I have this character that acts like a Mary Sue and is super empathic and goes out of her way to help people, but her major flaw is her self-destruction and depreciation, and letting her past actions effect her with heavy guilt. How would I go about writing that?
Answer courtesy of @smolkitsuneposts
Hi there, my dude. Ah, the Mary Sue... There's MANY different subtypes, but I suppose you mean the kind that everyone likes and thinks about too much? "Past Actions" is a bit vague, too, but you'll want to show her internal struggles and what drives her to help others. "Why is she going out of her way to help me?" Does she do anything for herself? Or is she too ashamed? Does she believe that she deserves help after whatever she did in the past? Her past actions will be at the back of her mind. Is there something that still affects you to this day?
Think about it this way:I was mean to this one kid way way back in elementary school. I still feel bad about it, and I try to make sure that I'm not unreasonable to anyone else. She may forsake her own work to assist someone else, and may ultimately fail because of it. Or maybe she gives a homeless person her paycheck and suffers as a result. Hope this helps
Addons by the borb since u sent it to this blog and i should contribute something lmao-
A lot of people who struggle with self-deprecation do try and ‘make up for it’ by being overly kind to other people. ‘I’m such an awful person who doesn’t deserve any kindness but if i Do Enough maybe i will Be Better’
This kind of over empathy works a lot like a form of emotional self harm- by wrapping oneself in the problems of others, there’s no spoons left over for the person to work on their own issues. When your character is really wrapped up in ~plot~, and all these stressful things are happening, She’ll probably be Even More Helpful Than Usual, even though her own life is falling apart. I’d throw in some flavour text about all the unwashed dishes in the sink, or all the clothes on the floor, how greasy her hair is, how she isn’t doing makeup even though she normally does ect ect, even as she provides stellar emotional labour for everyone else around her.
She might also have a ritual of some kind centered around her guilt- whenever she does a fun activity, she needs to ‘make up for it’ by doing ‘x’ in return
a ~mary sue~ like character doesn’t exist if you flesh them out my friend. Give her a personality, give her a fatal flaw, and she’ll be a lovely character
i hope this is helpful!! let me/ us know if there’s anything else we can do to help!!!