posted
I think I am finishing a story with an incredibly run-of-the-mill heroine. Not sure. This could be closing-call anxiety. (I get that most frequently with my best work, to be honest; probably because the result is a little beyond me and I don't know what to do.)
posted
Is she perfect? Incredibly beautiful? Talented beyond belief? All three? You might have a Mary Sue, or you might not, but you certanly don't have an ordinary woman.
Posts: 39 | Registered: May 2007
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posted
How does Mary Sue define herself? If you feel that she's run-o'-the-mill, it's probably because she lacks something in the characterization. What do you think of, when you think of her? Does she make you laugh? Is she serious all the time? Is she competitive? If you have explained these things in the story, maybe you haven't let her show the reader. I find run-o'-the-mill or carboard-cut-outs to have the same problem: you don't know them when you're done.
[This message has been edited by InarticulateBabbler (edited July 02, 2007).]
posted
I am thinking Mary sue, incredibly run of the mill, means that she is average. And average is unusual. Average is a statistical determination that rarely holds true for an individual human. To be truly average is to defy statistical probability, so in some ways, if you are following me, to be totally average is to be totally unique in a million little ways. It's like meeting a couple who actually has 2.4 kids - they have to haul the .4 around in a little red wagon. She would actually be quite a prize, if found, because you could ask her anything, and her opinion would be the average opinion of the nation.
If you mean unremarkable, not neurotic or quixotic or "odd" in any way, I would posit the same thing. Wasn't that like one of the girls in Little Women? I forget which one - bess, maybe? Eccentricities make people interesting, unless we are living next door to them - then they become pests.
And sometimes, people really like the run of the mill guy that becomes extraordinary under pressure, because they believe that they to could become great in the right circumstances.
Are you finishind something that you're posted before? What gives? post it for us. If you want a reader, I would be glad to. Cough it up
[This message has been edited by debhoag (edited July 02, 2007).]
posted
We'll see. I'd like to let it sit a few minutes. ^^
[I just finished it, literally. Came here to see the replies as the next thing.]
I guess I'm just curious about what people think about that term. It seems (from what I've gathered before) to refer to a woman who's ostensibly normal, but bursts into powers, has all the men fighting for her *cough* hand, and might even be an undiscovered princess, without anything but these desireable events defining who she is.
That's not totally the gal I'm working with, but she's feeling rather bland to me now. It might be my own headspin from writing her story in first-person, present tense. An experiment. Like any new sport, it's giving me aches and pains.
posted
Well, I've got a slightly different definition. When I was writing Internet Fan Fiction, the community used "Mary Sue" as a term for a character as a stand-in for the writer in the story (whether the character was an original creation or one of the characters from the series). Often as not, the character was perfect, incredibly beautiful, talented beyond belief, and so on, and so forth...
I'd never heard the term before that---the writing in question was more like "autobiographical characters," but the term was more specific---though I saw the point. I used little bits and pieces of my life here and there---as I did before, as I continue to do right now---but put no character in my finished fan fiction that was definitely me. (I did put myself in a fragment once---somebody promptly created a site for unfinished fragments because of it, much to my surprise---but I never intended to finish the thing.)
posted
If I remember correctly, a Mary Sue (or Gary Stu) is a perfect individual who all the other main characters instantly love and admire, who has no flaws, and constantly saves the day. It can be linked to wish fulfillment (particularly if you're writing fanfic and introduce a new character into, say, the X-Men) but the character type is not strictly limited to wish fulfillment.
If you've written her and she is a Mary Sue, I think you're stuck with her, unless you rewrite. The fact that she might be a Mary Sue isn't the worst thing in the world. It's just not the greatest thing either.
Well in my twisted mind it would ether be my Mauser 98K or one of my best friends Mates. Other than that make her what ever she needs to be. Rommel Fenrir Wolf II
you're right. The Mary Sue's being so excellent is to make up for the *harrumph* nastiness of boring reality of oneself: but there's no substantiation of this excellence beside fantasizing self into a better story. I think.
So Desiree can't be a Mary Sue: I want nothing to do with her. ^_^
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