Anti Mary-Sue Character Guide

3.2 - Names in Settings and Context

Y'all know how much I love it when a character actually fits the setting so I decided to write another chapter about it.

I hate it when I see someone in a book with a name that makes no sense. Like a modern, average family and they have a daughter called Twilight Sparkles or some other daft name.

At the same time, and more importantly, use appropriate names. Let's say for example that you have a character that is in no way Chinese; they don't have any family that are Chinese and they don't have any close connection to the country, don't give them a Chinese name. Sure, if the parents visited a lot then the name like 'Wei' would make sense and if so, state a connection to the country. This also applies to a historic time. Unless you're writing a fanfic of sorts, understand that names like 'Cody' weren't common in Native Americans.

Just use a suitable name for the society you're writing about and trust me, that character will lose so much potential Mary-Sue-ness.