Here's a collection of websites that are useful for any writer, aspiring or otherwise.
Holly Lisle - Probably not a writer you've heard of, she has a LOT of book in print, but has mostly stayed a midlist author. Still you'll have trouble finding a website with more useful info for writers.
Vision for Writers - An online magazine for writers, it really gets into the nitty-gitty of writing.
Forward Motion - A writing community and a good place to find advice, critique and encouragement from writers in the same place as you.
Atsiko's Chimney - Geared towards more fantasy fiction writers, has some useful post covering more of the technical side of writing fantasy fiction.
Gail Carson Levine - You may know her as the author of Ella Enchanted, but she's has a great blog on writing as well. While she mostly focuses on questions, her answers are always insightful. She also generally has great writing prompts and covers a wide range in topics from basic writing to more advanced subjects.
Inky Girl's Blog for Writers - Besides the often hilarious writing related comics, this blog serves as a great resource for other writers. It points towards other blogs, interviews and advice for would-be published authors.
Writing Excuses - A great, hilarious and useful podcast by three writers (one is Brandon Sanderson the writer who took over the Wheel of Time series after Robert Jordan died). They also cover a range of topics and the podcasts never last longer then 15 minutes.
Odyssey Workshop - A hardcore workshop for would-be fantasy/sci-fi writers, it also sports an nice podcast that are recordings from the lectures of the workshop itself and online classes. The Podcast alone is worth checking out even if classroom writing isn't your thing. And checkout the Livejournal, links, and general advice to writers as well.
SFWA - A great website for everyone not just fantasy/sci-fi writers. And don't forget to check out the rest of the website too.
Nanowrimo - A yearly writing exercise when the writers try to write 50,000 word in the month of november. The forums are active anytime of year and are a great place to get advice and talk about writing. Also check out the sister program Scriptfrenzy which is in April.
In some of the other posts I'll have links that relate more directly with the topics, these are just general writing related topics.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
About Me
So I figured since I was sending out my writing knowledge, thoughts and opinions into the world I should explain about myself as a writer.
I've been writing for almost ten years and have been involved seriously for the last seven of them, learning what I could, reading everything I could find and trying to practice as much as possible. I write mostly fantasy fiction, but within that heading I'm quite varied. However I know enough about writing that I feel my posts would be useful to someone who is a more general fiction based writer. I haven't finished a book on my own yet. With a co-author I have gotten into the editing phase and re-writing phase of a book. So obviously I'm not a published author and there is a lot I still have to learn. Despite this I hope that my fellow aspiring writers will find still find some useful advice and tips to help make their trip to finishing (and hopefully publishing) easier. Some of these things I post are an amalgamation of things I've read from different writers over the years and some of them are my own conclusions.
With this blog, I'm really trying to systemically and thoroughly cover the basic topics related to writing and story telling, while also addressing current and common concerns with writing.
I've been writing for almost ten years and have been involved seriously for the last seven of them, learning what I could, reading everything I could find and trying to practice as much as possible. I write mostly fantasy fiction, but within that heading I'm quite varied. However I know enough about writing that I feel my posts would be useful to someone who is a more general fiction based writer. I haven't finished a book on my own yet. With a co-author I have gotten into the editing phase and re-writing phase of a book. So obviously I'm not a published author and there is a lot I still have to learn. Despite this I hope that my fellow aspiring writers will find still find some useful advice and tips to help make their trip to finishing (and hopefully publishing) easier. Some of these things I post are an amalgamation of things I've read from different writers over the years and some of them are my own conclusions.
With this blog, I'm really trying to systemically and thoroughly cover the basic topics related to writing and story telling, while also addressing current and common concerns with writing.
Hot Topics: Mary Sues (Conclusion)
Like the Mix Type Sue showed, these personalities and types I've been mentioning are just decorating and disguising the deeper problem. All of these “types” of characters can be written well with a skilled writer and storyteller at the helm. But as I wrote earlier all Mary Sues are at their cores the same. They live by their own rules and are exaggerations of realistic people. The worse thing about it is that Mary Suedom can make your character hard to relate to.
No one is perfect, perfectly feminine or perfectly badass. No one is horrible at everything at life and has no good qualities, and no one goes through life without getting properly in trouble for bad behavior or getting rewarded for their good acts.
Is Mary Suedom something you should be concerned about for your character(s)? Yes. Writing stories that readers can connect to is the whole point of wanting to share your work. But is your character a Mary Sue? Well just ask yourself these questions:
1. Are the rules of logic, reason and good sense consistently broken for this character? Are the only people who dislike her villains? Do the people in her life react to her behavior and choices in unrealistic and in out of character ways? Do her actions only result in good outcomes and never bad? If you answered yes to these questions you have a story bender on your hands and should fix that right away if it's a reoccurring theme. Now, a little bit of story bending occasionally won’t necessarily kill your character or your story, but only if your character is generally realistic and reasonably flawed otherwise.
2. Does she have good and bad qualities? Aka is she a realistic character? You have more fudge room here (especially on the good side if she's the hero), but make sure she has some flaws and some positives.
Of course, if the rules are only bent or broken for these characters one or two times, then it can be okay. But if it's an important moment in the plot, then you will like be accused of using deus ex machina, (which they’ll be another blog about), not necessarily of writing a Mary Sue. And that's not a good thing.
So how do you avoid Mary Sues? Basically give these characters weaknesses (or strengths accordingly), give them faults, give them hardships. And make sure they act based on those strength and weaknesses constantly throughout the story and in realistic ways. Also make sure that the other characters react to them in realistic ways based on their own personality faults and strengths (which especially means making sure characters that dislike the main character aren't always villains or unsympathetic). You shouldn’t just focus on how “awesome” your character is. Make your character feel human, real, relatable.
Of course there is variability in Sue-ness. There tends to be a level of Sue-ness each person can stand. In a more epic story it’s likely that the some readers won’t mind a character with Mary Sue tendencies (in both departments) and will enjoy how “awesome” your character is (Ferris is basically sue - still love that movie). Other readers, however, will want to throw your book across the room. In either case, your best bet is to make the character feel as real as possible, even if amazing things are happening around them or to them.
One last note, there’s often a lot of talk about Mary Sues appearance, their names and their stuff. Some sites say if your main character has wings or blue hair or goes by a Japanese name, they’re probably a Mary Sue. What’s important here isn’t the surface things themselves, but likely the self-indulgence (aka story bending) that concerns these writers. Ultimately they’re worried that your self-indulgence bleeds into the rest of the story. However if you can find a realistic reason for these physical things (the main character is part of a race of winged people, she dyed her hair blue, she decided to rename herself because she loves Japanese culture) then you’re probably safe, even if you might incite eye rolling from the reader.
No one is perfect, perfectly feminine or perfectly badass. No one is horrible at everything at life and has no good qualities, and no one goes through life without getting properly in trouble for bad behavior or getting rewarded for their good acts.
Is Mary Suedom something you should be concerned about for your character(s)? Yes. Writing stories that readers can connect to is the whole point of wanting to share your work. But is your character a Mary Sue? Well just ask yourself these questions:
1. Are the rules of logic, reason and good sense consistently broken for this character? Are the only people who dislike her villains? Do the people in her life react to her behavior and choices in unrealistic and in out of character ways? Do her actions only result in good outcomes and never bad? If you answered yes to these questions you have a story bender on your hands and should fix that right away if it's a reoccurring theme. Now, a little bit of story bending occasionally won’t necessarily kill your character or your story, but only if your character is generally realistic and reasonably flawed otherwise.
2. Does she have good and bad qualities? Aka is she a realistic character? You have more fudge room here (especially on the good side if she's the hero), but make sure she has some flaws and some positives.
Of course, if the rules are only bent or broken for these characters one or two times, then it can be okay. But if it's an important moment in the plot, then you will like be accused of using deus ex machina, (which they’ll be another blog about), not necessarily of writing a Mary Sue. And that's not a good thing.
So how do you avoid Mary Sues? Basically give these characters weaknesses (or strengths accordingly), give them faults, give them hardships. And make sure they act based on those strength and weaknesses constantly throughout the story and in realistic ways. Also make sure that the other characters react to them in realistic ways based on their own personality faults and strengths (which especially means making sure characters that dislike the main character aren't always villains or unsympathetic). You shouldn’t just focus on how “awesome” your character is. Make your character feel human, real, relatable.
Of course there is variability in Sue-ness. There tends to be a level of Sue-ness each person can stand. In a more epic story it’s likely that the some readers won’t mind a character with Mary Sue tendencies (in both departments) and will enjoy how “awesome” your character is (Ferris is basically sue - still love that movie). Other readers, however, will want to throw your book across the room. In either case, your best bet is to make the character feel as real as possible, even if amazing things are happening around them or to them.
One last note, there’s often a lot of talk about Mary Sues appearance, their names and their stuff. Some sites say if your main character has wings or blue hair or goes by a Japanese name, they’re probably a Mary Sue. What’s important here isn’t the surface things themselves, but likely the self-indulgence (aka story bending) that concerns these writers. Ultimately they’re worried that your self-indulgence bleeds into the rest of the story. However if you can find a realistic reason for these physical things (the main character is part of a race of winged people, she dyed her hair blue, she decided to rename herself because she loves Japanese culture) then you’re probably safe, even if you might incite eye rolling from the reader.
Hot Topics: Mary Sues (Misc)
And lastly, just a few more types or issues that don’t really belong under the classic Mary Sue banner, but should be addressed - the Self Insert character, the Villain Sue, the Mixed Type Sue and the Reverse Type Sue.
First there’s the Self Insert character. Self Insert characters that are meant to represent the author in the world and are often the main character. Now Self Insert character in and of themselves aren’t Mary Sues. However the problem is that very few authors who write Self Insert characters really write themselves; they often become Sues quickly, especially a Perfection Sue. Authors write prettier, faster, smarter, better versions of themselves and lose all the qualities that make then human.
The Villain Sue is basically a Jerk Sue who doesn't use his story bending power to get people to tolerant his awful personality, but to become unbeatable (and likely be way more wicked cool then the hero). Now people can forgive a little bit of Villain Sueness, we all love good villain, but the best thing about a good villain is watching them get defeated, otherwise the whole experience is just frustrating.
Then there's is the Mixed Type Sue. A character who is a little bit of everything as need, or author, requires. She doesn’t fit nicely into a model. Or she maybe she just flirts with another type, like an Action Sue that can and does act like a Jerk Sue at times. Now she might be more layered and realistic in theory, but all that is undone because she still rocks the story bending hard core. And more often then not, she just doesn't come across as having any distinct personality.
And lastly there's the... I'm going to call them, the Reverse Type Sue. She is that weird creature I mention in the introduction for this series. The Sue that actually kind of works because, she's even though she's not exactly a balance character, she doesn't bend her story. Let's take Giselle from Enchanted as an example. Within her universe she was a Classic Type Sue. This changed when she entered the real world. Now, her personality didn't change, but in the real world she is no longer bending the story to her benefit. In the real world she gets a wide range of realistic reactions to her behavior. This makes her work for two reasons:
1. It negates her story bending power and...
2. It strangely brings out some of her flaws. In the real world we see she is overly naive, a bit dizzy and has no control over her emotions.
Of course she's still kind of Sueish and really has no real deep flaws explored, but that's okay. Many famous characters have Sue qualities but work because of this same effect. A great example is Anne of Green Gables. She's a little hot tempered and stubborn, but she's also a little too good at a lot of things and wins almost everyone over. But she isn't universal loved and she does have to work hard and no one who dislikes her is evil.
This just show's you how much a Sue is truly made by how the character effect on their worlds, not just how they act. A character can have almost any personality just as long as other people's reaction to them is realistic.
First there’s the Self Insert character. Self Insert characters that are meant to represent the author in the world and are often the main character. Now Self Insert character in and of themselves aren’t Mary Sues. However the problem is that very few authors who write Self Insert characters really write themselves; they often become Sues quickly, especially a Perfection Sue. Authors write prettier, faster, smarter, better versions of themselves and lose all the qualities that make then human.
The Villain Sue is basically a Jerk Sue who doesn't use his story bending power to get people to tolerant his awful personality, but to become unbeatable (and likely be way more wicked cool then the hero). Now people can forgive a little bit of Villain Sueness, we all love good villain, but the best thing about a good villain is watching them get defeated, otherwise the whole experience is just frustrating.
Then there's is the Mixed Type Sue. A character who is a little bit of everything as need, or author, requires. She doesn’t fit nicely into a model. Or she maybe she just flirts with another type, like an Action Sue that can and does act like a Jerk Sue at times. Now she might be more layered and realistic in theory, but all that is undone because she still rocks the story bending hard core. And more often then not, she just doesn't come across as having any distinct personality.
And lastly there's the... I'm going to call them, the Reverse Type Sue. She is that weird creature I mention in the introduction for this series. The Sue that actually kind of works because, she's even though she's not exactly a balance character, she doesn't bend her story. Let's take Giselle from Enchanted as an example. Within her universe she was a Classic Type Sue. This changed when she entered the real world. Now, her personality didn't change, but in the real world she is no longer bending the story to her benefit. In the real world she gets a wide range of realistic reactions to her behavior. This makes her work for two reasons:
1. It negates her story bending power and...
2. It strangely brings out some of her flaws. In the real world we see she is overly naive, a bit dizzy and has no control over her emotions.
Of course she's still kind of Sueish and really has no real deep flaws explored, but that's okay. Many famous characters have Sue qualities but work because of this same effect. A great example is Anne of Green Gables. She's a little hot tempered and stubborn, but she's also a little too good at a lot of things and wins almost everyone over. But she isn't universal loved and she does have to work hard and no one who dislikes her is evil.
This just show's you how much a Sue is truly made by how the character effect on their worlds, not just how they act. A character can have almost any personality just as long as other people's reaction to them is realistic.
Hot Topics: Mary Sues (Anti-Sue)
On the other side of the Perfection Sue is the Anti-Sue and it's two subtypes Pathetic Sue and Jerk Sue.
Perfection Sues are easy to see, they’re the characters that don’t have to work at anything, however Anti-sues are harder to spot because on the surface they look like more three dimensional characters. Often they are less universally good, however they are just unbalance just swung in the opposite direction. Now, as the name implies, many of these Mary Sues developed as reaction to the sudden rise in awareness of Mary Suedom, however the writers of Anti-Sues still missed the boat.
First there is the Pathetic Sue. Don’t worry she’s pathetic at everything but being a Mary Sue.
Exhibit A: Mary Sue never did well at school and she isn’t pretty. No one ever notices Mary Sue. She can’t walk without tripping over her own feet and she really awkward with people. However despite being rather unremarkable and failing at life in general (if the character is exaggerated enough, her fails are so epic that would likely be her only claim to fame), she manages to still have all the boys in school ask her to the dance. She probably has to choose between two (hot) men who are in total and complete love with her. She may or may not come with a ton of friends.
Pathetic Sue is tricky. If she was written correctly she could easy come across as a three-dimensional character, but that's just the problem, most of the time she isn’t. The readers are told she’s plain, awkward and unremarkable, and she may or may not read that way on the page (ie she a boring character to read), but the main problem is that no one in the story treats her that way. She might not even act like how she’s described, or if she does it’s to ridiculous levels. Either way all the other characters still think she’s the best thing since sliced bread, except of course, the villains (This is what would normally be called an Anti-Sue.) Therefore she is still an unbalance character, who bends the story.
Exhibit B: Jerk Sue is mean. She walks all over everyone, breaks hearts without a second thought, and is generally a jerk. But for some reason no one ever says anything about it. In fact it’s like she’s not doing anything bad at all. She somehow always manages to keep friends and lives to fight on and torment more people without lasting, if any, consequences.
Jerk Sue is an interesting case. Likely one of two things are happening with a Jerk Sue, either a) the author is not thinking through what a realistic reaction to a character’s behavior would be or b) the author is trying to make an edgy character, and failed to understand what makes a dark character dynamic (namely good AND bad qualities). And sadly these Sues are further frustrating. Often if they do get taught a lesson it never sticks. They're like the sitcom character whose moral slate gets wiped clean every week, forgetting the lessons they learned episodes before. Perhaps even more interestingly characters meant to be seen as heroic can fall into Jerk Sue territory because the author is allowing they get away with morally questionably acts under the guise of heroic actions.
Do you see the problem with these Sues? They use more story bending powers then their perfect cousins, because they’re not likable. The side characters' reactions to them make even less sense then reactions to Perfection Sues, as least perfection sues are good people. As such no one reacts realistically to them! Just like Perfection Sues need flaws, Anti-Sues desperately need good qualities to balance their characters. Moreover people need to react realistically to their behavior.
Perfection Sues are easy to see, they’re the characters that don’t have to work at anything, however Anti-sues are harder to spot because on the surface they look like more three dimensional characters. Often they are less universally good, however they are just unbalance just swung in the opposite direction. Now, as the name implies, many of these Mary Sues developed as reaction to the sudden rise in awareness of Mary Suedom, however the writers of Anti-Sues still missed the boat.
First there is the Pathetic Sue. Don’t worry she’s pathetic at everything but being a Mary Sue.
Exhibit A: Mary Sue never did well at school and she isn’t pretty. No one ever notices Mary Sue. She can’t walk without tripping over her own feet and she really awkward with people. However despite being rather unremarkable and failing at life in general (if the character is exaggerated enough, her fails are so epic that would likely be her only claim to fame), she manages to still have all the boys in school ask her to the dance. She probably has to choose between two (hot) men who are in total and complete love with her. She may or may not come with a ton of friends.
Pathetic Sue is tricky. If she was written correctly she could easy come across as a three-dimensional character, but that's just the problem, most of the time she isn’t. The readers are told she’s plain, awkward and unremarkable, and she may or may not read that way on the page (ie she a boring character to read), but the main problem is that no one in the story treats her that way. She might not even act like how she’s described, or if she does it’s to ridiculous levels. Either way all the other characters still think she’s the best thing since sliced bread, except of course, the villains (This is what would normally be called an Anti-Sue.) Therefore she is still an unbalance character, who bends the story.
Exhibit B: Jerk Sue is mean. She walks all over everyone, breaks hearts without a second thought, and is generally a jerk. But for some reason no one ever says anything about it. In fact it’s like she’s not doing anything bad at all. She somehow always manages to keep friends and lives to fight on and torment more people without lasting, if any, consequences.
Jerk Sue is an interesting case. Likely one of two things are happening with a Jerk Sue, either a) the author is not thinking through what a realistic reaction to a character’s behavior would be or b) the author is trying to make an edgy character, and failed to understand what makes a dark character dynamic (namely good AND bad qualities). And sadly these Sues are further frustrating. Often if they do get taught a lesson it never sticks. They're like the sitcom character whose moral slate gets wiped clean every week, forgetting the lessons they learned episodes before. Perhaps even more interestingly characters meant to be seen as heroic can fall into Jerk Sue territory because the author is allowing they get away with morally questionably acts under the guise of heroic actions.
Do you see the problem with these Sues? They use more story bending powers then their perfect cousins, because they’re not likable. The side characters' reactions to them make even less sense then reactions to Perfection Sues, as least perfection sues are good people. As such no one reacts realistically to them! Just like Perfection Sues need flaws, Anti-Sues desperately need good qualities to balance their characters. Moreover people need to react realistically to their behavior.
Hot Topics: Mary Sues (Perfection Sue)
This first type I’m going to look at is the Perfection Sue. She is most easily identified in stories and is a good place to start. There are two subtypes the Classic Mary Sue and the Action Sue. Let's look at the Classic Mary Sue first.
Exhibit A: Mary Sue was the most gorgeous girl in the whole state of New York and everyone knew it. When she smiled all the guys had to resist the urge to leave their girlfriends on the spot. Men regularly confessed their love for her. Despite that no woman could find it within them hate her. She was the most kind and generous girl, and everyone wished she was their friend. When she sang people came from miles around, even the pope had been known to show up…
I think you get the idea. Not only does this amazing girl get whatever she wants because everyone loves her. Everyone loves her goodness and compassion. Anyone who doesn’t is a villain. She might also save the day at the end of the story – with the power of love – because she is the only one who can.
Exhibit B: Mary Sue is top of her class. In fact she’s been at the top of her class in everything. She’s the best fighter in all of her martial arts class. She graduated top of her class at west point at 16. She doesn’t ever need anyone's help. She works for the government now and whenever there’s a problem and the president doesn’t know what to do, he calls her. She can take down any man single handedly…
Kill me now. This is called the Action Sue, she may or may not come with a sense of entitlement (and is often more flawed then Classic Sue), but she’ll likely come with a attitude (if the character is a male they will be humble though). Now normally you’d expect anyone who rose in the ranks so fast to be resented by just about everyone, but not her. No, everyone respects action sue. They respect her strength and confidence. Anyone who doesn’t is – guess what? – a villain! This type of Sue has long been common with in her male counter part Gary Sue, but is a newer Sue for female characters. Her rise is probably a reaction to rising woman’s rights in the last 40 years or so.
Do you see the problem? Who wants to read about them? Both of these subtypes bend the story and are unbalanced characters in equal parts. Which just makes them boring! They never really get into trouble (because they bend the plot) and you know that they’ll fix everything in the end (because they're perfect). The bad guys never stood a chance against these girls. Really there’s no real point in even finishing the story. Moreover who wants to read three paragraphs (or pages) describing how awesome the character is?
Exhibit A: Mary Sue was the most gorgeous girl in the whole state of New York and everyone knew it. When she smiled all the guys had to resist the urge to leave their girlfriends on the spot. Men regularly confessed their love for her. Despite that no woman could find it within them hate her. She was the most kind and generous girl, and everyone wished she was their friend. When she sang people came from miles around, even the pope had been known to show up…
I think you get the idea. Not only does this amazing girl get whatever she wants because everyone loves her. Everyone loves her goodness and compassion. Anyone who doesn’t is a villain. She might also save the day at the end of the story – with the power of love – because she is the only one who can.
Exhibit B: Mary Sue is top of her class. In fact she’s been at the top of her class in everything. She’s the best fighter in all of her martial arts class. She graduated top of her class at west point at 16. She doesn’t ever need anyone's help. She works for the government now and whenever there’s a problem and the president doesn’t know what to do, he calls her. She can take down any man single handedly…
Kill me now. This is called the Action Sue, she may or may not come with a sense of entitlement (and is often more flawed then Classic Sue), but she’ll likely come with a attitude (if the character is a male they will be humble though). Now normally you’d expect anyone who rose in the ranks so fast to be resented by just about everyone, but not her. No, everyone respects action sue. They respect her strength and confidence. Anyone who doesn’t is – guess what? – a villain! This type of Sue has long been common with in her male counter part Gary Sue, but is a newer Sue for female characters. Her rise is probably a reaction to rising woman’s rights in the last 40 years or so.
Do you see the problem? Who wants to read about them? Both of these subtypes bend the story and are unbalanced characters in equal parts. Which just makes them boring! They never really get into trouble (because they bend the plot) and you know that they’ll fix everything in the end (because they're perfect). The bad guys never stood a chance against these girls. Really there’s no real point in even finishing the story. Moreover who wants to read three paragraphs (or pages) describing how awesome the character is?
Hot Topics: Mary Sues
Mary Sue.
You’ve probably met her before, or it you haven’t, you’ve read her name written between curses of annoyance on forums, or seen some unfortunate author accused of writing one. Maybe you know what it means, or maybe you don’t. But in the wide world of the internet there are definitions for it everywhere. There are good and bad explanations which is the source of some uncertainty. So I thought I would take a stab at clearing up the confusion as to what exactly a Mary Sue is, and what it means for your story.
So what is a Mary Sue?
At her essence Mary Sue is two things: an unbalanced character and a character who bends the story to her benefit. (You can have a Mary Sue that unbalanced, but doesn't bend the story. This character's placement as Mary Sues can be argued, this is most because they can actually work within the story).
As an unbalanced character she doesn’t read as real and lacks the complexity of a real person. She is often one dimensional and almost always exaggerated in some way or other.
As character that bends the story, her presences changes the logical progression of events. If you think of your story as a solar system, Mary Sue is the black hole that abruptly springs up. Everything in your world seems to bend and orbit around the gravity of her. Nothing can escape her influence. Everyone loves or hates her passionately, but no one is apathetic to her. Rules get bent for her, the logic of the story is forgotten for Mary Sue. She becomes the axis of the story. This effect can be seen easily in fanfiction, but is also a phenomenon found in origin fiction as well.
But why do these obviously poorly written characters exist?
They exist because the authors don't want they characters to feel pain, they don't want them to suffer. They make a character that can never make mistake and make sure they never give the character real conflict, creating a loop hole for escape. The author normally just loves their character too much and wants everyone to like them, the reader and the other characters in the story included. This shows in two ways, either the character is perfect and/or the world responds to them like they are perfect.
But to really understand Mary Sue and what it looks like, I'm going to have to take a closer look. To better explain these themes I’ll be going over her two main types and subtypes within those groups. The types are separate by how each aspect of Mary Suedom plays out in their character and story. Within these post I’ll be going over the two themes of Mary Sue, so keep an eye out for these elements.
Note: anyone familiar with the types of Sues will notice that I’m not going by internet groups, but pulling together main themes most often found in Sues.
You’ve probably met her before, or it you haven’t, you’ve read her name written between curses of annoyance on forums, or seen some unfortunate author accused of writing one. Maybe you know what it means, or maybe you don’t. But in the wide world of the internet there are definitions for it everywhere. There are good and bad explanations which is the source of some uncertainty. So I thought I would take a stab at clearing up the confusion as to what exactly a Mary Sue is, and what it means for your story.
So what is a Mary Sue?
At her essence Mary Sue is two things: an unbalanced character and a character who bends the story to her benefit. (You can have a Mary Sue that unbalanced, but doesn't bend the story. This character's placement as Mary Sues can be argued, this is most because they can actually work within the story).
As an unbalanced character she doesn’t read as real and lacks the complexity of a real person. She is often one dimensional and almost always exaggerated in some way or other.
As character that bends the story, her presences changes the logical progression of events. If you think of your story as a solar system, Mary Sue is the black hole that abruptly springs up. Everything in your world seems to bend and orbit around the gravity of her. Nothing can escape her influence. Everyone loves or hates her passionately, but no one is apathetic to her. Rules get bent for her, the logic of the story is forgotten for Mary Sue. She becomes the axis of the story. This effect can be seen easily in fanfiction, but is also a phenomenon found in origin fiction as well.
But why do these obviously poorly written characters exist?
They exist because the authors don't want they characters to feel pain, they don't want them to suffer. They make a character that can never make mistake and make sure they never give the character real conflict, creating a loop hole for escape. The author normally just loves their character too much and wants everyone to like them, the reader and the other characters in the story included. This shows in two ways, either the character is perfect and/or the world responds to them like they are perfect.
But to really understand Mary Sue and what it looks like, I'm going to have to take a closer look. To better explain these themes I’ll be going over her two main types and subtypes within those groups. The types are separate by how each aspect of Mary Suedom plays out in their character and story. Within these post I’ll be going over the two themes of Mary Sue, so keep an eye out for these elements.
Note: anyone familiar with the types of Sues will notice that I’m not going by internet groups, but pulling together main themes most often found in Sues.
Friday, February 26, 2010
A new set of blogs coming soon...
Sorry again for the delay. My next planned blog turned out to be more involved then I thought and will come out in blocks. I just haven't had the time needed to really get down into the thick of the subject. But I think it's an interesting and a fun topic, so will see how you guys enjoy it. These new blogs should be posted within the next few days.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)