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 Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 1:40 pm
We all know the typical Mary-Sue characters. Their lives are either completely perfect, or completely horrible. Sometimes creating a really original character without being cliche can be hard at some points in writing. I don't know many people who haven't had a little trouble with character creation. While some Mary-Sue qualities may be ok or even neccessary, where exactly can you draw a solid line? You have to think of what would best suit your character for later on in the story, but how do you do that without making the reader put down the book in the middle of the night thinking '...Have I read this before? This seems too familiar...'
So...
Got any special quirks or habits or anything else you give your characters to be unique? Do you have problems with Mary-Sues? And how do you avoid/fix them?
Feel free to share 3nodding
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 2:46 pm
Then you can highlight the artificiallity of the perfect life of your character but without allowing her ever to realize that. Or it would be even better to make her notice it but decide that it was preferable to lead a life of fiction. sweatdrop
You can also somehow seek a possitive quaility about that artificially perfect life too, and make the character clinge to that reason.
Or create the idea that her horrible, miserable life is just the product of a script. Yeah, that's very Unamuno-like. stressed
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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:05 pm
I find it's best to not make them complete idiots, brilliant, or perfect unless absolutely neccessary.
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:08 am
Mary Sues...hm...I generally stay away from them altogether. Nothing makes me hit the back button faster than a fan fiction that involves an OC in an already established world.
For original fiction though, I think the rules of Mary Sue-dom, would be much easier. I myself am much lenient on original stories with somewhat perfect characters.
The key is to not write them directly as perfect, but let their good points shine through in your story. A lot of people will naturally think your character's a good one, if the story shows it.
-Yevgenia
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:18 pm
Well, what I do is determine the character and and give him/her flaws that I see in myself or people around me. You can always learn and take from life, right? sweatdrop
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Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:45 am
Nada Kyo Mary Sues...hm...I generally stay away from them altogether. Nothing makes me hit the back button faster than a fan fiction that involves an OC in an already established world. For original fiction though, I think the rules of Mary Sue-dom, would be much easier. I myself am much lenient on original stories with somewhat perfect characters. The key is to not write them directly as perfect, but let their good points shine through in your story. A lot of people will naturally think your character's a good one, if the story shows it. -Yevgenia *nods vigorously*
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:14 am
I've seen you around the WF from time to time, and I'm sure you've seen both me and Ryiel. We have the same spiel on this topic.
A mary-Sue isn't a problem of characterization, though it often can be. A MS is simply a character who is unrealistic in context to the setting, the "technicality for no god damn good reason." You can simply fix a Sue by making the character conform more to the rules of the world.
Some people think that the following are good ways to de-Sue a character; well, they aren't.
~For every flaw, give a strength. (Training wheels, but a real person isn't a grocery list of flaws and strengths. And most certainly, a person doesn't have a flaw for every strength.)
~Nothing but flaws!!!!! (Even the most pathetic person I've ever met is good at math.)
~Twenty strengths but one flaw! (This needs explaining. The flaw must hinder the character in some way and, in essence, create a reasonable amount of conflict for the character or add to the already existing conflict. If a flaw does absolutely nothing, if it's just there for the sake of being there, then you've failed at making a flaw.)
However, the overall concept of a MS in ORIGINAL FICTION is ludicrous to begin with since it's a FANFICTION TERM. Ask any publisher (not Lulu or any s**t like that, but a real bona-fide publisher) if the term "Mary Sue" is ever tossed around.
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