My Thoughts

Mary Sues

Alright let's get this topic out of the way. Since Mary Sues are mostly female, (Most likely because the majority of OCs are in fact female  not because of sexism like some will have you believe) I will be addressing them as such.

A Mary Sue is usually defined as an unrealistically perfect character.   She's beautiful, powerful, and  intelligent  At times a skilled combatant, other times she is portrayed as a damsel in distress. Almost everyone loves her. But are these qualities all that bad? Not really. What makes a Mary Sue is how these traits are handled. Not the fact that she has them.

An extremely beautiful character will only become sueish  the other characters do is remark about her good looks very frequently. It becomes even more obnoxious if every single character sees her as beautiful as no matter how pretty you are, not everyone will find you attractive. Everyone has a different opinion on what traits are attractive, after all.

Other Mary Sues are powerful and master combatants. What makes them Mary Sues? Well, for starters, maybe they are a little too powerful within the context of the story. It could also be that with the way the story is written, it doesn't feel like they worked hard enough to become as skilled as they are.  Fights get boring because Mary Sues can curbstomp everything. Needless to say, that can hurt your stories pretty badly.

I plan to discuss damsels in distress later, so I'll keep this one short. Usually, a Mary Sue will end up in distress so that her boyfriend can come and save her. This by itself is not too bad, but it can get very frustrating in the story when said character is portrayed as very powerful, but she gets herself kidnapped. Yes, everyone need help sometimes, but how easily these character types go down at times is ridiculous. If your going to have your character play this role give a good reason why and how it happens.

Sometimes a character is TOO liked by other characters. Giving your character friends is all well and good, but it can go overboard at times. Not everyone is going to get along with you. Believe me, I've known some super nice people, but our personalities clashed too much for us to be considered anything more than acquaintances.  Some  Mary Sues have the opposite problem. Having everyone hate your character can be just as bad as well. Not only does it feel like a cheap way to gain sympathy, it is simply unrealistic. I know it can feel like people go out of their way just to ruin your day, but it simply isn't true. Also if characters are going to dislike your character give some real reasons. For example, maybe the two simply have contrasting personalities. Don't just limit yourself to petty jealousy like many Mary Sue stories do.

Now for the character traits that I feel really make a Mary Sue.  These are character traits that frustrate me to no end.

Some Mary Sues are portrayed in the right no matter what they do. Every cruel thing she says and does is always someone else's fault. Some of them can be as equally, if not more, cruel than, the characters that oppose her. If this is portrayed as a character flaw, it would be one thing, but with the type of character that I'm talking about, if anyone calls her out, that person is completely in the  wrong.  This is never a good thing.  Either make it a character flaw of hers to feel she is always in the right no matter what, and/or have her face the consequences of her actions.

Another type of Mary Sue I despise  is a whiner.  Now, once again, if this was being portrayed as a character flaw, I wouldn't mind too much. But when a charter complains about how miserable her life is without a single attempt to make things better, it just makes me mad. Some of them complain when they have virtually nothing to complain about. I understand that everyone has their burdens, but a character that just sits there and let their problems get the best of them, and expects us to feel sorry for them just really gets on my nerves.  

That's all for now. I may add to this later. So. what do you think makes a Mary Sue?