Is your character a Mary Sue?

[Mickey Finn]

"Is your character a Mary Sue? "

Considering what I put them through, I really hope not.

[zwinky]

Sorry, just had bad issues with that test...though, I think Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita should take it. I have a feeling Anita would fail...badly. I think one more book and she'll transcend into Demi-goddom. 

Ok, this is my first post to this list.......... but THAT........
that damned near made me shoot coffee out of my nose........ > holding my sides<

I assumed by the next book or three in the Anita-verse, she'll be the G-d Emperor of Dune.........
no, wait, that's Jack Ryan......

zwinky

[The Dread Pharaoh Roberts]

Out of curiosity, I plugged Harry Dresden in.  Of course, I don't know Jim, so I left out the questions about "does your character do this thing that you would like to do" and just stuck to character traits from the novels.  Harry scored a 68.

Karrin Murphy scored a 36 - still considered a Mary Sue by the test.

Bob is a 31 - "Borderline Mary Sue".

Thomas is a 57 - right up there with Harry as an "Uber-Sue".

Michael is a 35.

I'd say the test is skewed to make almost any interesting character a Mary Sue.  Any character that comes up as a "non-Sue" on the test would be too boring to be worth writing about.  You don't read novels about store clerks who do nothing particularly well, have no particular skills, and who don't do anything interesting, but that would be the ideal non-Sue to these folks.  Hell, Waldo Butters would probably score pretty high here.

[recentcoin]

Mary Sue is a standard term for using the main character as your alter ego to insert the real world you into a bit of fiction - be it a fanfic or  something else.  Only you - the author - knows how much truth there is in that.  And even then it might not matter.  Anne Rice books = textbook Mary Sues but I'm betting that you've all read at least one of them and liked it.  Jack Ryan = Tom Clancy's Gary Stu and again I'm betting that most everyone here as read at least one and liked it.  It's all in the skill of the author.  Most fandoms hold these quizzes out as the holy grail of what not to be because there is so much utter and total drivel (and I'm being polite because I can't call it what I would normally call it here) that gets written any given fandom.  Most of it revolves around taking the author, making them, in the infamous words of Cartman, "Hella-cool", and then reshaping an entire plane of existence to enhance their "Hella-cool-ness". 

If you want to write a total Mary Sue - I'd say go for it.  What else do you know better than yourself?  Who have you spent more time with?  Just do us all a favor, and do it well if you do it.  Forget being "Hella-cool" and actually write the *real* you into something.  That might actually be kinda interesting.

2 cents....

RecentCoin 

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Forget being "Hella-cool" and actually write the *real* you into something.  That might actually be kinda interesting.

Though if the real you is actually Cool, don't feel you have to hold back on those grounds.

[meg_evonne]

Fun site, Liz!  Afraid I don't really understand what a mary sue is, but thankfully my character scored a 12 and seems quite normal and interesting.  I hope that means he's someone others will find fun to read and know. To be honest, I started wondering if I knew enough about my character--but since I feel very comfortable with his "wearability" I won't worry! 

Thanks for the site! Meg in IA

[JamiSings]

Your Mary Sue Score: 33

21-35 points: Borderline-Sue. Your character is cutting it close, and you may want to work on the details a bit, but you're well on your way to having a lovely original character. Good work.

Funny thing is, I did this for a character from my story My Ideal - in which the character, Misty, is a total Mary Sue. She's my physical description, my tastes in music, movies, my beliefs, ect. A lot of my stories lately are Mary Sues, in fact, especially the romantic ones because I have no romance in my life and have given up all hope of ever finding true love. So I live it out in short stories instead.

The thing is, most of the test did not apply to my story. Except for the time traveling angle of the story, there's nothing super natural or sci-fi about it. Girl meets 70s rock star who seems to know everything about her, 70s rock star gives her a gift and reveals to her he knew her five years before she was even born, she gets thrown back in time where she meets 70s rock star before he's famous.

[Pinky Narfanek]

Funny thing is, I did this for a character from my story My Ideal - in which the character, Misty, is a total Mary Sue. She's my physical description, my tastes in music, movies, my beliefs, ect. A lot of my stories lately are Mary Sues, in fact, especially the romantic ones because I have no romance in my life and have given up all hope of ever finding true love. So I live it out in short stories instead.

As an odd note, I had to do that [give up hope] to find myself in my current situation (getting married in just over seven months)...

Anywho...To the point of the matter.  Well, one of the characters that I've created scored me a nice number in the mid-40s.  Which strikes me as odd.  Sure he's a great warrior and immortal.  He chose immortality to serve his country and king along with a group of four other individuals, he's not naturally an immortal.  He can be killed, at least temporarily, and if the ritual is no longer performed he stays inbetween this world and the afterlife.  After a few lifetimes of battle, you're going to be good at it and people will know who you are.     Should he still not know the business end of a sword, axe or maul?  Should he not try to find a couple hobbies to relieve the stress of all that carnage (again, with all that time to practice some folks are bound to know your skill level even if you have a wide variety of hobbies)?  Now, what happens if the ritual is misperformed or corrupted somehow? 

And he is responsible for thousands of deaths both directly and indirectly.  The last time I checked, that was part of being a General/Warleader.  It's going to be kind of tough to not think about things like that from time to time.

Aha!

He should be a completely inept warrior that feels no guilt for the lives he has taken or led to their dooms!  And he should completely suck at anything else he does (but especially combat), because after a few centuries of making jewelry, gardening or learning the occassional language, he's not going to remember any of it...

Right?

But then I suck as a writer.

[JamiSings]

But then I suck as a writer.

*shrugs* So do I. But sometimes a story won't let me go until I write it. I hate that. I'd rather read then write.

I don't get, actually, how making your character beautiful or really good at something makes them a Mary Sue. To me a Mary Sue is when the character is exactly like you. IE: I wrote a fan fiction called Star Trek: The Mary Sue where I put myself and my dog in it. My exact description, my name, etc. Just - get to fight the Borg in one story and sleep with Spock in the sequel.

That is the ultimate Mary Sue. Now other stories I've written have characters that are nothing like me - but they do have super powers and fight super villians. Does a tall woman who's chosen to freeze her emotions and is beautiful qualify more as a Mary Sue then a character who's short, fat, and can sing just like me?

[Spectacular Sameth]

I found out one of my comic characters was, but she's the fan favorite.

[tamlynn]

To paraphrase Pirates of the Caribbean, the "shopping list" is more guidelines than actual rules.  Plenty of really good, fleshed-out characters have characteristics of Mary-Sues, but they have things that balance them out.  What makes the sort of Mary-Sue that people spork is when the character has nothing but Sue-ish characteristics. 

I have no problem with moderate Sues in original fiction, as long as they're coupled with decent writing and an interesting story.  However, it is good to know the rules before you go breaking them, so that you know your character's Sue-ish characteristics and can balance them out.

There are always stupid people who flame (give overly harsh reviews to) stories because they have nothing better to do.  Usually, they have nothing worthwhile to say.  Someone who is honestly concerned with the quality of your writing, and not just making you feel bad, will give you a well-rounded critique that points out flaws and strengths and doesn't just say, "OMG, thats a MarySue!"

In fanfic, the big concern about Sues is that they are often coupled with bad writing and/or mangling of canon.  The stereotype of a Suethor in Lord of the Rings, for example, is a Legolas/Aragorn fangirl whose character exists only for living out her creator's romantic fantasies, and has bad grammar to boot.  Because of this stereotype (which is not unfounded--many Suethors are like that), many readers start flaming the minute they see something that might be Sue-ish.  It's unfair, to both authors and readers, but it seems to be an unavoidable part of the fanfic community.

[JamiSings]

I do have to wonder, if Mary Sues are so bad, why are my most popular stories the Mary Sues and my least popular the ones who are nothing like me?

[Pinky Narfanek]

Maybe A) you're a better writer than you think?

Or B) the folks reading are getting the same wish-fulfillment that you are writing about?

I'd say it's probably more of the former than the latter, but I don't have more than a hunch to base that opinion on.  Besides, even a no-talent-hack such as myself has heard the phrase "write what you know" (which is why I'm a no-talent-hack--I know nothing about being a psuedo-immortal-Viking-inspired-general).  Emotions and enthusiasm do come through the writing.

[JamiSings]

Maybe A) you're a better writer than you think?

Nah, can't be, my writing stinks. I rush it, don't edit cause when I do I tend to remove anything I feel "is childish" and it actually ends up worse then before, and am always short on diologue cause I hate writing it.

Has to be that they all write Mary Sues too and think that we Suers need to stick together.

[celeber]

This was a lot of fun and made me laugh.
I would love to see some folks take that test and find out the truth about the Mary Sueness.