thing: Seriously, I don't see where this is wrong. People do have cool nick names sometimes. There are tons of book and movie characters who have them. If you can somehow make it a plot device, e.g. by explaining that your character has picked this name because she wants to appear cool on the outside while in fact she has some issues and low self-esteem, it's great, really. And if you explain that she got her nick name due to a running joke or certain event in her youth that works too.

c) "Chosen specifically because you thought it had a meaning appropriate for your character?" (The Universal MS Litmus test, Q 1, k): If you have done that you've actually done what 90% of all authors do, ranging from Tolkien to J.K. Rowling and others. It's a commonly used device that is perfectly fine in literature, so don't worry about this.

Of all the indications given in the test about names, I think the only one that really counts is whether it's realistic or relevant for your character. If it makes sense on one level or the other it's perfectly fine.

III. Appearance.

Now this is a little more tricky. If you make the character look like you, see I. I don't see a big problem in that, especially not in fan communities where hardly any of your readers know what you look like.

However, appearance is often a good indication of whether a character is real or overly perfect (which is, to sum it all up, the main problem of Mary-Sue's, but more on that later).

a) Unusual appearance: Be it eye or hair colour, build or anything else, if it doesn't represent normality explain. If someone in a magical universe has natural green hair there must have been a spell gone wrong, or they must be of a species that has green hair. Don't just let your character have 'bright red hair like nobody had ever seen it before' that is 'so stunningly beautiful that nobody could take their eyes off of her'. And if you do, give her brown roots and let others crack jokes about her being a punk. Be realistic.

b) Beauty: If your character is a supermodel, an actress, an elf or a fairy tale princess it's perfectly fine for her to be stunningly beautiful, but still don't exaggerate. A character can be attractive, but they certainly won't be attractive to everyone. There will be people who find her hot and others who don’t see that much in her because she's not their type.

Whatever you do, be realistic. Give a reason why your character wears the clothes she does, one that works in the universe you're writing in, and most of all, let the other characters react to it accordingly. And think about giving her some flaws, too that might make her even more attractive on a very individual way because true beauty isn't just perfection. Don't we all love Harry Potter's messy hair and find it incredibly cute? Perfect hair's so overrated anyway. And if your character is always perfectly styled and dressed give her two hours each morning to accomplish that and make her a little vain. We do buy that Gabrielle Solis always looks like from a magazine cover, but we know she doesn't get up in the morning looking like that.

And please, if your character has a perfect figure let her do something for it. Let her be careful with not eating too unhealthy, greasy food and work out a bit.

IV. Powers and abilities.

First of all you have to ask yourselves whether certain powers and abilities are even realistic in the universe you're writing in. Nobody will find a character that can turn solid material to liquid in an X-Men universe sue-ish, but a girl that can kill people with the power of her mind in a Grey's Anatomy fanfic is a bit over the top. But I think that's quite obvious.

A big mistake many authors make is giving their character too many abilities and not explaining sufficiently how the character achieved them. Okay, so Harry Potter is a bit of a Mary-Sue in that area as well, but then again most of the stuff he can do is well-explained and justified, and there are other weaknesses that make up for his strength. However, I wouldn't recommend taking him as an example because he really is on the borderline already and it might be difficult to pull it off as well as Rowling did. Bigger is not always better.

Also, if your character suddenly has magical superpowers (of course in an universe where such powers exist or are realistic), don't let it bee all peachy-creamy. She might think at first that her powers are a gift from above, but then discover that in fact it just makes everything worse, that she was foolish to believe things could be solved that easily. Use it as a plot device to create a dilemma, not to just make everything easy.

So if your girl is a strong fighter who can take down Orcs with her sword she's probably done nothing but training to fight all her life. She probably never learned how to dance and sing and be a true lady, and she most likely can't cook well (Eowyn anyone?). And even if she excels in one area, let her make mistakes, too, let her get into dangerous situations where even her abilities aren't enough. Don't let her single-handedly take out an army of a hundred Orcs because not even Legolas would pull that off. Don't make her better than all the other original characters in the world you're writing in because nobody will buy that. I know it's nice for your heroine to be an actual hero, but it has to stay realistic. She can save someone's life, but she might need being saved the next time.

V. Personality.

One of the most annoying things about Mary-Sue's is often that their personality seems to be perfect. They're kind and lovable, they're wise, they're strong and have all the good traits we all would love to have with no flaws. A character like that is a true Mary-Sue and the complete opposite of a well-balanced one. And most of all she is boring beyond measures. Your character can have lots of wonderful personality traits, but she has to have quirks and flaws. If she's very loyal and brave make her lose her temper easily and be unfair sometimes. If she's strong and self-assured make her lack manners. If she's nice and polite make her shy and clumsy. Whatever you can come up with. A character is much more interesting if there are positive and negative traits in their personality.

VI. Relationships with other characters.

Now this is the most important point, I think. Mary-Sue's often enter a fictional world and are immediately accepted and loved by all important characters with no problems and exceptions. That doesn't happen, neither in Middle Earth nor in our real world. People tend to be suspicious and careful, or they don't like someone at all because they just don't click.

Think of yourself moving to another town or changing schools, starting a new job or university course. Think of how it works until you are accepted into an existing clique or other group of people and think about the problems you've encountered. Now transfer that to your character and you will be fine. Don't let her experience what you'd wish yourself to have experienced. Let her be you in that case with all your real life problems.

As for other character's reactions try to compare it to other existing characters, see how they reacted towards them and don't let them act out of character just because you want them to like your character. If you want to achieve this give them a reason to like her, make it believable. It would never work out for Snape to like a new student that's in Gryffindor, no matter how good she is in Potions. And if you want Ron to become friends with a Slytherin you have to create a real good and believable scenario, e.g. letting them get to know and like each other before they know which house the other is in and then slowly overcome the problems that obviously have to occur.

VII. Oh, the Romance.

Now this probably is the most tricky thing about original characters and the easiest way to turn one into a Sue. What I mentioned above applies here too, but even more than that.

a) Development of the relationship:
Scratch the whole love at first sight crap. Seriously, doesn't happen. Attraction on first sight, yes, but not love. If you want two characters to get together you have to get inside the potential lover's head and imagine his reactions, try to find out what he would like in a partner and how he'd react to your character. How did he (or she, don't want to be sexist here *g*) handle relationships before? What kind of people did he fall in love with? How long did it take him to realise his feelings? And what kind of boyfriend is he? Which leads me to:

b) Believable actions:
If you have a very macho type of character (such as Dean Winchester) keep him that way. Let him look at other girls while his new girlfriend stands just a metre away, let him be charming but arrogant. Don't let him tell her how much he loves her every day because that's just something he wouldn't do. He might truly and deeply love a girl, but he'd find it very hard to admit it, and he'd make mistakes that frustrate the girl, even make her think he doesn't really love her or is even unfaithful.

If you have a shy character (such as Ron Weasley), don't turn him into a big Casanova who knows how to charm his girl with words and romantic gifts and who is the perfect lover who seems to have studied the Kamasutra up and down. Let him babble silly things and get horribly nervous when he first sleeps with the girl, because that's just what he would be like.

Don't take a character just because you like his looks and transform him into the perfect boyfriend. Use whatever flaws he might have and you'll see that it can be even more fun – and more drama – to integrate those flaws into the relationship and discover their effects.

VIII. The Plot.

Bringing an original character into an existing universe can be tricky sometimes, depending on the universe itself. I think we all agree that the storybook Mary-Sue cliché where a girl finds herself in Middle Earth after a car accident is beyond crappy (unless it's a parody), but there are other things that can be done wrong.

a) Where does your character come from?
Let's say you have an elf in Middle Earth, and there aren't that many elves, it would be very likely that Legolas at least knows or has heard of your elf maid's parents before and just never met her. If you're writing a fanfic in a real life universe it's a bit easier, but still try to find a good explanation why the character is where they are. Give them a background, a life before the story that has led them to where and who they are today.

b) Your character's significance for the plot:
Now that one's tricky again. If your character is the one essential to solve a mystery or save someone's life it can get very Sue-ish unless it's well explained and realistically done. The problem is just that there's often a combination of many MS clichés that make this scenario most problematic. If you pull up a character that has bigger magical powers than Harry Potter just to let her save his life three times and then kill Voldemort on top of it all your readers will most likely not approve. Harry is supposed to be the hero here, he is the one who has to kill Voldemort. Make her try but fail horribly because she, despite being a nice girl, totally over-estimates herself.

If you let her have her big moment of glory in the story let her have others where she fails, and don't take away the spotlight from the actual heroes of the fanfic, because after all, fanfic readers want to read about the characters they know, and they want to see them being tough and strong, not relying on some girl who just knows and does everything better than them.

All in all give her some significance, make her fit into the storyline, use her strength and weaknesses as plot device but don't let her be the sole centre or attention.

Conclusion:

Scratch that test. No, seriously. Do. You can go through some of the questions there, see which ones might in fact indicate that you could work something over, but don't let it be the sole resource that tells you whether your character is any good or not.

Whatever you do, ask yourself what typical Mary-Sue clichés you found annoying and try to avoid them, but also don't turn each and every one of them into the opposite because then you'll end up with an Anti-Sue, which is almost as bad as a stereotype MS.

You can even play with the clichés, use them for a humoursitic situation (humour is always a good way to lighten things up and make the whole story less serious), and turn them into a self-ironic device.

If you give your character positive characteristics, give her negative ones as well. If you let her experience joy, let her experience angst (but don't over-angst it). Let her fit into the world and story, let her interact with the other characters in a believable manner. Let some like her and others dislike her.

It's all about balance, really. If you always keep that in mind you will succeed with a likeable and really well-developed original character, no matter what tests might say.

~*~

Am I right or am I wrong? Discuss, comment.

And if you like to link this anywhere feel free to. I'd be quite flattered, actually.

ETA: Sorry if you guys just had the whole thing appear on your flist, but this stupid rich text format editor thingy just drove me insane ;)