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GreySidewinder — How to evade making a Mary Sue by-nc-sa
Published: 2008-04-09 04:44:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 213820; Favourites: 870; Downloads: 150
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Description The “Mary Sue” Guide

This guide is meant to introduce and/or inform you of this threat that is currently attacking storywritting, drawing, Original Character creation (OCs) and fandom/fanfiction in general, not to say Originality itself!

During the course of this guide, you will learn what a Mary Sue is, you’ll identify one when sighted and, most importantly, you will not create one and hopefully you will help others in the subject, so they don’t create Mary Sues too.

I) Mary Sue 101:

-What is a “Mary Sue”?

“Mary Sue” is a title given to characters in fanfiction (and sometimes original, professional work) who are simply perfect: They are beautiful, smart, friendly, always willing to help for nothing in exchange even if they can die, powerful, important in one way or other...you get the point (I will explain on emphasis later). These characters are often created in Roleplaying forums/chatrooms or simply as OCs with a storyline. They usually are related to every canon character of the fanfic they are inserted into, and have major relevancy with every success that happens.

-Why not make a “Mary Sue”?

Although this is totally based on personal opinion, It is not recommendable to create one simply because “Mary Sues” are empty, boring characters with little to no space for development. Think of it: They are just perfect, and people just don’t enjoy reading that, in fact, it gets very boring reading about a perfect character everybody likes with no flaws or enemies whatsoever, I’ll make an example later.

-But why is it wrong if I want to create a good looking (natured) character?

Nothing, in fact, it is excellent that you want to create a nice character and storywrite/comic about it, however, making your character a Mary Sue is totally different: Making your character perfect in every sense of the word is simply stupid: There is no place for development, no place for events, no place for something interesting to happen, and no place for interesting relationships (as every character likes him/her and all the opposing sex cast has a crush on her/him), no place for anything that has not been written so far.

-Does it only apply to female characters?

No, “Mary Sue” is simply a title given to both male and female characters, but it should be noted that most Mary Sues are Females. People often make variations such as “Gary Stu”, but for the sake of understanding this guide, we will refer to both female and male as “Mary Sue”, AND also remember that all the examples will be refering to the Mary Sue to as female unless noted otherwise.

Does the author of the Mary Sue recieve a special title as well?

Yes, they are often called “Suethors” or “9-year olds with no originality”

Now that you got a basic concept of what Mary Sue is, we will advance to the next area:

II) Factors/Features:

Now I will explain a little in depth the factors and features that make a character a Mary Sue, as they are often seen in fanfiction: (For examples, We’ll refer to the Mary Sue as “Diana”)

Beautiful:

The character in question is much more beautiful than any existing canon character. Not only that, but every male in the series in question is also in love with this character, no exceptions. (I personally hate when Suethors do this)

I.E: Diana is put in the Dragon Ball Trilogy universe. Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, Goten, Cell, Piccolo, Krillin, Broly, Frieza, Buu and Shenron are all in love with Diana and her goddess-quality beauty.

Saint:

Mary Sues are often the best person in the universe they are inserted into: they always forgive (given the case that someone actually did something to her), help even if it means a great risk, always give, never ask anything in return, is very understanding and thoughtful, you get the picture.

I.E: A kid in the village is ill, he is suffering from a lethal disease that can only be cured by the mythical herb that resides atop the mountain, guarded by a dragon, it’s familly, a guild of bandits and the U.S. Army. Going there is certain death, but Diana will go nonetheless and, naturally, she befriended all the guardians of the herb, and saved the kid. (and think of it, she probably could have cured the boy with her sweat, after all, that’s what a Mary Sue does)

Problem-solver:

Mary Sues arrive and solve any problem that might be taking place, even if it’s something really private and delicate. This is better explained in the example:

I.E: Two clans have fought with each other for 3500 years in bloody wars. Diana HAPPENS to arrive to that precise place and, after getting to know the royalty of both clans, befriending and getting their eternal trust in less than 15 mins, she starts an exaggerated, clichéd emotional speech that touches everyone’s hearts and solves the 3500-year problem in less than 1 day, then Diana leaves, waving her hand good-bye to the now pacific clans. Also, the whole royal familly fell in love with Diana.

Smart/Talent:

Mary Sues often have an IQ of 350, whooping everyone on everything. On High-school stories and fanfics, the Mary Sue will get the best grades on everything, will be better than everyone and won’t break a sweat while doing so

I.E: Diana is in High-School, her schedule for tomorrow is:
7 Exams, a Triathlon, rehersals on the play and is the drummer/guitarrist/Bassist on a concert. How did Diana do? 7 A+++, She ended on first place 6 minutes ahead of the 2nd place, knows the entire script backwards and gave an encore to the audience.

Potential:

Pretty self-explanatory, Mary Sues always learn a new thing with relative ease, and then master it completely in an hour, owning people that have dedicated their entire lives to the activity.

I.E: Diana has to go against Richard, 4-times national champion on ping-pong, while Diana has never played before. Diana has 7 days to train for the event with a master betrayed and defeated by Richard, in which everyone is impressed of her god-like potential to play the game and accept that she is better than them, when the day arrives, she wins 72 – 0 with relative ease.

Loved by everyone:

In any series the Mary Sue is put, every female character wants to be her friend and every male character is in love with her, this is usually linked with “Beautiful”, “Saint” and “Problem-Solver” as a combination of the three, but is still very lame, as even villians love the Mary Sue sometimes.

I.E: Does it really need one? Okay: She is put in Kingdom Hearts universe, Sora, Donald and Goofy simply fall in love with her, she befriends the Heartless and the Nobodies, Organization XIII have an internal struggle because they all fell in love with Diana, every planet she visits eagerlly awaits for her return...I think I explained myself (Mary Sues break the series apart...)

Unnatural Powers:

This one actually depends on the series in question; Sure, is perfectly fine if your character has superpowers in fanfics like DBZ, but...BLEH I’ll just give you the example.

I.E. Diana is put in Lucky Star universe, and past the part where she becomes everyone’s best friend, she goes off flying, transforms going through a rather unconforting scene, battles the cities’ bullies all by herself, and defeats them with freakin’ magic spells and finally summons fantastic animals and gifts them to each of the girls. (Can you break this awesome serie anymore? A Mary Sue can!)

Connection to a canon character:

This is one of the most common atributes of a Mary Sue: when the author is too lazy to explain where it’s character came from, they just come up with “She’s [Insert canon character] [insert relationship]”

Multi-I.E:
Uzumaki Diana is Naruto’s long lost sister, separated at birth.
Diana is Goku’s twin sister that got accidentally sent to [Generic planet] at birth.
Diana is Sonic the Hedg.... You get the point.

Insanelly Powerful:

Heh...I.E: Diana, fighting at her 50%, is an equal match for SSJ4 Gogeta...Do I need to say more?

Although there are even more factors, I will consider this ones as the most important components of a Mary Sue (Note that they all work toghether at the same time...making it more irritating)

III) Emphasis on the why/why not on “Factors/Features”:

This can be considered by as an “Attack” on the Mary Sue components listed above, I’m better just getting directly to the point, so here I go:

Beautiful:

It’s totally acceptable that you want to make your character beautiful, no one has a problem with that, sure, but there is people that just go too far by making stuff like “Diana is way sexier than any of the pre-existing characters in the whole series”... You can moderate yourself and make her as beautiful, or a bit more beautiful than the most beautiful character, but never go as far as saying that no other character can compare to half you character’s beauty.

Saint:

No one is so damn sainty as to do anything they get asked for, getting nothing in return and never seeming to have a flaw...FLAWS ARE NECESSARY IN CHARACTERS...THEY MAKE THEM INTERESTING!!! People don’t seem to understand that flaws are natural, and that naturallity is necessary for an interesting characters to be developed! Why would you want to read about a character that simply has no development at all? To see it solve everything with ease and no interesting stuff happening? Meh!.

Problem-Solver:

It’s perfectly fine if your character is understanding and thoughtful, but never exaggerate to freakin’ proportions such as the set example...this is usually seen in fanfic AS WELL as original works, which is pretty pathetic. And if you are going to do it, at least explain every detail and come up with something good, instead of saying that “Diana can see things from a “Big Picture” Point of view, so is easy for her to solve things”, don’t give up that stupid excuse for a character and a plot, and use your head to think something original.

Smart/Talent:

Nobody can be beter than everyone at everything, nobody can be good at everything at such a high degree. It’s natural that your character falls in some areas, maybe he is good at maths, but sucks at chemistry, or she is good at History but sucks at P.E.... COME UP WITH SOMETHING!!! It isn’t that hard.

Potential:

Please, this one is obvious, no one can master so many things in such a short period of time...It even sounds like a frustrated attempt at making something from the author. Learning something in a short period of time is already something, and is quite acceptable, but freakin’ mastering it? As in, being able to compete with professionals? Your originality sucks if you can’t come up with something better than this... at least say that your character has a huge stockpile of steroids or something.

Loved by Everyone:

Stupid, simply stupid... “everyone” means EVERYONE! Enemies, those generic emotionless characters...NO! SIMPLY NO! It’s humanly impossible!

Unnatural Powers:

Again, this depends on the series in question.
This one has many faces, one being Roleplaying: Lets say you are RPing in a nice forum, the RP consists on normal people on their lives, something really simple like that. Ok so you are enjoying yourself and suddenlly you see this new user that posted in your page, answering with crap such as “Elizabeth arrives from the skies, gently descending with her angellic wings and her dragon pet. Once she is on the floor, she waves her wings and shakes her tail, waving and saying “Hello!” while some flowers appear at her feet” and other nonsense that really screws the flow of the RP...I get an urge to slap these out-of-bounds people.

Connection to Canon Character:

This one relies entirelly on the author’s level to explain or create a scenario: I’ve seen incredibly nice fanfics describing every detail on how they are involved with a character in the series, but sadly, this is a minority, as most of the people that go with this format just say “[Sue] is [main character]’s long lost sibling” not even explaining what the hell happened...EVEN A 9 YEAR OLD CAN DO THAT!!! Before making a character, make sure you know what you are doing.

Insanelly Powerful:

Stupid, Unoriginal, Boring, Cheap, Fail. I don’t need to explain this, the title says it all, Insanelly powerful = insanelly unoriginal; You can’t develop your character in any way as she is beautiful, smart, talented, the best person in the world, so the best thing you think is making her unmesureably powerful? Something is wrong with you, my friend.

SUMMARY

For those who still don’t get it, Mary Sues are Beautiful, Smart, Understanding, Athletic, Talented and Powerful...or like some others like to sum it all toghether: Perfect.

Making a Perfect character is really stupid, you have nothing to develop, nothing to worry about, nothing to entertain the masses with, nothing to refine and polish until you get a nice outcome and enjoy it as you inspire people to create their own great characters, you have Nothing but a character that can do anything better than anyone... in other words, your character SUCKS.

Mary Sues are an offense to us creators and authors that actually put effort in creating a character that can get attention out of artistic skill.

That’s why Mary Sues are often shot in sight when caught by an author.

And if you still need a final example, covering everything like the difference between a nice OC and an ugly, enemy Mary Sue, I accept the challenge:

IV) Final Comparation/Example

Now, to finalize this, I’ll compare my OC to a Mary Sue in a very brief, basic, and simple way

Name: Nishiki Yurishizu (Not real name)

Nickname: The Red Rattlesnake

Age: 27

Hair: Red

Eyes: Purple

Species: Human (connection to Reptile Cycle)

Personallity: Yurishizu is an unpredictable individual belonging to the Reptile Cycle, Yurishizu is very cunning, sarcastic and mean, having few friends. He supports teamwork in activities if needed, but nonetheless, he will happily backstab someone (like he has done in the past) if he can reach a higher goal with less dificulty by doing so. Yurishizu loves listening to music a lot, but he dislikes and even hates most styles of art in general, such as drawings and stories. Yurishizu’s code of honor is rather unique: He will never betray his few friends or people he shares mutual respect with, but will readily backstab others that don’t fall into the mentioned status if he sees a gain in doing so. Yurishizu is also very protective of his ideology, and attacks other ideologies that confront his own. His fighting style include using weapons such as pipes and utilizing dirty moves. Regardless of this, if the opposition asks Yurishizu to fight fairly, Yurishizu will often do, complete with bowing, respect for opponent and sportsmanship, but even if he displays this kind of respect, this doesn’t mean he won’t use brutal or lethal moves.
He is a total fan of spicy food and sour food, and loves being lazy on Sundays (considering he can at the given time) and enjoys activities such as basketball, spending time with his pet Iguana or with some members of his family and doing rather mad things for his own pleasure. Yurishizu acts like a madman or a lunatic person sometimes when a “Mindsnap” occurs, showing a more brutal but less selfworrying version of himself, and often attacking nearby people he deems hostile (pretty much everyone) and generally shouting off his true intentions or plans. Has a rivalry with Majima Zabieru.

Special Abilities: Being part of the Reptile Cycle, Yurishizu can choose to exhibit reptilic physical features such as scales, a tail, reptile eyes, fangs, etc... He can also secrete neurotoxic poisons of varying levels, the stronger the poison, the harded it is to create it, creating poison tires Yurishizu quickly, although he has learned to create specific poisons for each body part, allowing him to disable opponents easilly, this tires him greatly too.

Weakness: Using Unexpected moves on him; Although he loves mixing his moves and doing improvised, unexpected moves to be sure to hit, Yurishizu’s not used to fight this kind of opponent (Ironic, he is weak against his own style), Yurishizu is also sucky against opponents that attack in quick succesion; He is not that much of an experienced fighter and needs some time to think his next move.

Okay...there’s one of the characters I use for a story I currently write: He has flaws, he has possitive things, he some weaknesses, he’s got that “past experience” thing (A rival, fake name) and has room for development (Or so I have been told). I didn’t go all detail mode because I said it was going to be as simple as possible, now I will proceed with the Mary Sue:

Name: Faery Diana Goldshine

Age: 16, but she is so mature she looks older and has better curves.

Hair: All colors known by humans and some undiscovered (Ultra Rainbow)

Eyes: Her eye color changes to match her mood.

Species: ½ Saiyajin ½ Tsufurujin ½ God ½ Catgirl ½ Angel ½ Desk ½ Mudkip ½ Dragon ½ Demon ½ Alien ½ Pure Essence 1/100000 Human (Mary Sues are Inmune to Maths if you didn’t notice)

“Personallity”: Faery is good at everything, everyone loves her Supermodel champion body and Saint personallity. She can learn new things in 30 seconds and master them to World-Champion level in 1 hour of procrastination. She is the best person in the world, and will always help even if it means scrweing up other’s dreams...as long as she can help that little kid, it’s all justified, right??? She is also very smart! Seriouslly! She had an IQ of 678 when she was born, and instead of being recieved by a doctor to this world, she got out of her mom by herself! When her true love (Mary Sue crap) is in danger, she can’t control herself until he is safe to confort her and stop destroying everything in her path.

Special Abilities: Faery can turn into Legendary Super Saiyajin 9, she has 4 oversized wings on her back; 2 angel and 2 demon, Faery can destroy galaxies and recreate Big Bangs if she sneezes, has extreme psychic powers, she can turn into any animal discovered and undiscovered by human and alien alike, she has all 800000000 Pokemons (all at level 100, naturally), Faery’s hair also provides WI-FI! Her sweat cures Cancer and her saliva heals AIDS... She can do any Jutsu, Spell, Tech, Overdrive, Hack and Guitar Solo known in existance...and she can also play goddess with our lives at will.

Weakness: Excuse me?

That is a Mary Sue, are you sure you want a character that poorly made? I’m sure you don’t.

WATCH OUT: The "Low-Profile!Sue"

As you might have thought, I'm explaining the majority of the cases in extremes...Because in reality THEY ARE that extreme... but there are some case in which the Suethor isn't that (enphasis on "that") dumb and actually make them more sneaky... They aren't that smart, but still smarter than everyone, and can do anything. They don't have that mad potential, but still can learn things to World-Champion level in a day... See? That kind of things. These are harder to detect (albeit slightly) as they require you to read more than the character description (and that is already painful). If you need an example...well, I already said them. Just look at the above sections, and water them down...Voila!

Of course, there's always the "smarter" Suethor (stretching the definition of "smart" a lot) that will have their Mary Sue not explicitly be better than everyone and their homeboys at everything, but still be undefeated at any particular event and dismiss it as "She's a quick learner" or "She got lucky". This obviously still paves the way to a perfect, undefeatable character that will make us good authors want to blow our brains out A.S.A.P..

V) Final Thoughts/Conclussion

All in all, we can say Mary Sue = EPIC FAIL and all it’s synonyms, it’s an excuse for character, and hopefully you understand and know what a Mary Sue is now, or know a little more about them, whatever, just make sure to pass on these Honorable Teachings to generations to come, so they don’t create Mary Sues. Now for some final tips before closing:

-PREVENT USING SELF-INSERT! Using Self-Inserts in fanfic/Original works might mean EPIC FAIL; There are few people that can actually insert themselves and not be Mary Sues/Story ruiners (Akira Toriyama!), and if you are decided to use a Self-insert, don’t make it based COMPLETELLY off you: Just have it have some of your qualities or simply create character based off you, but don’t use it on stories. Now, I was a little extreme over there, you CAN use a Self-Insert, but handle with care , only do so if you know what you are doing.

-Giving your character flaws is good, but there is some people that just try TOO hard and overdo it, creating the Anti-Sue, which is just as annoying as the Mary Sue...Balance is the answer.

-Again, Watch out for the Low-Profile!Sue. These are "low profile" Sues that usually have the above mentioned qualities, albeit in a most sneaky way... Like, for example, they won't be destroying the whole galaxy with their attacks, only 1/4, if you know what I mean.

If you read it all, thank you a lot and I hope it helped you.
Related content
Comments: 875

kitsunekeyblader In reply to ??? [2011-02-15 15:29:15 +0000 UTC]

This guide makes me smile, internets for you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

GreySidewinder In reply to kitsunekeyblader [2011-02-15 18:09:51 +0000 UTC]

Oh yes, now I have 52 Internets!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

happyametuer In reply to ??? [2011-02-15 06:31:19 +0000 UTC]

Very good points. Though I do have to comment on Self Inserts.
In order to make a good character out of a copy of yourself, it takes a great deal of honesty, or at least modesty, in order to create the flaws and make them an obstacle or something. For example, if I were to make a SI of myself, my character would have trust and confidence issues as well as not being totally athletic (so fights are going to be difficult for this character).
Then there's also the issue of keeping track of all the events in the story so that the SI is appropriately reacting and changing. If all works out well, the character should be more like an OC than a SI OC (since your SI OC is developing in a different environment than yourself).

Then again, I'm probably talking about rare cases of SI OCs.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

GreySidewinder In reply to happyametuer [2011-02-15 18:09:34 +0000 UTC]

In order to make a good character out of a copy of yourself, it takes a great deal of honesty, or at least modesty, in order to create the flaws and make them an obstacle or something.

Bravo, sir. I applaud you, for all that is true.

However, I refrained from putting that on my guide as such because, as you stated, those are rare instances of OCs. Most people consider honesty and modesty something along the lines of "I won't be a god... Just the strongest mortal around."

But, both of us understand the fact that it is possible to make a SI OC, and I like that last part: "Since your SI OC is developing in a different environment than you"

But alas, there are few Deviants who would actually follow such sound advice. Thank you for your comment.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

happyametuer In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-02-16 04:20:04 +0000 UTC]

Thank you, and it's madam.

I actually speak from experience. I wanted to see what being a "self-insert" would actually be like with all the psychological chaos and the easiest model to use was myself. I can now honestly say that the biggest similarities between me and my SI OC are the appearances and our shared name (minus the scars my poor OC has).

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

GreySidewinder In reply to happyametuer [2011-02-16 04:23:10 +0000 UTC]

Thank you, and it's madam.

Whoopsie. My bad there.

You know what they say... If you really want to know about something, do it yourself.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

FishandFoxes In reply to ??? [2011-02-14 13:59:04 +0000 UTC]

this is really good. I have a special OC(meaning he's very dear to me) I'm always afraid of making him too much and this helps me keeping it low XD thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

GreySidewinder In reply to FishandFoxes [2011-02-14 15:31:58 +0000 UTC]

No problem! It's always good to see concern!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

FishandFoxes In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-02-14 20:58:58 +0000 UTC]

yeah I agree. having a Mary Sue is the worst thing that could happen.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Cute-Girl17 In reply to ??? [2011-02-14 12:31:32 +0000 UTC]

Very good guide.

👍: 0 ⏩: 2

GreySidewinder In reply to Cute-Girl17 [2011-02-14 15:32:05 +0000 UTC]

Why, thank you.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Cute-Girl17 In reply to Cute-Girl17 [2011-02-14 12:38:32 +0000 UTC]

i mean i liked everything from the guide!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

1000yearseternalmaze In reply to ??? [2011-02-13 22:08:03 +0000 UTC]

Great guide.But I have a question-if a character is ugly, can he or she be still Maru-sue?And I mean really ugly.For example, someone like Shrek or the Phantom of the Opera-a person with very serious defects.Though Shrek is sweet actually.
Also-if the character has for example a few abilities.One of my own characters is a ninja, but there is also another creature withing her.Is she maru-sue by all means?She is not even looking feminine and most people consider her as a child.One of the things, that really bother me about her, is that also her name came out unintentionally-means beautiful lilly, but I swear I didnt knew it.And it is not my name, for the record.And my heroine is not at all liked by everyone.As for being ninja, she is one of the best, but she is working hard to achieve goals.Her family is even normal-loving parents and no such a things like abuse or rape.
I am sorry for the long post but what will you say?Is there any reason to be worried she is Maru-sue?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

GreySidewinder In reply to 1000yearseternalmaze [2011-02-14 15:36:58 +0000 UTC]

You know, I'm happy to see your this concerned.

Mary Sue isn't just one quality (most of the time.), but rather a combination of them. What I mean is just because a character is ugly doesn't mean they CAN'T be Mary Sue. Sure, they may be ugly, but maybe they have the power to break time and turn us into jelly beans with but a glance.

What I'm trying to say is: It doesn't matter if your character gets kidnapped or abused by her parents; that doesn't make her a Mary Sue. If you continually overstate that she was abused by her parents, yet she has unshakable faith in humanity and is basically a saint, depsite all the shit she goes through, now THAT'S a tad Mary Sueish.

It's when you start piling up qualities that things take a turn for the worse. If you have further questions, do not hesitate to ask me.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

1000yearseternalmaze In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-02-14 16:11:20 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for being so helpful.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Sara-Darkotter In reply to ??? [2011-02-13 02:50:07 +0000 UTC]

I love it! Though I'm a touch worried one of my characters might be a sue.

Name: Suzume Motou
Nickname: Neko
Age: 8
Hair: Black and blond
Eyes: Green
Species: Human.
Personality/Backstory: Is not long-lost sister. Reason not in series: She had selective muteness, towards everybody, and since Yugi's dad had a cousin who was a therapist (Married to a psychiatrist ) she lived there for a while. I go by the series where all the adventures took place over a matter of months, not years. Is not really into anything not involving animals/reading/writing/weaponry/running. Obviously has not hit puberty, and therefore thinks romance, kissing, etc. is "ewww! Disgusting!" Is so short she has a dog to help her get things. AKA a service dog. Is shy (used to be: scared) towards anybody taller than her at first, then will talk your ear off.
Special abilities: Can read minds, yes, but doesn't like it. What eight-year-old wants to know about what you thought about, say, sex, for example? So she hates and can't control it.
Can turn into a cat, but she's in this weird story I wrote where the entire gang gains the ability to turn into once certain animal. I really need to overhaul that story though. It's hurting my writing.
Weaknesses: Is really short and generally mistaken for someone six or younger. Needs help reaching anything more than two and a half feet off the ground, (reason for having pet dog) is diabetic, (type 1) shy, denies being short for her age to the point of screaming. (I don't think that's a weakness, but I couldn't think of where to put it)

I think I might be lacking on flaws.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

GreySidewinder In reply to Sara-Darkotter [2011-02-14 16:06:57 +0000 UTC]

It's balanced in my opinion, the only problem is that you gotta flesh her out more.

This is just a basic "frame", try to add a little more characterization.

She's not a Sue, though.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Sara-Darkotter In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-02-15 02:32:48 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. *Breaths sigh of relief*
I will. It's just that.. Well... she's eight. Characteristics for an eight year old aren't easy when you haven't been eight in... at least five years.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

cheetahluvr16 In reply to ??? [2011-02-06 18:36:08 +0000 UTC]

Oh, and this is MY oC, Lila
Name: Lila. Last name unknown.
Eyes: purple
Personality: Insane and a bitch, but loving once you get to know her.
Hair: Black with uneven ends. Held in pigtails to hid catears.
Species: Human-cat-owl hybrid.
Ability: morph into any cat or owl.
Other abilities: can sing and dance. Very smart.
Bad at: Cooking. Like "WARNING! FOOD POISONING!" bad. Easily distracted. Insane. Annoying as hell to others. Cannot draw for the life of her. ("Look! I drew a bunny!" BB:How is that a rabbit? Lila: IT JUST IS, OKAY FUCKTARD?!?!?! BB: GAAAH! -runs off- Lila:....baka.))
Looks: C-cup, but she actually gets the back problems that come with it. 5'1, much to her dismay. And, as the country folks call them "birthin' hips!" Her nails are always dirty and she has a slight acne problem, once again, to her dismay.
Weaknesses: Can't swim. At all. Pathetically clumsy to the point where it gets on peoples' nerves. Too blunt with others.
Random quirks: Enjoys setting cockroaches on fire because they will "Destroy the world and feast on our roting corpses!" Glomp people. Poke others and be generally annoying. Believes pickles are "cucumbers soaked in the tears of Satan, making them evil!" Cusses like a drunken sailor
PEOPLES VIEW ON HER:
Robin: Thinks of her as his insane, annoying, but loving little sister.
Beast Boy: Friend. Much later, his girlfriend who always begs him for money, but is generally loving.... most of the time.
Raven: ....thinks she's annoying and over-all doesn't like her.
Cyborg: she's annoying, but an okay person.... don't love her though.
Starfire: thinks Lila neds professional help for her phscho problem
Slade: Thinks of her as a daughter, but is still willing to kick her ass.
Quote: "One time, I whacked a man with a baseball bat because he was calling me a wimp. I broke his knee caps! YAY!!! I did visit him in the hospital though... but he was still an ass so I threatened to kill him! I would never do that, though, but he believed me! HAHAHAHA!"
Robin: Lila....I think it's time for your pills again.
Lila: YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE! -huggles- I love you.
Robin:.....I love you, too... I guess....

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GreySidewinder In reply to cheetahluvr16 [2011-02-14 15:41:02 +0000 UTC]

Stuff balances out well, if you ask me, especially given the setting. I see no problems.

Lol @ kneecaps

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cheetahluvr16 In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-02-14 19:55:47 +0000 UTC]

I blame her for why I act like a psycho sometimes. After playing her for so long, she's actually rubbed off on me.....
My friends are worried for their lives

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cheetahluvr16 In reply to ??? [2011-02-06 18:12:39 +0000 UTC]

There was a character on my friend's RPG.... she was a major sue. She could control ALL elements, including darkness and light, morph into any mammal, was Robin's long lost sister, eyes change with mood, was a catgirl/tamaranian/human/shinigami, Was "6'1 with a DD cup and a 23 inch waist, long flaming amber hair that shines in the sun."
I LITERALLY got sick the next day, and I truly blame it of "Princess Vanessa Ichigo Sarah Grayson." Yes. That was her name

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GreySidewinder In reply to cheetahluvr16 [2011-02-14 15:38:50 +0000 UTC]

PRINCESS VANESSA ICHIGO SARAH GRAYSON

Oh my god how did you even survive

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cheetahluvr16 In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-02-14 19:51:43 +0000 UTC]

Simple. My friend gave me control of the RP before she joined.
She submitted her OC, and I said "Get off. Now. There's no way to make your character balanced, and I WILL find a way to kill her off painfully if you bring her in. If you argue, I will block you."
The girl who made "princess" was PISSED!

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XBakaNinGyoX In reply to ??? [2011-02-05 11:10:14 +0000 UTC]

I lvoe you for writing this .
i had fun when you wrote stories of mary sues

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GreySidewinder In reply to XBakaNinGyoX [2011-02-14 15:37:24 +0000 UTC]

And I love that you liked this! Thanks!

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XMitten In reply to ??? [2011-01-09 21:58:08 +0000 UTC]

Oh dear the mary sue stuff makes me worry nonstop if my characters are a mary sue XD.
Also i love the guide xD i think my characters may not be mary sue ish but....the litmus test said they where both mary sues/gary. T_T.
I guess ill write the bio here since my comp keeps freezing ever 15minutes.
first Oc [for kuroshitsuji]

Name- Martha Tarantino [Yeah its my last name i couldn't think of anything. and it matchs the time a bit i think]
Age- 12
Personality- acts: Calm, emotionless, straight forward. Is: Clumsy, short-tempered, shy, smart ass
About- Martha act like a normal noble would, calm. She hides her somewhat horrible past behind her 'mask'. One day she starts to think about suicied since this world has nothing to offer and she hated it enough but meets Thomas a demon who would give her anywish. Martha couldnt care about the wish but thought it would be fun to have a demon bowing down at your feet, so she makes a wish. Be her slave or servant until im 21.
Background- Sent to live with her brother in a small village. It was a nice life so far until her brother died by what she thought was two towns boys [cough* alois n luca *cough] later her dad takes martha back home but 6years later he gets assasinated. after that it was a somewhat normal life till thomas came.
Extras [i wrote a fanfic on with her in it]
-In later chapters[chapter 10 ish] martha dose fall for alois

Then their is thomas. Oh god this is long isnt it? so ill just be quick with this.
Name- Thomas
age- appears 16
speicies- demon, incubus
Personality- Happy go lucky, talkitive, hyper, random, non sophisticated.
I seriously dont know what else to put.... just read the first half of this it explains it all-[link] [its the song fic part]

My fanfic.[link]

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GreySidewinder In reply to XMitten [2011-01-27 17:47:03 +0000 UTC]

Sorry for the late reply D:

Everything looks okay to me. HOORAY.

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XMitten In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-01-27 23:53:11 +0000 UTC]

/lol i forgot about that comment/
Yay ty for the lookover

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Cataclyptic In reply to ??? [2011-01-07 04:11:56 +0000 UTC]

I laughed hard when reading this. Great job, great job.

HAIR COLOR: ALL COLORS KNOWN TO MAN AND A FEW KNOWN TO MONKEYS.

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GreySidewinder In reply to Cataclyptic [2011-01-27 17:52:23 +0000 UTC]

Glad to hear that!

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MackieUchiha In reply to ??? [2011-01-07 02:57:16 +0000 UTC]

So my Naruto OC Malia is a mary-sue?

She's a Chuunin that's Sasuke-baka's twin sister, given to a Sand merchant at birth. She was made into a ninja there, but after her adopted father was taken out by a a stray shruiken, she persued her actual roots and made it eventually to the Leaf, finding that she's not a Tayamara, yet an Uchiha. Naruto befriended her after about a year of hanging out, she's klutzy, she took the Chuunin exams about three times to pass, and she's always loosing things. With a low-profile sharingan that doesn't even activate half the time, things might not be good for her relationship with Naruto that may not even take off.

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GreySidewinder In reply to MackieUchiha [2011-01-27 17:53:11 +0000 UTC]

Looks good to me, brah. NICE WORK.

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MackieUchiha In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-01-27 22:14:21 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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mmpratt99 In reply to ??? [2011-01-05 04:56:22 +0000 UTC]

After reading this, I'm really worried my OC might be a Low-Profile Mary Sue. Even though I took The Writer's Mary Sue Test which tells me she's not Mary Sue category, I still have my doubts. I'm sending you a link so you can see for yourself>

[link]

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

GreySidewinder In reply to mmpratt99 [2011-01-27 17:49:04 +0000 UTC]

See is kind of Low profilish, especially on the strengths and weaknesses.

But it's nothing you can't fix. Just be sure to play on her flaws and put her on difficult situations and it shouldn't show.

Otherwise, just tone down her strengths A LITTLE BIT.

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mmpratt99 In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-01-27 19:40:28 +0000 UTC]

I decided to redo this character as a teenager and have her deal with her materialistic and vain older sister and annoying kid brother who likes to collect animals. Also her parents expect her to get good grades and be more social, getting more involved in school activities and social events. To top it all off, I decided her family should emigrate to strange new country.

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GingaTokkyu In reply to ??? [2010-12-30 10:37:26 +0000 UTC]

Oh noes! I'm scared now! I hope my OC isn't Gary Stu!

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GreySidewinder In reply to GingaTokkyu [2011-01-27 17:47:14 +0000 UTC]

WORK HARD SO IT DOESN'T BECOME ONE.

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GingaTokkyu In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-01-27 22:13:32 +0000 UTC]

Eh, Mary Sue is an OC that exist on fanfiction, right? What about OC on original world and storyline?

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GreySidewinder In reply to GingaTokkyu [2011-01-27 22:16:16 +0000 UTC]

As stated at the beginning of the guide, Mary Sues belong to the world of fiction in general, not only fanfics.

For instance, let's imagine a series made by, oh, Stephen King, for example, that had this supreme character that can beat the shit out of everybody effortlessly, the whole cast loves him and he's just so damn perfect nothing ever is hard for him.

That's a Mary Sue (Or Gary Stu) if I ever saw one.

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GingaTokkyu In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-01-27 23:17:30 +0000 UTC]

I see, I see.

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xXMidnaGirlXx In reply to ??? [2010-12-23 03:41:52 +0000 UTC]

Could you review one of mine?

Stella
Sex: Female
Species: Human
Age: 17
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown
Notable aspects: Basketball team captain, popular
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 125 lbs
Body Type: Athletic
Weaknesses: Arrogant, selfish, unwilling to help others lower than her status
Friends: Only one she considers true; Alex, her best guy friend
Family: Loving parents, two dogs
Key Aspect of Development: Loses her left hand and half of her forearm rock climbing in the mountains over Spring Break, thus she cannot play basketball anymore. This event also dethrones her from her popular status, and hardly anyone will speak to her but Alex. At one point, he yells at her for being so annoying at whining about how depressed she is about her being taken down from her pedestal. As a result of these events, she pairs up with a shy girl for a social studies project and finds an unlikely ally.

Other Character's Views of Her
Boyfriend: None, may later in the story
Classmates: Some think she's nice, others see her as arrogant as she really is and don't like her
Group: Act like they love her, but most speak behind her back, as she does with them
Alex: Has a relationship with her like she would a brother, but friendlier

Love your piece, btw lol ^^

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

GreySidewinder In reply to xXMidnaGirlXx [2011-01-27 17:49:39 +0000 UTC]

Everything seems to be in order. GO YOU.

And thanks!

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xXMidnaGirlXx In reply to GreySidewinder [2011-01-28 00:02:38 +0000 UTC]

Yay Ur welcome ^^

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AwesomeStarr In reply to ??? [2010-12-22 14:29:37 +0000 UTC]

when I heard 1/2 desk, I died laughing!!!!!!

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GreySidewinder In reply to AwesomeStarr [2010-12-22 14:50:44 +0000 UTC]

They are that good!

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AwesomeStarr In reply to GreySidewinder [2010-12-22 14:57:29 +0000 UTC]

yeah, they are!! and funny!

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ToxicRuby In reply to ??? [2010-12-18 22:57:03 +0000 UTC]

I herd Dian liekz Mudkipz.

Lol I laughed when it said she was 1/2 mudkip.

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Nekonya96 In reply to ??? [2010-12-15 08:56:34 +0000 UTC]

I'd like to get a little help with my character as well if you don't mind . . . . .

Name: Mattie (still working on last name)
Sex: female
Species: human
Beginning Age: 16 1/2
Ending Age: 19-20
Hair: dirty blonde, almost brown
Eyes: still deciding
Strengths: empathetic, overly-curious about things, thinks outside the box
Weaknesses: has undealt with issues from her past, too quiet to stand up for herself/"learned her place not to question anything", copes by wanting to mother someone
Past (as of right now): She was raised by a single mother who became ill in her last few years (approx. when mattie was 13) when she helped care for her mother, but put in foster care by age 15 when her mother passed. She spent the last few years in foster care, but eventually moves out on her own in hopes to make her deceased mother proud.

OTHER CHARACTER'S VIEWS
Boyfriend: loves her to death (reason: non-judgemental and trustworthy he discovered through being friends with her for over a year before asking her out)
Vampire: level of love is unknown to him but growing (reason: she saved his life at one point in time)
Werewolf: sees her as a mother figure sort of love (reason: non-judgemental and is kind to him)
Rage/their combined id in a physical form as a demon: sex object (reason: rage is made of nothing but pure instincts of sex and killing so it of course it would feed from their emotions)
(other lovers do not apply)
Friends: belongs to the group, but is too shy to say/so much
Family: n/a
"Family": not important/government money/hated
strangers: meh... another female out there in the world

She is the female protagonist in a novel I'm working on that tells the story from the vampire's point of view to establish why the vampire is so mentally screwed up. This is the first tiny bit of it (yes, one of his things is that he gives nicknames and almost never calls ANYONE by their actual name) [link] please tell me what you think needs changing in a comment!

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