The term "Mary-Sue" (and her spear counterpart, the Gary Stu) comes from the world of fanfiction, specifically from the world of Star Trek fanfiction. This derogatory term describes a usually female character that always gets what she wants (without working for it), causes characters to behave in ways that make no sense for that character, and is unrealistically "unique" for the world you're writing in or stands out too much. Oftentimes, the Mary-Sue bends canon rules to fit their actions, making every character adore them - and sometimes they are an Author Avatar. The expectation is that since the author loves her and the characters love her, the audience too should love her. Very often, they are heroines, but there can be villainous Sues (which oftentimes go out of their way to do the most over-the-top vile things to prove they are more evil than the canon baddies) and even Anti-Sues (a Sue that literally is hated by everyone, fails at everything, and might even be hated by everyone, but is still considered 'loveable'). And these types of characters are so commonplace that most fanfic readers and authors have built-in, highly sensitive filters to detect Mary-Sues. Now of course, those are just the most common traits of a Sue, and there are many other ways one can be written by mistake, but either way, if you've done something as an author with a character that makes your OC (original character) seem unrealistic for a given world and the character is getting backlash for it, then you might just have a Sue on your hands.
So now that we understand what a Sue is, and why a Sue can be a menace to a piece of writing, you might be wondering how on earth to... dispose of such a character. Fear not, author, for you are the god of your written work and OCs, and you have the power to destroy a Mary-Sue before she destroys your story. There are a number of ways to prevent a Sue from happening, and even a guide and list of common traits to try and avoid in a character, put out by TVTropes. But for the purposes of this blog, I'll be focusing on ways to kill a Sue before she happens, or how to fix a potential Sue before she becomes too big of a problem. These are reminders to yourself as a writer on how not to create a Sue, so it doesn't happen. So grab your cloaks and daggers, and prepare to do the writing world a favor - it's time to go Sue Hunting.
- Rule #1 - Know The Law of the Land: There are, fundamentally, two things you must know as an author before you even start writing a story, particularly a fanfic: 1) Every canon has baseline rules. 2) You must follow them, unless you created the world and its rules yourself. You as the author are God, but you are only the God of your OCs and worlds that you create, not other previously established worlds. For example, if you are writing a Lord of the Rings fanfic where some other Hobbit character (that is not Frodo or Bilbo) is carrying the One Ring in some way and is not being hurt or corrupted by its influence, no. Sorry, but start again, and rewrite your character in some other role. If you are writing a Harry Potter fanfic, sorry, but a Muggle cannot get in to Hogwarts, and a Second-Year student cannot learn, know, or use Fourth-Year spells. Even if you have created a world, you need to follow your own rules with your characters, including characters written to be "The Chosen One". In the DCU Batman Universe, a superpowered human makes sense, but in Nolan's Batman Universe, it does not. In other words, do not let your characters become "special little snowflakes" that can lift the curse, or find the stolen artifact, or do anything else that would conflict with what the world's laws of physics are, so to speak. The sky is blue, grass is green, gravity pulls us down, and you need to follow the laws of the universe in your story's world. Period. The instant you stop doing this just to accomodate an OC is the instant you start writing a Mary-Sue. And no, you do not get to make your character bend or break established canon just because you think it would be cool if the OC had certain abilities or other traits that make her 'unique'. Use common sense with powers and skills a character has - there are no dragons, witches, superheroes, or telekinetics in the Slenderverse, for example. And trust me - the more you try to play your character up as "unique" and "likeable" because of her skills and traits, the more people will flat-out hate your character for stealing everyone else's thunder. Always approach character creation not with the question of, "what would be a cool character?" but, "what would be a plausible character?". Your character does not have to be the most unique one to be important, and in fact, classically, most protagonists in stories are rather unremarkable everymen thrust into situations where they must undergo a character change or face certain struggles. Which brings me to the next rule...
- Rule #2 - Don't Be Obvious: This goes for both you and the Sue. For the Sue, this is an obvious rule - do NOT make your character stand out so much visually that they look like nobody else in the canon. If every Proxy in a Slenderman story wears black hoodies and white masks with black markings in your canon, then it is not appropriate to make your Proxy character be the only one that has orange hair, a purple leather jacket, a pink tulle tutu, and a neon green mask with electric blue markings. Use some common sense - obviously, in an anime setting characters with technicolor hair are normal, but in a setting like the real world, those hair colors are only obtainable if you dye your hair that way. Unless you have a damn good reason for making your character stick out like a sore thumb, your character does not get to bend and break rules on their appearance just to make them look more "unique". Describe all characters, including yours, with the same level of prose purpleness - you don't get to add minor detailing of the main characters, and then lavishly detail your character, and for good reason: many people who read that type of writing shift with an OC will rightfully think that character is a Sue and they will call you out on it. And for you as an author, remember that you are the creator and God of your characters... and only of your characters. Trust me, author, people will know if you're visible, or actively influencing events to fit your character just to protect them from bad things. Real characters go through hell. Real characters don't get everything they want. Real characters have to work for rewards and deal with conflict. Mary-Sues never do, everything is handed to them on a silver platter, and they never need to worry about making a mistake, because even their biggest mistakes are forgiven. The more you allow an OC to do what she wants and have no repercussions, or the more you protect her when others are dying left, right, and center (metaphorically or literally), then the more people will see your hand and cry "Mary-Sue" . Your character's story is just that - her story, and all the events that led to her becoming what she is now. You do not get to shield her from the very events that will make her a good character or change her, and if you do, people will call you out for it. Remember that quote from the Wizard of Oz, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"? You, the author, are the man behind the curtain, not the center of attention. You're not your character, you're just telling a story with them. Which brings me to my next point...
- Rule #3 - Murder Your Darlings: As stated above, you are not your character, even if you base your character on yourself. You are not perfect. You have flaws. In reality, there is nobody that is perfect, so your character should not be perfect at everything either. Just because you love a character does not mean your audience will - in fact, the more you force the idea of "this is my character, love her" on the audience, the more the audience is going to see that character as Sue-ish. You should, ideally, never write a character for only one or two of the following reasons:
- To prove a certain point, especially a political one and especially if you write the opposing side as strawmen. See the original run of Family Guy with its character Brian for why this can be a problem.
- To 'fix' something you percieved as wrong in the original story. The original world was fine, trust me - you don't need to change, alter, or fix details. That isn't telling a story just to tell a story. That's vandalism.
- As wish or fantasy fulfilment. The only time this is acceptable is if you're writing a porno, or a romance, and even then you should never overshadow the work's native characters.
- To self-insert, unless it's being done as a parody of Mary-Sues. There is never any reason to insert an idealized version of yourself into a story; you can write characters without always basing them on yourself.
And this is where the phrase "Murder Your Darlings/Children" comes in - if you realize a character is getting too Sueish, killing them off or otherwise crippling them is a good way to either get them out of the picture, or give you a chance to explore them in new ways in regards to their new injuries or disabilities. Remember, nobody likes a perfect little pixie girl, and to treat an OC this way while otherwise letting other characters get beat up is playing favorites. You are God of your story, and God is very oftentimes a sadistic motherfucker (don't believe me? Go re-read the Bible once or twice, dude tortures a guy horribly just to see how much the man really believes in him). So, you should try to hurt your characters - badly. Put them through absolute hell. In horror, this is very easy to do, in myriad ways - in other genres, you might have to get more creative. If it's a romance, have your character cheat or split the couple up in some other hurtful way. If it's an action-adventure story, have someone close to the character die in the war or have the character be taken for torture and questioning by the enemy. Just be careful you don't kill the character off in such a way that their death is considered sanctimonious; your character is not Jesus Christ and is not to be revered upon their death as such. Your character is a flawed, normal human/monster/whatever your character is. Your character will likely not die glamorously; death is not glamorous, ever. Even if you don't kill the character, torture them - the more struggles the character must perservere through, the better. There are two things that will then happen if you did it right - either the character will become stronger, like steel tempered in a fire... or the character will become a broken shell of their former selves. Which happens to your character all depends upon precisely what you do to them, who the character is, and how they react to the events at hand. And never let yourself fall so in love with your character that she becomes your "precious darling" you could never bear to hurt. That's a recipe for a Mary-Sue apocalypse. - Rule #4 - Stick To Familiar Territory: This rule's simple. If you don't know anything about it, don't write it. If you've never watched/read Naruto, how can you hope to portraycharacters and events accurately? If you've never been in a relationship or had sex, how can you accurately write a romance or sex scene? Bottom line is, you can't, and you shouldn't. If you don't understand how to write trickier genres like romance and horror, stick to genres you know better. The more basic your knowledge of how characters work and the less experienced you are at writing them, the more likely you are to create a Sue inadvertantly by sticking an OC in that genre. Do your research first and practice writing original characters before you actually write a story with one. Fanfiction and Drabbles about already-established characters are excellent ways to practice this. Either way, if you are ever tempted to create a character, always ask if it's absolutely necessary. In an original story, the answer's yes, but if you could easily tell a a fanfiction without an OC involved, then you do not need to insert one. In fact, it's probably better to stick to the established characters in a fanfic anyway; many people see OCs, particularly when paired with established characters, as a warning sign that the story will delve into Mary-Sue turf. Save the experimenting with other genres you're not as comfortable with for when you're more experienced as an author.
- In a similar vein to the above, you should NEVER use serious and touchy topics (rape, physical/emotional/sexual abuse, mental illness, homelessness, drunk parents, foster care, etc.) as an excuse to give a character backstory, or treat them any other way but seriously. Not only is the "I was raped and also abused by my alcoholic dad and my mom died" thing WAY overdone to the point of beating the horse's rotting corpse, it can be highly disrespectful to some audience members. Yours truly had an alcoholic parent who neglected and verbally abused his family, has an ongoing generalized anxiety disorder, and personally knows several survivors of sexual abuse. These types of trauma have devastating effects on people, and should have at least some effect on your character as well. Be VERY careful in what themes you cover with a character's backstory, and how you cover them, especially if they are hard themes like these, otherwise your readers will not only possibly cry "Mary-Sue", but might even become offended enough to blast your story. As an example, I once wrote a story (The Telephone Game) where a protagonist was raped, and although most people understood the take-home message of the story (which was that writing rape as something romantic is almost always a bad idea), I still got some backlash simply because rape was part of the story.
- Rule #5 - Real Flaws Are Human, Sue Flaws Are Eldritch: Here's the best tip I can offer for someone new to writing OCs - you must always remember that real beings, human or otherwise, have flaws. Real flaws. Sometimes even fatal flaws in their character that cause them to suffer or get them in trouble as a result. There is a very good reason to remember all this - conflicts and therefore stories arise from character flaws, and if your character isn't flawed enough (or worse, have 'flaws' that aren't really flaws at all), then people are going to cry foul. Nobody likes a perfect heroine/hero - hell, even Superman, widely considered by many to be the epitome of the "perfect boyscout-type hero", has his flaws and moments where he seriously doubts himself. Your character also should, because nobody, however powerful, is perfect - show me any famous hero, and I'll show you their flaws. And when I say 'real flaws', I mean flaws that are a serious detriment or hindrance to a character. Some things that are real flaws include:
- A crippling addiction to something (drugs, sex, alcohol, gambling, etc.)
- Emotional issues and insecurities (anger management problems, emotional-mental disorders, etc.)
- Ego and self-esteem issues (narcissim and vanity, low self-esteem, etc.)
- Mental disorders and mental handicaps (mental retardation, Autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, phobias, "shell shock"/PTSD, etc. Be VERY CAREFUL when you write this type of flaw, they can easily offend people if you don't do the research!)
- Physical handicaps (paraplegic, missing an arm or leg, muteness, blindness, deafness, etc.)
- Less-than-heroic traits (a complusive liar, cheater, thief, unrepentant serial killer, etc.)
- Traits that cause a character to be socially inept or considered unlikeable (social awkwardness, shyness, misogyny/misandry, bigotry, the inability to trust others, cowardice, etc.)
- Being too powerful or advanced can be a flaw, especially if it prevents a character from being able to relate to other humans/beings like it. For example, some genuinely good alien races in Star Trek and Doctor Who fall into this.
- Horrible ugliness that leads to the protagonist being outcast or abused (see examples like Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Erik/the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera.)
- Minor blemishes or scars in areas that don't do much to tarnish a character's beauty.
- Being "too good" at things or "just wanting to be normal."
- Whiny angsty problems, or what most people would consider whiny angsty problems.
- Missing body parts that do nothing to tarnish a character's skills or appearance (missing fingers, hair is a different color on one side, eyes are two different colors, etc.)
- Being "too beautiful" or "too heroic/perfect".
- Rape or abuse as a backstory if it is only mentioned as a way to garner pity for the character, and does not seriously affect the character's behavior in any way.
- Being too powerful, if it isn't really considered a bad thing.