Most of us here have an intuitive sense for a Mary Sue character, or have a better reading on the elements that make a Mary sue than I do.

So this is a request for serious responses on what makes a Mary Sue. This is not an invitation to rage and bemoan fangirl/boyisms without explaining what is a Mary Sue.

Reason I am asking is that I want to avoid potential pitfalls in OC's that I am writing.

 

Much too perfect, too good to be true

 

A character who warps cannon around him/her.

 

Bam, bam, bam. Google is your friend.

 

A Mary Sue/Gary Stu or what ever else they are called is simply a character that is too perfect. Normally this character is someone who has all of the qualities you wish you had or is very similar to you. It's like you the author is one of those parents who lives through their children, the Mary Sue.

Anyways go through Tehan's links. They'll probably help a lot more than I can.

 

Any romantic interest that takes up too much of the story without being that interesting.

 

Ta'veren?

Oh, and it's canon.

That's not a Mary-Sue, that's just bad writing. Unless the author simply stinks at romance, it's a safe bet that the rest of their story isn't very interesting either.

 

And in the above posts we have picture-perfect examples of the other use of the term 'Mary Sue' - used to define any character the person speaking doesn't like.

 

Beautiful

Super rich / extremely poor

righteously get's jealous/angry/sad = nothing is her fault (usually happens when a poor writer ironically doesn't want the character to be a mary-sue.)

Unique name

Unique eyes and/or hair

Lots of friends/no friends because everybody are jerks, then becomes the most popular kid ever/one bbf

g/f of the main character or the main character herself

 

Warlocke is correct. Having a Mary Sue usually indicates trashy romance.

But trashy romance doesn't necessarily indicate a Mary Sue.

 

I've always tried avoiding Mary Sue by making my OC's rather boring or their personalities so unassuming that you really wouldn't care if they died or not. Stay away from uber cool names and overly dramatic descriptions. OC's are there to give the hero a helping hand, not to kill the bad guy themselves.

The hero does not fall in love with your OC nor does everyone cry at her sacrifice when she dies.

I picked up the first book of "Rogue Angel" the other day and by the second chapter had found that the heroine was Mary Sue in the worst possible way. Her chestnut hair blew in the breeze and her amber/green eyes blazed with fury. Her curvy figure and large breasts heaved.

She was a master of several martial arts. She was Lara Croft'esc, a tv star, rich, traveled the world, with no parents, and is literally the heir of Joan of Arc. She is known on sight except when she doesn't want to be ... no disguise or anything; she just changes her name and all the sudden nobody knows who she is.

She just happens to know how to use a sword when Joan of Arc's sword heals itself at her touch (man, I'm glad I learned all those sword moves when I was younger from that retired SAS dude), and has mysteriously gained increased strength and stamina far above those of mortal man. She is Mary Sue.


Just write your OC as a normal person. In fiction, normal people are nothing special, most of the time.

 

That... sounds as bad as Anita Blake, Heather. >_> Necromantic Succubus my ass.

By the way, where the hell is my Usher?!

 

Harry's money is not relevant in canon except from it's connection to Ron, so it doesn't matter.

Need I remind you of book 5-7? Harry wasn't always righteous, thank god.

His eyes and hair could be argued to be special, but in my opinion it's just simaleraty to his parents, like Ron is a ginger like the rest of his family.

Harry has two BFFs and those that were in the DA.

 

Anita Blake is mah homegirl Vash.

 

Why do you want Usher, here you go though:

I have written OC's before and followed the general principles of writing a 'good' character which precludes a lot of what seems to be on Mary Sue list. Currently though the OC I am writing needs to be distinct as they have a role.

Like minds. I was thinking the same thing with Harry and his scar, green eyes, and unruly hair, though whether the hair was to humanize him or make him 'cool' I dunno.

This is the reason I asked the question because from reviews and posts in threads it seemed the Mary Sue label was a little amorphous or at least depended on who was talking. But after reading all these posts it seems there are at least some commonalities.

Choke on were-cum regurgitated from Anita Blake's stretched pussy.

Since you were trying to provoke me, you have succeeded.

 

In my book, a Mary/Gary Sue is any original character that takes up too much story time with their escapades/adventures/whatever.

Often times they are, as stated above, perfect or nearly perfect.

No one is good at everything.

For example, don't have them be talented in every aspect of magic. Make them good at charms and transfiguration, but not very good a DADA and dueling.

Jacks-of-all-trades aren't nearly as interesting as a person who gets through life using their specific talents to give them a good chance of coming out ahead in most situations. Also, even if they are skilled enough to do that, not all situations will come to an acceptable/pleasing conclusion for the character. A good character, no matter how skilled, will always lose at one point or another.

Regarding their personality, you should avoid placing them at any extremes. Do not make them the most popular kid in school or an outcast with a 'cold-yet-badass' attitude. I will kill you should you do this.

Don't even try making the character's romance, should he/she have any, have a lot of screen time. Making mentions of it is fine, but no one gives enough of a shit about your OC's romantic interests for you to put it in detail.

If I think of anything else I'll post it.

 

A Mary Sue, in my opinion, is a character that the author wants everyone to like.

Ginny, in my opinion, is a Mary Sue. She is popular, supposedly beautiful, poor and goes out with the main character.

A popular girl means everyone likes her. A beautiful girl but poor makes her a tragic tale that made her beautiful. And going out with the main character is self explanatory.

A Mary Sue is just a character where the reader is forced into liking her due to how incredibly awesome s/he is!

Now we can go to the opposite side of the spectrum where the author tries too hard to make the character hated. Like fanon Voldemort who kills Kittens for fun.

That's the way I've seen it anyway...