Mary-Sue: Who is She?

Things You Need to Know and What to Do if You See Them

Mary-Sues, Martha-Sues, Marty-Stus, Larry-Stus and Gary-Stus, we will all come across them at one point.  Most of us have heard of them, some have been violently accused of making them via flaming, and others are still naïve to the terms.  While people who have been on writing sites for years absolutely loathe them, most are inconsistent with an all-around definition.  A majority claim that Mary-Sues are characters that are absolutely perfect in every shape, form and personality, while others just say that they are characters that are just too powerful, unique, or are so clichéd from past characters, and a few say they are self-inserts no matter how well-developed they are.  Some on fan fiction sites even say that all Original Characters or Fan Characters (OCs) who are paired with a canon character or just take the spotlight are Mary-Sues.  On the other side of the creative spectrum, the minority of minorities say that “normal” characters are Mary-Sue as well.  All of these definitions were always too vague and too limiting for me, so I’m going to give you my personal definition that will hopefully cover the basis.  

I say that Mary-Sues are overly-underdeveloped characters that don’t give off any feeling of a three-dimensional depth or believability to the audience, in the fact that the character doesn‘t change in any way throughout the story, and somehow has a major influence over the other characters without doing much, or doing something that would be impossible for the character in the universe, time-period, or for his or her species.  This underdevelopment can take place in the portrayal of the characters themselves, inconsistencies of the fictional universe, poor plot planning or a plot without any obstacles, and even in the writing style without a clear tone or simply not editing enough can affect your story in a Mary-Sueish way.  For now, as a basic introduction to my version of Mary-Sues, let’s start with characters.  More importantly, let’s start with the myths that surround “bad” characters.

I specifically didn’t use the words perfect, unique, clichéd, or self-insert in my definition because that would limit to what kind of characters I could create or put in a story, even if they could be the main contribution in the underdevelopment of the character.  

Perfection

Let’s start with perfection.  Ultimately, there is no such thing as “perfect” even when you deliberately try to make your character that way.  What you call shy could mean snob to another.  What you call optimistic could be annoyingly-hyper.  What you call logical could be way too smart, so any “positive” trait can be twisted to become a flaw, depending on who the reader is, which is how a character becomes likable or unlikable to the reader.  The problem is, that no matter what his/her personality is, whether the character is likable or unlikable to the reader, the character can somehow make every other character flock to him or her even though some characters wouldn’t be able to stand the character’s kind of personality at all.  

Why would anyone want to make their characters “perfect” anyway?  As Stephen Manes nicely wrote,

You know what perfect is? Perfect is not eating or drinking or talking or moving a muscle or making even the teensiest mistake. Perfect is never doing anything wrong - which means never doing anything at all. Perfect is boring! So you're not perfect! Wonderful! Have fun! . . . .  Perfect people never do any of those things. All they do is sit around and sip weak tea and think about how perfect they are. But they're really not one-hundred-percent perfect anyway. You should see them when they get the hiccups! Phooey! Who needs 'em? You can drink pickle juice and imitate gorillas and do silly dances and sing stupid songs and wear funny hats and be as imperfect as you please and still be a good person. Good people are hard to find nowadays. And they're a lot more fun than perfect people any day of the week.

So when you’re striving to make a character, don’t go to perfect, go to believable, even if it seems hard.  It takes practice, so don’t be discouraged if people don’t find your character believable at first.  There is no formula for calculating human beings, so there is no magic number to equating just precisely how many hobbies a character must have, or what exact shade of eye color he or she should have, or anything, that will give you an insta-relatable human-like character.  The best way is to practice, show off, receive feedback, and try again.  Don’t let those mean people convince you to quit either.  Despite what some people say, you’re not ruining fandoms, the canon characters within those fandoms, nor are you ruining literature as we know it.  You are simply practicing to the very best of your ability.  Did you know that most of the “classics” that we read in high school weren’t even remotely popular in their time?