Mary-Sue: Who is She?

Things You Need to Know and What to Do if You See Them

People and relationships are tricky things. The word ‘normal’ in the real world is an impossibility because if you broke down each person into the components they're made up of, you'd find someone who is illogical, contradictory, good and evil. You'd find the makings of a hero and quite possibly the makings of a Mr. Hyde. When you're writing a character, you're exploring those illogical, contradictory, good and evil people and their relationships. You need those things to make a character three-dimensional (Karen Weisner).

Unique

While being unique is a good thing in reality, it is apparently a big no-no in fiction, which I don’t think is true at all.  You can make your characters as different as you want them to be, as long as they follow the rules of whatever universe they are in, and it follows the rules of your character.  To do this well, a character has to have a balance of three aspects:  how they act and think, how they appear, and their background story.  If she is incredibly shy, don’t make her wear a micro-skirt, a tank top that shows the midriff, gaudy make-up, and she is the most popular girl in her school even though she was traumatized when her step-father raped her.  I know it’s a pain, but you have to think about more than just creating looks, personality, a sad childhood, and just stick them in a story.  Some deep thought is a major requirement.

Personality

There are a wide range of personality types, so you can basically be as creative with this as you want, just as long as there are a few actual quirks.  Do NOT list their personality traits at all like you mostly see in character sheets, which shouldn’t be in stories anyway unless it‘s treated as extra, or optional, information.  If you have to make a character sheet in a journal to keep your ideas in, I would write the character’s history, and how it affects the character, which is not the same as listing the personality.  With history, you can get a deeper sense of why this character is this way, than just listing random quirks.

More often than not, some characters are one way on the outside, but are completely different in their minds.  For example, someone who seems to be confident and always has a sarcastic retort, could think, “What the heck was I thinking when I said that?  Am I really that stupid to come up with that lame insult?”  Thus, making them seem a little insecure, and adding a little more depth in their character.  Of course, at the end of every story, they have to change somehow, or else nothing is learned, and they haven’t developed.  The change has to take place in both outer and inner personalities, and they can’t be subtle changes so your character is virtually the same as the beginning.

We have always experienced labels and stereotypes, and they all have a negative connotation to them.  The Jocks have mush for brains, the Preps are mean whores, and the Emos cut.  This itself is clichéd and has become the outline for characters that I find it to be underdeveloped.  In the real world, athletes are actually intelligent, popular cliques are nice people, and people who wear black don’t cut!  Cutting is real, I won’t deny that, but what I’m getting at is that not all people who cut are people who wear black.  Some “Preps” with a lot of pressure to do well in life cut.  What’s appalling is that some stories seem to glorify it, or that it isn’t destructive (cutting, not stereotypes).  Stereotypes in general are destructive in stories, and have become tell-tale signs that the story and characters are underdeveloped.  Stereotypes are not the same as personality types; they are labels that someone else calls people.  Do not get them mixed up.

Appearance

As much as we hate to admit it, but looks are important; however, it’s for a different reason than reality.  Most Mary-Sues are referred to as incredibly beautiful characters.  Despite what certain authors on writing sites say, Mary-Sue’s beauty is not limited to certain physical traits like being blonde and has blue eyes, is busty, or has an athletic build.  They only become Mary-Sue traits when it’s without reason, like having big boobs when the character is only 13, or being ripped when he doesn’t exercise at all.  Heck, you can make your character ugly if you wanted, but if they became popular instantly for no apparent reason, then it is an example of a Mary-Sue.  In addition, it does depend on what universe the story takes place in, but there are still ways around it sometimes.