if I claimed to hate Mary Sue writing or that I wasn't a Mary Sue, those
email headers alone, showing my longing to be with Harry Potter, would
prove me to be:
A. In denial
B. A liar
C. a hypocrite.
D. a combination of any of the above. Unless my last name really was Potter.
Why? Because I would be guilty of Mary Sue-ism myself. The name factor is
often a good indicator of the two Mary Sue qualifications stated in the
above paragraphs.
Yes, there are Mary Sues who flatly deny that's what they are. Here are some examples.
Denial 1: I AM NOT A MARY-SUE!!!
Example 2 LeoMcGarry.net On Original Characters
Here's the Sarah's Top 10 List written by the Mary Sue character, claiming why she thinks she's not a Mary Sue.
But forget the top ten list, that's all just extra stuff that Mary sues may or may not have to some degree. Yes, they are tell-tale signs of a Mary Sue, but conspicuously absent from that list were the made up relative or lover factors.
The reason Sarah Cooper is a Mary Sue is very evident
Sarabande and in another fanfic about Sarah Cooper's wedding to Leo McGarry, a canon show character in
Foggy Bottom Blues
Other Typical Mary Sue Characteristics
4. She looks drop-dead gorgeous, appearance described in endless detail, to
be mentioned again and again throughout the story.
Mary Sues rarely have normal hair and eyes, they have 'raven' 'golden' or 'flaming' hair that is not called just 'hair'. 'Tresses' or 'locks' are two favorite Mary Sue terms for hair, and it's always flowing, absolutely perfect, standing out as looking so much better than everybody else's hair.
Mary Sue's jeweled eyes can smile and dazzle, or if she doesn't get her way, those big beautiful 'sapphire' or 'emerald' jewels will weep 'crystal tears' and try getting the whole world to cry along with her out of pity for her. Or her eyes may be dark and luminous,yes, I have seen Mary Sues described as having 'dark, luminous eyes'. This type of gaze is designed to grab anyone who is unfortunate enough to glance at Mary Sue and be bewitched by their spell.
Her face is the finest 'porcelain' and always with perfect features that guys just can't stop gaping at.
She loves to bear tempting flashes of skin to make the guys crazy with avarous, and the girls crazy with jealousy.
Mary Sue has curves, and she makes use of them fully whenever she is trying to get guys to notice her. Mary Sue sways her hips hypnotically as she moves with feline grace across the dance floor, down a school hall, or anywhere. Yes, that hip-sway is a vital part of the Mary Sue gait. She wants all the guys, and the readers to notice her unusual grace and fall in love with her; and she assumes appearance is as important to them as to her.
With those eyes, locks, face, lush curves, swaying hips, catlike moves, Mary Sue is said to show up any and all other females, including those dressed in finer clothes than she.
When she is alone, she studies herself in the mirror, expounding on her beauty. And, Mary Sue is very modest, because the writer tells us "Mary Sue is modest by nature" somewhere on page 2, or was that 3, just so we don't get the wrong impression after watching her very coy, conceited actions concerning her perfect appearance taking up all of the previous page!
It is her looks that
casts the first love spell on her romantic interest. The trouble with that
is when the descriptions of the Mary Sue's appearance is over-done. It may
sound like poetry to the writer, but can become tiresome to the reader.
And what does that say about the character who is stunned by the Mary sue?
Not much, especially If the established book, TV, or movie character
already had a love interest, or simply is not the type to suddenly go
ga-ga over someone, whether they look gorgeous or not. It gets utterly ridiculous when the Mary Sue is said to look so bedazzlingly beautiful that she turns the heads of all males, available and taken alike, besides the canon character she wants to hook up with, by walking into a crowded room. If this is the goal of the character, she's beyond hope of un-Mary Suing.
5. Hates characters of the same gender as her. Mary Sue views other females as rivals to be stamped out so she alone can get all the guys bobbing to her tune. Often, Mary Sue claims to have been beaten down in her miserable past by a bunch of meannie girls, so, holds that "I hate you stupid girls" chip proudly on her shoulder. Or other girls are simply written in as silly little plot devices to be trodden over and outshone by this misunderstood, bitchy, beautiful, angsty Mary Sue. The other girls either fear, envy, or adore her, but whatever their attitude, Mary Sue typically views and treats them as vermin.
6. She Is claimed to possess a stunning array of talents. This is so easily over-done and makes the character unbelievable, and hard to relate to. To un-Mary-Sue her, the talents need to be kept within reason. The character needs limitations as well to make
her more believable.
7. Might have a mysterious past, a traumatic past, or comes from royalty
or nobility.
8. If she does not come from royalty, odds are good that she will marry
into it or at least into a very wealthy family. That can work in rare
cases, but close connections with aristocracy should be carefully and
sparingly used if at all. I can't emphasize that enough.
9. Saves the world, universe, or performs some stunning heroic act meant
to indebt the reader and the other characters to her. She is usually the
one to be standing by to nurse a main character back to health, rescue him
from bad situations, or she is always being rescued by the main
established character. This only works under certain conditions that should un-Mary-Sue her. To begin with, the character needs to have a
personality to match the hheroics, and the way she becomes a heroine is
plausable. here, the writer needs to make sure to write the heroine with
her doubts, fears, feelings and so on; not as an invincible goddess that
saves the universe with the same ease it takes for you to blink. She should not always be the one to save the day, giving others their turn in the spotlight.
10. dies a hero's or martyr's death in the end if she does not get the main
love interest, and is mourned by all other characters, getting much more
in the way of last respects than anyone else who dies in the story. This
goes particularly flat if the Mary Sue in question was a Senna Marie (to
be explained later) or gets mourned more than an established character who
dies.
11. Gets away with terrible behavior that every other character would face
consequences for, especially when it comes to romance or sex. Everybody
excuses her mistreatment of them because she looks so beautiful and/or has
any combination of traits described in the above paragraphs. This is the
Senna Marie, the type that utterly bombs at being the heroine or the
martyr, because she's so shallow, manipulative, and unlikable the rest of
the time that making her a protagonist, the star of the story, the plot is
always lamely contrived and just doesn't cut the mustard. This type of
Mary Sue resides in the writer's most carnal, self-serving mindset, with love of excessive luxury and power over others. This power-lust goes hand in hand with excessive censual lust, Senna Marie is all hormones. She is the drop-dead gorgeous one whose mission it is to gain power
and wealth as well as being a home-wrecker if the established character
already has a romance in a book or movie. If he doesn't, Senna marie
seduces him anyway, along with any number of other characters. Hopping
into the sack with one or more characters, even all at the same time is
what Senna Marie is all about. Her life consists of self gratification,
self-worship, and getting what she can out of those around her. She
bewitches the other characters into catering to her every whim and
thinking she rocks their world. She is quick to use characters'
vulnerabilities against them for her own gain. Those she can't bewitch,
she browbeats or guilt-trips until they give in to her. All the other
characters may become jealous of one another over Senna Marie. They all
kill themselves trying to win or keep her affections; or rescue her from
danger. She may save the universe with one sweep of her hand and a few
magic words, and all other characters never get tired of telling her how
wonderful they think she is, and how grateful they are. But any good deed
she performs is always motivated by self interest. Senna Marie does not
have a molecule of altruism or humility in her. She is without conscience and
principles, she is perverted, twisted, sadistic, angsty when it suits her, bitchy, and extremely egocentric.
She can tear out a character's heart and eat it, and discard him like a
tissue, but he forgives her and continues pandering to her. Angst and temper tantrums are a favorite way for the Senna Marie to get the other canon characters to forget about their own lives and make it their sole mission to cater to her desires, whatever they are.
Tell-tale signs that Senna marie is in the building are: the seduction or
attempt to seduce a character, and the distortion of main characters,
weakening them, dumbing them down to make them give in to Senna Marie or
just to give her the most action and dialog. It is even possible to take sex out of the equasion and have a child Senna Marie Mary Sue. She is the angsty one who is most likely an orphan in search for her parents, who she insists are not dead. She may be said to have a disability in order to get the other characters feeling sorry enough for her to let her get away with atrocious behavior. She is supposed to out-talk any grownup, making them appear bumbling and stupid next to her, or, at least, that is her goal. Honestly, it just comes off annoying as heck instead. Sometimes the writers of these types of characters get all up in arms when other characters written by fellow writers didn't react as planned, having the nerve to stand up to the Senna Marie. I have seen this happen and my response to such egotists or thin-skinned people is - if you don't want your characters getting put in their place by other writers' characters, don't make them so bitchy! Otherwise, expect your many-talented, good looking, or pitiful angsty disabled little demon to get flack from other characters. The Senna Marie, child or adult, only sounds like music to her writer's ears. She hits a sour note with just about anyone else.
Senna Marie is the summation of all the negative aspects of Mary Sue-ism.
Where Mary Sue is too common and can be annoying as a result, Senna Marie
is as charming as a laxative, she is nothing short of hair tearing, tooth
gnashing, stomach turning, nauseating. She is only welcome in parody
writing, but all too often, she is stuck into what is supposed to be a
serious effort, marring it beyond redemption.
If I wanted to write a Mary Sue sequel to the "Grinch" movie from 2000,
I'd bring in a character of my own making, related in some way to
Cindy-Lou Who, or the Grinch himself. She would likely save Whoville
from some impending danger.
To take it a step downward and make it a Senna Marie story, I would have
some character come along and completely overshadow and crowd out the
established potential love interest of the Grinch, Martha-May Whovier. I
would have the Grinch at least be tempted if not completely fall in love
with the Senna Marie character, and maybe have her save Whoville from some
kind of serious threat, single-handedly. I might even really weaken and
dumb all the other established characters down to half-wits or pandering saps to this vile little creation in order to make the Senna
Marie take center stage and shine, or rather, glare throughout the whole story. Can you imagine the Grinch losing all interest in playing practical jokes, forgetting about MarthaMay Whovier, and
turning from his usual gruff self to a puppy-dog-eyed, star-struck Romeo,
moaning around after a raving Beauty named: Nahid Leila Shirin Laleh Zahra
Parvin Fatah Aishah Horacia Felicia Malicia Marlequisha Katisha Kaishusha Kiseiki Kiki Kitana-Melina Tina Anya Fartonya Aurelia Ophelia Olivia Angelyka
Demonica Sanika Micah Miaka Miranda Fianna Fiore Ruri Yanni Komadori Frost
Harper Rainbosun la Petite Redwolf CandyRose Greytattoo Madpirate Mossgreen Satine Eponine Deathbaker Dragonrider Dungpile Queenofgoths Bluestar Silverchild Silverstar Bluechild Silversloth Icebear Zella Jan Tora Chan Tamora Toxicseal Camo Commando Compuwhore Carmen R'Becca Jenny-Ko Senna Marie Maxwell Pahlavi?
No? I didn't think so! lol I wouldn't torture myself or any reader with
such gross character mangling! I don't mind people taking established
characters and developing them further in ways that stem from something
they saw in the original story, and as long as the development is done in
good taste, without trivializing and subtracting from the established
story character. But character mangling is exactly what would happen in a
bad Mary Sue (AKA Senna Marie) for the sake of making Nahid shine, no
matter how insincere the glitter would be. Further more, Nahid would be
excused for her short-comings, more than anyone else would because she
could hero or cry her way out of taking responsibility. Now isn't that
pathetic!? Of course, it would be very easy for me to write Nahid into
Whoville, even interacting with the Grinch, but without making a Mary Sue
out of her. She'd just be a made-up character with no special status or
characteristics, but more than likely a wanna-be; and the Grinch would
kick her sorry butt all the way to kingdom-Come, and that would surely be
a day for celebration all over Whoville!
13. Mary Sue in Literature
Established book, TV, and movie characters can have some aspects of Mary Sue.
Harry Potter, for instance, had a very forsaken childhood, and unusual magic abilities. At Hogwarts, he was treated like a celebrity by his fans, and absolutely hated, probably viewed as a threat, and envied by his rivals.
the "Anne" books, and the first two "Anne" movies with Megan Follows have endowed Anne with some Mary Sue-like
qualities. She does turn the head of a young man, who really had to work
hard to win her love. Yet, Gilbert Blythe is no drooling or pandering sap.
He tells everybody like it is, and Anne is not excluded from his
candidness. She always seems to know the right things to say to people,
and situations work out for the better with her help. She becomes the
heroine to many people within the stories. Her childhood was miserable.
Those are all things typically found in Mary Sue. However, Anne is by no
means conceited, and her looks are made fun of by several characters. Anne
does not take another girl's man, and in fact, she suffers occasional
doubts of being good enough for her Gilbert. She is not talented to the
point of unbelievable. If she makes mistakes, she must own up to them
just like anybody else, and she is just as scared when she does. Anne
Shirley is a well-balanced character who is meant to, and comes across as
good old human and not some lofty goddess.
the *cringe* third "Anne of Green Gables" movie with Megan Follows that
took place after Anne and Gil were married, was a Senna Marie story, and a
real flop as far as I'm concerned. It was Jack, the Gary Stu (male version
of a Senna Marie) who ruined that movie for me.
Jack Jerk
Now that the differences that set Mary Sues and Senna maries apart from
other original characters have been addressed, it should be clear that
Mary Sue is not just any original or self-insertion character. She is written in as a relative, lover, or lover-wanna-be to some established character. She may have only her unbelievable looks going for her, or an abundance of talents that help her save the day and dazzle all other characters. She is intended to steal the spotlight by design and won't settle kindly for a mere supportive role.
Why do so many people write Mary Sue?
I have three theories, and one or more applies to any given Mary Sue writing.
1. On the analitical end of things, they may be inexperienced, not having read any other writing to realize that the porcelain doll with the sapphire or violet eyes and raven black tresses or golden hair that lights up the world has been written by so many others. They don't realize how common it is to over-do the description of a character's appearance, especially when they keep repeating it in endless detail throughout the story.
2. On a personal level, they just want some connection with an established character, and making up a relative is a way to do that.
3. Last but definitely not least, they are in love or lust with some established character and writing an idalized version of themselves is a way to live out their fantasies and boost or show their ego.
-Indianna