worldfantasygirl
Speckle Frew
'If silence therefore song" - end poem of Abarat 3[Mo0:24]
Posts: 190
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Post by worldfantasygirl on Oct 30, 2009 10:52:14 GMT -5
I have no idea what a mary sue fic is, can someone please explain?
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Post by Abaratian on Oct 30, 2009 13:02:21 GMT -5
A Mary Sue fic is a type of fanfiction where one of the characters, usually the main character, is a girl who has few or no flaws, is one-dimensional and cannot be properly sympathized with, and is usually just a fantasy self-insertion of the author. There are many types of Mary Sues. Generally they are pretty, smart, and talented. Sometimes a reader will call out that the character is a Mary Sue and the writer will add some halfhearted flaws to make the character seem more balanced, but they aren't really flaws at all, for example the character will be "so pretty it intimidates others" or else has a scar that's shaped interesting. Another really huge flaw is "clumsy." None of these are actual flaws, just make the character more special and endearing (an actual flaw for a well-rounded character would be like arrogance, or easily jealous) The generic Mary Sue is a character who is pretty, young, and smart. She has an incredible talent that other characters do not have, or else if they do have, she's better at it. The sole point of her story is generally just to have her end up with one of the main characters of the fandom. Sometimes they end up with one of the heroes, but other times they are able to transform the villains into good people and they live happily ever after. For example, a Mary Sue in the Abarat fanfiction would probably transform Christopher Carrion with her love and they would live happily ever after, and he would grow a nose and hair and lose the nightmares and become handsome. In the Harry Potter fanfiction, this is big with Draco Malfoy (who usually gives up his snobbish ways because of the Mary Sue's love) or Severus Snape (who, because of his love, turns into a good person and decides to wash his hair and brush his teeth). This isn't always necessary, though. Some very famous Mary Sues end up with monstrous characters who don't change physically and were just out-of-character from the beginning. One type of Mary Sue that's really big right now is the dark or angsty Mary Sue. They generally have a very tragic past (parents are dead, family abused them, or was raped). They are very depressed, often have suicidal thoughts or genuinely attempt suicide. Only love of another character can convince her not to kill herself, or visa-versa - sometimes she prevents another equally depressed character from killing himself. These Mary Sues are generally filled with flaws (they're hateful, quiet, melancholy) but the other characters like her anyways or else hate her until they realize how smart or talented she is. Another type of Mary Sue is a self-insertion. The author's main character is a very obvious fantasized version of herself. Most people argue that Bella from the Twilight series is a self-insertion fantasy of the author, Stephanie Meyer (and I really agree with this theory). Aside from being gorgeous and talented, Mary Sues frequently have cool names that don't make a lot of sense (for example they will be named Krystallen or Wynter or Julinia). They fall in love with a character, and if they don't then they have a tie to another character, generally a family tie. For example, an Abarat Mary Sue might be Candy's cousin visiting from LA, or Malingo's long-lost sister who has been abused as a slave her whole life and is a dark Mary Sue. Often times, Mary Sues have strange, unrealistic physical traits, like "eyes that reflect like mirrors" or "brilliant purple eyes" or "skin pale as marble" or "catlike eyes"... you get the point. No one has pupils like a cat's, and no one gets orange colored eyes, but the Mary Sue could have both! Mary Sues can be male. When they are male they are generally referred to as Gary Stues (sometimes Marty Sues). I have only seen Gary Stues rarely, and this is usually in slash fanfiction. Characters in books can be Mary Sues. It is argued that Bella from Twilight is a Mary Sue. A very key example of the dark Mary Sue is Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way from the Harry Potter fanfic "My Immortal". This story is so bad that I love it, to be honest. I THINK that the person writing it was writing it badly on purpose, to make fun of gothic Mary Sues in the Harry Potter fandom. But if you want to see what a gothic Mary Sue is like, I recommend it. This story is rated R though, for sex, swearing, and I think the characters cut themselves a lot. Mary Sue Litmus Tests exist solely for the purpose of preventing Mary Sues. If you think you could be writing a Mary Sue, I suggest you take this test and be honest with yourself. It might even be a good idea to ask someone else to check your story for you, because they're more likely to be honest. www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm
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worldfantasygirl
Speckle Frew
'If silence therefore song" - end poem of Abarat 3[Mo0:24]
Posts: 190
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Post by worldfantasygirl on Oct 30, 2009 15:19:43 GMT -5
wow, much more in depth than I would have thought. Thanks alot for the explanation, now I know what everyone else is talking about.
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Post by Abaratian on Oct 30, 2009 17:19:44 GMT -5
Yeah, I have a lot to say on the subject, just because I've run into so many cases of Mary Sues in fanfiction. Honestly, the cause for it 100% of the time is that the author is just inexperienced. When you write frequently, you realize that the best characters, the characters that drive the plot the most and create the most interesting interactions with other characters, are the three-dimensional ones, complete with genuine physical and personality flaws. As easy as it is (and fun, I suppose) to write about a "perfect" character, it totally distances your story from the readers. At least from the intelligent readers, who are the ones you really want to be writing for.
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worldfantasygirl
Speckle Frew
'If silence therefore song" - end poem of Abarat 3[Mo0:24]
Posts: 190
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Post by worldfantasygirl on Oct 30, 2009 22:10:49 GMT -5
true, It sounds like it's really easy to fall into the mary sue trap. Yet, it sounds devilishly fun to do it , but it wouldn't be realistic (drat!).
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Kaito
Pyon
[A:0]
Bi~rdy![Mo0:0]
Posts: 69
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Post by Kaito on Nov 7, 2009 20:15:31 GMT -5
Abaratian: Angsty Mary Sue is common on roleplays, too. There's one I was on for a while where at least two-thirds of the characters had killed one or both of their parents and/or other people, and most of them had been physically or sexually abused, sometimes by said parents, sometimes by some random dude.
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eitherangel
Pyon
Join the Tarrie-cats Army![Mo0:0]
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Post by eitherangel on Mar 31, 2011 15:35:56 GMT -5
”One type of Mary Sue that's really big right now is the dark or angsty Mary Sue. They generally have a very tragic past (parents are dead, family abused them, or was raped). They are very depressed, often have suicidal thoughts or genuinely attempt suicide. Only love of another character can convince her not to kill herself, or visa-versa - sometimes she prevents another equally depressed character from killing himself. These Mary Sues are generally filled with flaws (they're hateful, quiet, melancholy) but the other characters like her anyways or else hate her until they realize how smart or talented she is.” (-by Abaratian.)
I think it`s good that people want to experiment with this kind of character in their fanfiction stories. But either your want to create a Goth-Sue or a original character with similar flaws, your need to be careful when your character interacts with her flaws and how her few friends or family deals with it. If you want to write a good story with some original touch in it, I think you need to read and research your main-character problems properly. If your character suffers like anorexia or depression, you need to have a great knowledge about this: "Why is this person depressed?" "How does she fell? What is the cause? What kind of treatments has she used? How does her family or friends deal with it? How did she got better or worse etc?”
This kind of problems is not something that can be treated easily by just love or acknowledge by another person. To love and be loved may help a lot but sometimes… is not enough! Read books or search on the internet about your character(s) problems and really take a deep look about it; articles, forums or real life stories etc. With this knowledge you can create a character that is really true and realistic with her flaws, but also enough information to help your supporting characters deal with her/his problems and most importantly how they emotionally fell and speak about it. That is important to!
That’s the difference between a good Goth-Sue/ original good story and a bad shallow one!
Remember that!
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eitherangel
Pyon
Join the Tarrie-cats Army![Mo0:0]
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Post by eitherangel on Mar 31, 2011 15:56:47 GMT -5
Here is a example by the author "The Plasma" on fanfiction.net: "Coping with Change, and Love".
P.S is a Twilight story!
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