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I'm not a fan of Mary Sue (and Gary Sue) for two reasons. The first: lack of character development. Writers of Mary Sues are so desperate to live out their personal fantasies that they typically forget character development. Because the Mary Sue character is so perfect (and predictable) there is no growth or mystery. Mary Sue is nothing more than a flat character. The writer also fails to answer the important question: why should we care about this character? Writers of Mary Sue assume that if their character is an all-mighty-powerful being it'll make up for a lack of unique personality/background, as if we'll LIKE that character and think they're 'bad-ass' and 'awesome'. Uhhhh. NO. Introducing flaws or traits that readers can relate to is the best way to open up to that character. Unfortuantely, Mary Sue DOESN'T have flaws or traits we can relate to. And if she does have a weakness, it's usually some superficial/ridiculous one. So this is the first reason why I hate Mary Sue: she's flat, predictable, ridiculously unbelievable, unrelatable, and BORING. Another reason I don't like Mary Sue: it prompts the star of the fanfic (the one we love/recognise and the reason why we're reading the fanfic in the first place lol) to do/act/say something out of character. Because the fanfic REVOLVES AROUND MARY SUE, characters we love act, well,... stupid. Case in point: Devil May Cry's Vergil. This son-of-a-bitch is a ruthless, indifferent man who would do anything for power. I'd find it VERY HARD to believe that he would suddenly forget about world domination so that he could live out his life carefree with a giddy girl who happens to be 1/9th angel, 1/8ths neko, 2/3rds demon, and 4/5ths sage. Riiiiiiight. So there are my two reasons for Mary Sue. She messes with the characters I love.

Mine's pretty simple. My stories have several layers and extremely long chapters (most range between pages 30-40 per chapter, and I always make over 20 chapters, lol). Naturally, it turns most casual readers off so I don't get many reviews (maybe 5 at the most). However, the few that I do always come from readers who've read the story and saw the subtext I left there. So even if my stories doesn't attract a large audience like the other stories around, they manage to reach the audience I want and that, in itself, is a reward. I'd rather have one in-depth discussion about the story than a hundred "that was hot/awesome" comments. my other reward comes from the readers loving the characters I've created. I got like three people telling me they won't read my story if I kill off this one character. That's definitely a reward.

One thing I try to do in my stories is never to degrade a gender or race. I think what type of message I'm sending out. If it's a bad message, then that's my limit. Each of us has our own ideals and beliefs. I can't define what's 'bad' since mines probably different from yours. For example, I'm pretty opened in matters of sex. M/M. Moresomes. Mpreg (never read one but hey, there's always a first time, lol). To me, it's whatever. It's just sex. Sex isn't always meant to be between two doves heavily in love with each other, who wish to express their innocent thoughts with innocent gestures. No, we humans screw like dogs too. And contrary to the disillusioned belief that all girls are innocent and pure, no, we aren't. We're just as horny as any guy is. A girl having sex isn't degrading the female race. On the other hand, having a guy wear a uniform kicking alien ass while the sidekick girl bounces happily around in a thong *is* degrading. Likewise, the sidekick girl getting raped every five minutes and coming away with no emotional trauma. So there's my limit. I try to empower my characters while just keeping it real and offering my readers a good time. In terms of sex, if two characters can't consent to the act together, then that's my limit. Unless the story calls for a scene to reinforce a higher purpose (ex: showing the traumas of an abused victim), I'll never write that type of stuff.

I'm pretty new to this genre but to put it quite simply: to get over my fear. For a long time I've read how disgusting and horrible SLASH writing was. It was naughty and a big no-no. I grew up with that environment and that self-guilt reflected in my writing. I have some great story ideas and do action pretty well. But when it came to bed scenes, I was like... So I'm doing this to get away from my fears and insecurities. I came here to write hardcore stuff just for the sake of being comfortable writing adult-oriented scenes. And let me say, I'm a lot confident now. I'm no longer concerned with people looking over my shoulder and judging me, telling me that's a big no-no. It's not about the sex, but just being completly liberated. Even cooler, I no longer care if people review my stories anymore. If I'm happy with it and have posted to the best of my ability, I know my audience will come. And it'll be the audience I want. Right now I'm spinning in circles. I got one review for my story and that one person basically nailed and complimented everything I sought out to achieve. So yes, I think this newfound confidence stems from me no being afraid of the sack.

Hi there! I'm pretty new here so excuse my newbiness. In regards to the question, I actually *love* mary sue stories. Granted, I'll never commit myself to do such a story, but I enjoy reading them. I guess it's because I love cheesy movies. MJ-stories are hilarious and make me feel that my writing could be worse. Some of those MJ-writers are so eager to get into the 'action' that they pretty much sum up an entire scene in, like, a sentence. Not to mention, they forget to spell (eagerness, I guess?). I don't think the fanfic world would be the same without these writers. I know, I know... some of you feel it'd be a better world. But come on, these writers give us something to talk about. The way they try to justify their actions is pretty funny. I've even found writers who hate MJ-stories but are, in fact, committing that same crime themselves. It's a riot. And hey, most of these are young writers who don't know any better. They come to a site and want to live out their wildest fantasies. So yeah, I give them kudos for making their ideas (however premature or bizarre) known. I daydream a lot so I can relate to why they do what they do. I suppose there's a Mary Sue in each of us, in one form or another.