Ever since the dawn of fanfictions, there have been Mary-Sues. It was inevitable, I suppose; open up writing to everyone and you’re bound to get some of the inept. But before we go over the typical Mary-Sue, let us go over fanfiction and the history of the dreaded Sue.

The Fanfiction site is the sister site of Fictionpress, with the same setup and basic rules. Fanfiction is different from Fictionpress, however, because fanfictions (or fanfics) are strictly about already-published material while stories on Fictionpress are original fiction. Fanfictions are often said to be easier because an author does not need to make up any characters or background; the whole thing is laid out in front of them, available to use freely. Often times, most fanfics do not even have a well-thought out plot. Let us compare two romances, each of a single chapter in length. An original fiction requires at least two characters and a setting. The characters need personalities and must develop quickly. It is very difficult to warm the heart of someone introduced to the romance of two strangers that lasts about a thousand words. Most of the time, the reader will not identify with the characters, and the story will bore them. Now, a fanfiction romance. We take the hero and heroine of a popular anime (Japanese-style animation) and put them in an awkward situation. One secretly loves another, or there is a special event. Then they share an intimate moment, and it’s done. All reviewers already know the characters and setting. The characters have already developed. If a reader loves the pairing and the story is well-done, then they will likely love your story. It is easy to see why writing a fanfiction is thought to be so much easier.

Then along came Mary-Sue, bringing with her disease, starvation, and death. Well, not really. But close. A Mary-Sue is a perfect character made up by the author that usually represents herself (I’m saying her because the majority of Mary-Sues and Mary-Sue writers and female.) A Mary-Sue will have one or more of the following traits.

-Young. Most are teenagers, even though someone their age couldn’t possibly work in the story, because they are the author’s age and the author likes it that way.

-Talented. They are intelligent, clever, good at art, music, singing, fighting, casting magic, or anything like that. (If the story focuses on the “science” of alchemy, for example, then the character is a talented alchemist who can easily transmute metal to gold and is the envy of all other alchemists.)

-She has a relationship with a main character. If they are her age, they may be her boyfriend. The character in the relationship is most always the writer’s favorite, the one they think is hot and strong and wonderful, the one THEY want to be their boyfriend. If the character is much older than the Sue, they may be her father or uncle. (Even if a writer takes her favorite pairing, throws them in the future, and makes them have a child, the child is still likely a Mary-Sue.)

-Beautiful. Mary-Sue is very pretty, and is never mentioned at having a mole, a pimple, or a bit of pudge. She is gorgeous, often causing a main character to be smitten with her at first site. (If this occurs, the character is automatically a Mary-Sue, unless she was just deceiving him or is just a story device to draw him away from his love, only for them to end up back together.) (Also, I have noticed that many Mary-Sues have incredibly deep descriptions of clothing. The author has imagined them in her head clearly, but the reader doesn’t exactly find it important to know that Susan wears a red tank top, a black miniskirt, and tall white boots.)

-The central character. She is the fanfic’s heroine who always saves the day. The other characters are secondary or her sidekicks, but she is the one who ends up the hero and kills the bad guy. She is always powerful, and is usually more powerful than the hero.

-Non-human lineage. This depends of the circumstance. My character ends up being a fairy, per say, or has a small amount of fairy blood, and it is likely fine, but it is when we get to partial cats, wolves, angels, or demons that we get a problem. The trouble is, they’re still pretty. If I have a half-cat character (and I better have a good explanation for that) and if they have large whiskers, a cat nose, knees that bend backwards, and fur all over their body, then they may be fine. Most Sues only have cat ears and a tail, though. This is likely inspired by the manga series Tokyo Mew Mew. Cat ears and a kitty tail are cute. A human like this can still have a relationship. It isn’t reasonable and it is incredibly irksome. Where can you become half-cat from? You can not change your DNA to get cute furry ears and a tail. No.

-Angelic, and I mean literally. Angels are in religion, and are divine beings. They have no flaws. You cannot make a character an angel because wings look nice. Just stay away from here.

-Unique name. This name is often Japanese and is inspired by the writer’s nickname. For example, Inu means dog, so my friends call me that. I create a character named Inu.

-As a finishing note, nearly all Mary-Sues are poorly written. This means lack of good description, along with lack of proper English (punctuation, capitalization, spelling, paragraphs breaks, non-canon canons).

A Mary-Sue is easy to make. A teenage girl is obsessed with an anime, in love with the characters, and miserable because she is not a part of it all. She makes a character based off herself. She gives the character her curly blond hair and her green eyes. She thinks she is cheerful and happy-go-lucky, so she gives this to the character. (This is not the kind of cheeriness found in the real world mainly in obnoxious little kids; it is the cheeriness in anime girls that is usually adorable). If the girl is rude to everyone, her Mary-Sue is nice. If the girl is terrified of spiders, the dark, and vampires, her Mary-Sue is fearless. The positive qualities remain, but the negative ones are erased and replaced with more positive ones. If the girl has acne, her fake persona has flawless, radiant skin. If the real one is overweight because she eats junk food and never exercises, the other is in great shape and is slender. Finally, the Sue becomes a goddess, an insanely perfect 2-D creature composed of a writer’s obsessions and lusts. The writer thinks her creation is wonderful and wishes to share her, but many readers are only disgusted by their beautiful, faultless Frankenstein. The girl writer loves a two-dimensional anime boy, and this twisted alter ego can fall in love with him. Sure, Neko (which is Japanese for cat, although the Sue is not Japanese, the anime is not set in Japan, and Cat is not a name) may not ever appear on the show to fall in love with Anime Heartthrob, but posting her tale all over the internet and having people read and review it is the next best thing, right?

Time to bring up a somewhat-related subject: flames. A flame is an offensive review insulting the story and writer with no constructive criticism and no evidence as to why it is so horrible. Sometimes, a well-meaning writer who only writes about the main characters acting normal (in Sue stories, they are often strange and nothing like themselves) may point out the errors in a Mary-Sue. TheSue will cry out at how mean and rude they are, how they didn’t want a flame. Their friend will come to their rescue, saying to not be a jerk because they just started writing and are very talented. This is an all-too-common mistake. The Sue writer needs to look at her reviews and realize that many positive comments doesn’t make her all that and a bag of chips. The positive ones are often poorly-written and in chatspeak, while ones pointing out mistakes are written using proper English. Compare the following two.

“I think your story could use come work. Kalini is too perfect. She has no flaws. Give her some, like a hot temper or adisbelieving nature. Also, improve your writing. The word “I” must always be capitalized, for instance. You have many run-ons and a plethora of typos. Maybe you should read over your work before submitting it.”

“wow this is so good! kalnii (notice character name misspelling) is really cool, she is hot and great and kosuke should fall in love wit hher bcuz she deserves him and this story is so great, last chapter was reasrllly suspensufl and keep riting more i need to read ur stuff!”

I think the one who takes time to read over their post and use proper English knows more and is a more credible reviewer. Don’t be upset if you don’t get a compliment. Maybe it’s true, so check it out.

Not all original characters in fanfictions are Mary-Sues, but the exceptions are few. Don’t automatically assume that yours is the one in two hundred that is not a Sue. If you get a negative remark paired with constructive criticism on your made-up character story, use it to your advantage. Maybe your character needs work. Give some physical and character flaws. By physical flaws, I don’t mean that she needs to be twenty pounds overweight, have a face full of acne, or have buckteeth. For her not to be a stunning beauty is enough. Some character flaws to use are a temper that angers easily and unpredictably, an untrusting nature, the way she hits on every boy she sees, the way she insults everyone less pretty than she is, her emotional nature that causes her to cry at absolutely nothing, her fear of petty things, her lack of judgement, et cetera. Sometimes character flaws can be quirks that make her unique. The Sues are the embodiment of evil in literature, but if everyone offers advice to their creators and fixes their own Mary-Sues, maybe someday, the world will be a happy place.

(End Note: Lack of intelligence is not a character flaw, nor is clumsiness. Take Tohru Honda, the heroine of popular manga Fruits Basket. She is kind, understanding, loving, and helps everyone’s problems, causing even the harshest characters to like her. Her only “flaw” is the fact that she is a total ditz. This is an example of a published Mary-Sue. There are doubtlessly many out there, but they are not the heroes of award-winning books.)

-Fin