Chances are many of you may have heard the expression Mary Sue (or Gary Stu as the male equivalent). Possibly in a review, on a website, or just by someone saying “oh my god, that character is such a Mary Sue!”
For those who are unfamiliar with the term, Wikipedia describes a Mary Sue as:
“...a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfilment fantasy for the author or reader.”
Essentially, it’s a character that’s too good to be true. They are characters that are far too perfect and often end up being hated by the audience to some extent. Some examples include James Bond (mainly because he always gets the girls and can’t be hurt) and Wesley Crusher from Star Trek (as he always seems to constantly save the Enterprise when he seems to have trouble entering the academy). You will mainly see these types of characters in a lot of fan fiction (My Immortal anyone?), but sometimes they make their way into mainstream fiction as well. They even have tests on the internet to help new authors try to avoid making their characters like this, which is called the Mary Sue Limitus tests so that new writers can avoid these stereotypes.
Here’s the thing though, how do you decide what character makes a Mary Sue or not? My answer, you can’t! Personally, I think the term Mary Sue (or Gary Stu) is rather an unfair way to judge a character. How is it decided if a character is too perfect or not? After all, I mentioned James Bond as an example earlier, but he is an icon in fiction. Many superheroes are considered Uber Sues, but they have just as many weaknesses as human characters do. I personally do not like this term and feel it’s a cheap way to scare new writers.
Now, I agree that characters in fiction need to be well rounded and developed; also they must have some flaws which make their characters relatable. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t have higher than above abilities or something which makes them stand out. For the sake of this list, I’m going to make a list of traits that people relate to Mary Sues and give my opinion on what I think.
NOTE: For the sake of argument, I just want to say that whilst I use the term Mary Sue in the following, it refers to both male AND female characters. So those who were about to accuse me of being sexist can rest easy now.
TRAIT 1: A character has too many superpowers/magic ability
Sure, having too many superpowers can make a character seem invincible, and if they can fight off hordes of enemies at once then it does tend to make fight scenes a little pointless. But does giving a character these traits make them a Mary Sue? Not necessarily. After all, Superman has a lot of powers, but they can be taken away from him with Kryptonite. Spider-Man has superpowers, but sometimes he can be reckless using them and people can get hurt. Harry Potter uses magic, but even he sometimes has trouble with the most simple of spells.
Bottom line, having superpowers does NOT make your character a Mary Sue, unless they have no problems using them. I think when creating a character with superpowers and magic, you have to ask yourself a few things: Can these be taken away? Does having them help or hinder their lives? Are they happy they have this ability? If your answer to any of these are “not sure” or “no” then you may want to go back to the drawing board. Another question you might want to ask yourself is “are these sorts of abilities common to the world you are in?”
At the end of the day, if you want to give your characters super strength, as well as a healing factor or atomic fire breath, etc, then go ahead. There’s nothing wrong with a character having too many powers – it’s how they use them that determine whether they will be a good character or not.
TRAIT 2: A character has martial arts skills and can fight off hordes of enemies at once
Again this trait does not always have to mean they are too perfect. If that was the case then Chuck Norris or Bruce Lee would never have had a career. Again, it all boils down to the simple fact – is there a way that this character can be defeated OUTSIDE of combat? Is there a weakness their enemies can exploit to bring them down? For the most part, the answer to this question is yes. I mean, even Chuck Norris doesn’t win EVERY fight in his movies.
Not much to say on this, just refer to the above trait.
TRAIT 3: A character survives things that would otherwise kill a normal human being – and they aren’t superhuman
Yes, I will admit this does push the suspension of disbelief when a human character can outrun an explosion, or survive being crushed by a falling building or a plane crash. But come on, how many times have you seen this in movies? This is common place in action movies, where the hero will get shot at repeatedly and not a single bullet will hit them, or get blown up and survive. We all know in real life that the character will be dead – but that’s not why we watch these types of movies.
See fiction, in particular fantasy and action movies, are not about real life, they are about escapism and require you to leave logic at the door to some extent. But really, why would you be watching these kind of films if you wanted logic? I’m not saying action movies can’t be clever or logical, Inception some considered an action movie and that was a very clever film. All I’m saying is that we shouldn’t be having a go just because a character can survive almost anything. Jack Bauer anyone?
TRAIT 4: A character is about to lose a fight with a villain, then displays a special ability they never had before
This is common in a lot of manga/sci fi/fantasy. I’m sure you’ve seen it when it looks like the hero is about to lose, then whips out a power out of their ass which helps them win. Does this make them a Mary Sue? Personally, I see it more as a Deux Ex Machina than a Mary Sue. Sure, it can be a cheap way to end a story – but if it’s the only way to win a fight with no other logical resolution, then why not?
I personally think this type of storytelling is better if it is foreshadowed first earlier in the piece, because then it feels like it wasn’t just added in because the author got lazy. (What do you mean that was how it felt at the end of Trapped on Draconica?)
Moving on.
TRAIT 5: A character is so beautiful, everyone can’t help but fall in love with him/her
I think you all know what I mean with this one, the characters that are just so head-over-heels attractive that everyone just can’t help falling for their charms. I would mention Edward Cullen, but I don’t want to get hordes of angry Twilight fans breathing down my neck.
Ok, I’ll admit, I hate these kind of characters so in this respect, yes, this does make them a Mary Sue. But beauty in itself doesn’t always make a character perfect. Many main characters on TV/Film are usually portrayed as attractive in order to get the interest going. Want the young male audience to watch you movie – put Megan Fox in a bikini. Want to entice the females – Gerard Butler with his shirt off, enough said.
Maybe that is a little factious, but hopefully my point has been made. Beauty is a good thing and if you do have it, you should have every reason to flaunt it. But, if the characters only redeeming trait is that they are gorgeous to look at, then you’re into some serious problems as you could isolate some of your audience – even make them feel inadequate. In this day and age where there are so many magazines and TV shows that almost outright tell people how they should look and live, I think we need to be careful about how a pretty character is portrayed on TV – as it could have a negative effect.
So yes, this is one of the instances where a characters beauty could make them a Mary Sue.
TRAIT 6: A character knows everything about everything and always knows the exact thing to do to escape a tricky situation
Two words: Doctor Who. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Doctor Who and have followed the new series somewhat religiously. But lets’ be honest, how many times has the Doctor known exactly what to do to escape or destroy an enemy? Most of the time, all he has to do is use his sonic screwdriver to escape (seriously, that thing is lethal in the wrong hands). And lets’ not forget Mr Schofield of Prison Break fame, who always seems to know exactly what they need to do to escape from a tough situation.
Here’s the thing though, this doesn’t make any character like this a Mary Sue. Why? Because just because they know how to escape, doesn’t mean that it will have a favourable outcome. Sometimes, things can go wrong, characters could die, or what they thought was the right thing to do turns out to be completely wrong. This I think makes for some good storytelling, because if this happens when a character says it is the right thing to do, then it goes wrong, it forces them to have a moment of clarity and it can actually work as a good character arc for them to try and redeem themselves later on.
So no, again I have to disagree with people saying this makes them a Mary Sue. And for those of you about to mention Wesley Crusher... pipe down!
TRAIT 7: The main character has the same name as the Author – or a name very similar
This is one Mary Sue trait I will agree with to an extent. There’s nothing more irritating that when you realise that the main character has a name just like the author. For me, this rings alarms bells – because you suddenly get the feeling that the main character was only written as a wish-fulfilment for the writer.
Then again, many authors have probably written a character that was just a wish-fulfilment for them. James Bond, for instance, could be considered Ian Flemings desire to be a secret agent ladies man that kills the bad guys and gets the girl. But hey, at least James wasn’t called Ian.
Now, I should point out, I have actually suffered at the hand of this archetype before. One of the criticisms I got for my novel Trapped on Draconica (shameless self promotion) was that one of the main leads was called Daniar. This could easily be interpreted that Daniar was my wish fulfilment (because I obviously dream about being a high kicking warrior princess that can breathe fire... or maybe not) but I can actually assure you that it’s not. Daniar is actually based on the idea of Princess Diana (who I consider an icon) and her morals were supposed to reflect Diana’s altruistic image. So really, Daniar is my tribute to Princess Diana.
However, in retrospect, I can see why people would have that opinion. So writers out there beware; if you are going to base a character on your own fantasies, be careful you don’t draw attention to that – unless you’re writing something based on your own life stories, in which case it’s acceptable.
So there we have a few examples of what people consider Mary Sues. Honestly though, I actually don’t think there IS such a thing as a Mary Sue. If there is, it’s purely subjective. After all, as quoted by one user in an internet forum, ‘one persons Mary Sue is another persons heroine.’ I just think this is a term that is used to scare new writers, but I don’t think they should be too worried about this. Writing is about using your imagination, and if you start bringing in rules and dictating how to write characters, that ruins a lot of the fun of creating characters.
If you’re truly worried about whether you think your characters are good or not, join a writing group or forum. Post up parts of your work for people to critique. That will help you more than any online test will. Never be afraid to let these sorts of things get in the way, we were giving a mind for a reason – we should be allowed to express ourselves as we see fit.
That’s all for me this week, until next time.
Regards
Pandragon
------------------
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/PDPublishing
Website: http://pandragonpublishing.webs.com/
------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment