#marysues

[sixtastic]

my marysues are very important to me

full ref ^

[mossylittleclown]

Analyzing Mary Sues

The fact that people are specifically so harsh against Mary Sues is ridiculous considering it’s almost always just a case of inexperienced creatives creating for fun.  It’s even crazier that most of the time, they don’t even point out the correct issue.

Some of the more common definitions claim that a Mary Sue is a character that fits many of the following:

- A character that is ridiculously overpowered.

- A character that is written as “extremely beautiful”.

- A character that is highly intelligent.

- A character that is dearly loved by all of the cast.

- A character that is “over-designed”.

- A character that is treated extremely well.

- A character that is an author self-insert.

However, though these are common traits of Mary Sues, this is not actually what a Mary Sue is, nor are these the actual issue, think of it similarly to a “character illness,” these are all symptoms, but the actual issue is simply what’s causing them to show.

Mary Sues come from the writing issue of only having one character.  You may be thinking something along the lines of “but usually Mary Sues are used with other characters.”  And this is, on a more literal level true, but on the figurative level, false.

It’s an issue that, strangely enough, resembles the issue the Bechdel test was trying to tackle.

The Bechdel test resembles the same issue Mary Sues have because the issue is that characters become props instead of characters.  In works that don’t pass the Bechdel test, female characters are nothing more than props, they’re an “object” used to fill the role of a caricature.  The only difference is that what the Bechdel test is testing for is a case of male characters vs. female characters whereas Mary Sue is a case of the Sue character vs. all non-Sue characters (and oftentimes the universe itself).

For a simple Mary Sue test, simply ask, does the work have two characters who have conversations and make actions unrelated to the Sue?  More specifically, is everything in the story just a tool used by the author to make the Mary Sue seem a certain way (E.g. awesome, cute, cool, pitiful, et cetera)?

The problem of Mary Sue-ism is simply that, to an outside perspective, it is like watching the author play with puppets.  You can never more clearly see the hand of the author than when there’s a Mary Sue, because they’re making everything serve the Sue.

If you’ve made an OC in the past that’s a Mary Sue, feel like you don’t know how to not make a Mary Sue, or are afraid of making a Mary Sue, that’s perfectly okay.  Making a Mary Sue is like any mistake, it’s natural to make mistakes and recognizing that one has made a mistake is the first step to getting better.  Having made a Mary Sue character should not make you ashamed or embarrassed, really no mistake in learning how to write that you’re trying to fix or have fixed should (i.m.o.).

Personally, the way I deal with Mary Sues that pop up in my own story is simply to make more Mary Sues in the same story, then make a world separate from them that you love dearly.  After that, switch gears and try to make them fit into the story.  Can they be special?  Yes, as long as there’s an explanation.  Should everyone love them?  If you truly love your world, you probably would want to flesh out the denizens of that world as people, if they’re a beloved hero of one land, chances are they’re not for another.

TL;DR - Mary Sues specifically have the problem of seeing the hand of the author, and their issues of being “too perfect” or “too different” are only the symptoms of the rest of the story strictly being there to serve them;  The symptoms themselves are not the cause.

Sorry if this was too long, this is my first ever post.  Any critique or feedback is greatly appreciated.

[elusive---ivory]

Announcement:

MARY 👏 SUES 👏 ARE 👏 VALID

Have a good day.

[psych-kai]

elizabeth midford in fan fiction

dear black butler fandom who make ciel x reader or ciel x oc fanfics, stop making elizabeth midford a whiny little bitch. she will do anything to make ciel happy and she is a strong-willed character. this isnt fucking episode three of season one where we all hate her for being a selfish brat, annoying little bitch, and a huge crybaby. please don't taint elizabeth midford's character in your fan fiction. if your going to make someone out of character do it to everyone else EXCEPT elizabeth midford.

[mysticdragon3md3]

see journal file 9:55 PM 1/16/2025

[entitybear]

✨ 👁👁 ✨

[dan-e-yall]

You ever read a fic that starts out super good, and then a Mary sue OC pops out of nowhere to take the spotlight and just...deflate and close out of the story? Don’t get me wrong, do u, but fucks sake tag the story properly.

[roleplay-cafe]