How to Write a Good Fanfic

8. The Dreaded Mary Sue

I created a character
One not original to the fandom
I put myself into her
Creating her own kingdom
I thought not of perfection
But instead of dreams and stars
Yet perfection ended up the direction
And I revealed my many different scars
Creating an OC of my ownI
t's hard to get one to shine

"Your character is a Mary Sue."

Abigail read the words over, and over again, trying to digest what she read there. The words felt like a personal attack, but to be honest she wasn't sure what the words meant. One site she went to claimed the word was misogynist in nature, meaning the word aimed at hating and devaluing females, cutting down on the concept of strong female characters in a fascist nature. Another though said that a Mary Sue was a perfect character, and yet she knew her character had flaws, like glasses, and clumsiness. Why then was her character a Mary Sue. What was a Mary Sue?

...

"The time has come," the Unicorn said,
"To talk of many things:
Of the dreaded word the Mary Sue
Of ultimate magical rings
And why even imperfection doesn't work
And how to cut away the attached strings

Putting aside the parody on the poem The Walrus and The Carpenter by Lewis Carroll, we can't start off the story without going into the fact the word Mary Sue is honestly dreaded, and sometimes makes writers quake in their boots. The reason comes not from the fact the Mary Sue is a bad word, but because the term has been misused, and even writers who aren't newbies to writing fanfiction don't know what the word actually means. There are tons of misconceptions regarding the Mary Sue, and now is the time to not only set these misconceptions straight but also hopefully make it so writers don't fear the Mary Sue.

The first misconception I wish to address is, "there is something seriously wrong with writing a Mary Sue" which is why the Mary Sue should be avoided. However, in reality, there is nothing wrong with writing a Mary Sue, and to avoid writing the Mary Sue is, in my opinion, very damaging to the growth of a writer. Mary Sues help a writer test the water, but this is also the mechanism through which a writer learns proper capitalization.

Here is where I must caution writers. While it is true that Mary Sues should not be avoided, there is a dangerous element in regards to the Mary Sue, but this also goes for any part of writing. There is a psychological element to writing, which allows a writer to work through certain issues in their lives, and negative feelings. However, some of these issues and negative feelings aren't things a writer wants to share about themselves, and there are times that I've seen writers reveal things about themselves they shouldn't have revealed. Other times a writer takes critique on their writing as a personal attack because they struggle to separate themselves from their writing. I can personally attest to the therapeutic nature of writing, but can also attest to the fact there are some things I would never share with my readers without editing these pieces.

There is also a difference between writing for therapeutic reasons, and writing for mere escapism. There is a danger in escapism; it used to be I simply warned writers about putting too much of themselves into the stories they share online, but now I find myself having to warn against escapism and the dangers of writing for this reason alone. Recently I came across a writer with a debilitating illness who happened to be in remission. To escape the pain of this illness, the writer created a character with their illness and wrote a story where they avoided the most negative aspects of their illness within their story. Instead, the writer focused on the character having a positive experience despite their illness. Then, the writer relapsed. They found themselves unable to work on the story anymore because doing so brought up negative reasons. Why? The writer never dealt with the negative feelings in their story, but instead avoided them.