We're so perfect!
A Mary Sue, also known as Marty Stu or Gary Stu for male incarnations, is a type of Original Character. There are many "Mary Sue traits", but the only widely accepted definition is "a character who has too many positive characteristics and too few genuine flaws to be believable". The reason this generic definition is all that can be accepted is because there are many different kinds of Sue, so this is the only one that can speak to all of them. Another widespread trait of a Mary Sue is the deprotagonization of every other character, canon characters included.
About[]
Mary Sues are the most hated form of Original Character known to reader and writer alike. They are the bane of a good plot. Any story with a Mary Sue generally is a response to these two questions: "How awesome can I make my character?" and "How much awesome stuff can I make happen to my character?" Sues can occur in roleplays as well as fanfiction, and they have even occured in canon works (it is argued that Captain Kirk - and more famously, Wesley Crusher - were the original Mary Sues).
Basically, Mary Sues are supposed to be perfection personified. They are better than everyone else at everything else, and rather than feeling upset about being upstaged, the other characters are thrilled to meet someone so awesome and perfect and wow.
In a Gears perspective, a Mary Sue would be a fifteen-year-old female gear who, despite being cute and petite, has the strength of a thirty-five-year-old man and the aim of a seasoned sniper. She always shoots Locust in the head and kills with one shot, regardless of her weapon's range and power. She learns new things in seconds. She's more sardonic than Marcus, more mechanical than Baird, more enthusiastic than Cole, more friendly than Dom, and/or more competent than all of them. A single scathing comment from her will silence any one of them, and a single minute of praise has them smiling for weeks. They all love her regardless of what she does and step back on the battlefield to let her take out all the Locust because she's just that damn awesome. She's promoted to squad leader within a month of service and everybody congratulates her, even Baird. And naturally, kryll love her.
More often than not, the Mary Sue is a placeholder for the author or even a blatant author self-insertion. This is not to say all Sues are self-insertions nor to say all self-insertions are bad - Author Avatars can often develop into interesting characters in their own right. The problem is when an author forgets to include his/her faults and purely focuses on how amazing they can make their avatar seem. Pat Pflieger's essay on Mary Sues creates a strong image:
- "Mary Sue is often easy to spot because she's impossible to miss. Put simply, Mary Sue is more: more charming, more belligerent, more understanding, more beautiful, more graceful, more eccentric, more spiritual, more klutzy. She has better hair, better clothes, better weapons, better brains, better sex, and better karma than anyone else. Even next to the strong and interesting heroines of twentieth-century media and fiction, she stands out. She is singular; she is impossible to ignore."
- — Pat Pflieger
However, it is important to keep in mind that a Mary Sue is usually the sign of a young writer. Every author, no matter how great, starts with writing stories about themselves or about some character who's just SO PERFECT and SO AWESOME, and everyone LOVES that, right? This can be subtle or it can be glaringly obvious, but make no mistake - to insult the Sue is to insult a budding writer. Be constructive when pointing out Sue-ish qualities and be helpful. A Mary Sue is an author's first steps in the world of storytelling and should be treated as such.
Avoiding a Mary Sue is as simple as scaling back anything that seems like glorification. It's sort of like that fashion rule about accessories: Always take off the last thing you put on. A Mary Sue is "more"; he or she is too much of everything. So start peeling off some of the excess traits. Maybe the character doesn't need to be a martial arts master who never suffers defeat or a smooth-talking casanova who always gets every girl or a perfect good guy who never seems to have a fault. In a commentary section of his comic Fans!, T. Campbell reflected:
- "Rikk was always in clear and present danger of becoming a Mary Sue, which is why I took such care to have him make mistakes, get beaten up, receive legitimate criticism and, as here, get humiliated."
- — T. Campbell
Term Origin[]
The name "Mary Sue" as a term for this character type was created in 1974 by Paula Smith with "A Trekkie's Tale" - a parody of the common Self Insert Fics of the fandom.
Litmus Tests[]
There are a number of Mary Sue Litmus Tests online. These can be excellent guides in creating a non-Sue character, as well as checks for an author who is worried about their character. However, these are not always accurate and are a bit tongue-in-cheek, so take them with a grain of salt.
Recommended Tests[]
- The Universal Mary-Sue Litmus Test - A well-rounded and thorough test; just make sure to answer only the appropriate sections as outlined on the page.
- The Original Fiction Mary Sue Litmus Test - Although intended for original fiction, it works well for fanfiction characters, too.
- The Writer's Mary Sue Test - A bit funnier and shorter than the others, focusing more on the physical aspects of the character.