farla

What Makes a Mary-Sue
Part 1 - Abilities

Two days ago I wrote about self-inserts and why they fail. Now I’m going to examine the more general mary sues.

Just as one can usually see the signs of a self-insert, one can often see symptoms of mary sues. Generally, these are things like incredible talents and perfection, yet, sues exist in the tragic failure category as well. In fact, pretty much any character description can be made into a sue. I have never seen an unsueable character.

So then, what creates a sue and what creates a good character?

Back when I began writing, I’d often write something and lose interest in it, or just feel something was wrong. These stories or scenes I dropped. Recently I’ve been looking through my old notebooks and now, after several years of writing, I can tell what’s wrong. It’s easier to see because I don’t usually write about humans, so I can see the comparisons between my stories and those I see online without thinking that it’s a specific trait itself that’s the problem.

Once upon a time I was writing a story about a growlithe. In one scene, the breeder was talking about it. I could now decide what sort of stock it came from

I said it was crossbred with pretty much every four-legged pokemon in existence. It had resistance to water because of vaporeon, it could use dark moves because of houndoom, etc.

Why did I do this? For the exact same reason that authors, when they get to describing their character, say they have violet eyes and shiny hair. Because I could.

It was my story, so anything I said would be true. Just as the sue author realizes they can give their character any trait they want, I gave it everything that occurred to me.

Did the character need these abilities? No. Would it ever matter in the story in any way? No. Did it even fit into the existing situation I’d already established? No. But when the opportunity came to decide on my character’s traits, I didn’t want to limit him. I wanted him to have the ability to do anything just in case he needed to.

It’s not that he had the abilities, it’s that he didn’t need them. I’d given them to him just because I could, instead of giving him the minimum needed.

Characters can be stunningly beautiful…if that’s part of the story and if you acknowledge that to be one of their abilities. Characters can have super powers…if they need them. Characters can have amazing singing voices…if it matters. Ultimately, the traits the character has isn’t the issue, it’s why they have them.

(Next essayish thing: Mary-Sues and the Plot. Or something like that.)