Seriously, I was wondering if anyone thought that any of my manga characters were Sues or Stus...(Mainly the characters of Special School (since the main character, Hao-chan, is jokingly referred to as a Sue, and another character even gives her a magazine quiz on it) and the characters of Shizuka's Journey?)

I know I can't say anything, since I'm the author and I'd be all biased, and so, I would like to ask the people here (who, by the way, are wonderful authors and I'm not just saying that) to evaluate my characters. If it's not too much trouble.

Well, I can't say much for the two stories that you've mentioned, because I don't think that I've read them. The only story of yours that I've really read was Robotic Remedy and no one really seemed Mary-Sue/Gary Stu-ish to me.

If you want, you can take the Mary Sue Litmus Test on my profile but you have to do some self-figuring into that as well. Just because the test calls them a Mary Sue doesn't mean that they are one by and rules and standards of the world that you've created.

However, don't make exceptions for the sake of not wanting to deem them a Sue if they are one.

I think you should read the Thread entitled Harrassment. It has a few posts in there about the topic of Mary Sue/Gary Sues. You might find it interesting.

~Melissa

hey! so, i always have that same question on my mind when doing character outlines. Today, though, i found a website that helps. It's a little quiz to see if your character is a "mary sue" or "gary stus." Here's the link: http://firefox.org/news/articles/651/1/The-Original-Mary-Sue-Litmus-Test/Page1.html (hope it shows.) I hope this helps you out!

I just read the first chapters of both stories and I can confidently say that if they are Mary Sue's/Gary Stu's then it doesn't really seem to affect the narrative.

You see, author's draw inspiration from a lot of aspects of their lives and naturally the first rule of beginners is to start with writing what you know. So you're bound to write characters or scenarios that are parrallels of people/things from your life. It's normal. However, it becomes a REAL PROBLEM when some authors right out characters that are indeed mary sue's and they are depicted as either infallable, unconditionally adored by all of the other characters, they take up most of the first chapter/prelude by introducing the character via an overly extensive diatribe about their wardrobe and unique hair color, those sort of things.

All in all, I would say to write everything out and then re-read it, if your characters seem too perfect or oversaturated then just dial them back a little bit. And hell, let's say you REALLY like a character, then no sweat, spread out their awesomeness in small paces here and there. You're fine, no worries ^_^.

I think Mary Sue Litmus Tests are kind of useless. They're better for evaluating OCs in fanfiction (characters that are interlopers by default) than characters from actual original stories. It doesn't matter if you can label Character A as having this superpower or that character flaw; it just matters how all these things work within the story. I could make a charming, pretty-boy swordsman and load him up with superpowers, but if I manage to convince the reader that the character is as cool as I think he is, then there's no problem.

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