Teatime (Rant Book)

Mary Sue's/Gary Stu's

Okay first big announcement: My book is almost ready, I'm working on chapter details now (and some graphics and whatnot).

    I'm listening to The Prodigy (group) while writing this, thought I should just put that out there.

    Okay, now for the rant...

    I'm just going to be as blunt as possible and say: Mary Sue's/Gary Stu's are the absolute worst thing this world has to offer, and that's saying a lot because Fifty Shades Darker is actually going to be a movie. But I suppose that, that example wasn't too great considering Fifty Shades of Grey/Twilight and all of those novels are full of Mary Sue's/Gary Stu's.

    For those of you who don't know, Mary Sue characters (or Gary Stu for a male character) are characters that are flawless and perfect to the point where it's exhausting and obnoxious. As in, they're not relatable and everything goes their way because the author twists and bends the story for everything to work out for said character.

    Some questions you can ask yourself to see if your character is a Mary Sue/Gary Stu:

(Let's start off easy here...)

- Is their name unique and strange compared to the rest of your characters?

- Are they unreasonably attractive and do other characters (even characters that may not like the Mary Sue) often compliment the character on their good looks?

- Are they quick to catch onto things so far as people often label them as, "a natural"?

- If they have any addiction, do they actually suffer any consequences from it?

- Do they have an odd tattoo of any sort?

- If they have any scars do they detract from their appearance?

- Are they exceptionally musically talented?

- Does everything always work out for them? (Quick note for this one, stories where the main characters always win are annoying, boring and predictable)

- Do they have a unique superpower that other people in their universe would deem superior?

- Are they of royalty or nobility?

- Are they rich?

- If they do have some sort of mental disorder, are there any symptoms and effects that are shown?

- Are they, "insane"? (Insanity is becoming cliché and is now difficult to do well, don't make a character insane for the sake of them being insane)

- Are they good at everything? (Excelling in some areas is one thing and being good at everything is another)

- Do animals and children instantly like them?

- How many languages do they speak?

- Can this character always get out of a tight spot?

- Are other characters always impressed by this character?

- Is everyone seemingly envious of the character?

- Does your character have any beliefs similar to yours?

- Do they have a particularly traumatic backstory? (This can sometimes be done well but you have to be careful)

- Is your character the last survivor of anything? (Again, this can be done, just be careful)

- Is your character a hybrid of any kind?
Are they secretly related to another character?

- Do they get their love interest in the end? (Can be done, be careful)

- Are they the subject of a great prophecy?

- Do they feel unnecessarily guilty for something that wasn't their fault and do other characters spend the majority of the story consoling them?

- Are they overly sensitive?

- Are they overly angsty?

- Do they look much younger than they actually are?

- Do you take it as a personal offense if someone doesn't like your character?

- Is their name a variation of yours or a name that you really like? (You can like your characters' name but don't overdo it)

- Is your character how you wish you looked?
Does your character have a job you wish you had?

- Is your character small and thin but somehow strong enough to weird an extremely heavy weapon?

- Do they have less than five imperfections?

- Do people that disagree with your character end up having something horrible done to them?

- Does your character undoubtedly defeat anyone in battle?

- Does your character always have a witty comeback and is snarky, sharp and/or short-tempered for the sake of making them short-tempered? (You can have a short-tempered character, but you better have a damn good reason as to why)

- Is your character always right?

- Do you wish you were your character?

    If you answered yes to most of these the. Your character needs some work.

     I think that last one is the most important because, more often than not, Mary Sue's or Gary Stu's are often a projection of what the author wants to be.

    As in, you wish you had that body type, you wish you were as talented as they are, you wish you could do everything that they do etc.

    Mary Sue's/Gary Stu's are annoying because of how perfect they are. And often, authors don't even realize they've written a Mary Sue/Gary Stu character. These characters are hard to relate to and boring. They're cliché and overdone too.

    *cough* reason why I hate Twilight *cough*

    Now I'm not saying that your character can't be really good at some things, have a traumatic backstory, be the last survivor of something etc. but you need to be extremely careful when doing it. As much as I try to avoid clichés (having a Mary Sue character is literally one of my worst nightmares), it's impossible to write a completely cliché-free story, that doesn't mean you can't try and do a damn good job of it though.

    Going back to working on my other story (which is taking so long because I'm making sure the character's aren't Mary Sue's),

-Hollow