Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'll start the ball here, then. As an author I still find it remarkable that Mary Sues exist (and RPing with them is like pulling teeth, with tiny, rusty jewellery pliers). I find them to be the most boring characters in existance. There is, for me, no fun in playing a character who is perfect in everything - appearance, mannerisms, power etc.

I'm also perplexed that people have not learned how to be both attached and detached from their characters. I will try and explain what I mean, however it's hard since, for me, it's a rather natural thing.

When I create a character it is because I get a name and a face in my head. Which is usually followed by a lot of personality and history "information dumping" from the character themselves. And, especially when I am writing a novel, I already have planned out what will happen to this character. They might die, they might be maimed, they might suffer a tragedy, or they might push through a past tragedy to a semblence of happiness.

As I write, I do get attached to a character insofar as I feel somewhat bad if I maim then, sad if I kill them off, I laugh if I manage to get them to say something unintentionally hilarious, furious if I find someone stealing them (and I make sure to keep checking wink ) and I am glad when I manage to capture them, however briefly, exactly how I picture them in my mind (afterall, nothing will ever be as pure as the story your iamgine. We begin destryoing a story the moment we write it down). So yes, to an extent, I am attached to my character.

But I am also detatched. My characters will be hurt, depressed, happy, lose people, win people, fail, win, be tortured by others or themselves etc. In roleplays I am never upset when someone else's character hates mine. I find it's just as good for characterisation as characters liking them. In fact, oftentimes, it is better.

Let's take - as ever - my character Cheeva as an example. I've worked for years to get her nicely balanced. Outwardly she's...frankly a snarky, mildly unblanace, b***h. She is anti-social, sharp-tongued, rude, hateful, she kills seemingly without conscience, unfeeling, cold, etc. But, conversely, to those she considers family or friends, she is very maternal, she has her own code of ethics, her own fears (lol water) and insecurities. Physically and "power"-wise, she is actually nowhere near as strong and infalliable as she would like people to think.

And all that is why she is a joy to RP and to write. Some characters she clashes with because her personality does not mesh with said character. So we get great scenes of snark, anger, hissy-fits etc. Other characters she does mesh with and we get to see the side of her that is motherly and protective. Do I get mad if someone's character hates her then? No, of course not, because they are reacting to her personality. Do I get clingy and almost stalker-ish to RPers and characters who like her? No, because that's not in her character (or mine) and is, frankly, really creepy to see happen O.o

Do I feel attached to Cheeva as a character? Yes. Could I kill her off? In a heart beat. It would be sad but, if she had to die...she dies quite frankly.

It's about keeping a healthy distance from your character. If your happiness is bound up in how much people like your character and how they react to them, then you really need to look and see if writing and RP are really healthy for you. You need to really look at why you are trying to live out some perfect, fantastical bubble life through your character. Otherwise you won't be happy and, frankly, no one but other people with this Mary Sue/Gary Stu issue will want to RP/write with you.

Oh, definitely, and tragic Mary Sues were something I was going to bring up but completely forgot. My biggest pet peeve is the "tragic background" that the Sue has somehow suffered through and has come out the other side with absolutely no physical or mental/emotional issues whatsoever.

I'll use Chee again as an example. Her upbringing was chaotic and, frankly, not very nice (I won't go in depth now because it ruins some of her novel and I don't like letting out spoilers lol). But it obviously has an affect on the way she interacts with people, how she sees the world and how she interacts with it. She hasn't come out the other side as a bubbly, hyper-happy, fawning, super perfect adult. She is terribly flawed.

Its the characters who, say, see their entire family killed and have to burn their home and bodies before travelling on - and come out as perfectly adjust adult who loves everyone etc. that bother me. There are no consequences for their past trauma. People make up these attention-seeking, tragic pasts that are meant to garner sympathy from other characters and other RPers...then make the character perfect in every possible way. It isn't at all believeable and it makes a character, again, painful to interact with. Especially if they continually bring it up.

Another thing I absolutely can't stand is when someone bring up that, say, their character has blue eyes in almost every single post. I feel like saying "we get it, they have blue eyes, well done". It's not necessary and it makes it seem like that RPer is saying everyone else is an idiot for not having remembered their character has such-and-such a feature. But that's a discussion for another time, lol.

To get back on topic, I agree, tragedy and tragic pasts, with no conesquences to the character and their characterisation in anyway, is a cheap way of writing and RPing.

Yeah, Aku is a pretty flawed creeper. I wouldn't call him a Mary Sue because he lacks the whole idealistic thing. XD I don't know that I would say Aku really seeks 'romance' though--he seeks physical companionship at best and probably just sex really--unless we're dealing with an obsession of his which is something completely different.

It's like Christine--she'd sex nearly anything because she just really likes sex. It has nothing to do with me wanting pairings. That is just who she is.

I don't think there's anything wrong really with being open to pairings and possibly not with seeking them out. But there's a point where you cross the line between wanting a specific pairing and NEEDING a specific pairing because you have an emotional attachment to someone else's character. And you're using your own character to experience what a relationship would be like with that character.

That is...not just Sueing. But it's also sort of creepy. D=

This. I couldn't say it better myself. Because that's...a whole different kind of idealistic fantasy >.>; Like the people who think they will marry that Twilight characters, or Harry Potter, etc. It's all kinds of creepy.

I don't think any of your characters are Mary Sues. I think it's normal for people to put themselves into their characters.

I think to really fit as a Mary Sue, the character either has to be too "perfect" (one of those with too many romanticized and idealized traits) or one that is created for wish fulfillment/self indulgence.

And none of your characters are like that at all.

I always seem to have trouble writing up a history for a character, even a short one. Like for my WIP character, I can't seem to get his history right in my head. I'm also trying to wrap my head around his personality because when I go to describe it, it starts sounding like a character I already have in this RP, so.. it makes me wonder if I should make a different character entirely instead of trying to fix my WIP to a workable, unique-ish character. x-x

I completely agree with Chee about personality and history--these two things are completely intertwined. My personality section is finished so I can post it up but the history one is very started.

I was definitely going to cover this because this is an area where a lot of people need help. Including myself. Sometimes it's hard when you have a character who doesn't have an "interesting" past--For those kinds of characters, who've just lived normal lives, I try to summarize their childhood and then spend more in depth time talking about major decisions in their adult life. Like--if they own a shop, focus on how they got it and why they own it. Things like that.

Not everyone can have the traumatic childhood or very interesting, lively life. Some people really are just normal. Those are the hard ones for me.