TheBlackadder Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Okay, So just for the heck of it (I was bored this morning), I was googling Fan Fiction terms just seeing what some of them meant. (There are still some that completely escape me and I don't understand AFTER reading the definition.) The one common factor I’ve noticed in all the fan fiction sites is the dreaded "Mary Sue". As if it's the most evil, vile, horrible thing in the world. But then I started thinking, How many movies and TV shows do the Mary Sue thing? They get away with it, and they are VERY popular. The Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy- Oh, my GOD. Is Elizabeth not the biggest Mary Sue character in history? She can do everything, sword fight, con people, stowaway and such. She's NEVER afraid, and EVERYONE is in love with her. Buffy The Vampire Slayer - So, Mary Sue. I have part of the series on Disk. The Part with Spike, because I love James Marsters. AND I have the entire Angel series box set that I just got for Christmas. Try and tell me that Buffy isn't a Mary Sue based character? Everyone is in love with her, everyone wants to do what is best for HER regardless of what is best for them. She's a great warrior, she's beautiful . . . she dies three times and comes back to life. Am I the only one seeing the pattern here? I'm not bagging on these stories, Obviously I like them otherwise I wouldn't own them on DVD and watch them over and over and over again. But do you see my point? Not to mention, that to call someone’s character a Mary Sue, is assuming ALOT about a person. Usually, the people slinging around the term "Mary Sue" in a hurtful and degrading way, have never met the authors or spoken with them. Just read their stories online. So how do they know that person is portraying themselves how they wish they were in a story? It seems very asinine and somewhat presumptuous to me. Anyway, I thought I'd rant about this. Every single fan fiction site out there has a big fat disclaimer on Mary Sue's. All of us starting out was probley a Mary Sue writer. It took time for us to learn how to write a decent story. But how many potential authors have been turned off of writing because they were declared a Mary Sue, and (figuratively) burned at the stake? Oceans of Love, ~Marian the Blackadder~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest StSE Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Ah yes, the 'Mary Sue' argument... It's funny. As an author with TONS of stories and different OCs over on fanfic - here's what I've found out: 1. Make a female character beautiful, strong, capable - with a dominating personality = MS 2. Take her FULL sister, same abilities. But so shy she stays invisibly cloaked all the time. Yet canon falls in love with her = not MS 3. Create ANY female OC, make ANY canon fall in love with them. Someone will say = MS 4. Create ANY male OC, make ANY canon fall in love with them. No one will say = MS 5. Take a canon. Purposely turn them INTO a true Mary Sue. No one will say = MS 6. Create an OC who is a 'clone' of a canon.. You can do anything you want with the clone. No one will say = MS Yes, there's a perception by many flamers/reviewers that ANY female OC that gets laid by a canon is automatically an MS. But there's a double standard - since I create male OC's with similar plots. And no one claims MS.. I used to care... Now I tell them to bite me - and keep on writing whatever the hell I want to write anyways! I've found that the vast majority of reviewers that bitch about a story being Mary Suish - haven't written a single story... Oh, did I mention, one of my OCs (who WAS beautiful - but every canon hated her. She was a mean, nasty, BITCH!!!) was called a Mary Sue???? Guess they didn't read the definition first... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psychostorm Posted January 29, 2009 Report Share Posted January 29, 2009 Ah yes, the 'Mary Sue' argument... It's funny. As an author with TONS of stories and different OCs over on fanfic - here's what I've found out:1. Make a female character beautiful, strong, capable - with a dominating personality = MS 2. Take her FULL sister, same abilities. But so shy she stays invisibly cloaked all the time. Yet canon falls in love with her = not MS 3. Create ANY female OC, make ANY canon fall in love with them. Someone will say = MS 4. Create ANY male OC, make ANY canon fall in love with them. No one will say = MS 5. Take a canon. Purposely turn them INTO a true Mary Sue. No one will say = MS 6. Create an OC who is a 'clone' of a canon.. You can do anything you want with the clone. No one will say = MS Yes, there's a perception by many flamers/reviewers that ANY female OC that gets laid by a canon is automatically an MS. But there's a double standard - since I create male OC's with similar plots. And no one claims MS.. I used to care... Now I tell them to bite me - and keep on writing whatever the hell I want to write anyways! I've found that the vast majority of reviewers that bitch about a story being Mary Suish - haven't written a single story... Oh, did I mention, one of my OCs (who WAS beautiful - but every canon hated her. She was a mean, nasty, BITCH!!!) was called a Mary Sue???? Guess they didn't read the definition first... I really don't give a rat's ass if its a Mary Sue/Gary Stu as long as I'm entertained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goddess of Passion Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 What if one of the canon males is supposed to fall in love with the female OC? This is the case in some computer games... so any female character you create will be a Sue, will she? Well, an OC who is better at everything than all canon characters is annoying, other than this, I don't care for Sue anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.