ParanetOnline
McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: seradhe on October 27, 2007, 11:52:05 AM
-
I found this through a Deviant art link and I think it's kinda fun.
http://www.onlyfiction.net/marysue2.html
as long as you don't take the results like some standardized test score, it's kinda fun.
-
What the ham sandwich is a Mary Sue?
-
I'm no writer, but I thought a "Mary Sue" was a character based (at least loosely) on an idealized self-portrait by the author. Often similar background, perhaps superficially similar appearance, gets away with stuff the author wishes s/he could, etc.
Along the same lines, Mary Sue is little Miss Perfect - always has the right skill for the particular task, always knows the crucial piece of obscure lore to figure out the mystery etc.
-
Tom Clancy's 'Jack Ryan'
-
AHHH, MSL, you mean Jack Ryan is fat and I assume balding?... If Tom is monitoring, that was a joke--I've no idea what you look like and I love your books better than the movies, even with Harrison Ford at the helm. :D
-
funny replies :P
I actually find the test a little fun. I spent the better part of my time online running through it with various lead characters from my stories (best was a 12, worst was a 97)
makes me want to know how other literary characters stack up, just for kicks of course.
Pendergast, Max Ride, even Harry come to mind
-
-eyetwitch- Borderline?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!? -murders test- >_>
-
-eyetwitch- Borderline?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!? -murders test- >_>
hahahahahahahaha. *wipes eyes and helps with the murdering*
-
there was another thread sometime ago that used this test I think. I didn't know what a mary sue character was either ;D
there is also an interesting thread about the number of stories and novellas authors have stuffed away...
-
I'm no writer, but I thought a "Mary Sue" was a character based (at least loosely) on an idealized self-portrait by the author. Often similar background, perhaps superficially similar appearance, gets away with stuff the author wishes s/he could, etc.
Along the same lines, Mary Sue is little Miss Perfect - always has the right skill for the particular task, always knows the crucial piece of obscure lore to figure out the mystery etc.
Interesting. The idea of the author doing a self-portrait (be it consciously or unconsciously) or a picture of himself as he'd LIKE to be is an old one; I'd just never heard a name given to this. Anyone have any idea where the term came from? Doesn't seem immediately evident.
-
Interesting. The idea of the author doing a self-portrait (be it consciously or unconsciously) or a picture of himself as he'd LIKE to be is an old one; I'd just never heard a name given to this. Anyone have any idea where the term came from? Doesn't seem immediately evident.
I never heard of it myself until I came across this test. A short sacrifice to the wiki gods later, I had this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_sue
While I agree with a good portion of the definition (a characters merits greatly outweighing their flaws, etc..). I personally believe there's a little bit of the author in every main character they write.
-
So Mary Sue came from Star Trek (in a way).... that's cool! Thanks for the link to the explaination.
-
What the ham sandwich is a Mary Sue?
Also, a "Mary Sue", or if a male, a "Gary Stu", is a character with no real character flaws. The overly good, invincible hero. Think Drizzt, Aragorn, Will Turner, Wesley Crusher, etc.
A Mary Sue / Gary Stu can also be a character who exhibits a lot of common cliches, such as the "Angsty Sue" (Rand Al'Thorne), "Rebel Sue" (Snake Pliskin), "Anti-Sue" (villains with no redeemable qualities), "Outcast-Sue" (Wulfgar), or "Self-Sue", as someone said above, when someone basically inserts themselves.
-
I did the test for a story I sold,
came out a 12. But a lot of the questions are genre related, as an example I consciously wrote the character as a shadow of my self, and not enough of the questions keyed in on the genre, to reflect the bias. As to good or bad I have always heard that you should write what you know, good suspension of disbelief comes from a believable character that extends it's existence in to an interesting situation.
In my case the plot revolves around a mildly disabled vet, and his reaction to a huge life changing event. Literally (pun intended) his whole world changes when his town is shifted 367 years into the past and onto a different continent.
Stories need to be interesting, and I think the test is trying to sort out the protagontist that always has too easy a time with it's problems.
If you are interested about half the story is available for free here, http://www.grantvillegazette.com/articles/Sailing_Upwind and if you want it all, PM me, and I will send it to you.
Regards,
Kevin
-
I did the test for a story I sold,
came out a 12. But a lot of the questions are genre related, as an example I consciously wrote the character as a shadow of my self, and not enough of the questions keyed in on the genre, to reflect the bias. As to good or bad I have always heard that you should write what you know, good suspension of disbelief comes from a believable character that extends it's existence in to an interesting situation.
In my case the plot revolves around a mildly disabled vet, and his reaction to a huge life changing event. Literally (pun intended) his whole world changes when his town is shifted 367 years into the past and onto a different continent.
Stories need to be interesting, and I think the test is trying to sort out the protagontist that always has too easy a time with it's problems.
If you are interested about half the story is available for free here, http://www.grantvillegazette.com/articles/Sailing_Upwind and if you want it all, PM me, and I will send it to you.
Regards,
Kevin
You know, I was just about to point out that this premise sounded exactly like that of 1632. Imagine my consternation when I do a quick re-read of your post to find out that that IS the story you're working on LOL!
-
(Grin),
The story mentioned is finished, sold, payed for, and published. (GG13) The one "We" (my wife is my co writer) are working on, is Marlon goes to Denmark to set up banking relations, and gets conned into setting up a LTA postal service. The story is a bit of a jump for us, as we are being allowed to use a significant person (King Christian) from the main story thread, as one of our protagonists. Our biggest problem is getting the "Voice" right, it is a little nerve twisting, meeting the standard set by the Primary Authors.
Regards,
Kevin
Gad, I am gratefull for spell checkers......
You know, I was just about to point out that this premise sounded exactly like that of 1632. Imagine my consternation when I do a quick re-read of your post to find out that that IS the story you're working on LOL!
-
I'm no writer, but I thought a "Mary Sue" was a character based (at least loosely) on an idealized self-portrait by the author. Often similar background, perhaps superficially similar appearance, gets away with stuff the author wishes s/he could, etc.
Along the same lines, Mary Sue is little Miss Perfect - always has the right skill for the particular task, always knows the crucial piece of obscure lore to figure out the mystery etc.
In a way, yes. That is basically it. But remember this kind of test basically just goes over a laundry list of character traits similar to a so called Mary Sue. But personally as far as I'm concerned the character CAN be all the things to mentioned but if the character is written correctly it really doesn't matter. Say she/he has the answer to every problem, right skills, etc. But maybe they can't access that knowledge whenever they want too, or maybe they have the answer to those problems or obscure folk tales because they have a background in that kind of thing.
So, basically a Mary Sue is somebody who has those traits without the characterization to back it up.