Perfection? Please. (An Analysis of Mary-Sue)

The Basics of a Mary-Sue

What is a Mary-Sue?

A Mary-Sue is, basically, a character who is perfect in every way. Mary-Sues, often shortened to Sues, can suck the life out of any good story. 

Male Mary-Sues

        Mary-Sues are most often female. Nevertheless, there are also male Mary-Sues, albeit more rare. They can be referred to as Gary Stus, Marty Stus, or Larry Stus. For the sake of this guide, I will call both male and female characters Mary-Sues.

Homes of a Mary-Sue

Mary-Sues can appear in any type of writing. However, most Sues are found in fan fiction, though original fiction, especially those by amateurs, can harbor the worst of Sue. Even some published stories have some of the most hackneyed Sues, helped along by the fact that more and more people are self-publishing.

Mary-Sues in Fan Fiction

          Now, if one is used to perusing the pages upon pages of fan fictions, you probably have come across a couple Mary-Sues in your lifetime. Fan fictions are usually the starting point of quite a few writers, most likely because all the characters and settings are already laid out for you, leaving only the plot (or lack thereof) to you.

          Most often, the Mary-Sue in question is an OCF (Original Character in fan fiction), a character that the author has made up to play a certain part in the story. Though the author might choose instead to take a pre-developed character and make them into the author’s own Mary-Sue.

          The Mary-Sue is usually fancied by many (if not all) of the males in the canon series. If the character in question is not fancied, they are usually respected and/or hated for petty reasons.

Mary-Sues in Original Fiction

          Mary Sues are quite common in amateur original fiction works, notably those on community writing sites, such as Wattpad or Figment. And even though these sites let you review and critique the stories, most people do not realize there is a Mary-Sue, or do not call you out on it, in fear of being too rude.

Self-Insertion

        The main reason Mary-Sue writers (known as Suethors) make the Sues is because of wish-fulfillment. The Mary-Sue is someone the write wants to be, but cannot. The Sue is a glorified version of the author themselves, so the author can live out romances with fictional characters or be the hero of the day.