The Newsies Mary Sue Litmus Test
Some time ago, in my ongoing research to locate things that fanfic writers might find useful, I stumbled upon the Mary Sue Litmus Test by Merlin Missy. Though very good, many questions in this test are concerned only with the Gargoyles universe, and simply don't apply to Newsies fanfic. There were adaptions for Power Rangers, Vampires and other fandoms I'd never heard of, but none for Newsies. So I asked the authors permission to make one - and here it is. :-)


Who is Mary Sue?
Perhaps you're asking now 'Who is this Mary Sue person anyway?'. Well, Mary - or her male equivalent, Gary - are the easiests to write, and often most annoying to read, characters out there. Basically, it means the author creates a wonderful character which has as many similarities as possible with him-/herself, puts him/her into a story and lets them do all the things he/she always wanted to do. (For a way better explanation, see  Dr. Merlin's Guide to Fanfic, the best essay on the subject of fanfiction I know of.)
Mind you, I am NOT saying that every Mary Sue is bad! There are great stories with Mary Sues out there. For example, Porter in Spitfire's stories is a Mary Sue (and she won 'Best New Female' in the Angie Lynn Fanfic Contest - more than well deserved!), Jacqui Kelly in Scribe's stories is one (And I love these stories, and really recommend reading them if you haven't already - see the links on my Newsies page), and so are many others I'm too lazy to name now. (Don't kill me!)
The point is just that the more 'Mary Sueish' your character is, the harder it gets to make it a good character, as in likeable, interesting, fascinating.
Authors like Spitfire, Scribe and others can do it because they're just plain good. I couldn't do it to save my life. (There's a reason I hardly ever introduce new characters in my stories and stick with the original movie ones.)
Mary Sue characters, while the easiest to write, are the hardest to write well. Therefore anyone writing a Mary Sue should be aware what he/she is doing. Which leads me straight to the second point:

Why This Test?
This test shall help you to get an idea how 'Mary Sueish' you original character is. Generally speaking, the higher the score, the worse. Of course, there are some stories with a character who'd score high here that are still great. This test is just to make you aware of your character's problematic tendencies, so you can make sure you want that and you know what you're doing. If your character scores high (see table at the end), you might want to rethink the plot, give your character some flaws, or add some new twists.
This test is not intended to offend anyone. The questions partly are from other Mary Sue Tests, partly from stories I've read or written, partly from other experiences. If you have the feeling one question is targeted directly at your character, relax, it's not. I've not targeted anything. Even if you answer 'yes' to every single question in this test, don't write to me and complain that I hate you, for I don't. This is just supposed to help, make you think, make you aware of possible problems. You're welcome to completely ignore it, you're even welcome to write a character which scores the highest possible result just to spite me. :-)
This is merely a tool for your self-estimation. Use it or leave it, but if you decide to use it, please don't blame me if you don't like the results. Thanks for understanding. :-)

How to Test:
  1. Read through the questions, and score one point for every 'yes' (unless otherwise stated).
  2. Be hard. If in doubt, chose yes. Don't try to argue (Hmm...kinda yes, but it's only in there because...), simply chose yes.
  3. Draw into account every story the character is in, including those you haven't written yet, but thought about.
  4. If you want to test several of your original characters, score each of them seperately.
 

I - Basics

II - Origins III - Abilities IV - You and your Character
  • Do you think you'd be friends with the character if you met in real life?
  • Do you think everyone who reads the story should automatically like the character and want to be friends with the character?
  • If someone tells you he/she doesn't like your character, are you offended? (Be honest!)
  • Is your character extremely good at something you'd like to be good at, too?
  • Do you ever pretend, just to yourself, that you are the character, with the same strengths and abilities?
  • In writing, when trying to decide how your character'd react to a situation, do you think "What would I do?" more than "What would she/he do?" ?
  • V - Love is all around me VI - Plotting
    How to Interpret Your Scores
    To be entirely honest, I don't know for sure myself. The scoring is still in the experimenting stage. If you want to help, I'd be really grateful if you'd send me your character's score (plus the information where I can read your story) at yamxx@t-online.de. (Also, if you have suggestion for changes/additional questions, please send them.) I ran several characters I know through it, and asked some friends to take the test for me, but of course this can only give an idea. Nothing written in stone yet. The basic rule, though, remains: The higher your score, the more you must be sure you know what you're doing.

     

     0-15  Multilayered character, probabaly no Mary Sue 
    16-25 Slight 'Mary Sueish' tendencies, could go either way
    26-35 Dangerous waters, you should make sure you know what you're doing.
    36-40 Are you absolutely sure? Really? Think about this again.
    40+ Find another way to tell the story. PLEASE!