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This would work best in the last chapter of the story. As the party entered the chamber, Bolbo Slaggins lighted one of the torches already in to room to provide more light in the dank large cell. Hrothgar sniffed the air warily and opined, “Something’s not right here. The smell...” This was the last word or cogent thought the seven adventuring intrepid heroes had—ever. Rocks fall, everyone dies. Cheers!

I have to agree with you here. It also helps to have the “hero” examine themselves and their motivations without causing them to become “anti-Sues” instead of “Sues.” Seeing the protagonist overcome barriers is usually interesting, even if the barriers are all “in their mind” or not quite reasonable to anyone other than the protagonist themselves. “Could I persuade this annoying gorilla to quit messing with my girlfriend if I quit beating him with a circus mallet? And if he agreed to leave us alone, could I take him at his word? Or will I be forced to keep hitting him until I finally manage to kill him? And how much will I owe the zoo or circus the fucker escaped from when the oversized monkey finally snuffs it?” Thanks.

Hi, all. Back to the “original-original” question, I suppose that the ultimate reason we as readers loathe genuine “Mary-Sue” characters is the boredom they bring to a story, combined with the odd coincidence that most authors who accidentally write a true Mary Sue just aren’t that good. Apart from the infamous “Mary Sue the Author” not being worthy to be spit-roasted by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy as some might have suggested she desired, her character, prose, and story were BORING, and yes, I deliberately added the extra emphasis to the single word describing that misguided woman’s prose. You can over-power an OC like a “M-F’er;” and get away with it, but you still have to make the story interesting, even if the conflict is “how entertaining will it be for the OC to curb-stomp the near-unbeatable antagonist the regular main character couldn’t handle easily, if at all.” Succeed in this, you’ve written another “James Bond.” Fail, and it’s yet another Mary Sue. Even with all the “problems solved,” your OC must at a minimum solve those problems in a way that rewards the readers for sticking around. Better yet, while your OC may have the “canon” problems solved, they need to solve new problems, even as they help the “canon” heroes grow to new heights. Your OC Targaryen or OC Viserys Targaryen may have dragons and total knowledge of the “canon future.” How does this help retaking the throne from Robert Baratheon? How does it help putting Jon Snow on the throne, or otherwise prepare him to defeat the “Other” and the White-Walkers? Does he rescue at least Eddard Stark and his children, even if Catelyn is allowed to crash-and-burn? How spectacular is it when he has his dragons roast The Twins and all who shelter within them? Does he sell Joffery Baratheon to the Dothraki as a pleasure-slave for their horses? Thanks.

Hi, “buncha-titles.” This sounds like a job for a magical potion mixed in with the candle wax or torch-head. For added “drama,” have the wizard of the party recognize the potion, but not quite in time to save the day. Thanks.

Yeah, that would do it. The secret ingredient is an ungodly amount of poppy seeds, greens and more. Whether or nor they wake up is another matter. The hulking barbarian might be knocked out but the elder sage of venerable age and the tiny sorceress that’s probably 90lbs wet on a good day is absolutely dead.

If you’re going for something in the food, there’s always good old poppy, aka opium. Have them eat a spicy stew laced with enough opium to fell an ox, and there you are.

How about the reverse? You’ve got candles… but they go out because the oxygen’s being stripped from the room’s air. How? The old halon gas fire suppression, one of the most effective fire suppression agents available. So, rig it up, one of your adventurers trips the fire alarm

I know. Makes me realize that I’m getting too freaking old. The thought of half the stuff I loved as a kid being complete unknowns to younger people these days happens to be a constant heartbreak for me too. Times are changing I suppose, and brilliance in art has shifted with the turning tides. But, it was still a lot of fun to read as Dr. Who got drug into the mix and so forth. A very fun type of comic strip that I hope will remain with all of us for a long time to come.

Agreed. I’ve seen too many of those 2 full page descriptions of every tiny detail of clothing and even the makeup process in depth and over baked on steroids. I cannot get through that kind of boring to save my life and always go back and find something else to read when I get one of those stories in front of me. It’s one thing to have 2 sentences of the active dressing stage because you know it’s a blue skirt and white top thanks to the arms motions and the like, but a detailed makeup tutorial and extremely detailed clothing is a snooze waiting to happen. At AO3 you will find people who insert fashion links to the outfits in the middle of the sentences which is yet another marker of Sue/Stu at times. They try to hide their Sue/Stu by avoiding the blatant markers in hopes of getting more readers, so you have to rely on the obscenely perfected other issues at times. I’d say in original fiction, the Sue and Stu line is ignored because there is no actual preconceived measuring stick to hold up to the writer’s work which is the biggest reason for the Sue and Stu downside. I’d have to agree that the Anakin to Vader story line can be seen as a Gary Stu to end all Stu’s since he is the paragon of virtues and light that becomes one of the darkest and hateful anti-heroes of all time. His children have to save him from his own rage and the like. Still, his place as an original character means that only those who write fanfiction will ever feel the bite of nasty comments for not staying true to Vader/Anakin instead of the man who dreamed up that particular archetype enhanced characterization. I’ve seen a few harsh comments about an OC on various sites, but the worst of the hatred seems to have died down a bit in the last 2 years for several reasons. It seems to be getting better, and is more about how poor a job the characterization is of late. Again, it comes down to the telling the readers that the character is awesome without giving any active proof and that implies that a generation of readers have begun to shift their focus from the direct hate and into trying to get writers to show things instead of give us massive paragraphs of no reason to believe it brand of how great their OC is overall I think. A stronger focus on show me the character acting out their greatness has become more of the variety of critical commentary these days. So it is being worded as a need for genuine exposition instead of cop outs, or we see the offending story being ignored and getting no reviews and comments as a whole it seems.

Actually I was a published Writer and a Professional Editor through the 90's with a two page listing of Published Works added to my resume's credit. No valuable input explanations are given about my Female O.C., except the one person who ranted she did not act Native American enough because she is half blood Native American. Sounded like she felt Sam should be a clone of her, the reader. I'd say that is a perfect example of the rants I get. Not enough like me is the biggest underlying message in my Mary Sue bashing reviews. Therefore, I'm quite certain my supposed Sue is not a Sue. However, she was designed based upon a real high-level female FBI agent I knew a few years ago. I twisted Samantha's personality considerably so she's not completely like the real woman I drew off of to create the same kind of strong, willful, and highly obsessed with personal performance/honor personality. Nor is my Sue a good Girl, or particularly sweet. She speaks Japanese, but is sometimes snappy when a native or cannon Project D character does not speak slow enough that she can do mental translations. Samantha could not follow the Sue script if her life depended on it. She's way too violent to ever fit a Sue mold. I never state that she's pretty, only that she strikes the members of Project D as being very unusual. She's dressed in Neo-Vamp Gothic clothes and has tons of braids in her long hair when they first meet her. One reason for her design was to point out the horrific plethora of non mechanical know how stupidity that overwhelms the vast majority of Initial D fan fiction online at all sites. I know automotive upgrades and other things. Even her car reflects such know how. So I am pretty sure that it is a huge bunch of Bunk. Most of the readers are so incompetent in the mechanical aspect of writing Initial D they do not understand what they are reading or writing in the genre. Initial D is also the biggest offender in fanfiction to date with Sue/Stu characters who beat Project D and then conquer the rest of Japan. Worst of all, They always seem to be from America. I wrote this at first as a tongue in Cheek Hey morons, the impossible needs to be realistic. ROFL. However the demand to continue this saga has been rather pressing. Samantha Singing Wolf is a trained body guard who was in her introduction actively working for the American Embassy in Japan. Of all the expanding number of O.C. cast i have produced through 4 novel sized stories to date to play good guys and bad guys alike, Sam is the one all the morons want removed. My suspicions get firmer with each flaming Sue bash that it is her refusal to be a Sue that angers the readers.

Because I often write for game fandoms, I am often handed plot lines that require my PC to be something of a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. The challenge for me becomes one of explaining why this one particular person is the only one who can save the world, while at the same time trying to flesh out the frequently cardboard NPCs that follow my PC around. It's a fascinating challenge to un-Sue that Sue. If you think about it, no hero ever acts alone. There's always something, and that can be the fun part of writing for these fandoms. I like to flesh out the NPCs with back stories that give you an idea of why they're tagging along, and personalities of their own instead of having them serve as mirrors for the PC's actions. I've also been known to credit some of the quest successes to NPCs rather than the PC where it makes more sense for the NPC to have done better. It makes for a richer and more realistic narrative. Having said that, the anti-Sue is as awful. The lead character who is paralyzed by indecision, or self doubt. The guilt-wracked character who can't forgive themselves for past mistakes, and judges every action by those errors. The one who turns humility into a vice rather than a virtue (which calls to mind another pet peeve completely unrelated to this thread). The self-effacing mouse who becomes somehow competent under duress. Gamers have a love/hate relationship with Sues, and when we turn writer, we get a chance to see if we can do better. That's the fun part.