Anti Mary-Sue Character Guide

2.8 - Scars

Scars can ass much to a characters and a huge percentage of the population has a scar. I for instance, have a scar on my hand from where I burnt it on a grill. Trust me, it's pathetic.

But basically, having a scar alone doesn't make you a Mary-Sue, it's where the scar is and how your character got it that makes them Mary-Sue. Facial and chest scars are the most common among Mary-Sue and Gary-Stu characters.

In real life, the most common facial scars are from acne on the cheeks. Chin and eyebrow scars are also common.

What was the point of that paragraph? Well all scars have backstories even if its just that they were caused from a fall. If you've decided to mention that a character has a scar, tell us how they've got it and how they feel about it, if they have any feelings.

But back to being Mary-Sue. If your character, after having no combat training, saves their whole city and that's how they got their scar, then sorry, that's a Mary-Sue.

It's all about balance really. Scars can be really interesting, just make us, as the readers, not roll our eyes at the character.

Yeah, I found this chapter difficult to explain, I'll probably rewrite it.

~Added note~ I recon what I meant here was don't give your characters badass scars purely to make your characters more badass. Give a reason. Harry Potter has a facial scar that has been given a reason not just because he is a main character.